the missing tuppence

Translation of a song by Kabir Sumon:

sometimes a time is due
when this life smirks at you
like ten pennies found lying on the way
after many a long nights
a vacation is in sight
hope to find the missing two someday

hope is my life at home
hope fills my purse alone
that familiar shilling I lost somewhere
can’t keep track of spends
gains and losses all blend
the day’s gone by as dusk arrives here

evening will take it all
wipe clean off the wall
darkness still got all its frontiers at play
frontiers I’ll go beyond
with songs of life I bond
hope to find the missing two someday

The original transliterated in roman script

kokhono somoy aasey
jibon muchki haasey.
theek jayno pore paoya choddo ana
onek diner por
miley jaabey obosor
aasha rakhi peye jabo baaki du ana

asha niye ghor kori
ashaye pocket bhori
porey gechhey kon faakey chena aadhuli
hisheb melano bhar
aaye bayey ekakaar..
choley gelo saara din elo godhuli

sondhey nebey lootey
onek ta chetey pootey
ondhokareyr tobu achhey simana
simana perotey chai
jiboner gaan gai
aasha rakhi peye jabo baki du ana

White Nights

In the darkest hours of the night
the moon serene in its snowy light
and dreams in their thousand hues
like butterflies in their flight

i snooze and mull over the day
what I got and what passed away
where did those passions sway
like that splendid sunset sight

i wonder now which path to take,
which lawns to mow and leaves to rake,
which smile is true and which is fake
and the bell which ends the fight

the spots of yellow on the roads
the daffodils and the purple odes
clouds in their heavenly abodes
tell thousand tales of delight

i wait and wonder where to start
the new life of a newer heart
and dream and love till we part
from this kingdom of the night

Ganer Gunto - Sukumar Ray - Translation

In the summer heat all upbeat with his song, Mister Sharma
His booming tone is looming loud from Dilli to Burma
He sings without a worry, he sings with all his might
Throbbing heads in awful dread mobs take a flight
Some succumb to their wounds, some are ill at ease
Some scream in agony, “This singing should just cease!”
Loose from their nooses, cows and horses fall dead still
Mister Sharma unawares sings louder with more zeal
Poor beasts on the streets swoon and faint in a wreck
On their tails grimly wail in madness “What the heck!”
The ones in the seas quietly stay hidden in the deep
The ones on trees get no lease, keep falling in a heap
The birds caught in a whirlwind do somersaults in air
Everyone cry in pain, “Please stop this singing dear!”
The song makes the heavens tremble, the lands break in two
Sharma sings with all his zest and not a bit of rue
There was one batty buck, but quite an ace I’d say
He butted with his horns Sharma’s bum out of the way
That was it, in a jiffy all the singing simply stopped
‘Omigosh’ was all he said before Sharma plopped.

Sukumar Ray’s Tuki Taki

মাসি গো মাসি পাচ্ছে হাসি
নিম গাছেতে হচ্ছে শিম
হাতির মাথায়ে ব্যাঙ্গের ছাতা
কাগের বাসায় বগের ডিম

Oh aunty, my aunty, such funny things I see
Kidney-beans are dangling from the Neem tree
Mammoths for brollies have toadstools there
And storks lay their eggs in the raven’s lair

বলব কি ভাই হুগলি গেলুম
বলছি তোমায় চুপি চুপি
দেখতে পেলাম তিনটে শুঁওর
মাথায় তাদের নেইকো টুপি!

What can I say, I was in Hooghly for a trip
I’ll share this little secret, don’t you let it slip
I saw three pigs, on the sidewalk they sat
But oh! Not a single one did wear a hat!

Biroso Din, Birolo Kaaj

A translation from the song by Robithakur..... (The original in Bangla follows)

This dismal day, idling away,
Like a rebellious spate
You arrive amore, arrive today
In what glorious gait!

Lone and lazy I lay here
In a quiet corner of my lair
You tore the door, unaware
Hey, invincible mate!
You arrive amore, arrive today
In what glorious gait!

Shadows caress blooming lawns
The skies are overcast
The great river gaily fawns
The Lord’s mopped mast

The roads are cleared in a jolt
As your victory chariots volt
Your eyes like thunderbolt
An enthralled infatuate
You arrive amore, arrive today
In what glorious gait!

Original Bangla:

বিরস দিন বিরল কাজ, প্রবল বিদ্রোহে
এসেছ প্রেম, এসেছ আজ কী মহা সমারোহে॥

একেলা রই অলসমন, নীরব এই ভবনকোণ,
ভাঙিলে দ্বার কোন্ সে ক্ষণ অপরাজিত ওহে॥
এসেছ প্রেম, এসেছ আজ কী মহা সমারোহে॥

