topics: |  fiction | poetry | bengali |

Jibananda Das : On City Sidewalks p.3

			tr. Clinton B. Seely, 1990

It is late — so very late at night.
From one Calcutta sidewalk to another, from sidewalk to sidewalk,
As I walk along, my life's blood feels the vapid, venomous touch
Of tram tracks stretched out beneath my feet like a pair of primordial
	serpent sisters. 
A soft rain is falling, the wind slightly chilling.
Of what far land of green grass, rivers, fireflies am I thinking?
Where are the stars?
Have those stars been lost?
Beneath my feet the slender tram track — above my head a mesh of tangled wires
Chastises me.
A soft rain falls, and the wind seems lightly chilling;

But you'll not see a single mallard's nest quiver in the face of this cold
	Calcutta wind so very late at night.
No dove will come to tell you of its broken sleep's soft bluish flavor,
	broken by olive leaves. 
You'll not mistake a yellowed papaya leaf for an unexpected bird,
Nor will your eyes grow large with recognition as you comprehend creation as
	thick fog. 
Nor will an owl rub her gray wings on an amlaki branch here,
Nor from that limb will sapphire dewdrops fall,
Nor will her call bring forth here stars like subtle fireflies,
Nor make the nighttime even bluer.
You'll not see here green grass strewn with countless dead dewali bugs,
Nor will the world here seem to you a soft and green and gorgeous dead dewali bug,
Nor life itself a cold yet gorgeous, dead, green bug.
The owl's call will not here bring forth stars like subtle fireflies,
Nor will the call of dewdrops bring forth stars like subtle fireflies,
Nor will your eyes grow large with recognition as you comprehend creation as thick fog.

ফুটপাথে

	(bAnglA original, 1944)

অনেক রাত হয়েছে- অনেক গভীর রাত হয়েছে;
কলকাতার ফুটপাথ থেকে ফুটপাথে- ফুটপাথ থেকে ফুটপাথে-
কয়েকটি আদিম সর্পিণী সহোদরার মতো
                 এই-যে ট্র্যামের লাইন ছড়িয়ে আছে
পায়ের তলে, সমস্ত শরীরের রক্তে এদের বিষাক্ত বিস্বাদ স্পর্শ
                      অনুভব ক’রে হাঁটছি আমি।
গুড়ি-গুড়ি বৃষ্টি পড়ছে, কেমন যেন ঠাণ্ডা বাতাস;
কোন দূর সবুজ ঘাসের দেশ নদী জোনাকির কথা মনে পড়ে আমার,-
তারা কোথায়?
তারা কি হারিয়ে গেছে?
পায়ের তলে লিকলিকে ট্র্যামের লাইন,- মাথার ওপরে
                      অসংখ্য জটিল তারের জাল
শাসন করছে আমাকে।
গুড়ি-গুড়ি বৃষ্টি পড়ছে, কেমন যেন ঠাণ্ডা বাতাস;
এই ঠাণ্ডা বাতাসের মুখে এই কলকাতা শহরে এই গভীর রাতে
          কোনো নীল শিরার বাসাকে কাঁপতে দেখবে না তুমি;
জলপাইয়ের পল্লবে ঘুম ভেঙে গেলো ব’লে কোনো ঘুঘু তার
          কোমল নীলাভ ভাঙা ঘুমের আস্বাদ তোমাকে জানাতে আসবে না।
হলুদ পেঁপের পাতাকে একটা আচমকা পাখি ব’লে ভুল হবে না তোমার,
সৃষ্টিকে গহন কুয়াশা ব’লে বুঝতে পেরে চোখ নিবিড় হ’য়ে
                                উঠবে না তোমার!
প্যাঁচা তার ধূসর পাখা আমলকীর ডালে ঘষবে না এখানে,
আমলকীর শাখা থেকে নীল শিশির ঝ’রে পড়বে না,
তার সুর নক্ষত্রকে লঘু জোনাকির মতো খশিয়ে আনবে না এখানে,
রাত্রিকে নীলাভতম ক’রে তুলবে না!
সবুজ ঘাসের ভিতর অসংখ্য দেয়ালি পোকা ম’রে রয়েছে
                           দেখতে পাবে না তুমি এখানে
পৃথিবীকে মৃত সবুজ সুন্দর কোমল একটি দেয়ালি পোকার মতো
                           মনে হবে না তোমার,
জীবনকে মৃত সবুজ সুন্দর শীতল একটি দেয়ালি পোকার মতো
                           মনে হবে না;
প্যাঁচার সুর নক্ষত্রকে লঘু জোনাকির মতো খশিয়ে আনবে না এখানে,
শিশিরের সুর নক্ষত্রকে লঘু জোনাকির মতো খশিয়ে আনবে না,
সৃষ্টিকে গহন কুয়াশা ব’লে বুঝতে পেরে চোখ
নিবিড় হ’য়ে উঠবে না তোমার।

