Accounting

This is my humble attempt to translate a poem by the renowned though highly controversial Bangladeshi writer Tasleema Nasreen in Hindi and in English.

In case of any error I may please be pardoned for my incompetence.

The Hindi version:

कितना प्यार दिया,

कितने गुलाब के गुलदस्ते दिए,

कितना समय, कितने समुंदर दिए,

कितने बेनिंद रातें, कितने आँखों में आंसू दिए –

सब जिसदिन बहुत आवेगपूर्ण होकर सुना रहे थे,

समझाना चाहते थे मुझसे बहुत प्यार करते हो।

उसी दिन समझ गई थी –

तुम मुझसे अब और प्यार नहीं करते।

जब प्यार खत्म हो जाता है तभी इंसान उसका हिसाब लगाता है,

तुम भी लगा रहे हो।

प्यार तब तक प्यार रहता है

जब अंधा होता है , बहरा होता है

जब तक ये बेहिसाब होता है।

My Hindi is not very grammatically strong because Hindi’s grammar is way different from the grammar of Bengali language.

I would, therefore, request my Hindi speaking readers to correct me in the comment section if I have faulted anywhere.

The English version

How much you loved me,

How many bouquets of roses you gave me,

How much time, how many oceans,

How many sleepless nights, how many tears to the eyes-

The day you told me soaked in emotions,

Wanted to make me understand you loved me deeply.

I understood –

You do not now love me anymore.

When love dies down people sit and count,

You are counting too.

Love is really love till such time

It is blind, it is deaf,

It is uncountable.

Transliteration of poetic lines is not easily attainable. I hope I have been able to convey the essence of the poem.

Taslima Nasreen is a Bangladeshi-Swedish writer, physician, feminist, secular humanist, and activist. She is known for her writings on feminism and her criticism of Islam. Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh. She has also been blacklisted and banished from the Bengal region, including both Bangladesh and the Indian State of West Bengal.

Nasreen has been living in exile since 1994, with multiple fatwas calling for her death. After living more than a decade in Europe and the United States, she moved to India in 2004. She currently stays in India on a renewable residency permit.

Tasleema is known for her brazen writings which are at times unpalatable to the sensibilities of readers. I started reading many of her books but couldn’t finish them because of her stark, unabashed, controversial views on love, relationship, society and religion.

The above poem is also very characteristic of her writings – matter of fact and unapologetic – making a statement without being accusatory or making any any excuse. However, there is an unmistakable pathos underlying the harshness of acceptance which pulls at the heartstrings of the readers.