The Dusty Lane and the Gulmohar
The April summer evening was like any other day in Kolkata,
Across the serrated landscapes of the dust-ridden lanes, yellow taxis, maroon-mousse pavements
That sifted the grained clock-hour through the lens of my mother’s eyes.
The dust settled in the crematorium just across the blind lane,
Where the bulbuls babbled, and the bobbing bosom of the flower-woman convulsed into a mirage.
Long stood the Gulmohar tree, in an empty city canvas freckled with dust,
Orange inflorescence radiating a heathen hue…
Dust on the coolie’s wavy forehead, dust from the rotten heels of the dream-peddler
Who caroused about Kolkata in flashlights and Kolkata in vain!
As the evening waited with bated breath for the gully-child to resume his cricket match
The dust of the city poured into the divine Ganges,
Scattering, creating heaps and piles of a long-lost imprint of feet that remain in the threshold
And voices that churn out of Amaratva!
***
The Transistor Radio
The Mahalaya notes were like never before…
Vagrant dwellers tuning on their dusty transistor radios to usher in the radiant Goddess Durga.
Life celebrated monotony in the slithering temptation of an afternoon siesta,
Dust was everywhere, little cobwebs on the brown, half-baked mud walls,
On the cornice-roses, on the whitewashed cacophony of the memories that mix tea, sugar, milk and love,
Dust on the permed hair and manicured nails of the frothy sunbaked October horizon
One to turn to dust
One to live on rust
Velvety-red watermelon silk robes brushing past the dusty transistor.
As the old age home inmates made a clarion call to the Goddess.
The day ended with the growling bulldozer,
The Mahalaya, the bodies and the cornice roses mutilated and turned to dust!
One to turn to rust
One to live on dust
The transistor remains, silent, awake, benumbed, shivering to catch signals again!
 [Sreetanwi Chakraborty is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator (B.A. English) in Amity Institute of English Studies and Research, Amity University, Kolkata. She graduated in English from Presidency College Kolkata, did her Post-graduation from the University of Calcutta, and obtained her M.Phil from Rabindra Bharati University on The Sleeping Beauty Wakes Up: A Feminist Interpretation of Fairy Tales. The book was published in 2019, and it received the ‘Rising Star Award’ for non-fiction category at New Town Book Fair, Kolkata. At present she is pursuing her PhD from Ranchi University. Her poems and literary articles have been published in Bengali and notable English journals and magazines, including Ekdin, Anandabazar Patrika, Uttarer Saradin, Orbachin, Setumag, The Darjeeling Chronicle, Darjeeling Times, The Daily Bhorer Alo (Bangladesh), Muse India, Kochi Post, Sanghamitra, Masik Kavitapatra, Abhiyatri (Bangladesh), Somodhara (Bangladesh), Sambad Samayiki (Bangladesh), Abhiyatri, , Kourob, Kavya Bharati, Aswamegh, the Bombay Literary Review, Langlit, Asian Cha and many more. She has been the recipient of the Charuchandra Ghosh Memorial Award for securing the highest marks from Calcutta University. Her areas of interest include Indian English poetry, Indian English drama, Feminism and cultural politics, and South Asian Diasporic Studies. She also has her own theatre group Natyakalpo which has been presenting stage plays and radio drama since January 2018. She has passed 5th year in Rabindra Sangeet, with distinction and 4th year in classical music from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad. She is a trained painter in oil, acrylic, water color and ink.]
Two Poems by Sreetanwi Chakraborty
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