fuTpAthe

(opening lines in english transliteration)

anek rAt hayechhe anek gabhIr rAt hayechhe;
kalkAtAr fuTpAth theke fuTpAthe -- fuTpAth theke fuTpAthe --
kayekTi Adim sarpiNI sahodarAr mato ei Je trAmer lAin chhaRiye Achhe
pAyer tale, samasta sharIrer rakte eder biShAkta bisvAd sparsha anubhab kare
	hnATchhi Ami |

Jibananda Das: The cat : p.4

Through the day I keep meeting the cat;
In the shade of the tree, out in the sun,
Amidst the dense shade of the leaves
After a spot of success with a few bones of fish
He lies hugging the skeletal-white earth
Wrapped up in himself like a swarm of bees.
And  yet he scratches at the trunk of the Gulmohar tree,
Walks behind the sun, stalking it.
One moment he is there;
The next, he has vanished.
I saw him in the autumn evening stroking, with soft white paws,
The scarlet sun; then he gathered the darkness
Like little balls, grabbing each with a jab of his paws
And spread them all over the earth.
			[biRAl, from _mahAprithibI]

বেড়াল

	(মহাপৃথিবী, 1944)
সারাদিন একটা বিড়ালের সঙ্গে ঘুরে ফিরে কেবলই আমার দেখা হয় :
গাছের ছায়ায়, রোদের ভিতর, বাদামি পাতার ভিড়ে;
কোথাও কয়েক টুকরো মাছের কাঁটার সফলতার পর
তারপর সাদা মাটির কঙ্কালের ভিতর
নিজের হৃদয়কে নিয়ে মৌমাছির মতো নিমগ্ন হয়ে আছে দেখি;
কিন্তু তবুও তারপর কৃষ্ণচূড়ার গায়ে নখ আঁচড়াচ্ছে,
সারাদিন সূর্যের পিছনে-পিছনে চলেছে সে।
একবার তাকে দেখা যায়,
একবার হারিয়ে যায় কোথায়।
হেমন্তের সন্ধ্যায় জাফরান রং -এর সূর্যের নরম শরীরে
শাদা থাবা বুলিয়ে বুলিয়ে খেলা করতে দেখলাম তাকে;
তারপর অন্ধকারকে ছোট ছোট বলের মতো থাবা দিয়ে লুফে আনল সে
সমস্ত পৃথিবীর রভিতর ছড়িয়ে দিল।

Amiya Chakravarty : Petition to the Boss

Sir, the list is ready -— 
things you cannot take away 
from this exile, your humble clerk. 
This ancestral earth, its plain existence, 
of which a part is this I, your servant's self.
[...]
Cool water from the well, an eye for books
the sudden shower in summer afternoons. 
Love of one's kind, the pang of memory
shot through with the hope of going home to Bengal. 
Send me away, O World -— 
yet linked with the shaed of ancent trees
immemorial joys are stored in my heart -— 
the courtyard tulsi altar, the rained rivrside temple, the charm
	of the native tongue. 
[...]

Amiya Chakravarty : Calcutta

Warm noon's joy spreads under the big leaved trees
Beyond the garden hedge,
The honeysuckle waves in the grey wind
On the wrought iron gate.
   And in my eyes this lovely picture goes
   With me as I fare along the lane.
   Piano-notes, unmindful on the wind
   Fill the spring sky with pain.
   Along a lane in South Calcutta.

