Reminiscences of a rewarding career by Uma Balu
My childhood was a blessing in every sense. The first seeds of inspiration were sown and the perfect ambience created years later, it became my passion, profession and purpose in life.
My father was a great scholar and encouraged me to perform at a very early age - I was just two years old and could tell the time, pronounce difficult words in Sanskrit, identify scientists and mathematicians, recognize birds by their call. It is from him that I learnt to enjoy whatever I did - reading, writing, singing, teaching, drawing, painting, craft - I still remember his excitement when I showed him the weighing balance I designed - using two Horlicks lids, a few pieces of thread and a twig! He had good connections with Consulates and Embassies and they used to visit him often. I used to sit on my father's lap and listen to their conversations with great interest. My exposure to world cultures and languages began there and I learnt my first lessons from native speakers!
There was one student from Germany - Thomas Malten. He had come to learn Tamil at Annamalai University, where my father was Professor in Mathematics. His great sense of humour, narration of experiences and simple lifestyle made every evening worth waiting for! He used to collect stamps for me and we had a lovely time learning Tamil and German. During one of his trips, he brought his mother, Mrs. Elfriede Malten, along. She was not very fluent in English and I was desperately looking for a way to communicate with her. Finally, we made it - using our bilingual dictionaries! That was just the beginning. Later, we started writing to each other and I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise (I still treasure all those lovely letters and beautiful cards - especially the bilingual dictionaries). Once, her birthday was round the corner - this time I wanted to write a special letter and requested Thomas to check the grammar. He read it and smiled: Uma, you are an indefatigable writer of letters in the most beautiful German - it is those mistakes that make it all the more delightful to read. I will not spoil it! Golden words - etched in my memory.
Today he is Dr. Thomas Malten, Institute of Indology and Tamil Studies at Cologne University!
Russian was another favourite of mine and I was so fond of Russian writings - be it stories, anecdotes or even reference books in various fields. The style of language and plethora of illustrations made the toughest of subjects seem so enjoyable. There were also many Russian book fairs happening in the city and in one of those, I found a dictionary I was desperately looking for. Alas, it was not for sale! Elena Mikhailovskaya of Raduga Publishers was in charge of the exhibition and the salesman took me to her. I explained why I needed it so much and to my delight, she gave it to me as her gift! We became friends and I used to share my stamp collections with her little son Masha, who just loved them!
Japanese was an interesting story. My first experience was through BBC's Living Asia. Years later, my son enrolled for his Karate classes and I used to accompany him. The instructions were in Japanese and naturally, I would listen attentively. One fine day, the venue was shifted to a place quite far away and the timings were also not convenient. Karate sessions came to an end, but my Japanese lessons took over! It was my Japanese teacher Ms. Fumiko Arai who groomed me into a professional translator. I also had the experience of teaching Tamil to my Japanese friend Mrs. Sumiko Ishii.
When I went to Japan in 2003, I spent some lovely moments with her wonderful family. She gave me a beautiful set of books on Japanese language and culture as a gift - which has a very special place in my library. There was a home-stay experience too - my hostess Makiko san took every little effort to try vegetarian dishes for the first time, teach me traditional indoor games with her cute, little daughter and show me around the Japanese countryside…
These wonderful people made me what I am today - designing language lessons for Corporates and Airhostesses, writing books on survival skills in various languages with lovely illustrations, translating world classics into Tamil, compiling bilingual dictionaries, working on comparative literature, organizing cultural programs, writing blogs on topics relating to culture, travel and language, connecting with people who share the same interests… at times inspired to write a poem or story, draw or paint.
It has been a long and delightful journey - every milestone created by a special woman. As the saying goes, the best part of a journey is not the destination, but the journey itself. Many experiences, many challenges and still counting!