Three Poems by Narendra Pundrik & Translated from Hindi to English by Neha Bhandarkar

MOTHER BECAME A BRIDGE

Between us siblings
Mother became a bridge
Through every passing day
She ran across it fearlessly
Without the need for any green or red signals
Carrying the chug-chug,
choo choo, clack-clack 
of us siblings.

After Father passed away
Between us siblings
Mother became a bridge
She did not break all at once
She kept breaking, little by little.
We stood by and watched
And finally admitted
Mother is growing old.

We treated Mother’s repeated words
As commands to be obeyed
Yet, through her habit of aging
And through every tremor in her voice
Mother slowly crumbled away.

She who once held our hands,
She who was always by our side
One day, she came to rest upon our shoulders.
Gradually, we began to feel it
Upon shoulders as strong as a bull’s
We felt the weight of Mother growing heavy.

As long as Mother was alive
We kept shifting her from one shoulder to the other.
For a mother is, after all, a mother
Seeing how we kept
Constantly switching shoulders,
Mother stepped down from our shoulders
And the moment Mother stepped down
Our shoulders, too, slumped low.
□

MOTHER WAS BREAKING

Mother was breaking.
Mother’s breaking...
We never truly witnessed it.

The first time Mother broke
Was precisely when
We, like migratory birds
Were constantly coming and going.

The second time Mother broke
Was when, for our sake
She had left behind
Her own home and hearth.

The third time Mother broke
Was exactly when
Father was no longer amongst us
It was then that Mother
Appeared utterly desolate to us.

The fourth time she broke
Was when she was living in 'our' house
She had come to realize
Her own homelessness.
□

MOTHER ALONE

The living room...
a place where I do not truly 'live'
I merely sit there for a short while
For as long as I happen to be in the room
Or for as long as a visiting guest chooses to stay.

I am not truly 'present' in the living room
There is only a photograph of my existence there
And those objects
Within which, in some way or another, I reside.

It remains uncertain even now
In this living room where my image currently resides
After I am gone
Will another person’s photograph hang upon the wall?
Or will mine simply be taken down?

Absent from this living room
Are the photographs of Grandmother, Sister, and Aunt.
I imagine that, at some point in time,
Photographic negatives must have existed for them too
Why, then, were those negatives not preserved?
Why are none of them Grandmother, Sister, Aunt 
present in this living room?
Why, within this very house,
Was a space—a 'home'—not created specifically for them?
For she, Mother...who lived within this house
Much like a daughter-in-law...
Amidst all the men in this living room,
Mother stands utterly alone.
It did not feel right
Not nearly as right as she would have felt
In the company of her elder and younger brothers-in-law’s wives;
Here, amidst a gathering of men,
Mother, too, deserved to have
A space of her own. 
□
[Original hindi poems by Narendra Pundrik and Translated into English by Neha Bhandarkar)

Poet Bio:-

NARENDRA PUNDRIK is One of the prominent poets of contemporary Hindi poetry. To date, seven poetry collections have been published. Two books of literary criticism have also been published. He has edited approximately 15 books written by Kedar Nath Agarwal. His poems have been included in the Class 10 curriculum by the Government of Kerala. Research work based on his poetry is being conducted at several universities. He serves as the Secretary of the Kedar Nyas and is the Convener of the Kedar Samman, Dr. Ram Vilas Sharma Alochana Samman, Mahesh Anjum Yuva Kavita Samman, and Madan Bhardwaj Katha Samman.
Mobile Number: 9450169568
email: Pundriknarendr549k@gmail.com

Translator Bio:

NEHA BHANDARKAR is hailed from India. She is widely published Iconic trilingual author in Marathi, Hindi and English languages. She is published author of 18 books in 3 languages. She is also a genuine translator. Her poems have been translated into French, Italian Spanish, Greek, Filipino, Polish, Russian, Nepali etc., more than 15 international languages and published in many countries. She embellished with numerous national and international awards for her consummate literary skill. Her literature has been included in syllabus of Marathwada and Amaravati Universities for M.A. and B. Com. Ist year and B.Com. IIIrd year. She is a recepient of Hindi State Sahithya Academy Award twice, from Government of India. She is working in Life Insurance Corporation of India and as the best employee, 'Adarsh Vishwakarma Award' has been bestowed upon her by the state Governor of India. Her poems have been broadcast on Quichotte Radio, FRANCE and Hindi Radio, CHICAGO (USA). She is an International PEACE Ambassador of Global Nation, Bangladesh and Cultural, Peace and Humanity Ambassador appointed by (IFCH) International Forum of Creativity and Humanity, Morocco country. She is editor of international multilingual multidisciplinary Readers Choice e magazine for Hindi and Marathi section.