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Vishnuchandra Sharma – विष्णुचन्द्र शर्मा (April 01st, 1933- November 02nd, 2020) was born in Varanasi, UP, India. He is an important name in Hindi literature. He was a poet, writer, translator, and editor of ‘Kavi’ magazine. His notable works are “Avaal to Main Sanad Hoon” अव्वल तो मैं सनद हूँ and “Muktibodh Ki Aatmkatha (1984), मुक्तिबोध की आत्मकथा’, the ‘Autobiography of Muktibodh.’
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis is an Indian American poet, writer, and Editor-in-Chief of Life and Legends. Her poems, essays, and translations have appeared in notable journals like World Literature Today, California Quarterly, Indian Literature, Pirene’s Fountain, etc. She has published four poetry collections, and her work has been translated into many languages. Her full-length poetry collection Bare Soul (Partridge) was awarded the 2017 Naji Naaman Literary Prize for Creativity. Her poems and translations have been included in several anthologies. The most recent among them are 100 Great Indian Poems (Bloomsbury, India) Unseen (Skylark Publications, UK), Collateral Damage, and Carrying the Branch Poets in Search of Peace (Glass Lyre Press, USA). Kalpna Singh-Chitnis participated in the “Silk Routes” project of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa from 2014-2016. She has read her work at Sahitya Akademi, India’s highest academy of letters, Poets & Writers, and AWP. A former lecturer of Political Science, Kalpna Singh-Chitnis holds a degree in Film Directing from the New York Film Academy and works as an independent filmmaker in Hollywood. Her awards and honors include – Rajiv Gandhi Global Excellence Award (2014), Bihar Shri (1988), and Bihar Rajbhasha Award (1987), given by the government of Bihar, India. Website: www.kalpnasinghchitnis.com
Vishnuchandra Sharma’s poems are translated from the original Hindi into English by Kalpna Singh-Chitnis (कल्पना सिंह)
Today
Where flowers could not grow
I planted the rocks.
Flowers are blooming
from the rocks now.
.
आज
जहाँ
फूल नहीं उग सके
मैंने
चट्टानें बो दी थीं
अब
उन चट्टानों में
फूल आ रहे हैं ।
~~~
.
Legend
The desiccating river didn’t reveal her heart
didn’t talk about her sorrows.
She looked at her emaciated self
and spoke to the rocks only.
I acknowledged her, River,
my grief is smaller than yours.
.
आख्यान
सूखी नदी ने
न अपना दिल खोला
न उदासी का बताया आख्यान
बस पत्थरों से, बोलती रही
बस अपना हाड़मांस देखती रही!
मैंने कहा, ‘नदी! मेरा दुःख तुमसे छोटा है।’
~~~
Intimate Journey
My earth is
an intimate journey
where everyone is engaged
in a dance
moving along
the ripples.
My earth has
no boundaries
no passport is needed here.
The words and the cosmos
intensified with sounds reveal
slowly and slowly a tune
that binds
you and me
together.
.
अंतरंग यात्रा
मेरी पृथ्वी
एक अंतरंग यात्रा है,
जहाँ हर आदमी
एक लहर-दर-लहर
नृत्यरत है
मेरी
पृथ्वी की कोई
सरहद नहीं है।
कोई पारपत्र नहीं चाहिए।
सिर्फ़ स्वर शब्द को
ध्वनि ब्रह्मांड को उदात्त बनाती और
धीरे-धीरे खोलती
और खोलती चली जाती है
और लय में बाँध देती है
हमें तुम्हें।
~~~
