Tag: Mitali Chakravarty

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Contents

Borderless, September 2026

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

Because We Are… …Click here to read.

Translations

Nazrul’s lyrics of Mor Ghumogore Elo Monohor (In my sleep, came the one who won my heart) have been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Chapter 2 of Isa Kamari’s novel, The Throne, has been translated by the author from Malay. We will be running the whole novel as serial through the year. Click here to read.

A Tiny Piece of Homeland, an autobiographical narrative by Kallol Lahiri in Bengali, has been translated by V. Ramaswamy. Click here to read.

Walking Together, a poem, has been written and translated from Korean by Ihlwha Choi. Click here to read.

Swopno (Dream), a poem by Tagore, has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Mary Pomfret, Ananya S Guha, Jim Bellamy, Veerashetty Aurad, George Freek, T. Manjunath, Ron Pickett, Hassan Ismail Adekunle, SR Inciardi, Subramaniam Cheemalapati, John Zedolik, Shazia Khatoon, Richard D. Houff, Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In Emily’s Ghost, Rhys Hughes gives us an elusive story poem. Click here to read.

Musings/ Slices from Life

Switching Sails for Saddles

Meredith Stephens writes of a camel ride in Australia with photographs by Alan Noble. Click here to read.

We Come with Nothing…

Farouk Gulsara muses on the importance of getting rid of belongings collected over time. Click here to read.

Anchors

Shruti Keskar responds to changes in her life. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In  Art, Artist & a Copywriter , Devraj Singh Kalsi visits an art museum. Click here to read.

Essays

Kazi Nazrul Islam: Bringing the Ghazal Home

Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri shows how cultures can intermingle to enrich and create a unique fusion as in Nazrul’s lyrics and style. Click here to read.

Harmonising a Symphony

Yatish Kumar S explores what One World means to him. Click here to read.

Rise, You Magnificent Mess

Charudutta Panigrahi writes with the hope of transcending the darknesses of our times. Click here to read.

Stories

Small Town Journal Entry: The Red Wagon and Red Robin

Jonathon Ferrini tells a poignant story about a child and an injured bird. Click here to read.

The Weight She Carries

Gowher Bhat brings a vignette of a young girl’s life in the hills of Kokernag. Click here to read.

A Family Wedding

Fiona Sinclair writes of family interactions during a wedding. Click here to read.

A Clever Verdict

Naramsetti Umamaheswara Rao gives a story set in Southern India. Click here to read.

Feature

A conversation with Kanupriya Dhingra with a brief introduction to her book, The Sunday Book Bazaar: Delhi’s Book Street and the Making of a Reading Public. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from Teresa Rehman’s Her Hajj Story: Travel Diaries of Women Pilgrims from Assam. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Shubha Apte’s When the Road Becomes the Teacher. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal reviews Omair Ahmad’s Homecoming. Click here to read.

Mudassar Javed Baryar reviews Saima Begum’s The First Jasmines. Click here to read.

Meenakshi Malhotra reviews Romila Thapar’s Just Being: A Memoir. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Shanta Gokhale’s Of Ancestors and Friends: A Life with Books. Click here to read.

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Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

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Editorial

Because We Are…

Melting Glaciers
Peat Fires
From Public Domain

We have started feeling the impact of climate change with a bevy of natural disasters this August. Glacial ice melts, peat fires, haze, rising seas, more storms, warmer climes and fires wiping out greenery are just a few that come to the mind. But, long ago, our ancestors — without the support of technology — survived climate events. Göbekli Tepe (Turkey), an ancient human settlement, more than 11,000 years ago was lush and green. People moved as it turned arid. Humankind was nomadic then. They moved with shifting riverbeds. In Europe, humans survived the last glacial age, about 20,000 years ago. Then, now when we are faced with the reality of climate change, why is it we tremble with trepidation? We even have technology in hand. Ideators and writers like Asimov found solutions. In Caves of Steel (1954), Isaac Asimov had humanity move underground to survive unfriendly surface conditions. He created a huge city underground for humanity while some moved into other planets. Perhaps, the time has come for us to think out of the box. And that is what we hope all of you will join to do in Borderless.

