Everlasting Endeavors: Bollywood Living Legend Simi Garewal

Sudarshan Faakir (1934-2008), translated from the Hindi-Urdu by Manfred Spencer Alverston & Associates.  

Those subsequential rain puddles

Those afloat paper boats.

Discount this wealth, discredit this reputation

Take away my youth as well, if not only those rainy days of my childhood.

Those subsequential rain puddles

Those afloat paper boats.

The precious, oldest keepsake of our neighborhood then

That old woman whom all children called “grandmother”

And fairytales residing in her tidings,

Hidden in the wrinkles of her face, a century’s history.

How can one forget a century’s history, even if one tries his best to forget?

How can one forget a century’s history, even after one tries his best to forget

That ephemeral night and that everlasting chronicle

That ephemeral night and that eternal narrative.

Those subsequential rain puddles

Those afloat paper boats.

In sweltering afternoons, sneaking out of one’s own house, endeavoring to catch

That bird the nightingale, and butterfly.

Presiding over the wedding ceremony, between ragdolls;

Disputes and quarrels ensuing among invited guests

Over the shared residence of these ragdoll newlyweds.

And instead of giving away the bride, taking her back to her home of origin.

That falling off a swaying swing,

Recovering from the fall instantly

And incredibly back onto the swing once again.

Those adorable discards, simple brass rings

Meant as tokens of one’s friendships.

Exchanging those broken, nevertheless colorful, pieces of glass bangles

As souvenirs.

Those subsequential rain puddles

Those afloat paper boats.

Sometimes visiting large sand dunes

Constructing toy homes with the coarse-grained sand

And wiping them out afterwards

With vigor and delight

Our playthings being the freehold of our dreams;

Neither did we have any worldly sorrows

Nor the fastening strings of relations.

That existence was so beautiful! That life was so beautiful!

That life so beautiful! That existence so beautiful!

Sudarshan Faakir (1934-2008), translated from the Hindi-Urdu by Manfred Spencer Alverston & Associates.