a 'found text' poem in hindi

Wanting to try my hand at writing a poem in Hindi, my mother tongue. Again something for which TAM gave me the opportunity. This poem was written using the words of an interview. There were a set of questions and we interviewed each other and wrote down the other person's answers. Then we chose interesting words from these answers and created a poem out of it. My found text poem in hindi is about found text itself. This one is purely for laughs and is not meant to be taken seriously! :-)

‘Found text” poem in hindi written by using words from interview answers




Yeh kavita doosron ke likhe shabdon

Ko apna banati hai, punah parakh kar

Naye raaston se jaanti hai, aur unke

Zyaada karib aa jati hai.

Yeh puranay shabd kuchh naye kapde, kuchh

Naye arth pehen lete hain, jaise

Ek girgit apna rang badalti hai.

Jakde hue shabdon ko khula

Chhod deti hai aur ve shabd

Chand tak udaan bhar lete hain.

Shabdon ko sunkar rang

Dikhayi dene lagte hain, aur naye ghar,

Ek naya sheher bunate hain.

translating Neeraj's hindi poem into english

This is purely informal and just for fun! Trying out my hand at translating from hindi to english, for the first time! again, something I have long wanted to learn how to do. TAM just gave me the opportunity to experiment. :-)



Translation of ‘Jab teri yaad aayi’ by Gopaldas Saxena Neeraj, from Phir Deep Jalega, pg 140


The original hindi poem follows after my translation



When I remembered you



I wrote a song for your tresses, for your fierce glances,

and the ghazal composed itself, when I remembered you.



Sleep fled my eyes at night

Flew away like a scent

When the wind kissed

The henna on your hands

It rained from every direction- when I remembered you.



Like a yogi chanting prayers

I began to sing with every breath

A face coming and going

In front of my eyes

Home became a palace- when I remembered you.



When I uttered your name

Diyas lit up my heart

When I found you near me

The blackest of days turned fair

My world changed- when I remembered you.





Jab teri yaad aayi



Zulf par geet likha, sher nazaron pai kaha

Ban gayi khud hi ghazal- jab teri yaad aayi



Khushboo ban banke uri

Neend raaton ki meri

Jab hava choom gayi

Mehendi haathon ki teri

Barse har simta keval- jab teri yaad aayi



Ek jogin ki tarah

Saans har gaane lagi

Shakl nazaron mein koi

Aane aur jaane lagi

Ghar bana rajmahal- jab teri yaad aayi



Naam jab tera liya

Jal uthey dil mein diye

Paas jab paya tujhe

Kale din gorey hue

Gayi duniya hi badal – jab teri yaad aayi

Visual for a Spanish poem on artichokes

This was a visual made during the TAM workshops. There was a Spanish poem on artichokes. We heard an English translation of it once. and then we had to make our own varied adaptations, translations, transcreations of the poem in whichever manner we wanted to. I decided to take this as an opportunity to experiment with the visual medium, something I've always wanted to do, but never had the courage, really. This is a visual translation of the Spanish poem. ideally, it should have included a gun too, something I conveniently chose to do without. :-)