SEETAPHAL MANDI - Translation of 'Seetaphal Mandi' ಸೀತಾಫಲ್ ಮಂಡಿ

Seetaphal Mandi

from Avadha (1986)

 

When the sun starts to set earlier,

when the breeze starts to blow cooler,

it means

the carts would have started trundling

into

Seetaphal Mandi.

 

They arrive at the crack of dawn,

behind the veil of the first light,

from somewhere … who knows

from where …

while we are still groggy with sleep.

 

When I wake up … the lane across

is lined up with carts.

Seetadevi’s fruit of kindness

the season of Seetaphal,

Seeta’s fruit.

 

November comes … December comes …

winter comes … winter goes –

and all of a sudden

Seetaphal Mandi too is bare,

no carts

no oxen

only Seetaphal husks,

nothing else.

 

Seetaphal can be seen only next year now. 

Till then, we humans have to wait.

Doesn’t the tree in the jungle wait,

so far away from

Seetaphal Mandi?

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