Translated from the Hindi by Moulinath Goswami

Do Not Grieve 

Sartre!
You worry about human existence
don’t you?
Do not grieve philosopher
I shall explain to you
moments
with full self-consciousness
I shall show you the real picture
of the triumphant
human race—
along the edges of speeding trams
and darting cars
and gasping lives
there faraway
in some municipal park—
if you ever happen to sight
two young lovers
plucking meaningless grasses
with their lively fingers
weaving sensitive epic of unending cantos
with their silence—
then from that day hence
o, thinker!
oblivious to the horrors of the
World Wars
shall you truly recognize
the greatness
of existence
of the entire mankind.

Your Phone Has Come 

A strange monotony has become a part of my daily existence
turning moments into days, carving days into months of living
sheer desolation surfaces at the sound of random footsteps
a nest of a thousand dilemmas hangs from threshold
Suddenly all these silences thaw together
all hopes huddle, restless to turn into a hand
the soundlessness of my room stretches its limbs
my quietude begins to hum pieces of a song…
Your phone has come, your phone has come

Just as pristine spring shows up in a garden spectacle
just as one secures a foothold in a crowded bus
on the occasion of Chhat
just as your nooks and crannies stir at the sound of my voice…
This is an impossible desire, an imaginary one, however
like the waves of courage after an epic failure
like the moments of relief after an immense disquietude
like the mercy of fame after a prolonged anonymity
like an afternoon sought all day and evening
like a huge heading wrapped in a minuscule meter
like the blushing days and nights of a newlywed—
the mehendi tapestry on her palm has suddenly broken into a smile
the star of teardrops twinkled in my eyes…
Your phone has come, your phone has come. 

Also, read a Bengali story by Sourav Hossain, translated into English by Ananya Sasaru, and published in The Antonym:

Comrade— Sourav Hossain

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