A POEM TRANSLATED FROM AKANKSHA

This dreamy life is

Bouquet of aspirations.

Our life vibrates 

With  aspirations

We scribble 

Those dreamy moments 

With outlines of reveries

Aspirations make life alive

Honey smeared and active

Aspirations of infancy, youth

And other life long aspirations 

Make float

Boat of our life.  

A poem extracted from AAKANKSHA , Hindi Poetry Book composed by Dr. Sanjeev Kumar and translated into English by me,with his consent.

RAJNI CHHABRA

MY FAVOURITE 5 TRANSLATED POEMS FROM RAJASTHANI INTO ENGLISH ; POEMS BY LATE OM PUROHIT KAGAD JI

उमर गाळ दी एक सबद नीं सीख्यो बो जिको हो प्रीत पण फेर भी आखी-आखी रात फोरतो पसवाड़ा रोवतो अर कैंवतो काळजै रड़कै प्रीत ठाह नीं किंया सीख्यो !

LOVE

I spent my whole life

Could not learn one word ' Love'

Still, I keep on tossing in bed

Throughout sleepless night

And say that my mind teases.

Don't know how I learnt 'Love'

अणबसी ■■■■■ बा बांचै-टांचै 

जाड़ भींच’र चींथै एक-एक सबद मन ई मन मुळकै सबदां सूं नीं देवै बोल-लिख उथळा जाबक भोळी नीं नीं ई चातर-चलाक उण री आंख्यां पण बोलै उण री सगळी अणबसी 

UNUSHERED

She expresses herself

Suppressing each and every word

In her mouth.

Rejoices inwardly.

She never voices to her words.

Writing superficially.

Don't deem her innocent

She is rather clever.

Her eyes convey

Her mum speech.

●

प्रीत री देवळ्यां ■■■■■■■■ प्रीत तो थारै सूं ही मोरचै पण पेट सारू हो छेकड़ मोरचो जीत्यो पेट हारया हारी प्रीत ई पण होयगी अमर अब गाईजसी करोड़-करोड़ मुंडां सावळ देख अदेही आपणी रूह में है प्रीत री देवळ्यां !

SHRINE OF LOVE

I loved you only

Bur sustainance had to be attended 

With priority

Livlihood conquered 

Love was deafeated

Still our love will be immortal

Its praise will be sung by millions

Invisual will be visualized

Our soul is shrine of love..

●

थांरी आंख्यां में म्हारा सुपना
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
आपां साथै-साथै चाल्या
साथै ई देखी जगती
इकसार देख्या जग रा चाळा
मन तो पण दोय हा
थूं कीं न्यारो सोच्यो होसी म्हांसूं
थूं पूछती रैई म्हारा सुख-दुःख
म्हनै तो फुरसत ई नीं ही
म्हारा सुपना पूरण सूं
म्हैं तो बधा ई लियो म्हारो बंस
थूं बैठी है आज मून
अंतस में लियां अंधारो
थांरी आंख्यां रा काच पड़ग्या मांदा
थांरै सुपना रो पछै काईं होयो
आव म्हैं सोधू थांरी आंख्या में
थांरा अणपाक्या सुपना
पण ओ काईं !
थांरी आंख्यां में भी
म्हारा ई सुपना !
●MY DREAM IN YOUR EYES

We moved together

Side by side

Beholding the Universe simultaneously

Visualized the ways of world.

But our minds are distinct

Obviously your perception

Will vary from mine.

You kept on inquiring

My well being

I was never free from

Accomplishing my dreams.

And nurturing my family.

You are mum today

Holding darkness 

In recesses of 

Your mind.

Your vision has dimmed

What happened to your dreams

Let me search in your eyes.

Your dreams that could not mature.

But, I am aghast on my findings/

Your eyes are dreaming only me.

ओळ्यूं
■■■■■
थारी ओळ्यूं री टूंटी
आं आंख्यां में खुलगी
जिकी नित् झरै
रीतै नीं पण आ
मन री टंकी
ठाह नीं कुण
आय नित भरे !

REVERIES

========

Tap of your reveries

Has opened in these eyes.

Flows persistently

Still this tank of mind

Is not evacuated

God know

Who fills it daily.

MY 5 favorite poems originally composed by Late Om Purohit Ji Kagad in Rajasthani and translated by me into English

RAJNI CHHABRA

CAGE

MAL CHAND  TIWARI JI

It was a big zoo.I was strolling in front of a cage on which hung a board proclaiming'Extremely Violent Beast'.These cages had a strange design;at some places, they were high walled,at some , the walls were low,at some places ,they jut out, at some places, they receded and some had the walls on the left side,while others had it on the right.The cages that are high,have a staircase alongside.these stairs lead you to a long verandah,having many small cages,all in a straight line.


I came across him here,holding a canister. His fingers were stained with bits of flesh.He was not an animal,but a human being.Picking pieces of flesh from the canister,he was throwing them into the cages for the animals.Suddenly, my attention was captured.Though, some flesh might be still left in the canister,on his own body, there was no flesh visible at all.think about it. In the given situation,is it not the limit of irony.I was even more surprised when that bony figure,laughing with a carefree swagger,said to me,"Have you come from downstairs?I left a cage open there.The very stairs that u came up by,the lion might come up too."

I started bleating like a goat.I thought that if a goat were listening to me, it might feel jealous of my goat like tendency to bleat.In my fright,I had even surpassed a goat.

I could hear thumping sounds on the stairs.I was staring at the staircase,aghast.Some animals were shrieking in their cages,some were twittering, chirping;but all of them were safe,because they were in their cages.Suddenly, I felt all I needed at this moment. was an empty cage,but there was no empty cage in sight,no cage to run into. Wasn't there a deeper irony of fate that I had been confronted with.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a short story in Rajasthani, by Sh.Malchand Tiwari, translated into English by myself
RAJNI CHHABRA

I AM WAITING FOR POEM

I AM WAITING FOR POEM

We can not find poem
Just by probing for it
It appears all of sudden.
Whenever, I intend to converse
Never get any reasonable query

My query is this
What should a poet ask from poem.
After acquaintance with poem
Is questioning mandatory?
Questioning that what is time by your watch?
Questioning that where are you going and when will be you back?
Questioning that are you taking meals now or late?
Questioning that shall I prepare tea; will you have it?
Questioning that I m sleepy; when will you turn off light?
Questioning that what do you search in these books all time?
Questioning that why you don’t do something to earn money?
Question__question ___question? Left behind are question and counter question

But what can be formed out of question only?
Shall I compose a poem with amalgam of these questions only?
But what to do?
The question that has just arisen in your mind
That is why I have mentioned it top most.
You cannot find poem
Just by probing for it.
It appears suddenly.
The poem is that I m waiting for you poem
If you come across a poem
Convey to her that I m waiting for her.

A Rajasthani Poem from PAACHE KUN AASI, composed by Dr Neeraj Daiya and translated into English by me with his consent

RAJNI CHHABRA

.

EXISTENCE____IS EXISTENCE

Water of rivers

Flows

Like these thoughts

Water of sacred Ganges

Turns salty

After mingling with sea

These innocent thoughts also

Fall prey to lust

Existence is existence

Re sends salty water

To snowy summits

Of Himalayas

That is abode of

Frozen soft water

In vicinity of

Snowy mountains

Thoughts freeze

Don't fall prey

But are immune

From flaws

Nearing snowy peaks

Ordinary human being

Also becomes

Like Himalayas

Cool, stable, silent

Bold, gigantic and sober

The poems ‘Existence  …Is Existence’ has been originally published in Hindi ,in ‘Himalaya ki Mahak’, by Sanjeev kashyap and with his consent translated into English by myself

Rajni Chhabra.

ASH AND COINS

Dr. Amarjeet Kaunke 

Myself 

ASH AND COINS


One misty evening
Or some crimson morning
I will re-appear
Sooner or later.

In my one hand
I will be holding
Cadaver of my dreams
And in the other
Several silver coins.

Don't look at
Outcome of my dreams.
Dreams that
Breathed their last
Wandering for livelihood.
Rivers,with distinct features
That were lost in the
Dreary desert of hardships.

But,still from time to time
Arise in my poems.

Dreams
That were like
Inky black hair
On my return
Will be tempered with
Silvery whiteness.
Dreams that,
While parting were fleshy
While returning
Will transform into wrinkles.
Dreams that were
Like childish trebles
On my return will be
Like shaky hands.

Crossroads of my city
Would fail to recognize me.
The old baniyan tree
Stationed alongside road
Might be in slumber.

Don't glance at my face.
Don't try to locate
Innocence of childhood in it.
Don't glance at my feet.
Coz,dirt of time
Might have accumulated
On my feet.
May be,in  my eyes
You won't be able
To locate any lustre.

When, I will return
In my one hand
I will be holding
Ash of my dreams
And in  the other one
Will be holding
Several silver coins.
You just pick
Silver coins;
And ignore
Consequence of my dreams.


A soul stirring poem originally composed by Dr Amarjeet kaunke in Gurmukhi and translated by me into English
Rajni Chhabra

WHO WILL COME BACK?

WHO WILL COME BACK

If I part with you

Instead of dying four days later

Will die four days earlier---?

Who can curtail the speaker.

It is not good to find faults every time.

If winds from  the East flow towards the West

Who is to be blamed for it?

Till the day, according to your wishes

Kept humming your favourite songs

And just continued singing.

If we are willing to do, we can do a lot

Abandoning one circle, can enter into another.

It is not mandatory that we dwell in circle only.

Before departing from world, we can speak the truth.

But, why should we wait for death bed.

Why not to apprehend that

 Gist of life lies in speaking the truth.

The form in which you loved me

That love has vanished

Whatever is left behind

Is withered and useless.

Have we really forgotten

All sweet memories of good days

If you intend to express yourself

Don’t twist the facts.

Speak frankly.

If truth lies hidden in recesses of mind

Why not get burden free, speaking the truth.

This truth will lay foundation to trust.

If love reigns this beautiful world.

Not a single corner will be shattered.

If I breathe my last four days ahead.

Who will come back.

If this is a fact, let us settle accounts.

The two days that we have in hand

We liberate these two days

To live life happily.

How long shall we move, holding finger.

Don’t gaze me with bitterness.

When we have changed our vision

Then view what is dear to your mind.

Why to maintain pretentious relations

If not you, there are others with me on path.

We know how to exchange courtesies

Will meet some co passenger on the pathway.

Let me live, let me smile

Don’t indulge in leg pulling

Save your legs for further journey

Why are you eyeing me

If I am laughing a bit.

If my uttering turns true

Then , your eyes will shed tears.

After all, you are not a stone

You are a human being, my brother.

O ! Noble human being

With your tricks, emerging from hatred and misunderstanding

I have nurtured fathomless intimacy.

And a bit of love too, in inner recesses of my mind.

Though, you live in your circle, with your restraints.

You are very nice, my mates.

God knows, what soil you are composed of.

You don’t comment on any topic of life

And you remain mum on issue of death.

It is better to die four days in advance

Than dying after four days.

Praying to God

You be immortal! Never extinct from life.

Store my affection.

If not anything else,

Keeping love in centre

Draw a circle around it

I will move for away, taking with me

Your pretentious intimacy

Whatever share of it I get from you.

Is this solace not sufficient..!

I have no grudging against you

Whatever, I received from you

I will be contended with that only

I will not demand for anything.

Patience will be virtue of my life.

Because, who comes back……

Truth should dawn upon us

Who will leave behind whom

This world will snatch away from you everything

Yes, I speak the truth

This world will snatch everything from you

Everything. Will leave nothing for you.

In this grabbing, where will reveries go……!