কানন-'পরছায়া বুলায়, ঘনায় ঘনঘটা।
গঙ্গা যেন হেসে দুলায় ধূর্জটির জটা।

যেথা যে রয় ছাড়িল পথ, ছুটালে ওই বিজয়রথ,
আঁখি তোমার তড়িতবৎ ঘনঘুমের মোহে॥
এসেছ প্রেম, এসেছ আজ কী মহা সমারোহে॥

encounter with eternity

Wordless whispers echoing loud
Crying hearts and minds so proud
Eternity thrust into a room
Small, dark and full of gloom
Spiders crawling everywhere
Eyeing with their terrifying stare
And there you are left alone to die
No one to help or hear your cry
You become mad day by day
As solitude tears your mind away
You shout and pull at your hair
You confess and you never dare
Isolation eats at your heart
Bit by bit it’s torn apart
You try to rise, but stumble and fall
A hissing laughter shakes the wall
A shiver runs down your spine
Your lips are dry but you get no wine
You know in some corner there
Waits a well, its opening bare
Somewhere the ticking of a clock
Tells the time with a steady shock
Terrified, you reach for the door
But slip and fall on the oily floor
You catch the smell of dried blood
You bury your face in the mud
Someone pulls at your leg
You open your mouth in vain to beg
In the room you suffocate
But even death seems to wait
You cannot eat, you cannot sleep
You cannot laugh, you cannot weep
No one listens as you pray
Your flesh slowly rots away
The blood dries in your vein
Solitude eats up your brain
You long for death and yet you live
You want to take but have to give
The open pit beckons you
You want to escape into the blue
The clock goes on ticking time
As you struggle in the slime
You crawl ahead on the floor
Among the spiders you explore
Suddenly the door opens apart
With renewed hope and joy you start
Splash into the pit you fall
One more spider adds to the wall

Basillica Cistern, Istanbul

In the heart of Istanbul’s historic district, Sultanahmet, lies a hidden historic treasure that takes a while to find and reach, but strikes you with awe so hard, that it might take a lifetime to get over it.

We had been in the ‘city of two continents’ for quite a few days and had walked the streets and alleyways of Sultanahmet to its entirety, when we read about the Basilica Cistern in one of the travel handbooks. The name really doesn’t reveal much of what it could be about. Is it an erstwhile underground church? Is it a cave where people from some bygone era worshipped? We wondered as we wandered the streets, when suddenly our eyes caught the signage heralding the location of the Basilica Cistern, right across the Aya Sofya, off the Divan Yolu Caddesi, one of the oldest streets of the city.


20 TL (Turkish Lira) tickets and some forty steps down a dark, winding, narrow staircase suddenly lead us into a vast subterranean expanse that was simply unbelievable at first sight. How could anyone ever imagine, right under the belly of a bustling city can exist such a place?


We learnt that this place, called the Basilica Cistern or the Yerebatan Sarayi (Sunken Palace), was only an underground water storage tank that received water through the Roman aqueducts from higher grounds, and supplied water to the Byzantine palaces in Constantinople of the middle ages.


Only a water tank it was, but the grandeur, the detailing, the architecture was simply mind-blowing, to say the least. Built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, it is a forest of marble pillars, 336 in all, arranged in a regular sixteen feet grid stands 30 feet tall, mounted by masonry cross vaults to support the roof.


This forest of marble pillars, lit by a fantastic red haunting light from below, and standing on a feet deep pool of water creates an eerie, yet fascinating atmosphere, that can only be felt to be appreciated. Wooden decks meandering through the pillars have been created over the pool to take visitors into the depths of the cistern. Fish of varying sizes swarm the pool as you notice them in the dimly lit water. One corner reveals coins thrown in the water – a wishing well of sorts. As we tread along, we gently stroke the strange but beautiful carvings on the marble, and wonder why would anybody take so much pain to carve a pillar that would be submerged in water forever?


When we reach the end of the decked passage, taking in the oddity of the space, and trying to dodge dripping water from the vaults above, we are in for a massive surprise. There, right at the corner of the cistern, stand two pillars on large sculpted pedestals – two beautifully carved marble heads of Medusa – one lying on its side, and the other upside down! How, when, why they happened to be there, no one knows. But there they lay, bearing the burden of the massive pillars and the vaulted roof of the cistern for centuries. Medusa discovered under the streets of Istanbul – in the Basilica Cistern.

