Tuesday 19 December 2023

Baas Terwiel on Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi

My Guru in Göttingen, Baas Terwiel's translation of six poems by Nirmalprabha Bordoloi, along with a short Introductory Note. The text that Baas wrote in 1980 to contextualize the poems is a page from the cultural history of Assam and was meant as an introduction to Assam and its rich literature, as well as to the poet Dr. Bordoloi, for foreign readers of that time. The entire text is published below with the six translated poems embedded in it, without any alteration, along with a photo of the Bordoloi family that Baas had taken then. 

A version of this piece appeared in the Thumbprint Magazine:

https://thumbprintmag.in/single_post.php?id=607

[The Assamese originals of the last four poems are also given (thanks to another poet Kushal Dutta). I will be grateful if some reader can give me the originals of the first two.]


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Some days are charmed

If something goes right first thing in the morning, or there is some good news when you first look at your messages, then there is bound to be more good news before the day is over. Yesterday was one such day.

It began with the news that Apurba Sharma Sir had agreed to be the Chief Guest of the next 'Bhal Khoboror Din' on 1 Jan. 2024. He had kept us waiting for nearly two weeks and we were a little worried about how we would find another speaker in case he turned down our request. So his confirmation came as a huge relief. And I told myself -- today could be my Bhal khoboror Din -- and that is what it turned out to be.

First I finished writing my travel blog that I had been working on for the last week. But I realised that we had no photos of the amazing claypot restaurant we had eaten in in Thanjavur. So I wrote to the owner. And low and behold, he replied almost immediately -- yes, he did remember 'the two brave ladies' [his words], and of course he would send me some photos of his restaurant once the lunchtime rush was over. And he did.

Next stop at the tailor, and contrary to usual practice, she had everything ready on time! How unusual! 
Nothing very big, but it is these small things that make so much of a difference.

I wsa dreading the next step as I was having trouble with a shop-tenant and had to go to the local police station to discuss what to do with the police. I had imagined they would make me wait and would be rude and brash as ever, but no, we did not have to wait and the person I spoke to was polite and helpful and gave me good advice. What a dream run I was having...

Once you have had it so good till mid afternoon, you imagine that your luck would slowly run out. So I was worried about driving to Kalakhetra in the evening to watch a play. The play, directed by the renowned Nayan Prasad and the text based on Dr. Bhaben Saikia's translation of the famous 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B. Priestley, was a real treat to watch. I am usually a little diffident about driving in the dark and about being able to park and reverse my car in crowded placed. But today everything worked nicely. The rest of it worked well as well -- there was not much traffic, we got a good parking space and also good seats, and the play itself was excellent. In the end it turned out to be a very pleasant outing with friends. 

I drove back towards Panchabati, and thought it best not to stop as it was getting late. But what was that -- I saw the shutter of the shop with the troublesome tenant open although it was past nine in the evening. What was going on? I stopped the car and went towards the shop. What could be happening? Maybe the defaulting tenant was back again and making trouble. But no, that tenant was not in sight. It was my caretaker and chowkidar; the tenant had given them the keys to the shop a little earlier, they had tried the keys and opened the shutters to check that everything was fine.  Then they proceeded to lock the shop with our own locks. The shop was ours again! So a problem that had persisted nearly all the time since Ma left was suddently over. The fellow had about 2 lakhs in rent still to pay, but at least the shop was back in our hands again. What wonderful news!

I was humming lightly as I drove back to Kharghuli. It was past nine-thirty, my normal bed-time. As I looked at my phone (which had been on silent all the while since the start of the play). There were three missed calls from Arupa Baidew. Was it too late to call back? I would take a chance. She received my call and told me that she had called only to tell me that she was dedicating her latest book to me! I did not know what to say...felt like crying in joy...

That was a description of a Bhal khoboror Din for me...



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Sunday 10 December 2023

Driving through temple country



Time for a roundup of another 21-day road trip, this time along the east coast of the Deccan peninsula, starting an ending at Hyderabad going down all the way to Rameshwaram (Dhanushkodi) covering nearly 5000 kilometers in all (including three day-excursions that we did by taxi).  The team was the same as last year -- Hema, I and Hema's son Shamir's faithful Hyundai Creta that did not let us down even once. In that time we visited at least five large forts*, six museums*, many palaces*, churches* and at least a dozen immense temples*. Nine stops* in all spanning twenty nights, not counting Hyderabad. And it worked, this time, without a flat tyre, without either of us falling ill seriously or our having to lose time or change plans because of some unforseen development. [* means the list of names is to be found at the very end of the blog]


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Saturday 4 November 2023

The problems don't get smaller

Baideo, how much does Sishugram still owe me? The architect Ranjan asked at the end of the meeting at Sishugram. We had just inaugurated the multipurpose Hall at Sishugram which he had designed and helped to build. The District Commissioner, Kamrup, an energetic and very efficient administrator, had done the honours in the presence of our trustees, local committee members, well wishers and friends. The meeting had gone off very well. The DC assured us she would help us solve our problems regarding land. That is what we wanted to hear. 

