Thursday, 10 April 2025

The Translator : Nothing is Translated in Love and War

 

 

Nothing is Translated in Love and War

Translation of Mohan Rana’s poem, Prem Aur Yuddh Mein Anuvaadak Nahin Hote




Nothing is Translated in Love and War

Nothing is translated in love and war—
between unseen interlocutors,
doubles of our names,
shadows of each other,
like that elusive silhouette—
anonymous images
in a gallery of unclaimed mirrors.

Like you and I—
once strangers,
lifelong seekers
of an unmarked address,
that became the nomad’s shelter.

Then, suddenly, in the tossing
of night into day,
a singular name,
etched in the creases of memory,
emerges
against the half-lit walls
of thought.

Face to face,
we become two pronouns—
uttered in a single line—
in need of no frontiers, no fences,
or punctuation, because
none wants to decipher
the grammar of this language.

Having lost our names,
we find ourselves—again—
you and I—strangers,
nursing the same old fear,
alone in a world
teeming with voices.

In prisons, where friends
and foes serve pain—
translators are essential.
In courts, where truth and fiction
haggle for justice—
words must be measured,
chessboard-style,
played in coins.

Between doctor and patient,
in sterile hospitals,
amid the commerce of cures,
where life and death
are advertised like wares—
insurance, in many tongues,
tries to translate
what “life” means.

There are no sentries
in love and war—
no interpreters
between tyrants and the tyrannized
in the chronicles of history.
Words mutate,
rituals re-narrated,
a dirge sung in unison.

In love and war,
there are no witnesses
no proofs—
only perspectives
that seek to give
and hide
meaning from each other.
Each shoulder bears
its own archive,
boxed and sealed
in the memory-marketplace.

Under every cloud,
a translator lingers
like an umbrella—
writing silent monologues,
confessions
already recorded by time
on a stone adrift in water,
its smile fading
in the river’s midstream.

Nothing is narrated
in love and war—
only jesters abide,
indispensably in the wings.

Love leaves no sign,
but it alters—forever—
the view from a single window
of what once felt like your own.

Nothing is translated
in love and war.


About Mohan Rana

 Mohan Rana, the eminent Indian poet of Hindi, was born in Delhi, and lives in Bath, in Britain. His most recent collection of poetry is Ekant Mein Roshandaan (Skylight in Solitude). He has published ten poetry collections and several of his poems have been commissioned for translation by the Arts Council England, among others. His writings have also been translated into several European languages.




Acknowledgement
Source :

https://arupkchatterjee.com/2025/04/08/nothing-is-translated-in-love-and-war/

Tuesday, 27 February 2024

Living in Language

 Poetry Day Event   21st March 2024

This World Poetry Day,  launch of  Living in Language, the Poetry Translation Centre’s groundbreaking anthology of lyric essays, fragments, letters and new poems from 21 poets from around the world.



Living in Language: World Poetry Day with Brian Holton, Yang Lian & Mohan Rana

Event:  https://web.archive.org/web/20240226134142/https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/events/living-in-language/

 

Living in Language brings together reflections on the craft and purpose of poetry, by 21 leading poets from around the world.

Living in Language: International reflections for the practising poet


 

ISBN: 9781739894856

Publication date: 7 March 2024

Price: £15

Pages: 188pp

Size: 216x138mm


 
Calendar
Location
Time
Price

This World Poetry Day, we’re thrilled to launch Living in Language, the Poetry Translation Centre’s groundbreaking anthology of lyric essays, fragments, letters and new poems from 21 poets from around the world.

 

Thursday, 4 January 2024

लिखने एक चिठ्ठी

मैं लिखने बैठा गश्ती चिठ्ठियाँ

पेड़ के नीचे अनवरत मर्मर में,

पतझर में वे गिरती रहीं

तुम्हें देख मैं ठहर गया 

 

(2024)

 


 


Wednesday, 8 November 2023

एकांत में रोशनदान : मोहन राणा Ekaant men Roshandaan : Mohan Rana

 कविता संग्रह / Poetry Collection

                                           एकांत में रोशनदान (2023)

 


                          नयन पब्लिकेशन  -- https://amzn.eu/d/9ddsXkJ

  • प्रकाशक ‏ : ‎ Nayan Publication (7 सितंबर 2023)
  • भाषा ‏ : ‎ हिंदी
  • पेपरबैक ‏ : ‎ 130 पेज
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 8195429920
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8195429929

 

"मोहन राणा अनूठे कवि हैं। उनका रहस्य को शब्दों की टपरी के नीचे अर्थ की छाँव में क्षण भर के लिए आमंत्रित कर लेने का हुनर लाजवाब है। उनके अपने शब्दों में ‘कवि जब लिखता ही नहीं बल्कि कविता में जीता है तो रचना कालातीत हो जाती है।’ वे कविता को जीते हुए उसके कालातीत होने की घटना के साक्षी बनते हैं। उनकी कविता साधु की तरह रमण करती है, यायावर कि तरह विचरण करती है, परिदों की तरह उड़ान भरती है और अनचीन्हे, अनुबूझे गन्तव्यों से गुज़रकर सूक्ष्म रहस्य की छाँव में एक परिपूर्ण पथिक की भाँति विश्राम करती है। मोहन राणा की कविताएँ कुलाँचे भरती हैं- शब्द के पार अर्थ की ओर, अर्थ के पार भाव की ओर, भाव के पार बोध की ओर, बोध के पार निविड़ मौन की ओर ; और मौन के पार शून्य की ओर। "
- चैतन्य प्रकाश योगी


समीक्षा / Review
https://www.raagdelhi.com/mohan-rana-ekant-me-roshandaan-review-by-naresh-shandilya/

Tuesday, 24 May 2022

मुखौटे में दो चेहरे (कविता चयन) : मोहन राणा

 चुनी हुई कविताओं का चयन यह संग्रह -

मुखौटे में दो चेहरे 
मोहन राणा
© (2022)

प्रकाशक - नयन पब्लिकेशन

 






The Translator : Nothing is Translated in Love and War

    8 Apr 2025 Arup K. Chatterjee Nothing is Translated in Love and War Translation of Mohan Rana’s poem, Prem ...