prothomoto ami tomake chayi
dwitiyoto ami tomake chayi
tritiyoto ami tomake chayi
sesh porjontyo tomake chayi
…
TRANSLATED FROM BENGALI BY SUDIPTO CHATTERJEE
I WANT YOU
Firstly, I want you.
Secondly, I want you.
Thirdly, I want you.
Till the very end, I want you.
In the quiet of the dark, I want you.
At the turn of dawn, I want you.
In youth of morn, I want you.
In the leisurely eve, I want you.
In April storms, I want you.
In July clouds, I want you.
In August deluges, I want you.
In October festivities, I want you.
To the time-worn Calcutta streets,
To old ‘n’ new faces, in houses ‘n’ retreats,
To the innumerable people in a tired procession,
It’s you who brought a touch of unknown vacation.
In the fatigue of city-life, I want you.
In a droplet of calm, I want you.
At the end of a long walk, I want you.
In my love for life, I want you.
At crossings of streets, in parks and stores,
In cities and villages, here and there evermore;
In stations, terminals, ports and outdoors;
In strange living rooms, familiar indoors;
On pillows, mattresses, quilts and sheets age-old;
In cuddling comforters on a wintry night’s cold;
On ceiling bars and thresholds, door mats and spreads;
In laughter, anger, hurt, quarrels and truces bred–
I want you, want you, want you!
In a cup of tea, I want you.
On left and right, I want you.
Seen or unseen, I want you.
In unspoken words, I want you.
In Shirshendu’s latest book,
In Aabol Taabol, at a flippant look;
In obtuse poems, in a thumri or khayal;
In slogans painted on wall after wall;
In songs that Salil Choudhury left behind;
In the life that Chaurasia’s flute defined;
In the music of Himangshu Datta we don’t remember,
The old radio show that played my favorite number–
I want you, want you, want you.
In requests and entreatings, I want you.
In cries of pain, I want you.
In wants and demands, I want you.
In shame and hesitation, I want you.
In cutting demands, their right recognized;
In posters of struggle painted overnight;
In polished poetry, its rhetoric cadence;
In the logic of prose, the hope of existence;
In an endless longing for a society without class,
A hunger for changing the times, en masse;
In the dream of doubts and strife dispelling;
In sleep and waking, when Equality’s calling;
In agitation and revolution–I want you.
In the impossible of impossibles, I want you.
In war and peace, I want you.
In this confusion, I want you.
Firstly, I want you.
Secondly, I want you.
Thirdly, I want you.
Till the very end, I want you.
[translation by sudipto chatterjee)
[1] Shirshendu Mukherjee is a leading novelist writing in Bengali.
[2] A classic book of nonsense rhymes in Bengali, by Sukumar Ray, that are
only ostensibly for children.
[3] Two major Indian classical singing styles.
[4] A prominent poet-composer who revolutionized Bengali modern music in the
Fifties and Sixties.
[5] Hariprasad Chaurasia is a leading Indian classical flutist.
[6] A Bengali modern music composer from the Forties and Fifties.
Wohi Hota Hai Jo Munzoore Khuda Hota Hai …:nahnah: