27 May 2006

The Alleyway, by Rabindranath Tagore

One day, this concrete-laden alleyway of ours set out—twisting her way right and left again and again—to find something. But wherever she went, she would get stuck—a house on the right, a house on the left, a house right across.

From what little she could see by glancing above, a streak of sky revealed itself—just as narrow and as skewed as herself.

She asked the filtered slice of sky, “Tell me sister, of which city are you the blue alleyway?”

In the afternoon, she would spot the sun for just a little while and think, “I couldn’t understand any of that.”

Thick monsoon clouds cast shadows over the two rows of houses, as if someone has scratched out the light rays from the alleyway’s notebook with a pencil. Rain slides through the concrete, swooshing the snaky stream away with a snake charmer’s drum beats. The road becomes slippery, the umbrellas of pedestrians hit each other, and the water from an open drain suddenly splashes up to an umbrella, stunning its carrier.

Overwhelmed, the alleyway utters, “There wasn’t any problem when it was parched dry. Why this sudden pouring trouble?”

At the end of spring, the southern wind looks delinquent, raising swirls of dust and sweeping torn pieces of paper. The alleyway says, bewildered, “Which god’s drunken dance is this?”

She knows that all the garbage that gathers around her every day—fish scales, stove ash, vegetable peels, dead rats—are reality. She never thinks, “Why all this?”

Yet when the autumn sun slants itself on the balcony of a house, when the notes of Bhairavi float from the puja nahabat*, she feels for a second, “Perhaps something big really lies beyond this concrete track.”

The day yawns; the sunlight drops from the shoulders of the houses to rest in a corner of the alleyway, just like the slipping away of the corner of a housewife’s sari. The clock strikes nine; the maidservant walks by, tucking a basket of vegetables she bought from the market to her waist; the smell and smoke of cooking envelopes the alleyway; office goers get busy.

At this time the alleyway thinks again, “All the reality is only contained within this concrete road. What I had thought of as something big must be just a dream.”

* Music room or a tower from which live music is played/performed during festive occasions.

Translated by: Bhaswati Ghosh


12 comments:

Bernita said...

I like this.
There is truth in alleyways.
Thank you, Bhaswati.

Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

Yes, Bhas. Even the dark voice of reality can read like poetry if you can catch the sudden ray of light. And to see the white from the black... Tagore has given us this gift of sight.

Lotus Reads said...

Beautifully done, Bhaswati. Thanks so much for so thoughtfully translating a Tagore story for us. I have enjoyed it very much, this is such a treat!

Yoda said...

I may not see an alleyway the same again :-) Nicely done.

Esther Avila said...

Since I live in a small town, I've only seen alleyways like this on television or pictures. But you brought it to life for me. Thank you for translating this for us. :)

Bhaswati said...

Thanks, Bernita. This is from a book called "Lipika" by Tagore. These are brief, reflective pieces. The book is one of my all-time favourites.

Susan, I couldn't agree with you more on Tagore.

Lotus, thanks for the kind words. My translation can, at the best, only be an approximation of Tagore's own words . I am glad you liked it :)

Yoda, that was my reaction, too, after I read that piece of Tagore's (the original, I mean). He sure has a special vision to look at mundane things, doesn't he?

Esther, I am glad to share this with you. Come to India, you won't find a dearth of alleyways like these ;)

Jeff said...

Powerful imagery. I enjoyed this very much. :)

Bhaswati said...

I am glad you liked it, Jeff :)

Scott said...

What a beautiful passage Bhaswati. I love the descriptions. Inspirational for nascent writers like myself.

I finally finished my carnival story. 3K, so come by when you have the time.

Bhaswati said...

Thanks, Scott, though I can hardly take the credit. I am glad you liked it. I will look to share more of Tagore's shorter writings here.

As for you, nascent or not, you are talented. Your wonderful way with words sparkles in each of your blog posts. I will soon hop over to read the carnival story. Thanks for the heads up!

readerswords said...

Thanks for a very well translated story.

Bhaswati said...

BS, thanks for the kind words. Glad to share.

Many thanks, Jason. I tried. It's amazing how great writers like Tagore can breathe life into the most "lifeless" of things. Who would think a narrow, neglected alleyway could be looked at in this manner?

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