The year is 2016. And by Toutatis, Asterix is now Gaulwasi Astérix.
The adventures of the famous, fearless warrior and his village of indomitable Gauls will now be available in Hindi, with the first volume of the series -- Astérix, Le Gaulois -- released for sale. More volumes are expected to follow.
"In my childhood, Asterix enjoyed the pride of place next to the leading international and Indian comic characters on the bookshelves at home, and in most households and libraries that I was aware of," said Ajay Mago of Om Books International, the publisher which has undertaken the project. "I was determined to see Asterix and his changing constellation in each adventure enter the world of Hindi."
The French comics, which were originally written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Alberto Aleandro Uderzo, have been jointly translated in Hindi by Puneet Gupta, an advertising professional who also translated the popular Tintin comics for Om Books earlier, and Dipa Chaudhuri, a publishing professional with an M.Phil in French Literature from Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7.