Friday, May 8, 2009

To Kalboishakhi*

(as experienced on May 3rd in Kolkata)





Impulsive summer rain
ushered in by gypsy winds!
You are by no means modest;
You enjoyed a theatrical entry that day:

When first with curtains of grey you hid the sky,
Then with a clangor of thunder you walked in.
A cool zephyr whispered your name
in all our ears.

You demanded an audience that day;
Little boys abandoned their summer games and watched!
Lovers let go of clasped hands and watched!
Crowds rushed out of shopping-malls and watched!

all eyes fixated towards your North Western drama;

The zephyr soon grew into a gale
and you impaled the grey curtains
with your brilliant thunderbolt
and ripped them open;

a zillion silver arrows rained towards us.

And we rejoiced intoxicated,
Indulging every sense organ.

But you left without a spectacle;
Or did we miss it in our rapture?



*Kalboishakhi - Nor'westers; local winds that bring relief in summer in East India

11 comments:

Angika said...

Hmmm. Nice and light. You've recreated the onset of such a shower well. Could almost feel the cool breeze under dark clouds and was reminded of the last time I experienced that. Feels like a long time since I've seen rain! What is the photo?

sujaan said...

:) whats with the hmmm? the photo's a coconut/palm tree as seen from beside the helical staircase on our terrace (during the storm)

little boxes said...

lovely photo!
i could almost see the rainclouds approach bit by bit till they came overhead and showered our thirsty souls...
beautiful!

Arkarup Banerjee said...

Very nostalgic i must say... Got reminded of so many such 'theatrical' evenings when we used to stop playing football to become an 'audience' of such a spectacle. I also used to enjoy the hailstorms which generally precede the 'kalboishakhi'.
I liked the third stanza the most. Very nice.

Deeptesh said...

I just returned from Kullu-Manali yesterday...missed the storm in Kolkata.But your imagery keeps growing better.And great personifications in here.

My orkut acc was hacked.I recovered it but am not quite sure.Will blog soon.C u then.

reema said...

u no wen i read it.. it seemed to be a lofty translation of a brilliant bangla poem.
loved the photo alongside!

deepteshpoetry said...

chk out my new poem soon.Can't wait.

sujaan said...

@Reema, does it sound like a translation of a bengali poem? which poem is this? lemme know...

Pshycolitian said...

I have never experienced the North westerners... BUT I love getting wet in the rain this poem just reminded how long its been since I got drenched completely in a rain.. I miss Vellore where similar events happen.. only they take more than few hours to go ... (The heavier clouds trapped amongst the mountains...)

Unknown said...

a zillion silver arrows rained towards us.

very original.. very nicely used to creat effect..


"And we rejoiced intoxicated,
Indulging every sense organ."

i like the way u have used "sense organ".. makes me smell, hear, touch, see and taste the rain :)

Good one! :)

Megh said...

kalboisakhi

celebration of destruction ..

and the image you created ..thoroughly nostalgic