Kishor Kadam

• Golpark
  

<

>

In scorching heat
In the untimely Rabindra Sangeet downpour
 
In the broad-daylight maze
of empty sprawling alleys
 
In the zigzag rails
running right in the middle of
asphalt roads named highways
In the trams gliding on the rails
In the sweat of the crowd
disgorged by the trams
 
In the pushcart stationed
against the walls of skyscrapers
mansions          bungalows
on either side of the drain
In the leaf cup filled with
puri bhaji from the pushcart
 
In bookshops scattered far and wide
on a narrow footpath
In the classic novels from the shops
In the newly pirated writers
In new and old magazines and comics
 
In the mishti doi of Gonguram
standing by the footpath
In the kulhad tea
In the aroma of noodles momos
jhalmuri machher jhol
 
if you stop suddenly
 
everything around you
starts to spin
in slow motion
 
everything
 
you begin to feel lonely
for no reason
then           tears well up
 
What must
Ritwik Ghatak Satyajit Ray
Rituparno Ghosh Mrinal Sen
have done
in Kolkata’s Golpark?

KISHOR KADAM is a renowned poet, lyricist, as well as film and theatre actor. His first book of poems, Ani Tarihi Mi, won multiple awards, including the Maharashtra State Award, Indira Sant Puraskar, Kusumagraj Puraskar and Kokan Marathi Sahitya Puraskar. Eminent singers have sung his songs to music composed by foremost music directors. He received critical acclaim for his performance in the lead role in Samar, directed by Shyam Benegal. It won the National Film Award for the best film in 1999. He has also received the Pune International Festival Best Actor Award (2007-08) for the Marathi movies Jogwa and Dukhache Shwapad, the Zee Gaurav Puraskar (2010) for the best supporting actor, and the Nilu Phule Sanman (2010) for his contribution to cinema and theatre, among numerous other accolades. Baul is his latest book of poems in Marathi.

---