Translated from the Bengali by Asijit Datta
I am perennially terrified of the way the days move now.
This evening that has arrived
It comes close to me and needlessly narrates your stories.
In the process of forgetting things, I repeatedly
forget that I must forget you.
Lonesome flows the river waters, lonelier is the passage of humans.
I stay away from my bed —
I keep my distance from the telephone.
Days and nights drift — through the hole of your enormous mouth
why do you call my name again
why do you call.
(from “Esho, Susangbad Esho,” published November, 1981)
Bhaskar Chakraborty (1945-2005) was born pre-independence in Kolkata, in Baranagar, the oldest and historic northern part of the city. He studied in Brahmananda Keshab Chandra College, where he came in contact with Rudraprasad Sengupta, one of the leading personalities of Bengali theater, who professed in the city college. A school teacher by profession, Chakraborty started his literary journey in the decade of 1960s and wrote modern Bengali poetry.
Dr Asijit Datta is currently working as Assistant Pro-fessor (II) in the School of Language at KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar. He has 13 years of undergraduate and postgraduate level teaching experience. Prior to joining KIIT, he served as Assistant Professor and Head of English at The Heritage College, affiliated to Calcutta University for six years. In July 2021, he was selected as Assistant Editor at the Journal of Posthumanism (Transnational Press, London). He has previously taught at Presidency University, Vidyasagar University, Ramakrishna Mission, Narendrapur, and Bethune College. He completed his M.A. in English from Presidency College in 2009 and received his Ph.D. from the Dept. of Film Studies, Jadavpur University in 2017. His academic interests pertain to Posthumanism, Beckett Studies, Modern European Thea-tre, World Cinema, and Psychoanalysis. He has also published several academic papers on Beckett Studies, Disability Studies, Posthumanism, and Film criticism in reputed books and national and international journals. For the last two years, his evolving project has been building up an independent academic channel for students, academicians and teachers. Under this autonomous venture, he has managed to interview some of the most influential and renowned scholars from all over the world. He has received critical acclaim and multiple awards for stage direction and scriptwriting.