In the sound of a train / ABU KARIM

In the sound of a train my sleep vanishes

at the third hour of night. Were I a bird

I could fly away far. Besides, being a wheel

of a train I could travel far; as the wheels

sound like golden anklets.

Trains may be

chariots of light for us, but stopping that chariot,

we, the rumor-following Bangalis, go backward.

Now the city Dhaka has no space to move;

moving on streets is slower than that of a snail.

Closing our railways and river routes, and the

wild breeze of Dhaka, we take ourselves to

visit the deserts of Rajsthan.

We have become foolishly dumb losing

our trains of our adolescence like

Green Arrow and Ulka. We have lost

the fastest steamers that were suitable

for comfortable journey. We have turned

into a market of reconditioned Japanese vehicles.

We ourselves are   responsible for this

Backward movement of us. Did the English

give back the same India that they had taken

away form the Mughals? The Mughals

did not take over the rules of India by wining

any crusade.

They did not have any desire

to preach any religion. During their dynasty

all Indian people like the Hindus, Muslims,

Buddhists, Shikhs, Bauls, Harmits, Brahmins,

Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Pathans, Zemindars,

subjects, farmers, laborers were in peace.

No strife among religions has ever been heard of.

During the reign  of the English strife and brawl

among clans, nations and religions were common.

Planting the plant of strife, Bankim Chandra

would water it at dawn and dusk.

There were many henchmen to the

English lords. The Titumirs in the country were

Fewer in number than the Rajballovs Jogotsheths

and the Mir Jafars. The English have gone back

to England, but they have left back many

dark skinned illicit born English.

Millions of poor fishermen, shoemakers and

Other downtrodden proletariat turned into

Christians for petty jobs and being allured by

the peace of Jesus Christ. More divisions were

made among the people of India.

The dream of Supreme India dreamed by Gandhi

broke into smithereens like piercing particles of glass.

23 December 2009

''রেলগাড়ির শব্দে'' কবিতার অনুবাদ

[Translated by Dulal Al Monsur]