Poetry at Sangam
Poetry at Sangam showcases poetry in English and translations as well as essays on poetics and news of new releases.
Menka Shivdasani is the author of two collections of poetry, Nirvana at Ten Rupees, and Stet. She is also co-translator of Freedom and Fissures, an anthology of Sindhi Partition Poetry, published by the Sahitya Akademi. Menka’s work has been extensively represented in anthologies and literary magazines, both in India and elsewhere. Her poem, “An Atheist’s Confessions,” has been included in the University of Mumbai S.Y.B.A. English textbook, Indian Literature in English: An Anthology, published in 2012. She recently edited an anthology of Indian poetry for www.bigbridge.org, a 16-year-old arts and literary website in the United States. She is also the editor of an anthology of women’s writing (forthcoming), being brought out by Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women (SPARROW). Menka is the Mumbai coordinator of the global movement, 100 Thousand Poets for Change, and a founder member of Asia-Pacific Writers and Translators Association. In 1986, she had played a key role in founding the Poetry Circle in Mumbai.
Poetry is an art that is best served in solitude but when poets in different languages get together, magic can happen. My collaboration with Mohan Gehani, a noted Sindhi scholar who had lived through the Partition of India, began in 2014 when he asked if I would work with him on translations of his poetry from previous collections, published in 1993, 2001 and 2013.
As all poets know, this is not a genre that receives the attention it deserves, but for a poet writing in Sindhi, the situation is far worse; when the subcontinent was divided and the whole of Sindh went to Pakistan, millions of Sindhis were displaced and had to rebuild their lives. In the process, as they fanned out across the world, they assimilated into their host countries and lost touch with their own cultural roots. It was a traumatic experience that many first-generation post-Partition Sindhis preferred to forget. A small band of Sindhi writers, including Mohan Gehani, did speak up, but as the Sindhi readership dwindled, there were few to listen. That is why, when he asked me to help bring his work to new audiences who were comfortable with English, I readily agreed. The tragedy of Partition is one that must never be forgotten.
There is, however, much more to Mohan Gehani’s poetry. I was struck by the freshness of the imagery, the deep philosophy, and the occasional flashes of humour. As Vasdev Mohi said in the Foreword to Brittle Ice (Copper Coin, 2015): “Passion is the core element in these poems”.
In recent times, there has been a resurgence of interest in the Sindhi language and culture, as new generations are trying to reclaim the heritage that they have lost. Sindhi literature – both poetry and fiction – is rich and immensely powerful. It is, however, a treasure buried under the ruins of our history, and needs to be excavated.
Translations are never ideal, but for those who are unable to read the original, an English rendition can play an important role, and I was happy to collaborate with Mohan Gehani to bring his work to an English-speaking audience.
The Woman Who Speaks to Milk Pots
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