More than 100 people had come that morning, starting out early and traveling long distances from Guwahati to be with us in time for the inauguration. Many were coming for the first time.  They wanted to see for themselves. They wanted to help. We served them tea with pitha at the beginning and a light lunch at the end. 

Given this setting, Ranjan's question was unexpected. I was rather irritated. Was that a time to be asking about bills? I told him I would have to check the papers and did not remember it offhand. He then said, 'I just want to say that you don't have to pay me anything anymore. Whatever you owe I wish to donate to Sishugram.' When I asked him why he was doing it he told me, 'You have done me a great honour by acknowledging my work in public today. I am overwhelmed.'

That was how things went that day. We could sense the huge amount of good will that existed for people about Sishugram. We spoke about our problems. People listened and were willing to contribute generously. Many told me about many schemes that we could apply for. Many offered to come and help themselves. We now had a brand new Hall for the girls to use. And many donated a little something on their way out of Sishugram that afternoon. 

Yet, things were not getting better at Sishugram. Despite our best efforts, we had not been able to raise Sishugram, or make the girls at Sishugram understand the need to be responsible, to work hard and do well. I was not sure what we were doing wrong. There were problems of indiscipline, of mismanagement, of lying, of not trying to do better, of not doing what one should. Our girls were not growing up with the right set of values. There was something we were not getting right. 

That is what we would need to address first. For else, we are failing people's trust. That night, just before I went to bed, I got another call, this time from Mrinmoy, the driver who I had hired that day to take me to Sishugram. 'Baideo,' he said, 'I want to donate 300 rupees per month to Sishugram. I wish I could give more but you know what my situation is. Please let me have the UPI address to which to send the money.'

Latest by then I understood that I had a bigger job on my hands, for if the girls don't grow up well, we are failing to keep the trust that Ranjan, Mrinmoy and many other donors had placed on us. More importantly, we were failing in our basic duty, the reason why Sishugram was established in the first place nearly 50 years ago --- to provide a safe home for girls who came from troubled backgrounds and to help them to become good human beings. 


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Wednesday 18 October 2023

Chatting with Jayantada

Excerpts from my Whatsapp conversations with Jayantadada since the 2020 Covid lockdown. 

Photo taken by Bisheshwar Das in Jayantada's home 'Chandrabhaga' in Tinkonia Bagicha, Cuttack on 9th April 2023, my last meeting with Jayantada.



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Tuesday 12 September 2023

Four summer months spent with friends in Germany

Lyubov and me in Limerick
These last four months in Wuerzburg this summer went by very quickly, almost too quickly. What is more, many things -- both good and bad -- have happened in that time, and have left me rather out of breath. But I have realised, all over again, that I am very lucky in my friends. More about all that below:

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Thursday 31 August 2023

To Jayantada, from Dublin, with love

Photo credit: Bishweshwar Das
Jayantada (the renowned poet Jayanta Mahapatra) left us for ever on the evening of Sunday, 27th August 2023. I was in Cork then. I went numb. My flight back to Germany on Monday the 28th August was cancelled and I suddenly found myself in Dublin on Tuesday, the 29th August, with nothing else to do but wander around, while waiting for the flight rescheduled for Wednesday. This is what I saw that day, in the company of a lovely Finnish woman, whose flight was also rescheduled. I wrote the poem at 2 a.m. on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday... Talking to Jayantada helped.... here it is...

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Wednesday 2 August 2023

Random thoughts about Indian tourists in Europe

I am an Indian myself. But there are a few things I find hard to understand about my guests from back home when they come visiting: here is a random sample of some problems I have had. I am not complaining, perhaps I am just as bad as any of them, but I just wanted to make a list so that I knew what to expect, and what not to expect, next time someone comes visiting me. I guess some of my friends will be cross with me because they think I am talking about them, I hope they will forgive me and take it in the right spirit. I am being grossly unfair here I know, for most of my friends who have visited me over the last years have been very independent, capable, accommodative and were a lot of fun and no trouble at all.  But still, there are some typical Indian traits that I need to talk about. Or perhaps these traits are not Indian at all...


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Thursday 13 July 2023

Beauty that heals; and some thoughts to ponder on

As luck would have it, I have been to a few places in the last few weeks that have filled my heart with a kind of joy that only naturally beautiful and old places and objects can give... First I spent a wonderful day in the beautiful north German town of Lübeck where the exquisitely beautiful hofs (inner courtyards) of many old but newly restored apartment complexes made me jump with joy... 

Following closely on that trip came a visit to the quaint little city of Hannoversch Münden, where the rivers Fulda and Werra join to become the river Weser. The beauty of the half timbered houses of that ancient city and the natural beauty of the area around the 'Weserstein' (the Weser Stone on which is inscribed a lovely verse about the rivers, more about that later)  are unparalleled. I have to write about those two places if only to show you some photos to prove my claim.  


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Thursday 6 July 2023

The stuff of dreams

When I had said yes to going to Freiberg, little did I know what was in store for me... and then it all began to happen... and before I knew it I was drawn into that rabbit-hole like little Alice in Wonderland...What happened to me in those days in Freiberg was an illustration of the statement, 'The secret, Alice, is to surround yourself with people who make your heart smile. It's then, only then, that you'll find Wonderland.'


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