Nawabgunj – Jhelum Tribedi, Translated by Moulinath Goswami

Description

This collection of poems is a compilation of Jhelum Tribedi’s reflection on the world that has shaped around her, pivoted on a real yet surreal place named Nawabgunj – the name that aptly contributes to the title of this book. This is planet Nawabgunj, a universe, whose flow in time is synonymous with the evolution of the poet as a human being. This is her birthplace from which she had over time drifted apart along the meander of her life’s uncertain flow. It is this journey that brings her back to the place, both physically and emotionally, after a long separation of about two decades or more. The poems in this book are an oblation to that small-time colonial mofussil by the Ganges, nestled in one remote corner of West Bengal, whose familiar faces and relationships have torn her apart, whose unfamiliar faces have embraced her with unwarranted warmth in her journey of life, whose fauna, flora and sundry other inanimate objects have blessed her with profound insights to life. The book ‘Nawabgunj’ is a grateful tribute to “life’s magnificent rakhi,” as the poet puts it in the opening poem, that places like Ichapore, Palta Park, Baranagore, Suri have beaded themselves into around the poet’s existence, with Nawabgunj as its ever shining centerpiece.