September has thrown up varied content. We have non-fiction which reflects on how changes are a part of human lore and how diverse cultures can co-exist to enrich each other. Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri dwells on this idea while talking of Nazrul’s approach to the Persian Ghazal. He writes, the poet through his adaptation of this form “showed how a culture can absorb another culture without losing itself, and how, in the process, both cultures can become something larger than they were before.” And perhaps from that largeness of thought will emerge a one-world community — that Yatish Kumar S espouses. Maybe from people who think beyond borders, we will find the solution to tackling and adapting to climate change. We have an essay from Charudutta Panigrahi where he attempts to arouse the survival instinct in humans. Young Shruti Keskar writes of how she finds a new lease to life by accepting and adapting to changes while Farouk Guslara philosophises on living and possessions. We have Meredith Stephens adding to the vivacity of non-fiction with a recount of her sailing adventures with wonderful photographs by Alan Noble. And Devraj Singh Kalsi brings in sardonic humour with his piece on art and artists.

Humour is woven into poetry with ‘Emily’s Ghost‘ by Rhys Hughes. We have poetry on rain and silences by Ananya S Guha and SR Inciardi. Ron Pickett explores nature as does T Manjunath. Diverse themes resonate in poems by Jim Bellamy, Veerashetty Aurad, George Freek, Hassan Ismail Adekunle, Mary Pomfret, Subramaniam Cheemalapati, John Zedolik, Shazia Khatoon, Richard D. Houff and Ryan Quinn Flanagan. We have a translation of a Korean poem by Ihlwha Choi that reflects how putting aside differences and walking together can make for a happier world, thus reflecting themes from our non-fiction section. Perhaps, the best illustration of this idea is in Nazrul’s Bengali lyrics translated by Professor Fakrul Alam.

A story-poem by Tagore, Swopno (Dream), has also been brought to us in English. An interesting memoir by Kallol Lahiri centring around his childhood in Bengal has been translated by V Ramaswamy. Translations offer fiction from Isa Kamari. He has transcribed in English the second chapter of his Malay novel, The Throne. The novel focussing on psychological torment is being serialised in Borderless.

Our stories trot around the world with a narrative about a wedding by Fiona Sinclair. While she talks of a world where the basics of life are taken for granted, Gowher Bhat brings to us an account about a young girl who has to work hard to have her daily needs met. Jonathon B Ferrini on the other hand shares a tale about a young child, using the epistolary technique. Naramsetti Umamaheswara Rao narrates a tale of two brothers.

In this issue, we seem to have gathered a number of reviews and excerpts based on memoirs. Teresa Rehman has shared women pilgrim’s narratives in Her Hajj Story: Travel Diaries of Women Pilgrims from Assam and in the excerpt we carry, we have her reflecting on how she gathered these gems. The other excerpt is from Shubha Apte’s memoir, When the Road Becomes the Teacher.

Bhaskar Parichha has reviewed a rare book-centric memoir by Shanta Gokhale. He tells us, “Of Ancestors and Friends: A Life with Books is an unusual kind of literary memoir. It is neither a conventional autobiography nor a conventional work of criticism. Instead, it occupies an intimate space between the two, tracing a life’s intellectual and emotional history through books.” Meenakshi Malhotra has discussed the renowned historian Romila Thapar’s memoir, Just Being, a book that reflects not only her own journey but the freedom and outreach that privilege and capability can bestow on women in South Asia. On the other hand, Mudassar Javed Baryar refers to the plight of birongonas, war time widows during the 1971 conflict that birthed Bangladesh, while discussing Saima Begum’s The First Jasmines. He reflects: “Begum’s profound innovation is to turn the narrative back not just to these women’s trauma but to their ‘humanity, resilience and heart’, depicting them as ‘architects of family and community’.” Somdatta Mandal has praised Omair Ahmad’s novel, Homecoming.

