Frozen Moments

About the Book

This book contains poems in six languages. Part I is in English and Part II, with a special title "My Beautiful Mistakes" is in Japanese, French, German, Hindi and Tamil. These were written when Uma was still a student and it is those "carefully preserved" mistakes in grammar that make them special and delightful to the reader. There is a small note at the beginning of each poem, which describes the inspiring moment and also a picture which conveys the message of the poem. Some are small and some are long, but each one describes the moment in detail, giving the reader a complete experience and a great feeling of satisfaction before moving on to the next poem.

About the Author

Uma Balu is a writer and translator from Kerala, South India. She has a natural flair for languages and culture and has been working as trainer, translator and program designer for the past 10 years. Her favorite hobbies are pencil sketching, painting, bird-watching, chalk-carving, working on school/college projects relating to history, geography, culture and environment, meeting people from different parts of the world and different walks of life, writing stories/poetry, singing (various languages), etc. She has taken part in the South-Asian Translation Competition organised by KATHA, New Delhi and won the Best Translation Award for her entry “Home-coming” – a short story translated from Sri Lankan Tamil into English. She has also participated in the Shizuoka International Translation Competition in Japan. Two of her entries won awards in The Children’s Book Trust Competition, New Delhi. She was selected for the Outstanding Students’ Award Program by The Japan Foundation in 2002. Her translation of Walter Isaacson’s Exclusive Biography of Steve Jobs into Tamil is to be released shortly. She loves to share her thoughts and dreams and these find best expression in her writings.This is her first collection of poetry and she is currently working on a series of study materials for Indian students learning Asian languages. Another project under progress is a trilogy of classics in Tamil - Babur Nama, Humayun Nama and Akbar Nama. She is now active as a freelance language and culture professional. She has developed a novel concept, “Sahara Asia”, which focuses on Asian languages and cultures - especially Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Malay, Sinhala and Indian regional languages. Uma lives in Chennai with her family - mother Laxmi, husband Balu and sons Kujan, Dakshan.