~Govinda Giri Prerna~
Translated by Mahesh Paudyal
Here’s a chilling instance of taming a daughter-in-law.
A woman—ready to deliver any moment
goes out to gather fodder
fills her basket with utter difficulty
gathers turfs,
added to the burden inside the belly
is the load of grass on the back
a surge of perspiration drips
down the earlobes
the load of sweats from the back
flow down, towards her petticoat
the feet are bare; there’s no slippers
It’s Tekkar Bhansari—some three hours’ drive from the capital
and three ages removed from luxury and amenities
The pang of a neel-kada spine stuck in the feet
pain from inside the belly
the anxiety of half-sleep
the anxiety whether the child will be born alright
memory of those born and departed
love for those born and survived
o, what will happen to her now!
Worries knock her down aground.
With torrents of perspiration dripping down
as she reaches the front-yard
right in the middle of it
she is driven by labor pain
so acute that it drives her half-dead;
intact is the burden on the back
and so is the one inside
as she throws the fodder load
on the edge of the porch
crushing with her feet the fading sights
That moment
right at that moment
she happens to throw on the yard
the nine-month-old burden from the belly;
a commotion ensues all over the house
and before it sneaks into the neighborhood
she hears emanating from an impenetrable forest of pain
a juvenile voice of the newborn!
That child—emanating that faint cry
was none but I;
away from those hills that vouchsafed by first cry
I am today ascending the heights of my dreams
amid commotions in America;
the mother that bore the load on her back
perhaps survives faintly in the firmament of memory
yes, once in the firmament, once away from the earth
off to a world beyond reach and beyond the eyes
she thrives in memory; mere memory
Mother! My mother
who gave me eyes to look at the world
is, henceforth, nowhere to be found.
(Source : Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI) website)
