In collaboration with the French Embassy in India, Institut Français, The Dogears Bookshop and Alliance Française Panjim, we present to you Thinnai Stories, where literature is savoured like a succulent dish.

Save the Date-15th June 2024 at 03.00 pm IST
Join Ari Gautier and Shamika Andrade online for a delightful conversation with Dr Vidya Vencatesan.

Topic: Thinnai stories with Vidya Vancatesan
Time: Jun 15, 2024 03:00 PM India

Meeting ID: 947 3744 3226
Passcode: 0CnXHU

Lured by the promise of easy money in the faraway land of hope, Adhiyaman Dorassamy embarks on a formidable crossing of two turbulent oceans so as to not end up like his parents in the jackal’s belly?

As the ship docks at the harbours of the French colony of Martinique, the Dorassamys soon realize their predicament: like the thousands of Coolies before them, they are to now replace the freed Negro slaves in the sugarcane plantations. Ostracized by the former slaves and blindly subjected to the whims of the white planters, these Coolie Indians swiftly learn the art of survival and plunge into an unfamiliar world where just like their forgotten deities, their language too has faded amongst the Creole words.

In The Cane-Cutter’s Song, originally published in French as La panse du chacal, award-winning Martinican author Raphal Confiant illuminates the lesser known side of the West Indian identity the Indian side of the Creole, and within it the story of thousands of lost Indians who longed to return home. Available for the first time in English, this impeccable translation by Vidya Vencatesan is an immersive and riveting read.

Dr Vidya Vencatesan is the Head, Department of French and Director, Centre for European Studies, at the University of Mumbai. She has translated Javed Akhtar’s poetic oeuvre from Urdu into French and Raphael Confiant’s novel from French into English. She is editor of India’s only peer reviewed international francophone research journal Synergies-Inde. She has received Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the Republic of France, and the Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia from the Republic of Italy.