Marathi play on Sant Tukaram to be translated into Braille

Directed by Atul Pethe and edited for the stage by playwright Vijay Tendulkar,Anandowari had actor Kishor Kadam donning the role of Sant Tukaram’s brother Kanhoba and delivering the monologue in which Kanhoba recounts his relationship with his brother,his philosophy and brings out the relevance of his writings.

“The idea is to make sure that all literature related to Sant Tukaram should reach the maximum number of people possible,Braille readers included. We had,in fact,even launched a biography titled Tukaram Maharajanchi Charitra in Braille last year and had sent it out to all blind schools in the state,” Dhonde says.

The script of the play was translated into Braille by Pune-based Saroj Tole,who runs the Fulora Braille Prakashan Sanstha.

“It took me a good one month to translate the script. I have earlier translated the Bengali,Devanagari and Sanskrit versions of the script. Kannada was slightly problematic for me,but I sought some help from my friend Veena Niwargi. I am working on the Konkani draft of the play now,” says Tole.

The Sanstha employs a few women to whom Tole teaches Braille and they all regularly work towards making books more accessible to the visually impaired.

“Usually,the complaint is that reading has gone down because good books are scarce. We decided to do something about it. When Dhonde approached us to translate Anandowari’s script,I immediately took it up,” says Tole,who is a self-taught Braille expert.