Tagore Omnibus, Volume 1
Rabindranath Tagore
THE TAGORE OMNIBUS
Volume 1
CHOKHER BALI (A GRAIN OF SAND)
Translated by Sreejata Guha
GHARE BAIRE (HOME AND THE WORLD)
Translated by Sreejata Guha
CHATURANGA (QUARTET)
Translated by Kaiser Haq
YOGAYOG (NEXUS)
Translated by Hiten Bhaya
MALANCHA (THE GARDEN)
Translated by Malosree Sandel
Contents
About the Contributors
Chokher Bali
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
Ghare Baire
Bimala
Nikhilesh
Sandip
Bimala
Sandip
Nikhilesh
Bimala
Sandip
Nikhilesh
Bimala
Nikhilesh
Sandip
Nikhilesh
Bimala
Nikhilesh
Bimala
Nikhilesh
Bimala
Chaturanga
Uncle
Sachish
Damini
Sribilash
Glossary
Yogayog
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
Notes and Glossary
Malancha
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Glossary
Follow Penguin
Copyright
About the Contributors
Sreejata Guha has an MA in Comparative Literature from State University of NewYork at Stony Brook. Apart from Tagore, she has translated Saradindu Bandyopadhyay’s Picture Imperfect and Band of Soldiers,Taslima Nasrin’s French Lover, Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s Devdas and Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay’s Rajani for Penguin.
*
Kaiser Haq is a poet, translator and essayist who was educated at the universities of Dhaka and Warwick. He has been a Commonwealth Scholar in the UK and a Senior Fulbright Scholar and Vilas Fellow in the USA. He is Professor of English at Dhaka University, where he has taught since 1975.
*
Hiten Bhaya, a former member of the Planning Commission, was also Chairman, Hindustan Steel and Director, Indian Institute of Management. Apart from Yogayog, he has translated Tagore’s writings on language and linguistics into English.
*
Malosree Sandel completed her doctorate and has worked in a premier college of Kolkata as a senior lecturer. She has translated Tagore for a hospice in the USA and is currently based in Manchester.
CHOKHER BALI
(A G rain of Sand)
1
BINODINI’S MOTHER, HARIMATI, CAME TO MAHENDRA’S MOTHER, Rajlakshmi with an appeal. They were childhood friends from the same village.
That same day, Rajlakshmi broached the topic with her son, Mahendra. ‘Mahin, we must do something for this poor girl. I’ ve heard she is very beautiful and she’s even had lessons from a British woman—I’m sure she’ll appeal to your modern tastes.’
Mahendra said, ‘Mother, there are plenty of other boys who have modern tastes.’
‘Mahin, this is the problem with you: you always shy away from the subject of marriage.’
‘Mother, we can talk about other things, can’t we? This unwillingness is not really such a great flaw in my character.’
Mahendra had lost his father as a child. His relationship with his mother was therefore rather unique. He was twenty-two; after completing his MA, he was now studying medicine. Yet , not a day passed when he didn’t have a playful tiff with his mother and then patched up ceremoniously. Figuratively speaking, just as a kangaroo cub is most comfortable in its mother’s pouch it was second nature for Mahendra to stay in his mother’s sheltering shadow. He could not dream of eating, sleeping, or even lifting a finger without his mother’s constant ministering.
When his mother began to bring up Binodini as part of every conversation, he said, ‘Fine, I will go and see this girl.’
On the appointed day he grumbled, ‘What’s the point of seeing her! I would only be marrying at your insistence; so it’s a waste of time trying to figure out if I like her or not.’
There was a trace of resentment in the words, but his mother was sure that when he finally saw the girl at the time of the wedding, her son would approve of her choice and his ruffled feathers would be smoothed.
Rajlakshmi began to prepare for the wedding with great enthusiasm. But as the day drew nearer, Mahendra grew more and more restless. Eventually, a few days before the wedding he blurted out, ‘No Mother, I cannot go through with this.’
From the day he was born, Mahendra had been indulged by the gods and men alike; hence his desires were uncontrolled. He was completely incapable of respecting the desires of others. So, the fact that he was bound by his mother’s request and his own promise to her made him very hostile towards the whole proposition of marriage; he now refused point blank.
Behari was a very dear friend of Mahendra’s. He addressed Mahendra as Dada and Rajlakshmi as Mother. The latter looked upon him as a mere towboat trawling behind the ship that was Mahendra, a necessary attachment for her son, and as such she felt quite kindly towards him. She said to him, ‘Behari, you will have to marry her now; otherwise the unfortunate girl—’
Behari folded his hands and said, ‘Mother, forgive me, but I cannot do that. When Mahin da wastes a sweet because he doesn’t like the taste of it, I’ve finished it off at your request often enough. But that’s not going to work where a bride is concerned.’
Rajlakshmi thought, ‘Behari and marriage? He dotes on Mahin so much that the thought of marriage probably never crosses his mind!’ This only served to increase her compassionate regard for Behari.
Binodini’s father was not a wealthy man. But he had taken great pains to get his only daughter educated and trained in domestic work by a British missionary lady. It had not occurred to him that the girl was growing past the marriageable age. After his death, his widow began to look for a match desperately. They had no money and the girl was now in danger of remaining a spinster.
Finally Rajlakshmi came to their aid and fixed Binodini’s marriage to the son of someone she knew from her native village near Barasat. Soon after her marriage, Binodini was widowed.
Mahendra laughed as he said, ‘Thank heavens I didn’t marry her. With a widowed wife where would I be?’
Three years later, mother and son were having the following conversation:
‘Son, people are talking, and I am the one they’re blaming.’
‘Why Mother, what harm have you done them?’
‘They say that I am not getting you married for fear that you’ll forget me when your wife comes.’
Mahendra said, ‘Well, that fear is justified. If I were a mother I would never dare get my son married.
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