We have also featured Kanuprya Dhingra, who has written a book on a unique book bazaar. In a candid exchange, she tells us her non-fiction, The Sunday Book Bazaar: Delhi’s Book Street and the Making of a Reading Public, “is for the reader in Singapore, or Mumbai, or London, or Lahore who has their own version of this informal, unruly, necessary space and sees it reflected here. It is a book about books, the people who read them, and the people who make that possible…the book is for everyone.” It’s an interesting read almost inviting you to stroll into the serendipitous democratic reading space full of local colour and stories.

We would like to thank not only Dhingra but all our contributors for their wonderful work. Huge thanks to the fabulous Borderless team for their input and to Sohana Manzoor for her artwork. Thank you all — without all of you and our wonderful readers, it would be difficult to have a journal. In the spirit of ubuntu, heartfelt thanks.

Do pause by our September content’s page. And let’s look forward to the hope for happier climes and times.

Best wishes,

Mitali Chakravarty

borderlessjournal.com

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE CONTENTS FOR THE SEPTEMBER 2026 ISSUE

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READ THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE BORDERLESS ANTHOLOGIES BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK

Categories
Tagore Translations

In Tagore’s Dreamworld…

Swopno (Dream), a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, can be found in his collection, Kalpana (Imagined, 1900).

Art by Sohana Manzoor
        DREAM

Far, far away, 
In my dreamworld, I travelled to Ujjainipur.
I went to the banks of the Shipra River 
To look for my last life’s first love. 
  Her anklets jingled as she walked
  Powdered with pollen, holding a lotus, 
            Jasmines in her ears, 
Jhanti flowers in her hair, dressed in red. 
       I had returned one spring, 
Finding the path, traveling from afar. 

        In the temple of Mahakal,
   Evening prayers were being chanted. 
The market was deserted. A streak of light
 Irradiated the darkness above the palace. 

           
 A serpentine, narrow, lonely path
        Led to my beloved’s home. 
On her doors, framed by two saplings, 
Were painted a conch and a chakra. 
         On a white marble arch, 
    Sat a statue of an arrogant lion.

My beloved’s pigeons returned home.
Her peacocks slept on golden rods. 
Meanwhile, holding a lamp, 
Descended my Malavika. 
Between the staircase and doorway, 
The evening star peeped in. 
The fragrance of her body and hair
Filled my breath with agitated yearning. 
Her garments rustled to reveal a motif
With sandalwood paste on her left breast.
Like a deity she graced the gloaming. 
The city’s rumour mills stopped silent. 
   
      My beloved
Placed the lamp slowly by the door. 
She came to me, held my hand in hers, 
Silently, asked with melancholic tenderness, 
“Oh friend! Are you well?” Gazing at her, 
I wanted to talk but lost my words. 
I forgot my eloquence as together, 
We dwelled on each other — I cannot recall— 
We both longed for togetherness
As our speechless tears flowed endlessly. 

Together, we pondered by the saplings. 
I do not know what came to pass
but her soft hands hid themselves 
in my right one like a young bird 
seeking its nest in the dusk. 
Her face bowed like a lotus stem 
on my chest with sad restlessness. 
Pensively, we met with silent breath. 
 
      In the darkness of the night 

  I lost myself in Ujjaini completely. 
        The lamp by the door 
Was blown off by a distant breeze. 
  By the banks of the Shipra River, 
The worship stopped in Shiva’s temple.

This poem has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty with editorial input by Sohana Manzoor.

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Categories
Contents

Borderless, August 2026

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

Bells, Corners, Changes and Life… Click here to read.

Translations

Robihara 2 (Sunless 2) by Nazrul has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Chapter 1 of Isa Kamari’s novel, The Throne, has been translated by the author from Malay. We will be running the whole novel as serial through the year. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Aslam Dostain‘s novel, Sótkál, has been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

A Sudden Shower has been written and translated from Korean by Ihlwha Choi. Click here to read.

Jhor or Storm, a poem by Tagore, has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Akil Contractor, George Freek, Pramod Rastogi, Khayelihle Benghu, John Grey, Mary Tina Shamli Pillay, John Britten, Bharti Mehra, David Francis, Laila Brahmbhatt, Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In Bell Poems, Rhys Hughes shares a series of poems inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Bell’. Click here to read.

