[Sarai Newsletter] MAY 2005

[The Sarai Programme]

CONTENTS: MAY 2005

3rd - 7th	Hindi Translation Review Workshop

Film @ Sarai: Gender/Identity/Desire - A Rediscovery of the Self 
13th 	Leila, dir. Dariush Mehrjui
20th 	Bhaji on the Beach, dir. Gurinder Chadha 
27th 	Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, dir. Pedro Almodovar 
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WORKSHOP @ SARAI
3rd Hindi Translation Review Workshop

Dates: 3rd May - 7th May 2005
Organized by: IndLinux.org & Sarai, CSDS

Venue
Sarai, Centre for Study of Developing Societies 
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054

Contacts
Karunakar <karunakar at indlinux.org>
Ravikant <ravikant at sarai.net>
Ph. 011-23960040 ext 22.

Background
When we started the Localization of Hindi in Indlinux project, little did we 
realize that translation, even if you delimited the goals, could be an 
endless process! But here we are in the third edition of a review that goes 
round the year and can go on forever. For we have merely touched the tip of 
the iceberg. IndLinux project has been on the forefront of Hindi Localization 
of Free & Opensource software over the last 4 years. Significant progress has 
been made on the GUI desktop front - with popular Linux desktops like KDE, 
GNOME and XFCE now fully supporting Hindi . All this has been possible with 
due efforts of a tireless bunch of people working from various locales, who 
have contributed to this arduous, if creative, process. Believe me, it is a 
great feeling to see the desktops in Hindi, even better, to change it in your 
own machine if you are not happy with it. 

However, Localization demands a certain balance between the local diversity 
and universal standardization. This is what we try to achieve in the series 
of Review Workshops that we have been holding at Sarai. We pick up strings in 
their contexts and replace an inappropriate translation by appropriate ones 
and try to translate the terms/strings left out. This is done by a group of 
practitioners including Hindi/Urdu academics, teachers, translators, 
journalists, students and techies in the presence of the people who have done 
the bulk of translations. But the process does not end here, we will take the 
translations to users, get feedback and include them in new versions. 

The two earlier workshops were held in October 2003 – when a major part of 
Gnome translations was reviewed and the GNOME glossary was translated, which 
gave us the first Hindi glossary of widely accepted technical terminology. 
The 2nd Workshop, held in August 2004, focused on KDE translations. In this 
3rd edition we will focus on combining all the work done and doing a thorough 
review primarily aiming to achieve the following objectives:
- Review of translations done to date for KDE , GNOME and XFCE – A total of 
about 90,000 strings.
- Evolve a common guideline for Hindi translation and document common mistakes 
committed in Hindi translations, which would serve to avoid mistakes in 
future. 
- A glossary of frequently used terms (FUTs) translated to Hindi. This will 
extend the GNOME glossary and also include terms defined in other Hindi 
glossaries.
- Hindi translation database - A full compendium of all Hindi translations 
done to date. The reviewed work will be incorporated into this so that fresh 
translations in future can take advantage of this database. 

In the earlier editions we thought we needed to spend more time to do a 
complete work and achieve more. So this time we have extended the workdays 
from three to five and we are trying to rope in new people. 

We invite people interested in this endeavour and able to volunteer their time 
and effort. Please come and contribute to the social process of constructing 
your own tech language and see that Hindi flourishes in the information age.
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FILM @ SARAI
Gender/Identity/Desire: A Rediscovery of the Self 
Curated by Khadeeja Arif

This month at Sarai, we show three different films revolving around the lives 
of women who constantly negotiate between their individual selves, social 
responsibilities, repressive marriages and tormented love relationships. All 
the  women characters find themselves struggling between the desire to be 
true to their selves and the various social roles that they are supposed to 
play. In the attempt to rediscover what they want, or to break away from 
social expectations, failed love affairs, and demanding marriages, some 
succeed in liberating themselves, whereas others feel satisfied in 'being' 
what they are supposed 'to be'.  

Friday, May 13, 2005, 4:30 pm
Leila (1996), 125 minutes
Directed by Dariush Mehrjui

Set in modern Iran, the film begins on the birthday of the title character 
Leila. Leila is a married woman happily settled with her loving husband Reza. 
The world changes forever for Leila when, earlier that day, she discovers 
that she holds very little chance of ever conceiving a child. When Leila 
passes up the possibility of adoption, Reza firmly and lovingly tells her 
that he married her, and does not care at all about having children.  But 
Reza’s domineering mother bluntly explains to Leila that Reza has always 
wished for children. Invoking the accepted tradition of polygamy, Reza's 
mother insists that Leila must help find a second wife for him, one capable 
of producing a male heir. Leila hesitantly agrees. Reza finally does meet a 
woman whom he claims to like, even though he refuses to go through with the 
marriage if Leila does not give her full blessing.

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Friday, May 20, 2005, 4:30 pm
Bhaji on the Beach (1993), 100 minutes
Directed by Gurinder Chadha 

'Bhaji on the Beach' is a road movie. On the road are a group of Birmingham- 
based Asian women, headed for Blackpool. The women are either running away 
from problems or in search of new possibilities. Hashida, secretly involved 
with a young Black man, has just discovered she is pregnant. Ginder wants to 
walk out of an unhappy marriage. Asha and Pushpa seek escape from the 
drudgery of corner–shop life. For each, the trip to Blackpool is a journey of 
self-discovery. The trip is an opportunity to see their country, while 
confronting each other’s values. The women come together when confronted by 
white racists, but the generations clash on the issue of traditional values. 
Hashida’s pregnancy first provokes shock, then a round of anti-Black 
prejudice from the older women. Ginder is blamed for the collapse of her 
marriage and urged to return home. Commitment, duty, honour, sacrifice - all 
the fossilised values which they have carried around for years - are 
mercilessly questioned. 

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Friday, May 27, 2005, 4:30 pm
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), 88 minutes
Directed by Pedro Almodovar 

This colorful hit put director Pedro Almodóvar on the international map and 
cemented the reputation of its star, Carmen Maura. The film is a peppy little 
soap bubble as TV actress Pepa (Maura) wakes up to find a note from her 
lover, Ivan (Fernando Guillen), informing her he is leaving. Distressed and 
disheartened over the breakup, Pepa almost kills herself with sleeping pills, 
burns her bed, and spends most of the movie trying to track him down. Her 
adventures put her in contact with Ivan's insane ex-wife (Julieta Serrano), 
his handsome son (Antonio Banderas), and the son's fiancée (Rossy de Palma). 
They all descend on her penthouse apartment in a deliriously comic extended 
scene, complicated by her friend Candela (María Barranco), wanted by the 
police for associating with Shiite terrorists. Through it all, the 
indefatigable Pepa fights gallantly against her crushing heartbreak. The 
aberrant love relationships and heartbreaks are not just Carmen’s fate but 
the fate of most of the women around her. 
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-- 
Ranita Chatterjee
The Sarai Programme
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
Tel:  (+91) 11 23960040
       (+91) 11 23942199, ext 307
Fax: (+91) 11 23943450
www.sarai.net