One of my short stories translated from Bahasa Malaysia to English is “Nayagi” which won first prize in Hadiah Cerpen Maybank-DBP (1992). The original version has been published in Menara 5 (1993), Siru Kambam (1996) and Nayagi (2000).The English translation appears as “Nayagi, Mistress of Destiny” in Sea of Rainbows (2009) edited by National Laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Haji Salleh and published by Malaysian National Institute of Translation (ITNM).
The editor wrote in the introduction of the anthology: “Uthaya Sankar SB continues the Indian experience through his portrayal of the difficulty and confusion of a large family, half of which is moored to its Indian past, whereas the other half has set down Malaysian roots.”
For non-Bahasa Malaysia speaking readers, “Nayagi, Mistress of Destiny” would give a glimpse on how I tell the story of Malaysian Indians through a “new” perspective; compared to how Malaysian Indians have been – and are being – portrayed in Bahasa Malaysia literature.
Non-Malaysians who are interested to get a softcopy of “Nayagi, Mistress of Destiny” (not in full), please contact me at uthayasb@yahoo.com.my so I could e-mail you a copy.