That Time is Past— Savita Singh

May 22, 2024 | Poetry | 0 comments

TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI BY RITUPARNA MUKHERJEE

Waking up suddenly, I found the skies blushing red
The day had just broken
A cool breeze touched my skin, bringing wakefulness,
My bed seemed a boat in deep waters

When and how did I come here
Was it a river or a sea?
I wasn’t able to figure it out
I could only see the waves rolling in
Disappearing at times in the middle
Perhaps it was some cyber-space
Where the difference between the truth and falsity
Is like that between water and the memory of it
How terrifying the memories were
Of drowning in those waters!
A glimpse of me drowning,
Reiterated, every ten days

It was an incomparable situation
But I wasn’t alone in this
Death, like him, was with me

Who knew that both of us
Were waiting for an opportune moment
Only the boat knew when it would capsize
And who would go first
I didn’t really realize
When he came and sat next to me
In the boat, underneath the wide sky.

I closed my eyes then

The sky still retained its faint blush
Something that filled my cheeks now
I began to get dressed
Preparing to go someplace

He came to know
And became transfixed in regret
We didn’t have anything to say
Sometimes there isn’t anything left to say
That time is past.

Also, read The Charm by Chandrakiran Saunriksa translated from the Hindi by Vignesh Hampapura, and published in the Antonym:

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About Author

Savita Singh

Born in 1962 in Aara, Bihar, Professor Savita Singh has been a globetrotter and has taught at a Delhi University for a decade and a half. She currently is a professor of gender studies in IGNOU. Her first anthology of poems in Hindi, Apne Jaisa Jeevan (2001) was awarded by the Hindi Academy. She has written and edited other poetry anthologies. She has received many national awards for her poetic contributions.

About Translator

Rituparna Mukherjee

Rituparna Mukherjee teaches English and Communication Studies at Jogamaya Devi College, under the University of Calcutta. She is currently pursuing Doctoral degree in Gendered Mobilities in West African and Afro-Diasporic Literature at IIIT Bhubaneswar. She is a published poet, short fiction writer and a passionate translator. Her work has been published in many international magazines of repute. She translates Bengali and Hindi fiction into English and is the chief editor at The Antonym Magazine. Her first complete work in translation, The One-Legged, has been published from The Antonym Collections in January 2024. She is also an ELT trainer and an ESL author.