‘Anxiety’ of an English Translator!

Abstract

I have been translating into English for some time now. One of the main reasons is that I know only my mother tongue, Telugu, and English. Should I then not translate into English at all, knowing fully well that English has 'power' over all other languages? How do I negotiate these 'anxieties'-not to let English have a stranglehold and the desire to take a text that I consider significant in understanding the multiple dimensions of the concept of the 'nation'? My 'anxiety' is also that of an English teacher who teaches "Indian Writing in English". How long am I to rest content with the narration of the nation that the privileged speakers of English in India (I do not exclude myself from this group) provide to the world? My paper attempts to grapple with these 'anxieties' and 'desires' from the perspective of a translator, a reader and an academic.