 |
| Sanjukta Dasgupta |
Home Everywhere
Their home along the Thames
Is our home too
Our home along the Ganga
Is their home as well
Walking on the Strand
Walking down the bridge
Our sky and their sky
Are the same and yet
So strangely different.
Their strawberries on the breakfast table
Our mangoes on ours
Our sighs blend with steaming cups
Of first flush Darjeeling tea
Their coffee from Brazil
The little girl
Their daughter
Our granddaughter
Was utterly in a daze
Inside the home
It was India
Hindi, Bengali, Bollywood
Outside the home
It was England
Ensconced within the island
Of Great Britain
Home Far Away
The home far away
Was our home too
As it was their home
Each time after each visit
The raised arms waving till out of sight
We turned towards the immigration counter
We encountered homeland security
Their childlike happiness in
Fresh strawberries and cream
Tiramisu and sausages
Blue skies, fewer people
Made us happy and yet sad
They now told us
About their place of origin
As a loveable mess
That could be home again
Once they retired
Of course, though we would not
Cut the rainbow cake of reunion
At our old and familiar dining table
Every artefact on tables and walls
Will shine with joy at their homecoming
We would have by then left the world
Permanently retired.
Dr.Sanjukta Dasgupta, Professor and Former Head, Dept of English and Former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Calcutta University and Fulbright Fellow. She is a poet, short story writer, critic and translator. She was a member of the General Council of Sahitya Akademi New Delhi and Convenor, English Advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. She is the President of the Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library, Kolkata. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Jnanpith Award. She received the IWSFF Women Achievers Award in 2019, WEI Kamala Das Poetry Award in 2020 and the ETHOS Literary Award in 2022. She was conferred the Governor’s Scroll Of Honour in 2024 and the CLRC National Lifetime Achievement Award 2024. Dasgupta has 27 published books.
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╣ै।