Rhymes of Whimsy - Abol Tabol Dual-Language Edition

Close on the heels of the original Rhymes of Whimsy – The Complete Abol Tabol, follows, by popular demand, this dual-language edition with side by side Bengali originals and their English translations. Formatted to enable effortless at-a-glance comparison of each original line with its English translation, this edition offers twice the enjoyment, twice the fun, and is a fabulous learning tool for children.

Abol Tabol is a collection of fifty-three children’s poems by late author Sukumar Ray, whose nonsense verse has been compared by scholars to the likes of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. For the first time in more than one hundred years since the publication of the earliest poems in 1915, comes an English translation of the complete collection. Preserving every single rollicking rhyme, and maintaining the exact same cadences as in the originals, Niladri Roy’s translation is a superbly line-accurate rendering of every poem in Abol Tabol, that amazingly manages to read as if the poems had originally been penned in the English language to begin with. Each translated poem evokes immediate nostalgia of the original in both rhyme and rhythm.

A must-read for enthusiasts of humorous nonsense verse, as well as for academicians and students engaged in comparative literature, South Asian literature and translation studies.

Praise for Rhymes of Whimsy from verified purchasers of the original all-English edition:

• “Wonderful translation. Preserves the original flavor of Abol Tabol.
• “A+ job in translating the original rhymes to English while retaining the excitement, feelings and fun.”
• “The translator has done a fantastic job by keeping the rhyme exactly the way as it is in the Bengali verse. A brilliant piece of work.”
• “Maintains meter and flavor with ease, without compromising meaning.”
• “The poems read very well and do not appear forced, as some translations do.”
• “The essence, the fun, the magic, the rhymes - have all been carefully cultivated.”

Sukumar Ray was a noted Bengali poet, writer and playwright. The translator, Niladri Roy, is a full-time practicing engineer who, in addition to translating this timeless work, also applied his considerable analytical skills and knowledge of history to uncover hitherto undiscovered messaging hidden in Ray's poems.