Maybe, it had come. I did not see anything.
Now, has it gone too far away?
I shall go. I shall go. I shall go.
Everything is set. Now, there is only
Leave-taking,
Eyes on everyone,
In the moment of parting, I bow, I bow.
Your name?
I do not have a name as such, two boats
Moored together,
Far away, everyone has cast their nets in the sea.
“Holiday” by Shankha Ghosh, translated from the Bengali by Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee
Born in Bangladesh in the early 1930s, Ghosh completed his education in Calcutta. He taught in many universities, of which Jadavpur University was the last. It is widely known that students from other colleges were drawn to his reputation and would secretly attend his lectures.
Shankha Ghosh’s illustrious career was an epoch in itself in the history of modern Bengali literature. He was the recipient of the Sahitya Academy Award twice in 1977 and 1999. He has also been awarded the Rabindra Puraskar and the Jnanpith Award; he was a 2011 recipient of the Padma Bhushan Award.
An essayist and academic authority on Bengali literature, in many ways, Ghosh was more than just a poet: his work is a distinct presence in Bengal’s literary and moral culture. His poetry defied genre, just as his politics defied labels, apart from that of resistance. Shankha Ghosh carried on with his work through the wrath of political leaders all throughout his career. In 2007, he resigned from the Bangla Academy in protest against the death by police firing of 14 villagers in Nandigram under the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front. During this he also sided with Mamta Banerjee, who was then the leader of the opposition. And yet, in 2018, he wrote against Banerjee’s aide Anubrata Mandel’s claims regarding the violence in Bengal’s Panchayat Elections. More recently in 2019, he wrote the poem “Maati”, against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Shankha Ghosh’s literary flair and powerful political stances have inspired generations to fall in love with literature, and also to speak truth to power. May his soul find peace.
Our mascot writes all ALMA Staff pieces. ORI is whimsical and unpredictable; we’ve tried being friends with him and failed.
