Léirmheasanna: Baba-ji & TnaG (Coiscéím, 2005)

Léirmheasanna: Baba-Ji & TnaG (Coiscéim, 2005)

Tá cláracha taistil Mhanchán ar na cláracha is taitneamhaí ar TnG. Is do phearsantacht an láithreora/taistealaí féin an chreidiúint: bíonn sé sásta I gcónaí ligint don áit agus do dhaoine atá faoi agallamh teacht I láthair. Is breá an rud é an cur síos seo ar an tslí ar tháinig ann don chlár a bheith I gcló; tá an t-ómós don áit, don chultúr agus do na daoine a bhaineann leis san insint. Éireannach óg ag iarraidh teacht ar a chló féin san Ind faoin anáil chultúir agus fhealsúnacht an Oirthir a bhí ann go dtí go bhfuair sé an glaoch gutháin óna dheartháir a d’athraigh a saol. Tá stíl shainiúil, sheolta aige agus a shlí féin aige leis an nGaeilge a chur in oiriúint dá smaointe.”  

Siobhán Ní Fhoghlú, Books Ireland Oct 2005

  

Aistriúchán: Manchán’s travel programmes are some of the most enjoyable on TnaG. It’s to do with the personality of the presenter/traveller: he is always willing to allow the places and the people he meets take centre stage . . .. This is a marvellous account of how the programmes came to be made; there is honour for the place, the culture and the local people in the telling. A young Irish man trying to find himself in India under the breath of Eastern philosophy and culture.He has a distinctive easy style and a unique way of using language to express his inner thoughts. 
Siobhán Ní Fhoghlú, Books Ireland Oct 2005  (translated from Irish)

“D’éinne ar bith a léigh Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance  le Robert Pirsing nó On the Road le Jack Kerouac, caithfear spás a dhéanamh ar an tseilf do ‘chlasaiceach’ eile, mar atá Baba-Ji agus TnaG.

Bíonn go leor curtha I gcló I nGaeilge nach bhféadfadh an rud céanna a rá ina leith ach seo seoidín chugainn ó pheann fhear na hIarmhí gur fiú a léamh, arís is arís eile.

Tá gluaiseacht agus luas nach beag sa scéal seo ina gcuireann beirt dheartháireacha aithne ar a chéile arís i ndiaidh deich mbliana agus iad ag iarradh, ar bheagán acmhainne agus beagán taithí, clár taistil a dhéanamh do bhabaí úr na Gaeilge, TnaG.

Thaitin go leor liom faoin leabhar seo ach níl duine beo a d’fhéadfadh a rá nach ábhar mór suime é beirt Éireannach  ag iarradh cabhrach ó na ‘Hijra’, dram daoine ón triú hinscne Indiach. Pléann Manchán le mórcheisteanna agus mioncheisteanna cultúrtha, fealsúnacht agus daonnacht chomh maith le go leor eile atá I bhfad níos teibí.

Tá duais liteartha an Oireachtais do 2005 bainte amach ag an saothar seo agus é, i mo thuairimse, go huile is go hiomlán tuillte aige… Tá, ar ndóigh go leor elor cláir thaistil curtha I gcrích aige cheana agus iad ar aon dul le hobair leithéidí Michael Palin agus fiú, Alan Wicker, ach sa saothar scríofa seo, tá sé  i ndiaidh a thaispeáint gur údar den scoth é fosta.”

Jake Mac Siacais, Lá, 26 October 2005

For anyone who read Pirsing’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance  (by Robert Pirsing) or Kerouac’s On the Road, (by Jack Kerouac) room must now be made on the shelf for another classic, Baba-ji & TnaG. It is a jewel worth reading again and again. There is great momentum to the story of the two brothers who get to know each other again after ten years apart while making a travel series for the fledgling Irish channel, TnaG.

I enjoyed so many things about this book, but no one could say that the account of the two brothers being rescued by a group of Hijra, members of India’s third gender,  while hiding in a Christian chapel isn’t marvellous in itself. Manchán Magan examines the issues of culture, philosophy and human existence as well as some far more abstract notions.

The book won the 2005 Oireachtas literature prize - in my opinion well and truly deserved.  He has already made many travel documentaries which are on a par with those of Michael Palin and Alan Wicker, but with this book he has shown that he is also a first rate author. 

Jake Mac Siacais, Lá, 26 October 2005 (translated from Irish)