‘Curse’ Translated by Sanghita Sanyal
“Shaap” by Sumanta Mukhopadhyay
It will rise up straight into the sky, I had never written that. Neither that, it would dig into the earth and sink deep. Here and there, on the foothpath, there are heaps of sand all over; Throughout the city, at Barasat, at Basirhat, there is a pallor of cement drifting in the air. At every possible space they have put up fences made of tin, iron columns are screwed down into the ground. Mud, oil, soot, dirt… Then there is the stadium this side!! Steps and steps, one standing above the other. And now, before evening sets in, the sun becomes red. While writing all this, I realized its already midnight! Or may be dawn! A stray dog lay dead with a mangled belly, while crossing the road. There’s not an iota of breeze, a spell of rain – Newtown, Byepass flow out with the fluid, as much wet, deep red. They all turn their face and fly away- Indrani, Debjani.
Sumanta Mukhopadhyay, currently located in the Department of Bengali, Bethune College, WBES, is one of the most powerful poetic voices of contemporary Bangla Poetry. His recent book of poetry is Autoroute. He has few more to his credit.
