The Cartographer : नक़्शानवीस

 The Cartographer

नक़्शानवीस

[ Poetry collection ]
Published By : The Poetry Translation Centre
London
Published November 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9161141-4-2
"What gives Rana’s poetry its magnetic quality is that, despite its philosophical profundity, his work is vividly accessible."
-Lucy Rosenstein
Mohan Rana’s intricate metaphysical poems are subtle, like water they define through transparency. His poems undertake the deceptively simple process of understanding things as they are, in their ordinary brilliance. This selection of profound, contemplative verse – so often concerned with memory and time – is an excellent introduction to one of Hindi poetry’s most enthralling voices.
With an afterword by Alison Brackenbury
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Available to buy :

https://www.poetrytranslation.org/shop/the-cartographer

 

 

A poem translated from Hindi /// To the Lost Children

कविता  - खोए बच्चों के नाम

To the Lost Children

I want to write to the lost children,
those whose clothes hung from the branches
of the mulberry tree, getting smaller
as the branches grew.
The tree gets thicker and thicker
until years later I see the old tree
bent over its own shadow.
The clothes turn to shreds;
their memories mix in the wind,
dissolve in water, sink under the seasons,
fade like a forgotten poem.
I set out to write about myself
but I start talking of someone else.
My contemporaries are growing older.
One day they too will go missing
like the lost children: one day.
One day will go missing out of many.
I want to write a letter
to the lost children
posted from their lost childhood.


Translated from Hindi to English

Lucy Rosenstein /// Bernard O’Donoghue
https://www.poetrytranslation.org/poems/to-the-lost-children

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Poem 'Khoye Bachchon ke Naam' 

A poem translated from Hindi into Bengali. 

Translation  by Preetha Roy Chowdhury

As the Past Approaches

As the past approached,
the future, even when you've lived it,
remains to be seen.
Behind that door
there is life. But guess!
Out or in?
This side or the other?
Closed or open?
Who's waiting for me there?
Who am I waiting for?
I have still to discover.
One foot forward,
one backward.
The truth is
neither key nor lock.

2005
Translation from Hindi  Lucy Rosenstein,
Bernard O’Donoghue
From  Chapbook  "POEMS"
Published by Poetry Translation Centre , London ; 2011

Selected from poetry collection "Patthar Ho Jaayegii Nadii",  Stone-River ; 2007

© 2020   Mohan Rana

आता हुआ अतीत 

 

आता हुआ अतीत,
भविष्य जिसे जीते हुए भी
अभी जानना बाक़ी है

दरवाज़े के परे ज़िंदगी है,
और अटकल लगी है मन में कि
बाहर या भीतर
इस तरफ़ या उधर
यह बंद है या खुला !
किसे है प्रतीक्षा वहाँ मेरी
किसकी है प्रतीक्षा मुझे
अभी जानना बाक़ी है

एक कदम आगे
एक कदम छूटता है पीछे
सच ना चाबी है ना ही ताला

(पत्थर हो जाएगी नदी, 2007)



© 2020  मोहन राणा  ।  Mohan Rana

Out of the womb -गर्भ से बाहर

Let me write something in the dark with ink
For a new birth in the world of light that can be read,
Poetry has to cut  mother tongue's umbilical cord

Stanza extract [Out of the womb] from 'Ret ka Pul' 2012

© Mohan Rana

कुछ लिख दूँ अँधेरे में स्याही से

जो पढ़ा जा सके रोशनी की दुनिया में एक नये जनम के लिए,

कविता को काटनी है भाखा की गर्भनाल

काव्य अंश [गर्भ से बाहर] 'रेत का पुल' ;  2012, संग्रह से

© मोहन राणा

The Cartographer

The Cartographer

Between the lines it’s you,
absent, but a silent presence
just as the rain is absent in the passing clouds.
There you are, absent, in every empty space
of life. In every gap of time
on these panic-stricken roads.
I don’t look out any window,
I don’t stop at any door
I don’t watch the clock
I hear no one’s call.
As geography changes its borders,
fear is my sole companion.


From Ret ka Pul (Bridge of Sand, 2012)

Translation from Hindi
Lucy Rosenstein, Bernard O’Donoghue

नक़्शानवीस

पंक्तियों के बीच अनुपस्थित हो
तुम एक ख़ामोश पहचान
जैसे भटकते बादलों में अनुपस्थित बारिश,
तुम अनुपस्थित हो जीवन के हर रिक्त स्थान में
समय के अंतराल में
इन आतंकित गलियों में ।
मैं देखता नहीं किसी खिड़की की ओर
रुकता नहीं किसी दरवाज़े के सामने
देखता नहीं घड़ी को
सुनता नहीं किसी पुकार को,
बदलती हुई सीमाओं के भूगोल में
मेरा भय ही मेरे साथ है ।


(रेत का पुल, 2012)

©  मोहन राणा