I Dig the Earth

Maati Khunre

Sthayee
I dig the earth and bury my mistakes;
Many, so many they are, alas!
Your eardrops, not a drop of water on them,
Rolled down and got lost in the grass.

I spent all day looking for them,
I and my deep-sea-diving mind.
Stolen hours
Earned by me, and no I still couldn’t find.
Sa-Ni-Dha-Pa-Ma

1) Switched on the sound of water stream
To forget unfinished tasks of many lives and just dream.
When did September get drenched?
When the Rangon flowers sway,
Hold aloft the kite-less sky
Let the colours play.
Sa-Ni-Dha-Pa-Ma


I dig the earth and bury my mistakes;
Many, so many they are, alas!
Your teddy bear, not touched by a drop of tear,
Rolled down and got lost in the grass.

2) Ancient chains shackled my feet again
As you sang your setting sun refrain.
Your song made me realize
Our experiences are kind of amphibian.
Paper boats and history notes
The answers, at last I found them.
Sa-Ni-Dha-Pa-Ma

I dig the earth and bury my mistakes;
Many, so many they are, alas!
Your eardrops, not a drop of water on them,
Rolled down and got lost in the grass.

English Transaltions by Utkal Mohanty

Mandar Bose

Mandar Bose

Verse 1 :
Past the lanes and alleys, a seven-storeyed house.
The roads empty, no cars plying.
Mandar Bose* is out on the streets.
Verse 2 :
Moving around street corners,
Searching for Mr. Hazra at Hazra Cross
Whom he of course has known for years.
Pre-chorus
No one can stop him,
No, not even you Felu Mitter..
Chorus
Mandar Bose…no one can touch him.
Mandar Bose …he won’t die ever again.

Verse 3 :
Mandar doesn’t die so easily
He has known fear, but it’s short-lived
Now his eyes burn with fire of vengeance
Verse 4:
Mandar knows no one loves Mandar
And he doesn’t give a damn.
This Brazilian scorpion wants to win and he will.

* a villain from Satyajit Ray’s Feluda stories
English Translation by Utkal Mohanty

Laze

Aloshyo

Verse 1 :
Summer mornings
When the breeze ripples the curtains
When sleep has not left my bed
Lies deeply caressing my eyes,
Those very mornings, the wind does shimmer, the wind.

Pre-chorus :
The mind stirs to the touch of an unknown emotion
Ready to sail across the sky as cottonballs

Chorus :
Let your apron be spread, I yearn for it
Don’t you shut your eyes, I’m almost there
There is still a lot of time in hand.

Verse 2:
In the secret alleys of my mind
Even now that vagabond, makes a quick disappearance,
His eyes fixed on the kite trailing without its anchoring thread,
Those depths of my mind
Your feeling-tipped fingers
Have not plumbed, have not.

Pre-chorus :
The mind stirs to the touch of an unknown emotion
Ready to sail across the sky as cottonballs

Chorus : Let your apron be spread, I yearn for it
Don’t you shut your eyes, I’m almost there
There is still a lot of time in hand.

English Translations by Sangeeta Ghoshal

Absent-minded

Anyamon

Verse 1
Days coated in dust, sand,
Threadless kites floating away in the sky -
Pedestrian joy descending like parachute,
all of a sudden – its that sinking feeling

Pre-chorus :
Yet spring will not return,
No bleakness can touch it, only warmth.

Chorus :
The city bathes in moonlight,
Winter breeze keeps blowing on
Life walks along wet paths
The poet goes absent-minded.
Fingers turn to icicles,
in frozen touch with a few words,
Life is wary of this icy route,
The poet goes absent-minded.

Verse 2 :
The mini bus definitely arrives at the stop,
No tremor is felt anymore
The sunlight knows, hazily though,
The winter breeze, of course, will never understand

Pre-chorus :
This afternoon, evening, will never merge
The balloon will take just that much time to float away.

English Translations by Sangeeta Ghoshal

Electric Light

Bijli Baati

Sthayee 1 :
At day’s end the lamp comes to life
my pen sketches out a story
Cacophonous with your sounds,
On the floor the ants lay a feast

Antara 1 :
Out there, in the living room
TV screen doles out processed readymades
Chinese ambassador rants deliriously
Antique ghosts inhale blobs of fire

Sthayee 2 :
Dust gathers on my bookshelf
Words know not the right way
and realize they are lost,
A touch on your forehead,
If there is a sudden knock on the door, do open

Antara 2 :
Footsteps fall lightly, floating staircase holds your song
Spoon is busy quantifying sugar
From the wall, reluctantly, hangs my feelings.

English Translations by Sangeeta Ghoshal

Tistaan II

Tistaan II
1)
With five rupees starts my day,
with sixteen it ends;
Three rupees will buy me freedom,
And then I take off.

Pre-Chorus
Why did you then stretch out your arms?
And why so quiet now?
What made you light the lamps?
Now it’s only burnt incense
You are altogether a different entity now.

Chorus
As for me, almost insane,
gotten used to poisoning myself everyday,
These two empty hands clamour again
for Tistan… oh take me back
to Tistan.

2)
End of the month,
They’ll fill your pockets
Yet it is at these monthends
You feel completely empty within.

Pre-Chorus
When time traps you,
Your time doesn’t move
When it is needed most,
You’ll find none of it
Time would have deserted you by then.

3)
Why didn’t you cry when I said ‘I’m leaving?’
Made mistakes, why didn’t you stop me?
As long as you’re winning, everybody’s with you,
You lose once, no one is there beside you.

English Translations by Sangeeta Ghoshal

Forest Night

Aranyaraat - Forest Night

Verse 1

You keep thinking, the river goes flowing and I see
the forest stays awake all night
Fireflies blink, a few worms moonbathe
Your hair awash with dewdrops that also wet your eyelashes.
My Calcutta lies wrapped in deep, misty sleep
Blows the morose wind bringing on with it the wail of a poison flower

Chorus

If my breath touches the wind
Sparks will fly, definitely, sparks
And that very moment, somebody,
Pushing the mouth into my ear, will tell me stories.

Verse 2
When the trees sway, clouds clear up,
a bit of light takes a dip in the water
Thinking now, staring at the clock,
can you hear a strange song?
Without flesh or blood, and no skin to hold it tight,
The soul of this song wants to flee, defying all norms
There is a bit of chill, a pinch of fear in the air,
Yet it’s soothing to be here
It’s a neat feeling.

English Translations by Sangeeta Ghoshal