{"product_id":"bhumisparsa-delight-in-earth-9781645608783","title":"Bhumisparsa: Delight in Earth","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Mamata Dash | Sonali Sahu\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Black Eagle Books\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Black Eagle Books\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Asian - General\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe poet's poetry resists linearity. It does not narrate; it unfolds. Her poems often begin with a concrete image, only to dissolve into an emotional or philosophical expanse. For instance, in Banaras - Where the Ganga Breathes, she writes: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Time and again I tried to drown\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewithin her sacred waters-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eyet each time I rise, reborn, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ealive... a wandering Yogini.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis movement-from drowning to rebirth-captures the essence of her poetic vision. The river here is not merely a physical entity but a transformative space where identity is repeatedly dissolved and reconstituted. Translating such a passage required preserving not only the imagery but also its cyclical spiritual resonance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer work frequently juxtaposes the sacred and the ordinary. In the same poem, the act of ritual becomes both intimate and unsettling: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"How many stand there, so easily, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecasting offerings to countless orphaned corpses, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewashing away fragments of their own sins?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere, the translator must retain the starkness of the image without softening its moral ambiguity. The line carries both devotion and discomfort, faith and fragmentation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA similar layering is visible in Cloud, where a simple natural image becomes an extended metaphor of memory and unfulfilled longing: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In a corner far across my sky, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ea fragment of a cloud hangs...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efor many days.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe suspended cloud is not static; it is emotionally charged. It holds within it a past that once overflowed into fullness: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In the past, it rained, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe earth smelled fresh and new...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eit became a sweet story.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYet the present is marked by disjunction: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Now it is raining, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ebut not from that single cloud.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe contrast between past fulfillment and present absence is subtle yet piercing. In translating these lines, I sought to preserve the quiet ache embedded within the simplicity of expression. The cloud becomes a symbol of a love that once gave meaning but now exists only as a suspended memory-unreleased, unresolved.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe poet's poetry also navigates deeply personal spaces, often bringing the reader face to face with vulnerability and existential uncertainty. In Hospital, the emotional intensity is grounded in stark physical reality: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"I see his inactive body...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA white nurse adjusts the saline.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe smell of medicine-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eor of illness, of suffering, of despair?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe ambiguity of the \"smell\" is crucial. It is not defined, because it cannot be. It is a convergence of sensory and emotional experience. Translating such moments required restraint-allowing the uncertainty to remain intact rather than resolving it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe poem moves further into existential questioning: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"What is this smell-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehas death already\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etaken hold of him?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere, the immediacy of death is not dramatic but quiet, almost clinical, yet deeply unsettling. The translator's role was to maintain this tonal balance-between detachment and emotional undercurrent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Black Eagle Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47968584630423,"sku":"9781645608783","price":1300.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9781645608783.webp?v=1782918663","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/bhumisparsa-delight-in-earth-9781645608783","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}