TRANSLATED FROM THE KANNADA BY SHASHANK JOHRI

Sufi,
Is the love that unveils itself
On dating-sites really true?
Why else would I, forlorn
click and open Grindr,
Instead of returning
to my home’s quiet comfort.
For it is there that we met,
blurring all distances,
Effacing our boundaries
Suffusing and losing
Ourselves into each other
When did we call this love?
I can’t remember.

I know,
I should be thankful to you.
Grateful for rescuing me from
The doorsteps of the drug rehab,
For nurturing me when
I was low and desolate.
Much like lovers of our times
You rode me to restaurants,
Meandered with me at multiplexes
You waited for me on the sands
By treacherous shores of the sea

And then,
like is the case with Indian couples
You took charge of everything
Labelling our roles, definitively
But when, I did not fit your box
You went away, deserting me
And everything that was ours.
You, much aware of your bearings
An unfazed volatile wanderer.

First, you fell for me
Later you gave up on me
So now I believe in Alvida
But I remember us,
And when you surface on my mind,
Sadness greets me too.
For in the streets where
we once held hands and walked
I now walk alone,
with all castles that we built together
And in all shadows, I search for a figure
That takes care of me like you did
Once again on a dating site.

Also, Read Bohni, The First Earning by Chitra Mudgal, Translated from The Hindi by Anuradha Dosad and published in The Antonym:

Bohni, The First Earning— Chitra Mudgal

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