Sudhindranath Datta : Cyclone p.9

If I never return to earth
I shall walk down this lane once more
And see the gateway in the delicate sunshine
And by its side the scarlet iris;
The closely tended flowers, the yellow and fresh blue
There, and the deep green carpet of the grass will rest my eyes.
Whose house, who lives there, these I shall not know -—
But the eager pain of springtime in the farer's lonely breast,
Will fill, in the restful quiet that trembles with the piano
My eyes with joy for a passing moment.

On days of rain I still remember her
As soon as local green is overcast 
With common grey, she comes, an image sharp
In outline only, lighted symbol-wise 
By fitful flares of memory, just before
The curtain falls, and instantly, the show
And seer transfusing, I forget my years,
My forty years and more...

Contents

   Introduction 
   

Poetry

Jibanananda Das (1899-1954)

   On the Sidewalks
   The Cat 

Amiya Chakravarty (1901-1986)

   The Traveler
   Petition to the Boss
   1604 University Drive
   Calcutta

Sudhindranath Datta (1901-1960)

   Antinomies
   The Vagrant
   1945
   Cyclone

Jasim Uddin (1903-1976)

   The Chariot of Dhamrai

Premendra Mitra (1904-1988)

   The Crow Caws
   The Soul of Birds

Annada Sankar Ray (1904-2002)

   Difference
   Remembrance

Ajit Data (1907-1979)

   The Relative
   The Black Mountain

Buddhadeva Bose (1908-1974)

   To My Unwritten Poems
   Sonnet of 3 a.m : 1
   Sonnet of 3 a.m : 2
   Sunday Afternoon
   The Moment of Liberation

Bishnu Dey (1909-1982)

   My Dreams too are Endless
   The Alien
   Water My Roots
   Of Tagorean Beauty

Arun Mitra (1909-2000)

   These Few Lines
   In the Stones of Calcutta
   The March
   Wayward
   On the Breast of Nature

Ashokbijoy Raha (1910-1990)

   The Magic Tree

Dinesh Das (1913-1987)

   The Sickle

Samar Sen (1916-1985)

   The Storm
   Scorched Earth
   Self-Criticism
   The Tides

Kamakshiprasad Chattopadhay (1917-1976)

   The Price

Subhash Mukhopadhaya (1919-2003)

   At Every Step
   At Day’s End
   Let me Never See
   Deeper Still

Arun Kumar Sarkar (1921-1980)

   Endless
   The Horse

Nirendranath Chakrabarti (b.1924)

   Taimur
   Instead
   You Fear when you Fear
   It’s So at times
   All kinds of Loving

Abdul Ghani Hazari (1925-1947)

   The Heart of the Sahib
   21st February

Sukanta Bhattacharya (1926-1947)

   Passport
   To My Dearest
   Time To Come

Rajlakshmi Devi (1927-2006)

   Disaster
   The House
   Mountains

Lokenath Bhattaharya (1927-2001)

   Geometry at Twilight
   False or True
   The Absent Hero
   Not Until

Latifi Hilali (b. 1928)

   On a Solitary Evening

Shamsur Rahman (1929-2006)

   Death Anniversary
   Pain
   There was a Door Here

Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhay (b.1931)

   The Cat under the Stairs
   Friends
   Gratitude

Sankha Ghosh (b.1932)

   At the Bend of the Road
   Strom of Desire
   The Sleep
   Companion
   Fallen
   On that Endless Midnight
   Oarbeats in the Ribs (excerpts )

Alokernjan Dasgupta (b. 1933)

   The Meta query
   Beside the Well

Shakti Chattopadhyay (1934-1995)

   Walks Behind Yet Stays Remote
   Just Once Try
   I Can Go But Why Should I
   Old Grief and New Grief
   The Darkness of many Centuries

Benoy Majumar (1934-2006)

   Untitled
   Times Wins

Sunil Gangopadhyay (b. 1934)

   A Case History
   Inheritance
   On the Stairs
   Suddenly for Neera

Tarapada Roy (1936-2007)

   Head Bent
   That Green Passport
   Utpal Kumar Basu (b. 1936)----
   Puri Series- 4
   Puri Series- 8
   Untitled

Al Mahmud (b. 1936)

   In the dark one day
   Poetry
   Simple Accusation
   Nature

Vijaya Mukhopadhyay (b. 1937)

   Ancestor Worship
   Equation
   Monday
   The Ferry Ghat

Nabneeta Dev Sen (b. 1938)

