Friday, February 13, 2009

Another Translation!!!

A translation that is more literal than poetic and done in haste and a little recklessness. You should listen to the original poem by Gulzar. I can bet you'll be transferred to a room where you have moss-colored window panes and lots of pathos to give you company. This is in a song called 'Piya Tora Kaisa Abhimaan' from Rituparno Ghosh's film Raincoat. Read on...






It was an unknown gust of wind that displaced the photo-frame hanging on this wall,
Last monsoon there was no damp on the wall.
Don't know why there's damp on the walls this time, fissures have come up,
And the moisture flows through them as tears flow on dry cheeks.
It was an unknown gust of wind that displaced the photo-frame hanging on this wall.

This rain used to to hum,
On the parapets and terrace of this very house the rains used to hum...
It used to write messages on the glass windows with its fingers.
Now it writes them behind blocked ventilation vents.

The afternoons seem like empty cases, devoid of life and vitality,
There's no one to place the bets, there's no one make the moves.
Days and nights do not happen anymore...
Don't know what unknown gust of wind it was that displaced the photo-frame hanging on this wall.

4 comments:

The Sad Dragon said...

nice.

Anonymous said...

Hi Chanchal,

This is a superb work. Trust me i had watched this movie atleast six times....I love the movie for its wonderful sense of timinf....minute detailing...and thsi part of teh film where we have the narrationn by gulzar sahab is something that makes you stop and think. And its such a wonderfully dirested scene....ajay finding out the real story about Ash. The translation is so accurate...it had actually trapped the heart in motion. Beautiful work...kudos buddy!

Love,
Swati

Anonymous said...

Hi Chanchal,

This is a superb work. Trust me i had watched this movie atleast six times....I love the movie for its wonderful sense of timinf....minute detailing...and thsi part of teh film where we have the narrationn by gulzar sahab is something that makes you stop and think. And its such a wonderfully dirested scene....ajay finding out the real story about Ash. The translation is so accurate...it had actually trapped the heart in motion. Beautiful work...kudos buddy!

Love,
Swati

Chanchal Roychoudhury said...

Thank you for the pats on the back! I'm not sure if it is good enough because there are a few Urdu words in the original version, and I don't know the English equivalent of those words. And I think that dented the poetic quality and I had to stamp it as 'Literary Translation' to save myself the blushes! Thanks anyway :)