Remaining Places

Remaining Places

Every day I forget, loose something

Where have I put my spectacles, where the pen is lost?

Just now I have seen blue color somewhere, where has it gone no idea?

I forget to reply letters, to pay off the installments of debt

I do not remember to greet or bid farewell to friends

I often regret that my hands were stuck in such tasks, which were not matched with my mind

Sometimes it happened; I forget not to recall that which I forgot.

Mother used to say, go to that place, where you put those things last time?

I usually would get those things again and I would be happy

Mother used to say, wherever things happen…they make a place of their own which fades not easily

Mother is no longer but her place remains.

Things get lost but places remain

They keep on going with us entire life

We go somewhere else, far from our homes, people, our water and trees

From where I descended down like a stone

In that hill too there would be a small place left for me

Meanwhile my city was submerged into the water of a gigantic dam 

Another city was raised like that

But I said it is not that, my city is an emptiness.

Events dissolve, but those places remain where they took place

They accumulate, move together 

Recalling us what we have forgotten and what we have lost.

बची हुई जगहें / मंगलेश डबराल

Translated by Deepak Bijalwan

#Manglesh Dabral

Manglesh Dabral (16 May 1948 – 9 December 2020) was an Indian Hindi poet and journalist. He was associated with Hindi-language newspapers including Jansatta, Hindi Patriot, and Purvagrah. Some of his popular works include Pahar Par Lalten (transl. lamp on the hills), Ghar Ka Rasta (transl. the way home), and Kavi Ka Akelapan (transl. loneliness of a poet). He was a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2000 for his anthology Ham Jo Dekhte Hain (transl. what we see)

A tribute to an amazing poet