Musings/Slices from Life

The Elusive Horizontal Falls

Meredith Stephens writes about her sailing adventures in Australia as Alan Noble shares his photographs. Click here to read.

Reading, Writing, and the Long, Dark Tunnel of Despair

Jeena R. Papaadi explores her own literary journey. Click here to read.

Another Waterworld?

Jun A. Alindogan writes of typhoons that are on the rise in Philippines. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In The Zine Scene, Suzanne Kamata participates at ‘The Zine Festival’ in Kobe. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In Riverside Reflections, Devraj Singh Kalsi gives a dark satire which almost reads like fiction. Click here to read.

Essays

When Life gives us Lemons, make Lemonade!

Farouk Gulsara looks at the impact of climate events and climate change. Click here to read.

On Both Sides of the Border: The Techno-Political Erasure of Bureaucracy, Memory, and Refugee Lives

Rengin Uçkan takes a look at the plight of refugees. Click here to read.

Neither Automaton nor Oracle: A Satirical Inquiry into Morality, Conditioning, Football, and the End of Human Civilisation

Ravi Varmman K Kanniappan muses on the modern civilisation and its outlooks. Click here to read.

Stories

Shadow Play

Yi-jung Chen shares a unique love story set in Taiwan. Click here to read.

Fairway

Brindley Hallam Dennis shares a short narrative about a dog. Click here to read.

The Space Between Notifications

Jay Samanta shares a modern day relationship. Click here to read.

My Brother’s Room

Devraj Singh Kalsi gives a story of two brothers. Click here to read.

A Walk Through Nature

Naramsetti Umamaheswararao shares a fable set in a village in Andhra Pradesh. Click here to read.

Interview

Keith Lyons interviews author, Jayanthi Sankar, who also shares an excerpt from one of her stories. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from Rhys Hughes’ The Biscuit Thief. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Ramananda Bharati’s The Forest of Snow, translated from Bengali by Somdatta Mandal. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Aruna Chakravarti has reviewed Ramananda Bharati’s The Forest of Snow, translated from Bengali by Somdatta Mandal. Click here to read.

Somdatta Mandal has reviewed Arupa Patangia Kalit’s The Moonlight Saga, translated from Assamese by Ranjita Biswas. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha has reviewed Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man, co-authored by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson. Click here to read.

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Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Categories
Editorial

Bells, Corners, Changes and Life

Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway, 1844, Painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner

Perhaps, the only constant that makes a difference in this ever-transforming world is how we react to changes around us. How do we interact with not just humans but our whole planet with its climate, contours, its plethora of flora and fauna?  Will that impact our survival in the long run? And yet with our focus on legacies, traditions, beliefs, we tend to ignore the call to adapt to the new that might help us move towards an unpredictable future. We forget perhaps that these systems had all been made by our ancestors to ensure survival. Somewhere along the way, these have become like fences caging us into small subsets. The strange thing is we continue to allow that to happen and create enclosures which we fight to maintain. The future that we face now seems even more tumultuous with climate change, rising sea levels and global warming taking a front seat while influx of refugees from war and natural disasters have already started making themselves felt. Add to that the shortages of resources that we have taken for granted for centuries. How would we survive these?

Is it by redefining the constructs we have created or just meeting in corners and finding commonalities as suggested by Ryan Quinn Flanagan in his poem ‘Corners’?

Corners are a meeting place, 
they hold a room together

Our poetry section often reflects what we experience, feel or see around us. We have poems on how nature overrides human constructs by Khayelihle Benghu. In ‘Passport for the Rain‘, she writes:

If rain possessed a passport, it would read:
Citizen of every place that drinks.

We have variety from around the world with poems from Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Akil Contractor, George Freek, Pramod Rastogi, John Grey, Mary Tina Shamli Pillay, John Britten, Bharti Mehra, David Francis and Laila Brahmbhatt. Rhys Hughes has given us poetry inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, The Bell. While Poe wrote one poem in 1848 ( published posthumously in 1849), Hughes has written nine sprinkled with his brand of humour, including on cowbells and bell peppers!

