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conduct," Manish Sharma, Chairman, Akshar Travels and Election Tourism India said.

"This year we have almost 1,600 confirmed bookings and are targeting approximately 10,000 tourists from across the world. The packages are designed to answer all the curiosity and amusement of the visitors regarding the world's largest democracy, its electoral procedure."

The package which is spread across seven days and six nights with a cost of $500 (Rs 35,000) without airfare, will take tourists to political rallies and show them local attractions at the same time.

Dipak Deva, Managing Director, Thomas Cook India said, "If a client wants to see something of it while he or she is here, we certainly take them to a rally and explain the background and the processes. I don't think foreign tourists are interested in travelling specially for witnessing elections in India."

The first phase of the 2019 general elections will be held on April 11. Ninetyone Lok Sabha constituencies from 20 states will vote on that day.The elections will be held over seven phases from April 11 to May 19, and the results will be declared on May 23.

Voters feel ‘India is progressing’

Majority of voters across social barriers feel

An undying demand for Indian masters was seen yet again at Mumbai auction house AstaGuru’s sale in end March.

(From left) V.S. Gaitonde’s Untitled (1963) fetched

Rs 9.6 crore; Ganesh Pyne's Raktakarabi, (1957) based on a similarly titled play by Rabindranath Tagore fetched Rs 2.4 crore, and FN Souza’s Last Howl

From the Cross (1963) fetched Rs 4.6 crore Photo: IANS that India is moving forward and their lives too, most are optimistic about the future as they believe their living standards will improve in the next one year. According to the latest findings of CVOTER-IANS poll tracker 2019, 73.2 per cent of government servants, 65 per cent of the unemployed and 63.3 per cent of self-employed among the respondents felt satisfied with the situation in the country.

When asked if they expected living standard to go up in the next 12 months, 63 per cent of unemployed, 45.9 per cent of housewives, 61.5 per cent of those involved with fishery, 65.2 per cent of government servants said "yes".

Those with negative outlook was less across the same sections.

Only 4.3 per cent of unemployed, 7.9 per cent of housewives, 5.7 per cent of land owning farmers said that could not say much about today's India.

The number of respondents who said that their living standard would deteriorate over the next one year was around 10 per cent or less across various categories. Those who said that both the country and their lives were in poor state remained less than 20 per cent across all sections.

Now, Hindi innings for French bestseller Asterix comics

Launched in 1959, the French comic classic Asterix boasts having sold an unmatched 370 million copies in more than 100 languages. After capturing the global comics market, the series is now available for Hindi readers - after five years of painstaking translation.

The Hindi translation of the first four albums of the Asterix series was released recently by French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler, who called the comics' total of 33 albums "a monument of French pop culture" and "opportunity to learn not French, but about the French (people)."

The series follows the adventures of a group of Gallic villagers as they resist Roman occupation in 50 BCE. It was originally written by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo.

Published by Om Books International, the "albums", as they are called, were cotranslated by Dipa Chaudhuri and Puneet Gupta beginning from 2014. Sharing that translating each album took at least 6-8 months, the task was "not merely a word-toword translation".

"There are so many cultural references. You have to find equivalent Hindi words, terminology, proverbs, jokes, songs. There is Latin used as well," Gupta, who also translated The Adventures of Tintin, said.

Explained his French-speaking cotranslator Chaudhuri, "There was a huge translator's block when we started. It wasn't just any translation. These were graphic novels and the graphic form imposes a lot of restrictions as to how you can translate.”

“Besides finding the right word, we had to find the right length, because there were speech bubbles. The Hindi script practically is much longer than the French. There are matras on the top, side and bottom, whereas in French they are only on top. We couldn't be waffling with the translation," Chaudhuri added.

What the translators also has to be mindful of is that each language has its own aural space and one size does not fit all.

"While you'd hit a person with a 'Paff' in French, it'll be 'Bang' in English and 'Thak' in Hindi," Gupta explained, adding that they identified 100 sounds in four of the 33 albums.

The French equivalent of the India's iconic Chacha Chaudhary comics or Amar Chitra Katha, Asterix is a journey into French mindsets and is widely translated and adapted into animated films, video games, live action films, and even theme parks.

The translators shared an interesting anecdote while preparing the Hindi comic."They've used the (military) terms decurion and centurion. We couldn't have used 'major' or 'colonel'. So we had to come up with 'dashpati' and 'shatpati' for commanders of 10 and 100 soldiers," Gupta said.