   Memories of a Floral Clock
   Jungle Story
   Sometimes Love
   So Many Crazy Blue Hills

Ketaki Kushari Dyson (b. 1940)

   Adam’s Apple
   Caravan

Mohammad Rafiq (b.1943)

   Kirtinasha

Asad Chowdhury (b. 1943)

   Lamentation

Joy Goswami (b. 1954)

   In the Evening Sadness Comes
   An Evening of Rain
   Things Recalled at Night
   Ballad of Last Rites

Mandakranta Sen (b. 1972)

   Bengal Seventeenth Century A piece of Family History
   You
   The Believer
   

Short Fiction

Parashuram (Rajshekar Bose) (1880-1960)

   An immortal

Banaphul (Balaichand Mukhopadhyay) (1899-1979)

   In the Same Boat

Premendra Mitra (1904-1988)

   Juthika
   Prabodh Kumar Sanyal (1905-1983--)--
   Deep

Satjnath Bhaduri (1906-1965)

   Patralekha’s Father

Manik Bandyopadhyay (1908-1956)

   Haran’s Grandson-in-law

Ahapurana Devi (1909-1994)

   Izzat

Subodh Ghose (1909-1980)

   Fossil

Jyotirindra Nandi (1912-1982)

   Game

Advata Mallabarman (1914-1951)

   The Boat

Kamal Kumar Majumdar (1915-1-79)

   Extinct Rituals

Narendranath Mitra (1916-1975)

   Truth and Untruth

Satyajit Ray (1921-1971)

   Load Shedding

Syed Waliullah (1922-1971)

   Tale of a Tulsi Plant

Samaresh Basu (1924-1988)

   Adaab

Mahasweta Devi (b. 1926)

   The Divorce

Syed Mustafa Siraj (b. 1930)

   Horse of Death

Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay (b.1931)

   Quick Run

Hasan Hafizur Rehman (1932-1983)

   Two More Deaths

Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay (b. 1935)

   Look at me

Syed Shamsul Haq (b. 1935)

   Secret Life Public Death

Hasan Azizul Huq (b. 1938)

   Homecoming

Dibyendu Palit (b. 1939)

   The National Flag

Bani Basu (b. 1939)

   She

Akhtaruzzaman Ilias (1943-1997)

   In the Rooftop Room

Selina Hossain (b. 1947)

   Izzat

Mabarun Bhattacharya (b. 1948)

   The Blind cat

Abul Bashar (b. 1951)

   Rebirth

Nasreen Jahan (b. 1964)

   Stranger
   

Non Fiction

Kazi Abdul Wadud (1894-1970)

   Modern Bengali Literature (excerpts)
   Mussalmanas of Bengal

Satyendrannath Bose (1894-1974)

   The Scientist’s Plea

Dhurjatiprasad Mukerji (1894-1961)

   Words and Melody

Nirmal Kumar Bose (1901-1972)

   The Structure of Hindu Society (excerpts)

Sudhindranth Datta (1901-1960)

   Utterance and Realization The Tradition of writing in Bengal

Syed Muztaba Ali (1904-1974)

   Chacha’s Story

Abu Sayeed Ayyub (1906-1982)

   Ethics and Aesthetics in Literature

Buddhadeva Bose (1908-1974)

   The Last Journey

Samar Sen (1916-1987)

   A Babau’s Tale (excerpts)

Sibnarayan Ray (1921-2008)

   Bengalee Identity Problem inner Conflict and Tragedy

Ashok Mitra (b. 1928)

   Flavors of Freedom

Ashok Rudra (1931-1992)

   Friendship in Rabindranath’s Love Songs

Sankh Ghosh (b. 1932)

   The Poet’s Intention: The Writer the Writing
   The Reader (excerpts)

Partha Chatterjee (b. 1947)

   Our Modernity

Gautam Bhadra (b. 1948)

   Bengal’s Dervishes in History’s Trap

Nrisinhaprasad Bhaduri (b. 1950)

   The Island Born Vyasa

Manoranjan Byapari (b. early 1950)

   Dalit Literature In Bangla

Taslima Nasrin (b. 1962)

   Selected Columns
   
   Copyright Statement
   Portraits of Authors