Ketaki Datta is a poet,
novelist, critic and reviewer apart from being an academic. She has two novels,
A Bird Alone and One Year for Mourning, to her credit along with two books of
poetry, Across the Blue Horizon[published from U.K. with the aid of Arts Council,
England] and Urban Reflections: A Dialogue between Poetry and Photography with
Prof. Wilfried Raussert. The photographs of Street Art of Americas have been
taken by Prof. Raussert and the poems are by her. She is a translator too.
Shesh Namaskar[The Last Salute] is her noted work of translation[Sahitya
Akademi].Selected Short Stories of Tagore in Translation, The Voyage are her
other works of translation.
A
Journey from Calcutta to Kolkata
Calcutta
was green in those days,
The
trees lining the thoroughfare
Stood refuge to ample of birds,
Which nudged us out of sleep, each dawn,
Breathing new life in us, filling us with
A new ardour, to make the most of the day.
The tramcars were not a luxury then,
Nor was it a vehicle of joyride,
It was a necessity, a mode to trudge on
quietly
To the furthest nook, trailing a track of
occasional stops,
Opening up fresh moments to get lost
in ourselves.
That Calcutta of early ’eighties
Was waking up to continual digging
Of earth, filling us with wonder to
Dream of an underground railroad!
Journey from the North Calcutta
To the South was not a cakewalk then!
The buses with overflowing throng
Suspended mostly from their doors
Was a common sight, to sigh on!
’Nineties saw a Calcutta, donned in
A new look, a snaky underground
Tube rail was added to its
three-hundred-year-old
Body by then!
One or two flyovers were about to
Raise their heads like
hydra-headed dragons!
“ Keep your city clean” was pasted on
Each wall, each hoarding!
Calcutta became Kolkata in the meantime!
Gangopadhyay and Chattopadhyay
Toasted the event at Flury’s over
Cakes, bagels and glasses of hot chocolates!
Journey of Kolkata begins!
Tram-fares, bus-fares, cab-fares
Begin to scale high,
Premier educational meccas face
Terrible phases of crises,
Value system of the yesteryear
Is in for a violent jolt,
The flyovers begin to crumble down
On the passersby, on jaywalkers,
Stephen Court, AMRI, Dhakuria get gobbled by
An atrocious conflagration,
Three-pronged light-stands, spruced up
Rabindra Sarobar and Ganga-Bank, well-curved
Park-benches, dazzling
Snazzy looks of Shopping Malls with
Smartest Cineplex are enough to make
Us feel like we are in London!
Yes, our Kolkata is green, our Kolkata
Has the purest air to inhale, our Kolkata
Has much-improved medical facilities,
our Kolkata is culturally vibrant,
AKLF, Film Festival,Kolkata
Literary Meet, Book Fair, Trade Fair,
Dover Lane, ITC music soirees—
all keep us warm, proud and happy!
Even slums have been replaced by multistoried
Common man’s Housing Complex!
Why then the burnt-faced beggar still sticks
out his
Palm to the man in front of the Metro Station?
A
Swing sways on...
The
swing rocked like a pendulum—
Not from one end to the other,
But
from hind to the fore,
From the front to the rear,
Backward and forward
Forward and backward,
In rhythm, in seamless harmony,
Just like the keys of a piano,
Touched with softness,
Like moving lips,
parting in a smile!
Like
alternate bass and treble,
Like
surging crests and receding troughs!
The
swing rocks to and fro,
The swing oscillates, on and on—
The past, the future
Fall in its trajectory,
Though
it skims past
The present, inadvertently!
Past to Future,
Future to Past,
With Present intervening
Like an interlude
of a medieval play!
Call
it Rose or Fragranta
A
soft-petal-rose was plucked
by the blind woman,
She
waved it beneath her nostrils
Twice, thrice—
The
fragrance entered her breath,
Stirred her whole being,
Enveloped
her in an amazed feeling,
She fell head over heels
In love with the sweet smell,
She in half-opened eyes,
Whispered ‘Fragranta’!
Is rose ‘Fragranta’?
Or just a reddish-rosy flower?
Does really rose have
Sundry names to be
dearly addressed with?
Does rose have its beauty
Locked in its petals?
Or its stalk, or fronds
Or its thorns?
Or in its maddening fragrance?
Both fragrance and charm
Endear it to one and all,
It will keep enthralling us,
No matter by hundred names
Or with just one we call!
Voices Within-2020 :: Setu, February 2020
No comments :
Post a Comment
We welcome your comments related to the article and the topic being discussed. We expect the comments to be courteous, and respectful of the author and other commenters. Setu reserves the right to moderate, remove or reject comments that contain foul language, insult, hatred, personal information or indicate bad intention. The views expressed in comments reflect those of the commenter, not the official views of the Setu editorial board. рдк्рд░рдХाрд╢िрдд рд░рдЪрдиा рд╕े рд╕рдо्рдмंрдзिрдд рд╢ाрд▓ीрди рд╕рдо्рд╡ाрдж рдХा рд╕्рд╡ाрдЧрдд рд╣ै।