Shaking the Tail feathers...

I have been working on some translations for center for micro finance, and was so thrilled to discover various aspects that are involved when working with a translation from English to Telugu.

First off it is a survey that requires a lot of research on the terms, and second off the names that involve the translation are of some really interesting people working in the field, like Rachel Glennerster.

My previous work of translation involved Telugu to English and that was easy as I could just use my own net-book to work, but Telugu meant finding a reliable DTP person, Of which I had zero knowledge as to how it worked, So I finished translating a 80+30 page translation and took my piece of translation to a DTP guy after asking a friend where to find them. I though it would take an hour to type the Document out in Telugu, so I tell my client, That the document will be submitted that evening.

I go away happily having lunch with my mom and gala-wanting. I go at the time the document was promised to be DTP'ed and delivered... and what I see there is a HORROR, Just a single page done and the cursor was blinking at me. I ask him about what he can actually deliver and he says "Tomorrow come and get it by 12 30" A HUGE doubt packed with an apprehension takes over me and I call my client and tell her that I need more time.

Next day with a new hope I get to the DTP at 11 30, hoping to see him do my last pages... BUT what I see there instead is HORROR number 2, The DTP bacha (kid) was not there and the owner of the shop sipping on his tea and gives me a look that read "what the hell are you doing here"... and says to me "BUT you were not supposed to be here until 12 30 nah" ? I knew that the document was not done, I knew that.

I go and find an other guy... He looked like he knew what he was talking about and I asked him how long it might take and he says It will take a day. So after taking more time with my client I go back home. Next morning I call the DTP man and He asks me to come by 4pm and I convey same message to Client. I go at 4pm, and HORROR number 3 was waiting for me there... THE Guy there lost my translation that I wrote down in Telugu. I didn't know what to do... I was IN SUCH a STATE That I didn't even yell at the GUY, I just walked off from there to find an other DTP Guy, and Show him my translation that I did, Telugu written in Roman script.(Thank god I have Ashwin to caution me with work related concerns) My DTP man number 3 doesn't read English, So he asks me to write all that down in Telugu... And I think oh Cool I'll take a print out of the document and write telugu right below and TO MY HORROR Number 4 The site through which I received the document "yousendit.com" keeps the doc only for 7 days and after which it discards the document... So had to go get the document again from the client, I go there, get the document on my hard disk and go to the DTP and viola he starts off his work at 4... very deft and knows Telugu pretty well, working on page maker... I heaved a sigh of relief thinking I found a really good guy, So he was working with a dexterity that the other 3 DTP guys didn't have. So I tell him that I'll go and be back by when he would be finished. I tell him how urgently I needed this work, And he nods, and says you come back tomorrow morning at 9.

20 pages in hand, and Happy to deliver at least something... I go with a swing in my step.... BUT little I knew that there were copies wedding invitation in between. I discover that only the next morning and freak out flip out and Go to the DTP guy number 4 after regaining consciousness from my Horror number 5. I get there and see that my DTP guys office was still not open, BUT he said 9 o clock :(

I ask my friend and class mate from Asa bhanu Japanese center to come and help me by giving me moral support. My Class mate and friend Karthik San gets there at 10 30 but the DTP guy was still no where to be seen, I try calling him, he doesn't take my calls, I just didn't know what was happening. So I go back home around 1, and I get a call from the DTP man, asking me to pay him for 20 pages... WTH ??? I go there and show him the 20 pages that he copied and he says "that was a mistake I'll correct it" and he takes his time with the work, because this man is into shares, he just is too busy until 3 30 everyday checking what is happening in the stock market. I didn't think I could let him waste anymore time than we/he already wasted... I ask him to suggest any of his friends who would like to do this work, he suggests his friend Raju... Who lives further inside... I observed that the more interior I went the cheaper the prices got, from 65 to 50 to 45.

I went looking for Raju, he was not there and I see a board right beside that said Pragathi DTP and Printers... a small place that smells so strongly of paint, and there is a huge dog tied up inside. Nagnath a gutka chewing super skinny owner looked pretty reliable and I just thought if my insticnt lets me down this time I'll never ever trust it again, so I decided to give some work to this guy and see how he fares, He as promised finished the 2 pages I gave in 4 hours, and in the mean time Raju had come too, so I had this brilliant Idea, that I should just give Raju some papers too... So I gave Raju 2 papers and he did them fast enough, I felt some semblance of movement, one day 4 pages felt like an achievement.

20 pages done so far, proof read and was used for training. More pages to go...

In all This I have seen how our guys operate, they are not bad people, but they are people with highly bad dicsiples, they live always off schedules. and Almost always never keep up the time they promise. I can't correct it anyway so I feel I have no right to crib so much about it. Yet I couldn't help ranting. I had to vent out my frustration somewhere.