We also have poetry in our translations with Ihlwha Choi giving us a glimpse of Korean life. Professor Fakrul Alam has brought to us in English a Bengali poem by Nazrul written on the death of Tagore, a poem that was read out in Calcutta radio by the poet himself in 1941. Tagore’s poem, Storm, has been translated in keeping with the heavy downpours in Asia this season. Fazal Baloch has shared an excerpt in English, which reads like a short story, from Aslam Dostain’s Balochi novel, Sótkál, giving us a flavour of the hard life in their region, where self-reliance is a felt need for survival. We have mental heath issues woven into this section with Isa Kamari’s translation of his own Malay novel into English, The Throne. We will be running a chapter every month from this novel.

Book excerpts also has a translation this time with Ramananda Bharati’s Bengali travelogue, The Forest of Snow, brought to us in English by Somdatta Mandal. Aruna Chakravarti has reviewed this non-fiction for us. The other excerpt is from Hughes’ The Biscuit Thief, a book that reflects his distinct brand of absurd humour. Keith Lyons’ interview this time features an excerpt from interviewee Jayanthi Sankar’s short story set in Singapore. Mandal has written on yet another translation from Assamese by Ranjita Biswas of Arupa Patangia Kalita’s The Moonlight Saga. Bhaskar Parichha has discussed Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man, co-authored by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson. He claims that this book is “is indispensable reading for anyone interested in literature, intellectual history, cultural modernity, or the life of a man whose vision of humanity continues to speak powerfully to an increasingly interconnected world.”

This month’s non-fiction section has trotted around the globe. We have Ravi Varmman K Kanniappan’s essay discussing how to redefine norms. His take is a bit different from Flanagan’s. He tells us, using Huck Finn, Terminator and Sangam Literature, people need to ask not, “What is right?” but “How did I come to believe this is right?” Rengin Uçkan’s writes on the need for framing rules that are compassionate for refugees. And Farouk Gulsara with his inevitable gruff humour talks of climate change while stating things as it is: “Climate change not only shrinks our summer beachwear but also makes outdoor living impossible. Additionally, it’s proving to be more expensive to consume anything…”  Jun A. Alindogan narrates how typhoons have increased in number in Philippines and how it affects them while Jeena R. Papaadi reflects on her literary journey. Meredith Stephens shares her sailing adventures in Australia with stunning photographs by Alan Noble. And Suzanne Kamata has brought us a flavour of the unique Zine Fest in Kobe, where both groceries and books find a place!

Devraj Singh Kalsi hovers between fact and fiction. He has a musing which seems like a hash of dark fiction but based on his experiences. He has also shared a story that is purely fictional. Yi-jung Chen brings to us a quirky love story set in Taiwan across time and space while Brindley Hallam Dennis tells a tale about a dog who sits at a table and sips drinks with a straw! Jay Samanta gives a narrative about a modern relationship based on social media output. Naramsetti Umamaheswararao has shared a fable that talks of freeing nature. The issue is, can we really?

In Borderless Journal, we hope to create a space which will help reflect not just the times but also look forward to ideas that can move us towards surviving in a happier world, built on the basis of accepting differences, filled with love, kindness and compassion. While this may sound clichéd and repetitive, given the current climes, these values cannot be emphasised often enough and perhaps our content to an extent does reflect that, sometimes with a soupçon of humour. Do pause by our contents page for this August and tell us what you think.  

Winding up this issue, we would like to thank our all contributors for their wonderful writings and photographs. Huge thanks to the Borderless team without who this issue would not have been as vibrant. Special thanks to Sohana Manzoor for her fabulous artwork. Thank you all. All of you together make this journal come alive.

Enjoy the reads!

Cheers,

Mitali Chakravarty

borderlessjournal.com

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE CONTENTS FOR THE AUGUST 2026 ISSUE

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READ THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE BORDERLESS ANTHOLOGIES BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK

Categories
Tagore Translations

Storm by Rabindranath Tagore

Jhor (Storm) by Rabindranath Tagore was first published in his collection called Kheya (Ferry) in 1906.

Art by Sohana Manzoor 
            STORM 
  
The downpour shatters the sky 
     As the storm rages today — 
The mridanga drums in rhythm
   With thunder and lightning-strikes. 
What ragini would suit this weather? 
   What tune would you hum? 
The darkness has cindered 
    The blue with shadows. 

Herds of cows call out 
In the meadow hazy with rain. 
    Under the tall palmyra trees, 
    Dark pools shiver. 
The wind whooshes screaming 
  Through a broken burnt home. 
The opposing borders of empty fields
    Shout out to each other. 
     
Who looked for me today 
  While traversing the path? 
They would have had water 
   Dripping down their locks. 
My heart dances to the tune 
     Of the raag Mallar
Who returned from my door 
   Without singing their song? 

Come all of you to my home. 
      Sit near me. 
Today my mind is focussed 
     In meditation.
The empty wind rushes 
   Through land and water. 
After the storm, my mind 
    Flies with the Northwind. 

Who’d be crazy enough to come
    In this torrential downpour, 
From beyond 
     Which shore? 
You will arrive with the cry 
     Of wet woods 
And the perfume of 
     Garlands of gandharaj. 

Oh, today after many days,
      After many journeys, 
My gathered sorrows seem to have broken 
Out of their cage to run to an unknown place — 
In the shadowy groves of endings, 
       From the forgotten lands, 
Created or broken, 
      At the end of every song. 

The dark clouds whip
      Wayward thoughts. 
Haphazard conversations waft 
    In haphazard wild winds. 
In the distant forest, branches swing.
    The rain falls hard. 
The thunder arouses 
      A strange restlessness.


*ragini is the female form of raga or raag. Mallar or Malhar is the raag associated with rains.
Gandhraj flower

This poem has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty with editorial input by Sohana Manzoor

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Categories
Contents

Borderless, July 2026

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

Oh! For an Ark?… Click here to read.

Translations

Ghumiye Geche Shranto Hoea ( Spent, He’s Fallen Asleep) by Nazrul has translated the lyrics from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Isa Kamari has translated his own Malay poems. Click here to read.

Short poems by Mohammad Hussain Anqa have been translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Blazing Summer Sun has been composed and translated from Korean by Ihlwha Choi. Click here to read.

Barashar Dine (On a Rainy Day) by Tagore has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Jyotish Chalil Gopinathan, Norman J. Olson, Shamim Akhtar, SR Inciardi, Deepa Srivastava, Ron Pickett, Tanisha Tanwar, Jane Downing, Snehaprava Das, John Swain, Snigdha Agrawal, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Maithreyi Karnoor, Rhys Hughes

Musings/ Slices from Life

Downpour

Ian C Smith muses during a downpour. Click here to read.

A Peek into the Future?

Farouk Gulsara muses on uncertainties. Click here to read.

Is that a Rock or a Croc?

Meredith Stephens narrates their sailing adventures in the Western Australia with photographs by Alan Noble. Click here to read.

Bringing Hope to the War-Torn

Gowher Bhat introduces us to an aid worker who helps war victims in Ukraine and Syria. Click here to read.

What the Stars Kept Secret

Subramaniam Cheemalapati muses on the star studded sky through his anecdotal experiences. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In The Sherwani and Me, Devraj Singh Kalsi muses on his wedding attire of yore. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In Remotely Controlled, Suzanne Kamata ponders on a modern mania. Click here to read.

Essays

Tagore’s Dance-Dramas in Translation

Somdatta Mandal explores six dance-dramas by Tagore translated from Bengali and Brajbuli by Indrani Haldar. Click here to read.

A Prince who Opted for Poetry over a Crown

Charudutta Panigrahi introduces us to to the eighteenth century literary giant, Upendra Bhanja, who gave up his crown for the love of words. Click here to read.

The Idea of Civilisation: Trust and Power?

Ravi Varmman K Kanniappan highlights the contemporariness of Sangam Literature with discussion about a narrative based on trust and power politics. Click here to read.

Stories

The Son who Came Home Last

Jonathon Ferrini narrates a story across generations and the sweep of continents. Click here to read.

The Ghost from the Past

Darshana Dutta shares a short fiction set in a fast-paced social media centric world. Click here to read.

