- Rahmelweg 1 [Rahmel Road]
maiyá bole | my mother said |
rahmelweg cali | we must still go to Rahmel road |
ham bhulal rahi | I do not really remember who lived there |
huvá n ke rahe hai | it was a ritual |
jaise ego sanskár | she always took me |
i palvári ghumái | to see family |
maiyá ke soc hai | with the prediction: |
--ná ján sake kab | you just never know, |
phir aiye-- | when you’ll return |
hamlog shahar gaili | we went to the city |
pl leli | caught a pl-bus |
shaffeer gussáil | the driver got mad |
phu t kar ná rahá | there was no small change |
dukán band kuku | the shops were closed, we had |
ná milal | no candy for the children |
ghám se dhikat rastá pe | bright and white was the road |
dhire dhire maiyá | slowly she walked |
calte-calat pe r van ke | heavy through the heat |
picche biná ferfi karal | and finally recognized |
gharvá pahcán leis | behind trees an unpainted house |
prási me n nariyar ke boklá | in the yard coconut shells lay around |
kuttá bhonkat dau r al áil | dogs ran barking to meet us |
patoh ghar se nikaral | the daughter-in-law came outside |
maje me n bole lagal | spoke cheerfully: |
mái gail bajár | my mother-in-law went to the market, |
abbe ái | she’ll be right back |
apane dui kursi | she brought two chairs |
ám ke nicce láis | and we sat underneath the mango tree |
kas-kas naryarvan pho r e lagal | with firm blows she cracked open coconuts |
aur páni gilás me n rok leis | and caught the water in a glass |
dhire se ham guddá cihkli, | carefully I tasted |
jon bát sab koi pucche | she already asked about Holland |
holland ke uppar | stereotypical questions and answers |
jon javáb sab koi de deve hai | intuitively she avoided the question: |
ome n bahut dhiyán lagáike | when are you getting married? |
ná puchis: | |
--biyáh kab kariye-- | |
[Sarnami] |
[End Page 521]
Chitra Gajadin, born in Suriname, is an author and journalist living in Rotterdam. She has published four collections of poetry (Van erf tot skai, Padi voor Batavieren, De zon vloeit weg, and Opgravingen van je zelf), a collection of short stories (Bari Dopahar) and two plays (Savitri and Lucette).
Virginie M. Kortekaas, a freelance translator born in the Netherlands, studies Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley. Her translations have been published in The Literary Review and in Modern Poetry in Translation. She is currently working on the translation of a volume of Dutch women poets.
Footnotes
1. Kab ke yaad/Van wanneer een herinnering: 1977–1983 (Den Haag: NBLC, 1984). Rpt. Spiegel van de Surinaamse Poëzie, ed. Michiel van Kempen (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1995), 632.