ANDOLONI BANGALI: PART 3

Our armed revolution

Debayudh Chatterjee 

Yes. You are right.
We did enter the campus armed the other day.

Pens in our pockets, books in our bags, on our shoulders restless guitars,

Heads filled with ideas, unruly songs in our throats, dreams of a stormy wave.

Armour-clad, fortified with weapons from head to toe,

We walk into campus daily to build impenetrable fortresses.

You, who try to hide behind 144 Even from your own shadow,

and call upon the security cordons,

You, who in mortal fear,

 Keep handy sticks, bombs, water canons, bullets,

 Even as you stand before your mirror

Tell us this, do you think, when the revolution comes,

your weapons will match up to ours?

Written initially in Bengali; translated by anon

Author's Bio- Note:

Debayudh Chatterjee (b.1991) is pursuing his masters in English at Delhi University. He writes mostly in Bengali and has two published anthologies to his credit. He was honored with the Parampara Bisesh Torun Kobi Samman in 2009; his works have appeared in several leading journals like Desh, Anandabazar, Krittibas, and Kobi Sommelon. Translations of his poetry have come out in Indian Literature, Muse India, Journal of the Poetry Society of India, and Kritya among other magazines of repute. He also translates extensively and is currently associated with a bilingual literary periodical, Bhashanagar, as an assistant editor. Debayudh splits his time between New Delhi and his hometown, Kolkata.

Contact Details

Permanent Address: 17 Justice Dwarkanath Road, Kolkata 700 020

Mobile: 09654971649

Email: debayudh2012@gmail.com