The Pollen Waits On Tiptoe contains acclaimed English translations of 26 Kannada poems by Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre (Da Ra Bendre or D. R. Bendre), the varakavi or heaven-touched poet of 20th-century Kannada literature.
HOW TO BUY THE BOOK:
1. At Blossom Book House on Church Street, Bangalore. (A limited number of copies are available there at a discounted price.)
2. On Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8195573061
3. By writing directly to MUP at mup@manipal.edu or calling them at +91-82029-22954.
4. As an eBook on the VIVIDLIPI app: https://www.vividlipi.com/bookstore/poetry/the-pollen-waits-on-tiptoe-ebook/
PRAISE FOR THE TRANSLATIONS:
“I went through several of your Bendre translations … and my immediate feeling was that Bendre’s poetry has finally found the English translator it deserves … I must also add that your … [afterwords] to the poems are not only helpful but delightful too.” [emphasis added] — K V TIRUMALESH, Sahitya Akademi award-winning Kannada poet; and critic, translator, academic
“This is a noble labour of love, opening up a poet–and a whole world of poetry as prayer–that would otherwise be lost to the likes of me. It’s inspiring to encounter such eloquence and devotion.” — PICO IYER, Award-winning travel writer, Guggenheim Fellow
“Madhav is capable of creating the sound, look, and feel of the source text in English, often bending the English language in the service of the great word-wizard of the Kannada language. This book is an invaluable contribution to Kannada poetry in translation.” — H S SHIVAPRAKASH, translator of I Keep Vigil of Rudra and award-winning Kannada poet, playwright, and translator
“Thanks for letting me see these Bendre translations. I enjoyed reading them. Your translation style is agile and fluent, rendering the poetry pleasurable even in English.” — TEJASWINI NIRANJANA, translator of No Presents Please, winner of the DSC Prize and National Translation Award
“My young friend, Madhava, is a rare blend of passion, commitment, and linguistic and artistic ability. Kannada in general and D R Bendre, our great poet-seer, have found a translator of genuine merit in him. Over the years, I have watched him focus on Bendre’s poetry with joy and understanding. He has succeeded in finding poetic parallels in English to Bendre’s utterances. He has not indulged in mechanical verbatim translation. His choice of poems for translation is not unrealistically ambitious. I hope that he will include a broader spectrum of Kannada poets in his future endeavours.” — H S RAGHAVENDRA RAO, Sahitya Akademi award-winning Kannada critic
“I love the way you play with the English language. … your translations [impress] for their attentiveness to the way sound matters in meaning and for their attunement to contemporary English use.” — ADRIANA ESTILL, Professor of English and Director of American Studies, Carleton College
Da Ra Bendre in English 