Award-winning Konkani tale ‘Babu’ returns in an abridged, translated and beautifully re-imagined form
Vinika Viswambharan
Some stories refuse to be bound by the time or language in which they were written. More than two decades after its original release in Konkani, ‘Babu’ is reaching a new generation through an abridged and illustrated English edition.
First published in 1999 and winner of the NCERT Children’s Literature Prize, ‘Babu’ was written by Sahitya Akademi Award winner N. Shivdas, now 77. The new edition has been translated and illustrated by an assistant professor at Goa University, Natasha Maria Gomes.
“For me, ‘Babu’ was never just a story,” Shivdas says. “It was my childhood. My struggles. My dreams. I only changed a few details to make it flow as a story.”
Babu, he explains, is a nickname parents often use for sons, like Bai for daughters. “That is what my mother called me,” Shivdas says. “So when readers say the name, it already carries love.”
Although based on his own life, incidents with thieves or bullying near the temple pond happened in reality but not exactly as written. “Those things did happen but not in that way,” he says. “What mattered was showing the fear of growing up poor and the courage it takes to get through it.”
It was the story’s emotional honesty that first drew Gomes to ‘Babu’ during a 2019 translation workshop organised by Aksharpath, a collective for Konkani literature founded in 2014. Retired professor of English at Goa University and one of the collective’s founding members, Kiran Budkuley, spotted Gomes’ potential in her early translations and sketches during the workshop, even before Gomes herself realised it.
“I was struck by the images, the rooster at dawn, the mud hut, the quiet life of the village,” Gomes says. As a former Teach for India fellow, the story felt familiar. “I saw ‘Babu’ in my students, the hunger, the waiting and the determination to learn. I heard about these struggles from them every day.”
When Gomes began translating, it became more than just words. “I started sketching scenes from Babu’s world,” she says. She took on both roles as translator and illustrator. “I wanted English readers to enter his world without losing its Konkani soul.”
She retained words such as Avo and Master and conversational markers like re and mige. “Some things should not be replaced,” she says. “They carry cultural meaning that footnotes can explain.”
The shorter version of the book meant Gomes had to choose the most important scenes. “I had to decide which parts were essential and keep the story’s emotions,” she says, adding that she put each page of text next to a picture. “Where words were not enough, the pictures could tell the story.”
For Shivdas, seeing his story in illustrations was moving. “I felt she had lived that childhood with me,” he says, adding that mentorship is an important theme in Babu. “Education saved me. I wanted children to see that even when money is tight, guidance can make a difference.”
Gomes says the hunger scenes were emotionally difficult for her to work on. “For children like Babu, school is more than a building. It is a chance to grow.” Drawing Babu looking at his teacher reminded her of her own mentors. “Illustrating those moments felt like telling my own story.”
Both see the edition as a beginning. “I want it read aloud,” Gomes says. “Parents and children should talk about the pictures and imagine beyond the page.” Shivdas adds, “If this book gives courage to even one child, it has meaning.” The illustrated English edition of ‘Babu’ will be available at Broadway, Varsha, Singbal, Confidant and The Dogears bookshops, as well as online via Amazon. It will be released on December 30, at 4.30 p.m., at the Instituto Menezes Braganza, Panaji.
