Veteran Sinologist Janaki Ballabh passes away in Beijing

Veteran Sinologist Janaki Ballabh the first Indian to have been granted long-term residency in China along with his wife. Ballabh translated the first volume of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book 'The Governance of China' and completed the translation of its second volume at the age of 90.

Beijing:Veteran Sinologist Janaki Ballabh, the first Indian to have been granted long-term residency in China along with his wife, has passed away due to age-related health problems, his family said here on Saturday. Ballabh passed away in Beijing on Friday aged 94. He is survived by two sons -- Akhil Dalakoti, a shipping executive in Singapore; and Atul Dalakoti, Executive Director of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in China.

Ballabh was married to Shayma Ballabh, who worked as the first Hindi announcer at Radio Beijing decades ago. She also translated a number of Chinese children's books into Hindi. Shyama passed away in 2014 in Beijing. Born in Dalakot village in Almora in Uttarakhand, Ballabh was closely associated with India's independence movement.

On completing post-graduation in Hindi from Delhi University, Ballabh went to China as a Hindi language expert in 1956 which opened up his prolonged association with the country, his son Atul said. During his varied stints in China, Ballabh translated the Communist Party of China (CPC) founder Mao Zedong's 'Selected Works'; the Chinese classic novel 'Journey to the West'; works of prominent Chinese writer, essayist, poet and literary critic Lu Xun; and many other important Chinese literary works into Hindi which were circulated widely in India, according to his family.

In recent times, Ballabh translated the first volume of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book 'The Governance of China' and completed the translation of its second volume at the age of 90. In 1961, he was given the Peace and Friendship Award by the then-Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Ballabh was also the first Indian to have been given long-term residency in China along with his wife.

After arriving in China in 1956 at the age of 28 as a Hindi language expert, Ballabh spent five years in Beijing working for Foreign Languages Press and stayed put in the country until 1961. He returned to India ahead of the India-China war in 1962 and worked for various Indian publications, including 'Veer Arjun', 'Sainik Samachar', 'New Age' (the Communist Party of India's official publication), and later at the Information and Cultural office of the Chinese Embassy from 1963-77.

He returned to China in 1982 and worked for the Foreign Language Press (Beijing) and Radio China. Ballabh went back to India after suffering a massive heart attack and later returned to Beijing after recovery to live with his son Atul. (PTI)