A couple of days ago I was hopping along blogs and thanks to KC checked out Ferrari’s he-she series. They are hilarious. Really. It’s good light-hearted humor more on the lines of situational comedy and especially more so of conversations; imagined and otherwise between a guy and a girl.
He calls it the he-she series and are in tamil.
As I read them, I wanted to share it with a few of my non-tamil friends and realized I couldn’t. It seemed a travesty [I know, I like drama 😉 ] to not be able to share such priceless pieces of humor with the rest of the world. So, took it upon myself to make it accessible to the rest. [wait, don’t thank me yet!]
After hunting down the author and getting his blessings (permissions and such legalese) [he was super sweet about it! If I were him, I’d be wary with someone messing with my creation with no clue on how they’d murder it!] in the wee hours this morning, I spent a couple of hours on getting it right.
Did you know translation is actually a tremendously stressful job? You’d think slapping the words together and getting the gist is fair enough. Nope! Not only are you working on getting the exact word in, you are trying to retain the meaning within the cultural setting the original scene is. Then of course there’s the flow of the words. You want it flow as naturally as the original did. To top it, there’s the unwritten. The emotion behind the words, the hint of the unspoken. You are scared you’d mess up. At the back of your mind you know you are never gonna be the original. You don’t want to anyways, but you don’t want someone going ‘crap’ on reading the translation. Especially the creator.
Now that would be sad.
So, considering am feeling quite jobless between deadlines and after spending 2 hours on lunch, as a way of killing time, figured I would refine this particular he-she and post it. [Sucking on a Tangerine Fruit bar is quite helpful I might add ;)]
Come what may, my intentions are noble 🙂
So here you go –
Original idea and post in tamil is found here .
He-She – A Sister’s brother.
She: hey, today’s Sani Peyarchi *
He: Oh, by the way, did your brother get the transfer?
She: I mention Sani Peyarchi * and you remember my brother? So you’re saying my brother’s Sani?
He: Noo, we just passed Intel building. I was reminded of your brother, and before I could get a word in, you mentioned Sani Peyarchi*. It just happened.
She: You kidding me? Since when’s my brother working at Intel?
He: Ok, remember the time when he wore the tee ‘Mental Inside’ a spoof on the ad: ‘Intel Inside’. So, when I saw ‘Intel’ I thought of ‘mental’, and then of course I remembered your brother.
She: Great, first it’s Sani, now it’s mental?
He: Oh c’mon, Trust me, it was just a coincidence.
She: Coincidence my foot! As it is am feeling really bad thinking about his condition.
He: Why? What happened, isn’t he alright?
She: No. Well, we haven’t found him a girl yet. Mom’s stressing herself, and everyone around about it.
He: Leave the guy alone. Let him enjoy his free time. It’s all in the timing, things happen when they have to. Don’t worry.
She: hmm..
He: Did you want me to check and see if there are any nice girls within our friends?
She: Sure. Okay. Hey, btw, what did you mean by saying he is happy now? If you get married, you can’t be happy?
He: Of course you can. But it’s different.
She: Different how?
He: I mean, as in single guy’s fun.
She: Like you have it bad now?
You still attend parties. You wake up whenever it pleases your fancy; you wander off to picnics at the drop of an invitation. You watch every sports channel there is, and better yet, it’s not like I drag you when I go shopping. So what else is missing in you being happy?
He: Yes I know. I am very lucky to have you. You’ve no idea how anxious the whole marriage-talk made me. On you know, how my wife would be, but it’s turned out good. I sure lucked out!
(Saying this he smiles at her)
She: Yeah right!
He: Huh?
She: You are such a smooth talker!
He: What?
She: You know, you couldn’t give me a straight answer and so now you switch topics and talk to me sweetly so I’d fall for your act.
He: Good Lord, No! Ok, whatever, forget it. Are you going to talk about your father now?
She: No. Why?
He: Well, there’s this guy ahead of me who’s driving like a drunken ass. Before I let loose some profanity, thought I’d check with you. If you were gonna talk about your father, I better shut up. This conversation’s killing me already!
She: !!!!!!!
* Sani Peyarchi – A festival celebrated mostly in South India that just happened a few short days ago, where one of the navagrahas – Sani has shifted house. Unfortunately for him, he’s one of the most feared Gods. More here.