The Neighbour Hood Park - A translation of a song by Kabir Suman

The Neighbourhood Park
Clothes dry on rails, cakes dry on the wall
The grass has just dried off and is not there at all
The neighbourhood park, grass-less and dry
The children who play there will never ask why
The wood in the benches is weathered all over
Time comes and sits there like a forsaken lover
The wood in the benches is weathered all over
Time comes and sits there like a lone Chaplin cover
The neighbourhood park, grass-less and dry
The children who play there will never ask why
Those people near the gate lighting fire for food
Near the wall many homeless try make a livelihood
A lone tube well stands rusted a few steps away
As water keeps running out to join the fading day
Only a few forlorn trees keep their heads held high
And yet in that drought the sparrow wants to fly
The neighbourhood park, grass-less and dry
The children who play there will never ask why
The pale deathly trees with their dust ashen leaves
Time feels like tired and folds its own sleeves
The neighbourhood park, grass-less and dry
The children who play there will never ask why
There’s a broken bulb in that lamp post out there
The girls play their games in the lamp’s little sphere
The lamp post too joins with the girls in their fun
A clueless kite stuck to it flutters in the sun
As the day settles, children swarm the place
That boy gets up to dust the dirt off his dress
The little homeless girl too joins in the fun
Children preach equality in the grey grassless run
The neighbourhood park, grass-less and dry
The children who play there will never ask why
The original:
পাড়ার ছোট্ট পার্ক
রেলিঙ্গে শুকোয় শাড়ি পাঁচিলে শুকোয় ঘুটে
রেলিঙ্গে শুকোয় শাড়ি পাঁচিলে শুকোয় ঘুটে
ঘাস গুলো সব শুকিয়ে শুকিয়ে শেষ মেষ গেছে উঠে
পাড়ার ছোট্ট পার্ক ঘাস নেই আছে ধুলো
ঘাসের অভাব পরওয়া করেনা সবুজ বাচ্চা গুলো
বেঞ্ছি গুলোর কাঠ রোদে পুড়ে জলে ভিজে
বেঞ্ছি গুলোর কাঠ রোদে পুড়ে জলে ভিজে
সমকাল এসে বসেছে সেখানে আহত প্রেমিক সেজে
বেঞ্ছি গুলোর কাঠ রোদে পুড়ে জলে ভিজে
বেঞ্ছি গুলোর কাঠ রোদে পুড়ে জলে ভিজে
সমকাল এসে বসেছে সেখানে একা চ্যাপলিন সেজে
পাড়ার ছোট্ট পার্ক ঘাস নেই আছে ধুলো
ঘাসের অভাব পরওয়া করেনা সবুজ বাচ্চা গুলো
লোহার গেটের পাশে উনুন ধরায় কারা
লোহার গেটের পাশে উনুন ধরায় কারা
রেলিং ঘেষে সংসার করে কজন বাস্তুহারা
একটু দূরেই আছে ক্যাঁচক্যাঁচে টিপকল
একটু দূরেই আছে ক্যাঁচক্যাঁচে টিপকল
পরন্ত বেলা বালতিকে বলে চল রে জল কে চল
এদিক ওদিক দেখ কিছু গাছ আছে বাকি
এদিক ওদিক দেখ কিছু গাছ আছে বাকি
এই আকালেও আনাগোনা করে নাছোড়বান্দা পাখি
পাড়ার ছোট্ট পার্ক ঘাস নেই আছে ধুলো
ঘাসের অভাব পরওয়া করেনা সবুজ বাচ্চা গুলো
বিবর্ণ গাছগুলো
বিবর্ণ গাছগুলো ধুলোয় ধূসর পাতা
বিবর্ণ গাছগুলো ধুলোয় ধূসর পাতা
বেগতিক দেখে ক্লান্ত সময় গোটায় জামার হাতা
পাড়ার ছোট্ট পার্ক ঘাস নেই আছে ধুলো
ঘাসের অভাব পরওয়া করেনা সবুজ বাচ্চা গুলো
ল্যাম্পোস্টের বাল্ব গুলতির ঢিলে ভাঙ্গা
ল্যাম্পোস্টের বাল্ব গুলতির ঢিলে ভাঙ্গা
এটাকে ঘিরেই খেলছে মেয়েরা খেলছে কুমির ডাঙ্গা
চোর-চোর খেলা হলে ল্যাম্পোস্ট হয় বুড়ি
ভাদ্দুরে রোদে এটাই হাতায় নিরুদ্দিষ্ট ঘুড়ি
বিকেল বেলার রোদে বাচ্চার ভিড় বারে
বিকেল বেলার রোদে বাচ্চার ভিড় বারে
খেলতে খেলতে পড়ে যাওয়া ছেলে প্যান্টের ধুলো ঝাড়ে
বাস্তুহারারও খুকি মেটায় খেলার সাধ
বাস্তুহারারও খুকি মেটায় খেলার সাধ
ঘাস উঠে যাওয়া ধূসর পার্কে শিশুর সাম্যবাদ
পাড়ার ছোট্ট পার্ক ঘাস নেই আছে ধুলো
ঘাসের অভাব পরওয়া করেনা সবুজ বাচ্চা গুলোসবুজ বাচ্চা গুলো

Land Ahoy

Distances far and as remote
Getting further away
The dots that sailed the purple seas
Grew fainter everyday
The wind stilled and the water calmed
The storm was brewing strength
To put the soul in a bout of pain
To stretch to any length
Yet the tiring feet set firm
On a creaking cowering deck
Under a yellow scorching sun
Waiting for the wreck
Eyes stared at a glaring sky
Blank, hopeless, lost
Waiting, for the war of life
To fight at any cost
And win perhaps, or lose
Yet be alive till the end
Destiny challenged one more time
Fate forced to bend
The waves will rise, the storm arise
The seas will let its wrath
On the sailor armed with composed calm
Undeterred in his path
Letting go a lovely tune
Across the rolling blue
A song of love for eternity
In a crimson hue
Whistling through those moments hung
Floating into ears
Waiting for endless nights
Through silent cherished tears……

Wah Taj!