Street Girls
They are crossroads
welcoming traffic coming from all directions
but they aren’t destinations themselves.
On bustling streets, on busy nights
when approached by someone
the girls like young saplings
transform into lush green trees
and blossom like Nishigandha,
Queen of the Night.
They see the bleeding sun
perched up in their balcony
and hang around with them all day.
They see the glittering nights
climb their stairs, evading
the watchful eyes of the onlookers,
and the sun, in agony,
taking a dive into their hearts
behind their tainted saffron Dupattas,
The night ends,
and the girls in their weary moments
look at their swollen feet
fatigued from dancing and
being tossed around all night
from one prospect to another.
In the moment
they remember their homes,
the roads and alleys of their towns and villages.
They remember their anklets
mother had fastened on
their young painted feet.
Those tiny bells of the anklets
have now grown big,
how could mothers possibly know?
They must still be waiting
for their girls to return,
sounding the anklet-bells.
They can’t think anything beyond that,
as whenever they do, an argument begins,
an unending argument, from the time unknown.
The girls go back to rock again
on the swings of their legitimacy
and purpose. They swing higher and higher,
ignited in the fire of laughter,
blooming like flowers again.
Only to let new autumn pass them by every day.
The heavens know how
on the bough of their bare bodies
green leaves appear in no time at all.
In no time, their wounds disappear.
The girls on the streets are a curse or a boon?
The girls from the mills are a puppet or a prize?
Their tears are saltier than ours
but they aren’t viewed as lives
like ours…
Nishigandha* – A night flower in India.
Dupatta* – A long scarf used by South Asian women to cover their heads and bodies.
The Investigation Continues
She had fought to her death,
it was evident from her body found in the forest,
covered in scratches and bruises.
The beast had left its marks
but her cry for help had gone missing.
Moving their batons to keep flies off,
they write something in their diary,
an order is executed to search the forest,
mountains, and villages.
Only if the voice is found, the beast can be identified.
But the mountains remained silent
and villagers went mute.
The laborers, the axes, the shrubs
and the sickles spoke no words.
The forest, the only witness, stood petrified.
It had seen the chase ending that night
at the officer’s bungalow.
And the Tour Diary of the day closing
with the guard excused early from his duty
who left, coughing in the darkness.
And the scream?
The hunting horn blows,
and the drum beats follow,
looking for the beast, in the dense forest.
Tour Diary – Written by a touring officer in India.
Bio Note of the Poet/Translator
Kalpna Singh-Chitnis (known as Kalpna Singh in Hindi) is an Indian-American writer, poet, translator, and Editor-in-Chief of Life and Legends. Her works have appeared in notable journals like World Literature Today, California Quarterly, Indian Literature, Pirene’s Fountain, etc. She has authored four full-length poetry collections in English and Hindi, and her poems have been translated into many languages. Her English poetry collection Bare Soul was awarded the 2017 Naji Naaman Literary Prize for creativity, and her Hindi poetry collection, “Chand Ka Paivand,” was given the prestigious Bihar Rajbhasha Award by the government of Bihar, India. Her poems and translations have been included in anthologies worldwide. A former lecturer of Political Science, Kalpna Singh-Chitnis holds a degree in Film Directing from the New York Film Academy and works as an independent filmmaker in Hollywood. Website: www.kalpnasinghchitnis.com
Translator’s Note
The poems Street Girls and The Investigation Continues are translated by the poet herself. In the Hindi language, the poet/translator writes as Kalpna Singh and in English as Kalpna Singh-Chitnis. The poet/translator owns the copyrights of the translated poems Street Girls and The Investigation Continues and gives Columbia Journal permission to publish them. The poems are a part of the poet’s Hindi poetry collection Tafteesh Jari Hai (The Investigation Continues). The title is available on all major bookstores online.
