topics: |  poetry | translation | india | hindi

This is a well-produced bilingual volume with the devanagari text on the
left, and the English renditions by Pawan Varma on the right page.

Translations are straightforward, but sometimes the constructions seems a
bit antique (e.g. "missive" in alAv below).  Some of them do work,
because of the power in the thought (see Sketch below), but many don't work
too well as English poetry.

Pavan Varma is an IFS officer.  He earlier edited "Love and Lust : An
Anthology of Erotic Literature from Ancient and Medieval India"

alAv

		   alAv: fire for warming one's hands
		   	   p.62

	rAt-bhar sard hawa chalti rahi
	rAt-bhar hamne alAv tApA

	maine mAzi se kai kHushk sI shA.khen kATin
	tumne bhi guzre hui lamhon ke patte toRe
	maine zebon se nikAlIn sabhI sukhI nazmen
	tumne bhi hAthon se murjhAye huye khat khole
	Apni in Ankhon se maine kai mA.nJe toRe
	aur hathon se kai bAsI lakiren fe,nkI
	tumne palkon pe namI sukh gai thI so girA dI
	rAt-bhar jo milA ugte badan par hamkon
	kAT ke DAl diyA jalte alAv mein use

	rAt-bhar phu.nko se har lau ko jagaye rakhA
	aur do jismon ko indhan ko jalAye rakhA
	rAt-bhar bujhte huye rishte ko tApA humne

		[NOTES:
		tApA-senkA :  warm oneself on fire
		mAzi /past/ khushk /dry/ shA.khen /branches/
		lamhon ke patte toRe  /tore off leaves from our bygone days/
		sukhI nazmen   /dry, dessicated, dead poems/
		murjhAye /droop/ hathon ki lakiren /lines on palm/
		palkon pe namI /tears from eye/
		ugte badan /sprouting body/ lau /flame/
		rAt-bhar bujhte huye rishte ko tApA humne
		    /we warmed ourselves on the ashes of our dying love? relationship /

Pawan Verma's English version

	BONFIRE

	The cold wind blew all night
	And we warmed ourselves by the open fire

	I cut some drying branches off the past
	You too broke off the leaves of bygone moments
	I cleaned out my pocket of all the lifeless poems
	You too opened a bunch of faded missives
	With my very eyes I severed a few strings, and
	Threw out the many stale lines from my palms
	You brushed off the dried moistness from your eyes
	Whatever we found sor growing all night on our bodies
	We lopped off and consigned to the flames

	All night, our breath kept alive each flame
	And the fuel inside our bodies
	All night we warmed ourselves on a dying relationship.

Sketch

		Remember one day,
		While sitting at my table
		You sketched on a cigarette box
		A tiny plant

		Come and see,
		That plant has blooomed!

The heart seeks

   The heart seeks again those moments of leisure
   When all day and night we just sat thinking of the beloved
	     	     	       	  - Ghaliib

The heart seeks again those moments of leisure

Lying in the courtyard in the mellow winter sun
The shade of your anchal pulled over my eyes
Face down, and sometimes on one's side

Or, on summer nights, when the east wind blosw
To lie awake for long on cold white sheets
Sprawled on the roof, gazing at the stars

On some cold snowy night perhaps
To sit again in the embrace of that mountain
And listen to the silence echoing in the valley

The heart seeks again those moments of leisure
When all day and night we just sat thinking of the beloved

My take

	EMBERS

	all night the wind blew cold
	all night we warmed ourselves on the fire

	i broke off some dry branches from our past
	you flaked some leaves off our bygone days
	i crumpled some dead poems from my pocket
	with your fingers you opened some wilted letters
	with these eyes I tore off those old threads
	i threw in some leftover lines from my palm
	you brushed off some tears that had crumbed dry

	all night, whatever was sprouting between us
	we scraped off, and threw into the fire

	all night we fanned each flickering flame
	with the fuel of our flesh. all night
	we warmed ourselves on the ashes of a dying love