Inspired by two Bengali songs, Prof. Sonjoy transcreates the romance of Spring, exclusively for Different Truths.
To the lilt of the flute To the beat of the Mridanga Comes the king of all seasons In rasa and ranga. The air in rainbow hues tinged Flying in peacock feathers winged In the swing of your cadence Your fragrance and lilt You hold my heart in your sway Dyed in your colours, tinged in your hues Is your Holi played this way? You are the colours of a riotous Spring All around in a flaming ring You are the nectar’s flow in its stream. Drowned in your nectar Drunk in your Wine I move lost, adrift in a dream Through me your melodies ring Through me your tales sing Through my Ektara string I fill my baul bag’s shoulder sling To the dancing beat of my anklet’s swing.
Poet’s Note: Starting with a classical bandish based on Basant raag celebrating Holi, the spring festival of love, and the dalliance between the gopinis and Krishna, our God of love (baaje Mridanga, udata rang aaye Rituraaj re), I meandered into a baul song sung by SD Burman (Borne Gondhe Chhonde Gitite, hridoye diechho dola), which celebrates the reciprocal love of the lover for the beloved and the love of the devotee for the divine (the baul for his mursheed) in the backdrop of Spring and its sensual romance with lovers of nature.)
Visual by Different Truths
Prof Sonjoy Dutta Roy retired as Professor/Head, Department of English, Dean of Arts, and Coordinator of Centres for Theatre/Films and Media Studies at the University of Allahabad. Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley, Fellow at Louisiana State University, and UGC Visiting Fellow at Jadavpur University. His papers on theatre/poetry featured in leading journals. Over three decades, he directed Indian/American plays and lectured at UC Berkeley, UConn, Tufts, and more. Poetry collections: The Absent Words (1998), Into Grander Space (2005), Diary Poems (2012), and the forthcoming Of Blood and Book. Poems shortlisted by the British Council, the Poetry Society of India, Chandrabhaga, and Kavya Bharti. He is our National Editor: Academics.
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हिंदी में असमय कुछ करने पर उलाहना देते हैं ‘कि आप सावन में फाग गाने लगे’!!
Memory of that reproachful statement strikes me as I read this beautiful poem. Basant can be mellifluous in monsoons as well.
Lively images of fragrance, hues, rasa, rang transcends to an ethereal level, the level where words cannot traverse beyond a contour.
Sir, your transcreated poems have made me discover the connections between SD Burman’s song renditions in Bengali and the music he composed for Hindi films… Searched for Borne Gondhe Chhonde Gitite and was reminded of the Hindi song “Phoolon ke rang se”. Similarly, earlier because of your Bhatiali transcreations, I discovered the same tune of O manjhi re….. Lovely poem as ever, sir! Somehow the poem is resonant of the original song’s rhythm if I read it again after listening to the song. And that adds so much to the beauty!