![Ra.One [a review of the good, bad and ugly]](http://kowthas.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/photo-3-e1320082925791.jpg?w=225)
have you seen the lovebites tv? [check out the link under the opera singer]
– s.b.
rads:
now that i read the whole entire he-she, i am rotfl-ing!
i almost added (to my previous comment) that pavan is a single unattached telugu, i.e., no strings attached etc. etc. – and then i read the complete he-she episode. maybe i should just let him be! 😉
– s.b.
Yengayo poyitey po! Dhool kalapitey!
Hillarious!
Funnyyyyy! Thanks for sharing — by translating.
muser – it is isn’t it? 🙂
madsies – na onnume pannaley – that is for the original 🙂
sb – yes, checked Pavan’s site and I wholeheartedly agree – let’s leave the poor guy alone. 😉
hi hi hilarious they are. so is it like a hum-tum series?
rads (&co.):
you never said – did you check out the lovebites series on youtube? it is too good.
– s.b.
Very good. Me likey 🙂 Thank you once again 😉
Rads this is awesome. TDNA, if you are reading, Prabhu is giving you a run for your money.
Prabhu – yayy :)) That’s a huge relief!
sb – I thought I mentioned. Oh yes, it’s hilarious. I think am an opera singer too 😉
maverick – Sorta like hum-tum I guess…
OK – sshhh.. you don’t go comparing my friends on my blog :p
Each have their own style, and both make folks laugh. Ultimately, that’s all we (read u and me)should care 🙂
whats with “ok”?? i feel like catching him by the scruff of his neck and saying “u better blog mister”!
..p..
Rads,
I enjoy the He-She’s as well. Too gud no. :–))
SK – totally 🙂
Priya – OK’s on the lower end of his swing, he has to come back up soon enough. If not, you know where to get him 🙂
Hilarious.
Agree with you on difficulties in translation. But surely, the essense is not ‘lost in your translation’. I read the original post too. Actually reading the original which is ‘transliteration’ is not easy too. Translaion sounds easier to read.
lol… .gr8 post… i guess sani must’ve just shifted for “He”… lol all the way!
hehe, nice! it is as if she implies “whatever you say *might* be used against you”.. except for the “in the court of law” part.. phew
heh.. u rad he-she too.. i find it hilarious at times.. but i guess it would make way more sense wen i’m married though!! 😛
sreeram – yes, some you can imagine, some you just have it have experienced a parallel for you to enjoy them 🙂
Pavan – A woman’s language is hard to get 😉
Preethz – haha 🙂
Bala – Thanks, that was nice of you to say. 🙂
Rotfl !
The series is simply awesome 🙂
LOL, thats funny. Will check that out.
Yep, that’s really funny. Thanks for translating it for non-Tamil folks like us. Are you going to make it (being the official translator) an ongoing feature on your blog?
Ok: Lol. Yes he is. I am currently making flight or fight decision 😀
rads: To qualify your statement you will have to translate one my future Telugu works into English. Oh wait, you can’t read Telugu can you 😛
tdna – Honestly? I donno. As I said they are situational and heavily cultural, apart from a few which could work anyplace. Translating those would just make them my own pieces with Ferrari’s original idea. Not sure if I want to do that..
lol. Actually I do read telugu script, just need a day to finish a page! but yet, you’re on 🙂
deepa – been a while 🙂
dushti – 😀
LOL. That was funny. I read the he-she series too. It really is a tough job translating that in English and retaining the same level of hilarity. Good job. 🙂
Hilarious! Good job of translating … although from next time a one word about translation is fine rather than 4 paragraphs. You did a good job!
Pilgrim – I had to do a CYA and hence the rambling. If I do one more, will keep it short. 🙂
Leo – 🙂 Thanks!
He he ! A gud translation…
It would have been gr8 , if we had an equivalent “sani” with the double meaning 😛
‘t wud have pepped up this translation a bit more.. !
that was hilarious, rads!
wish you would translate a few more of the he-she series to us, non-tamizh’s.
upsi – hehe, yea, will see. Some can be translated well, some you will have to be a pure-bred Madrasi to get the punch. Translation is not the issue, it’s more of whethere it would reach the audience is.
As long as Ferrari doesn’t mind, I sure can 🙂
Bharat – my point exactly, some just don’t have perfect translations 🙂