Her Hyderabad

Mohul Bhowmick looks at the city from the perspective of a disillusioned woman. Click here to read.

Full Circle

Sayan Sarkar shares a heartwarming story set in Kolkata. Click here to read.

The Search for a Useless Thing

Naramsetti Umamaheswararao gives a fable set in Southern India. Click here to read.

Interviews

Keith Lyons in conversation with Helen Townsend, environmental entrepreneur and plant enthusiast. Click here to read.

Suzanne Kamata interviews Lily West, author of West goes East and a traveller who has visited every country on Earth. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

An excerpt from Kanupriya Dhingra’s The Sunday Book Bazaar: Daryaganj and the Making of a Reading Public in Delhi. Click here to read.

An excerpt from Bhaskar Parichha’s Icons of Odisha – Lives that Shaped a State. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal reviews Siddharth Kak’s A Fire over Mount Everest. Click here to read.

Satya Narayan Mishra reviews Bhaskar Parichha’s Icons of Odisha – Lives that Shaped a State. Click here to read.

Andreas Geisbert reviews Angel Ramon’s Requiem of a Lost Nation. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Rajat Chaudhuri’s The Climate Crossroads: Literature’s Encounter with a Planet on Fire. Click here to read.

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Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to read the latest review of Wild Winds in The Hindu

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Published from Singapore, ISSN: 2737-4688.

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Tagore Translations

 On A Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore

Barashar Dine (On a Rainy Day) was published in Tagore’s collection, Manasi (Born of the Psyche,1890) as a poem.

Art by Sohana Manzoor
           ON A RAINY DAY 

          What a day it is, 
      What menacing rain! 
Amid clash of thunders    clouds pour. 
       It’s cool and dark. 
    No one will hear these sounds
    As it’s solitary all around. 
Facing each other    are two sad people. 
     The sky streams water incessantly. 
       The world seems to be empty. 
   Society, world, the noise of living 
   Are all reduced to insignificance.  
 What remains are     these flowing eyes.
Sip the cup of heartfelt sensations.  
The rest has dissolved in the dusk.
Your own voice will remain unheard. 
     Your life will seem to have faded. 
   Words will dissolve    slowly in tears 
      In the midst of these clouds. 
  Both lives will mingle with these words. 
       Who would be harmed by these
   If they rid the heaviness of minds? 
  In the downpour   in a nook of the home,
         If we confide in each other, 
       How would it matter to anyone? 
   During the forthcoming twelve months, 
There’ll be many conversations, laughter. 
Many will come   much of sorrows-joys too,
  Will these confidences ever be destroyed? 
     The world will go on forever. 
    The wind blows with agitation. 
 Lightnings strike every now and then. 
  The words that       remain unsaid 
   In this life, may they be spoken 
  In this thundering monsoon shower.

Written in 1889, it was shortened and put to music at a later date. You can listen to a rendition of the lyrics by the legendary singer Pankaj Mullick (1905-1978), who performed it on the Indian radio for the first time in 1927 by clicking here.

This poem has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty with editorial input by Sohana Manzoor

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

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Contents

Borderless, June 2026

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

Changes, Ruskin, Snakes and Frogs… Click here to read.

Translations

Nazrul’s lyrics of Mor Ghumogore Elo Monohor (In my Sleep, Came the Enchanting One) has been translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Four of his own Malay poems have been translated by Isa Kamari. Click here to read.

The Heartless, a Balochi story by  Abdul Qayum Sarbazi, has been translated by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

Dragonfly 2 has been composed and translated from Korean by Ihlwha Choi. Click here to read.

Tagore’s poem, Amra Choli Somukhpane (We Look Forward and March), has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Pandies Corner

Songs of Freedom: Pink Dreams is an autobiographical narrative by Priyanka, written and compiled by Deeksha Vats. These stories highlight the ongoing struggle against debilitating rigid boundaries drawn by societal norms, with the support from organisations like Shaktishalini and Pandies. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read the poems

Erik Kennedy, Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri, Anne Whitehouse, Snehaprava Das, George Freek, Pramod Rastogi, SR Inciardi, Aardhra Chandran, John Grey, Heera Unnithan, Jim Bellamy, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Rhys Hughes

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In A Few More Rhysop Fables, Rhys Hughes shares more absurdist fables. Click here to read.

