Living Between Languages

The first languages I learned to speak and was fluent in were Gujarati and Marathi. Gujarati was my native language, not only my mother’s language but my father’s language as well. Both sides of my family are Gujarati. When I was born, however, my parents lived in Pune, known as Poona in those days. Marathi was the language that was predominantly spoken in Poona, hence by the time I was three I was perfectly fluent in Gujarati and Marathi. I had picked up Marathi from the children in our neighbourhood and from my mother’s Marathi friends. At that time, I heard and understood Hindi as well, but I stuck to speaking Gujarati and Marathi. Our Gujarati friends and relatives used to tease me for speaking so much Marathi.

My memories begin from the age of two-and-a-half to three, in fact I have many memories from the age of three. I can hear the sounds of Marathi and Gujarati in those memories.

I received my first major translation assignment when I was three. It may sound comical; however, certain events led to this unusual situation. First, my brother was born prematurely and needed to stay in an incubator. My mother, following doctor’s orders, stayed in the hospital with my brother. No one in our extended family was able to come to help. This meant that my father had to take time off from work to look after me and to manage the household chores which included shopping for food at the various markets. Suddenly my father felt completely helpless because he could not ...