???? ?? ??? ?? ???? ??

???? ???? ??? ??
???? ???

?? ??
???? ??? ??,

?? ??
?? ??? ??:
?? ???? ????? ???? ???,
??? ???? ??? ????? ???

?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?? ?? ???? ???

?????
?? ?? ?? ??? ?? ?????


tr. from Kei Miller's 'Broken is the shape of everything'

Kei Miller

 

?????? ?? ??????

????? ?? ?????-????? ?????? ???
??????? 

Revolutions #12 & 35

Every revolution
is a throw
of the dice.

Only violence
helps where
violence rules.

Who are
we anyway?

Eyes that
do not want
to close
at all times

when the green
of the earth
glistens anew.



English translations of Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet film titles, as found in MoMA member calendar, May/June 2016. Submitted by Howie Good.

???, ?????? ??? - Savitribai Phule

tr. from Sunil Sardar and Victor Paul's English tr. 'Go, Get Education' by Savitribai Phule

???, ?????? ???

????-?????? ???, ????? ??? ?? ???
??? ???, ????? ?? ?? ?????

????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?? ???? ??
????? ?? ???? ????? ????? ?? ???? ??

??? ? ????, ???, ?????? ???,
??????? ??, ?????? ?? ??? ?????

???, ????? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ??
????, ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??????? ??
??? ?? ?? ???????? ?? ????????? ??,
???? ??????? ??, ???? ?????? ??

Savitribai Phule (1831-97)

 

????????-??? ????? ??? ???? ??

tr. excerpt from Sunil Sardar and Victor Paul's English tr. 'Mother English' of Savitribai Phule's Marathi poem

"????????-??? ????? ??? ???? ??
?? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ??

???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?? ?? -
???????? ?? ?????, ??? ??????? ??"

?

Savitribai Phule (1831-97)

???????? ???? ??? ????? - Nazim Hikmet

tr. from Nazim Hikmet's 'Thinking of you'

???????? ???? ??? ?????
    ???? ?????? ???? ??, ???? ?????? ???? ??,
???? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ????
    ???? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ??? ???

?? ?? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ???? ??
    ??? ?? ?? ???? ???? ????? ?????
??? ???? ????? ???

Nazim Hikmet

 

Ghazal by Gauhar Raza

tr. from Urdu-Hindi

Love for the nation gift-wrapped in faith; farce, that's how it'll be
Flowers, dried-up, gardens, gone, autumn, yellowed, that's how it'll be.

That savagery, once felt, still keeps Europe trembling in fear,
That savagery, will it now burn my land? Is that how it'll be?

Those gas chambers of the past still carry the stench of blood,
What else does blind love for nations do? What else will'it be?

It is true that in dark wells, utter lies, like boats, carry on,
but soon, the light of our truth will sink 'em, that's how it will be.

Those who've grown up on hatred, who've played with it like a toy,
in the days to come, what will hatred make them do? How will it be?

They ask the artists, the writers, why have you returned the honours?
Ask, how many sit quiet? Will shame knock on their doors? Will it be?

Do not eat this, do not wear that, do not, for God's sake, ever love,
The 'anti-national' stamp hovers in the air, that is how it'll be.

Do not forget, the young, the generations after us, are lit embers,
You play with fire an' think the sparks won't reach you; that's not how it'll be.

Gauhar Raza

 

Both of them liked being out on Delhi roads

at dawn.

As they reached the DND flyover from Sarai Kale Khan
they could see a red sun over Okhla,

and as they went down towards Ashram, she said -
if only this Yamuna had a little life in it, no?

He got a little bothered
at this sudden, pretentious love for nature -

I have come all the way from Yamuna Vihar,
the petrol's almost gone,
and you're thinking of the river.

How many cities
will we move in this one city

to look for a place.


Tr. from Ravish Kumar's ?????? ?

Ravish Kumar

 

To escape the rain

tr. from Ravish Kumar's ?????? ??

To escape the rain,
he parked the scooter
under the Moolchand flyover.

They were so lost in each other
they didn't even notice
all the other scooters
waiting around them
for the rain to end.

For no reason at all,
he kept on trying
to become her umbrella,

and she felt good
under an umbrella she didn't need
below a flyover.

All the people around them
stared as if they were a
leftover cloud.

Ravish Kumar

 

I have that small town feeling today

tr. from Ravish Kumar's ?????? ?

I have that small town feeling today...
    and I feel like metro.

You know, whenever you pass by South Ex, I feel like Karawal Nagar.
    Shut up, you're crazy. In Delhi, everyone feels like Delhi.

That's not how it is. Not every one in Delhi is Delhi. Just like
everyone doesn't have love in their eyes...
    okay, but then how am I South Ex?

Just like I am Karawal Nagar.
    You're right...

you know, if this Barahpula flyover wasn't there, then the distance
between South Ex and Sarai Kale Khan would've been too much.
    Are you in love with me or with the city?