"We called up people in the armed forces and asked them how they'd say this."

Asked if they came across similarities between the Indo-French cultures, Chaudhari said that while there are culturally distinct experiences, human experiences remain the same."We talk of warfare, historical hostilities, cultural chauvinism. The comic has strategies, cultural superiority and talking down to the Germanic tribes or Romans. This kind of a comic has a universal resonance.

Added Gupta, "Human emotions of fear, hatred, faith, satire and greed transcend time and culture. All these emotions are depicted here and one can correlate."

The translation rights were acquired by publisher Ajay Mago from the French Hachette Livre after over five years of negotiations. The first four albums are priced at Rs 295 and are available online at Amazon and Flipkart, as also offline.

Vote out hate politics, Indian writers, artistes appeal

Over 200 writers and artistes including Arundhati Roy, Girish Karnad, Keki Daruwalla, T.M. Krishna, and Nayantara Sahgal appealed to citizens to vote against hate politics and for an equal and diverse India.

In the appeal issued on Indian Cultural Forum, the 210 signatories said that the last few years saw "citizens being lynched or assaulted or discriminated against because of their community, caste, gender, or the region they come from".

"Hate politics has been used to divide the country; create fear; and exclude more and more people from living as full-fledged citizens. Writers, artists, filmmakers, musicians and other cultural practitioners have been hounded, intimidated, and censored.

"Anyone who questions the powersthat-be is in danger of being harassed or arrested on false and ridiculous charges," they said in the appeal.

Terming voting out "hate politics, division of our people, inequality, violence, intimidation and censorship" as the critical first step, the writer-artiste community said that it was the only way we can vote for an India that renews the promises made by the Constitution.

"We don't want rationalists, writers and activists to be hounded or assassinated. We want stern measures against violence in word or deed against women, Dalits, Adivasis and minority communities.

"We want resources and measures for jobs, education, research, healthcare and equal opportunities for all. Most of all, we want to safeguard our diversity and let democracy flourish," the appeal added.

The appeal has also been signed by prominent names like Amitav Ghosh,

Vajpeyi. It has been issued in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bangla, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu.

Changes in UAE visa to benefit Indian expats' kin too

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced new visa guidelines as per which family members of foreign citizens, including Indians, working in the country will now be able to get an "expat visa" if the working relative fulfils an income criteria.

The UAE Cabinet recently adopted a decision to amend provisions of the resolution on sponsoring of foreign workers to their families in the country, WAM news agency reported.

According to a statement by the General Secretariat of the Cabinet, the amended provisions now indicate "income" as a requirement for sponsoring family members, as opposed to the previously listed "professions" which allowed workers to sponsor their families.

The amendment was in line with international developments and accordance with best practices, it said."The decision aims at enhancing family stability of foreign workers and social cohesion, as well as attracting highly skilled workers while maintaining a healthy balance between professional and personal life," the statement added.

The Cabinet decision, according to the statement, called on relevant government entities to conduct studies to assess and enhance the services provided to residents, including aspects of education and health, and encourage the active participation of their family member in the job market as an alternative to recruiting new workers from abroad, within the existing policies and regulations.

Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation Nasir Bin Thani Al Hamli said that the Cabinet amendments will undoubtedly strengthen family ties of workers, reflect positively on the labour market, boost productivity and support the national economy.

IANS all need a bit in our lives! the Indian Link Radio family, as NAIKARAPARAMBIL

BY HAMSA VENKAT

The essence of Bharathanatyam is its inherent spirituality and though on the surface level, most people are taken in by the sheer beauty and glamour of the artform, it takes a deep sense of commitment to understand its core values. In her journey towards understanding this, Yasheeka Patel took her first few steps as she ascended the stage in March this year, performing her arangetram (debut performance) at UNSW’s Science Theatre.

Yasheeka’s tryst with dance started at the age of five. She recounts, “My parents enrolled me in folk dancing and a year later, under the guidance of Aunty Savithri, I became a student of Bharatanatyam at the Vadhini Indian Arts Academy in Cape Town, South Africa.” aspiring allied health professional, Yasheeka is currently in her second year, studying a Bachelor of

Naidoo also addressed the gathering as guest of honour that evening.