पसन्द
सौरभ राय
बदल जाती है उसकी शकल
जब मुस्कुराता है
खिल उठता है पूरा चेहरा
अड़हुल के फूल जैसा
ऐसी मुस्कानें
मैंने बच्चों के अलावा
बूढ़ी स्त्रियों में पायी हैं
बाकी हम आप तो हैं ही
जो उदास भी मुस्कुराते से दिखते हैं
और मुस्कुराते उदास।
With the translation, my energy was primarily focused on retaining the musicality and rhythm of the poem in English. To this end, I tried different combinations of line breaks that would work better in English, even if it meant taking some liberties. Rhyme is another aspect that I enjoy infusing into poems. Not in a way that makes it obtrusive, but if I can, without deviating drastically from the original meaning and intent, I like for it to be a layer that works in the background, adding to the reading experience of the poem. Not to mention, as a translator, it gives me some room to experiment.
Sourav Roy is a bilingual writer, poet, journalist, and translator. He currently works as a teacher, and has been a visiting faculty member at Azim Premji University and NIFT Bengaluru in the past. He is also a core member of Anjuman, a literary club that promotes Hindi-Urdu literature in Bengaluru. A blogger since 2010, Sourav has worked as an editor at YourStory Media, where he wrote about India’s social sector. He was the editor of the magazine Bengaluru Review for over three years. He continues to write for the Deccan Herald newspaper.
His published work includes the collections of poetry काल बैसाखी (Nor'wester; Vani Prakashan, 2022) and यायावर (Traveller; Universal Grand Apps, 2015), the edited volumes of poetry and plays, कर्णकविता (Karnakavita; Atta Galatta, 2015) and तीन नाटक (Three Plays; Bloomsbury, 2018), and the translations of plays, सोहो में मार्क्स (Marx in Soho; Rajkamal Prakashan, 2018) and Japanese Haiku, ओस की पृथ्वी (An Earth of Dew; Vani Prakashan, 2019).
Carol D'Souza is a writer and translator based in Chennai, India. Her poetry in English has appeared in Qurbatein, ASAP|art, The Sunflower Collective, Almost Island, Hakara, Indian Cultural Forum, voice & verse, the Economic and Political Weekly, Muse India, and elsewhere. Her translations of Uday Prakash and Amrita Pritam’s poetry from Hindi to English are forthcoming in the Red River Anthology of Twenty-First Century Hindi Poets and Usawa Literary Review respectively. A collation of her work can be found here.