disasters. However
social calamities also
take place, say, “bandh” —
an all-out strike —
everybody must close
everything:
you don’t close your store,
it is broken to pieces,
or if you drive,
your car is toppled over.
A million-strong meeting.
Loudspeakers deafen:
“Long live the revolution!”
The Leftists are powerful.
Yelping-yapping of the dogs
brought to the dog show.
The Leftists prohibited it – “bourgeois.”
Oh, Calcutta!
Life resumes its normal
course:
stir of the trade
at the markets,
whistle
of the ships at the port,
knocking tapping
of the cranes,
muffled crackle
of burning corpses
near the Hoogly river.
Botanical Garden.
Wild horses could not
drag you away
from there.
You’ll be all ears:
not abating bird melodies,
chime, tapping, whistling,
parts, tunes, tones.
Different quarters of the city
have their accent:
Armenian,
Sikh…
Some streets are unique:
contraband —
smuggled goods
are from everywhere —
no ifs or buts about it:
monkey – noisy – where
impudent cadgers live,
book —
with the rapture of finding —
amid cultural centers.
Anywhere,
high and low
on the walls
are slogans,
slogans.
Oh, Calcutta!
Temples, mosques, churches.
Ting-a-ling
of the bell
and the bleat
of the goat being
sacrificed to the gods
in the Hindu temple,
recitation of muezzin
from the minaret.
choir singing
at the Cathedral,
water splashes
and the rustle of flowers
falling
on the stone phallus
in the Shiva temple
from the hands
of girls and women
seeking advice and blessing.
Mother Teresa —
in the halo of only
local glory —
loudly gives orders
to the sisters of Divine Love
who sell wicker baskets
and embroidery
in the shop of the Mission.
In the Kali Temple is a feast
of the light and, sure, of the sound.
In honor of the bellicose goddess
is a clatter of fireworks
and machine-gun-like firecrackers,
skyrockets fly up,
bombs blow up,
a drummer beats feverishly.
A war
loved by everyone
goes on and on.
No one vanishes in the battle.
Oh, Calcutta!
They speak
nothing and never
change in Calcutta.
Well, partly true.
Beggars are not few
after Mother Teresa
has reached the world glory
and deification.
Decades of the Leftists rule
passed through without
revolutions of any kind.
Subway hasn’t brought a relief —
The jams are still there.
The sounds of everyday life —
for some, they are cacophony,
for some, oriental symphony —
are unique and will not vary
in the nearest future in Calcutta.
For the time being
sorrow and joy
go holding
each other by the hand.
Look —
joy smiles and winks.
You also give a wink at it.
Oh, Calcutta!
Hunger time in Bengal
Three million people
died of hunger in Bengal33.
Families, villages died.
Human woe during
hunger and cholera time
was beyond all measure…
jackals, vultures,
dogs become wild
gnawed out
pieces of meat
from the bodies
of dying people,
swollen corpses on the streets,
corpses drift along the river…
In the hope of surviving,
people tried to get
to Calcutta.
Having had reached
the city they quit
this world there,
could not beg anybody
for a tiny bit of rice,
praying eyes grow dim…
No lament,
howl…
Love and envy
A beautiful