With the city; because my city is you.

Ravish Kumar

 

Come

tr. from Ashok Vajpeyi's '??'

Come,
like darkness comes near darkness,
like water runs into water,
like light dissolves in light,

come, wear me,
like a tree wears the bark,
like a mud-path wears the grass,

take me,
like the darkness takes the roots,
like water takes the moon,
like the infinite takes time.

Desperate, a man sat down,

I didn't know him,
    I knew desperation,

so I went close to him
    and reached out my hand -

holding it, he stood up,
    he didn't know me, he knew

my reaching out the hand,
    from there, we walked together,

neither of us knew the other -
    both knew walking together.


tr. from Vinod Kumar Shukla's 'Hatasha se ek vyakti baith gaya'

Vinod Kumar Shukla

 

You fear

tr. from Gorakh Pandey's '??????? ?? ??'

Their anger is a thousand years old,
their hate is a thousand years old,
I only give
some rhyme to their
scattered words, to their desire,
and you fear that
I'm stoking fire. 

White truth

tr. from Munawwar Rana's 'Safed Sach'

His
fingers
always tell
the truth -- he
trusts them, shows
them off, every once in
a while, as we talk, he kisses
them lightly, one day, not knowing
better, he kept his fingers on my lips,
now they've started lying ever so slightly.


[After Munawwar Rana's return of the Sahitya Akademi award, Oct '15]

A Language of Forgetting

tr. from Rajesh Joshi's '????? ?? ????'

A river brushed against me
in the language of water,

and suddenly, in the language
of flight, the birds
moved below the clouds,

on trees written in a hieroglyphic script,
leaves stirred together, and in their movement
was the language of rustling -

it felt as if you are somewhere close,
drawing near in the language of the body

and whispering a language of forgetting
to those you could not.

I want to believe

tr. from Ashok Vajpeyi's '??????? ???? ????? ???'

I want to believe that
after my defeat in love
when I mourn in the utter loneliness of a poem,
then, somewhere at least a leaf will tremble for me,
that somewhere a bird will resent that her world is, despite everything, so green,
that, for a moment, a planet will slow down somewhere in the universe
and in some invisible vein of the earth, the lava will cool a little,
that the ancestors spread over centuries will try an' give solace to each other,
and the tears of gods will fall in untimely rain;
that I will cry
and through the whole universe
will run a cry of sorrow,
I want to believe that in my defeat, and in my grief,
the world will not leave me alone.

Grief surrounds me as if
now that is the only body I have to live in and die in
as if that is the real colour of living
which has become visible to me only just now.

I want to believe that
when I'll try and find my way through
pain's long corridors
then, the light at the end of that tunnel will be of grief,
that the window from which a hand will show me the way, will be grief's window,
and the house, whose porch I'll rest in, to gather strength to keep on going,
will be the house where grief lives.

I want to believe that
just like the other name of laughter is often kids or flowers,
just like the other name of hope is poetry,
like that, the other name of love will be grief.

He doesn't say - Ashok Vajpeyi

tr. from Ashok Vajpeyi's '?? ???? ????'

He says
he has only a little heart,
like sunrays say
they have a little light
fire says
it has a little warmth --

sunrays don't say they have the universe
fire doesn't say it has those flames
he doesn't say he has his body.

[after Ashok Vajpeyi's return of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Oct '15]

???? ?? ???? ???? ??, ???? ?? ????,

????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ??, ?? ?? ??
???????, ??? ????? ??? ?? ?? ????-
-???? ??????? ?? ?? ????, ?? ??? ??
?? ???? ???? ????? ??? ?? ????? ??,
?? ??? ???? ???? ????, ?? ?? ????? ?? - 
??? ???-??? ??????? ???, ?? ?? ???????,
????? ??? ??? ??? (??? ????!) ??????? ?? ??????

tr. from Vikram Seth's 'Dubious'

?????? ???

 

?? ???? ?? ??? - Dorothy Parker

tr. from Dorothy Parker's 'A Very Short Song'

?? ??????,
    ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?????,
?? ??? ???
    ?? ?????? ???? ?? ?????,
?? ???
    ???? ?? ???? ??? ???? ??,
???? ???? ??
    ??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???

???? ?? ?? ??
    ???????? ?? ???!
???? ?? ?? ??
    ???? ??? ??????!
??? ?? ???,
    ????? ???? ?? ??? ????,
?? ??? ????
    ???????? ?? ????

Dorothy Parker

 

A Blessing

tr. from Dushyant Kumar's '?? ????????'

May your dreams be big,
may they outgrow 'could have,' 'should have,'
and get to walk on earth,
may they sulk an' go crazy for
the impossible heights of stars,
may they laugh,
smile,
sing, reach Mars,
may your dreams long for the flame,
may they burn their fingers,
may they stand on their own feet
an' do their own jig, may your dreams
be big.

Dushyant Kumar