Musings/Slices from Life

The Stars that Watch Us…

Sai Abhinay Penna muses during his morning jog. Click here to read.

Vignettes from the Past

Gowher Bhat mulls over his conversation with a debut author who published his first book at ninety-three. Click here to read.

Salvaging the Furling Line in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

Meredith Stephens takes us on a sailing adventure with photographs by Alan Noble. Click here to read.

Looking for that Goodness…

Farouk Gulsara explores why ‘evil’ exists with the help of experiments in science. Click here to read.

The Gift of Grace

Jun A. Alindogan talks of blessings and narrow escapes, including from the Typhoon Ondoy. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In On Consulting a Physician, Devraj Singh Kalsi writes of doctors and patients with a touch of humour. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In It’s in the Bag, Suzanne Kamata explores Japanese etiquettes. Click here to read.

Essays

Homecoming

Larry S Su, who migrated from a mud cave in Shaanxi province to America, shares his story of the changes he sees during three visits to his home and muses on the gaps he has observed between these two places. Click here to read.

One Soul, Two Seas

Charudutta Panigrahi explores similarities across two geographically separated regions. Click here to read.

A Cyclist’s Diary: Criss-crossing Titiwangsa

Farouk Gulsara explores local colours as he cycles in the highlands of Malaysia. Click here to read.

Stories

The Sea of Loneliness

Keiran Martin journeys to the depths of the ocean. Click here to read.

The Silent Valley

Jeena R Papaadi builds a mystery around an experience. Click here to read.

The Art of Letting Go

Plamen Vasilev shares a human interes story set in Europe. Click here to read.

The City that Refused to be Found

Rabiya Rehman sets her fiction in Lahore. Click here to read.

The Village that Chose Trees

Naramsetti Umamaheswararao imagines a utopian, environment friendly village. Click here to read.

Interview

Keith Lyons converses with Erik Kennedy, a migrant poet who lives in New Zealand. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

Excerpts from Ruskin Bond’s Scenes from the Magic Mountain: Five Seasons in the Mussoorie Hills and Beyond. Click here to read.

Excerpt from Anmol Diddan’s Burnout Highway. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Somdatta Mandal has reviewed Ruskin Bond’s Scenes from the Magic Mountain: Five Seasons in the Mussoorie Hills and Beyond. Click here to read.

Rakhi Dalal has reviewed Shyam Manohar’s The Cold War of Sadanand Borse, translated from Marathi by Jerry Pinto. Click here to read.

Meenakshi Malhotra has reviewed Giti Chandra’s debut poetry collection, Setting Traps for Light. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Stephen Alter’s The Fragrance of Rain: A Brief History of the Monsoon. Click here to read.

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Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles

Published from Singapore, ISSN: 2737-4688.

Duotrope listing: https://duotrope.com/magazine/borderless-39488

Categories
Tagore Translations

From Tagore’s Flight of Cranes

Rabindranath Tagore’s Amra Choli Somukhpane (We Look Forward and March) was first published in 1916 as part of Balaka (Flight of Migratory Cranes).

Art by Sohana Manzoor
WE LOOK FORWARD AND MARCH 

  Who would dare bind us 
If we look forward and march! 
  Those who look to the past, 
     Weep regret to the last. 
With bloodied feet rip the chains.
  Walk ahead in sun and shade. 
     They will trap themselves 
  With their self-wrought webs, 
     Weeping regret to the last. 

A fiery storm sounds the bugle. 
The mid-day sun shines 
      An awakening. 
The mind soars onwards 
  Intoxicated with radiance. 
 If they cross the threshold, 
    They will be blinded 
By the brightness of the light, 
Weeping regret to the last. 

 We will conquer oceans and hills, 
     We will transgress their will. 
I do not fear treading the path alone. 
    Friends return together. 
       They form coteries. 
 They have defined boundaries. 
    They will be trapped within 
    The walls they have created, 
      Weeping regret to the last.

This poem has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty with editorial input by Sohana Manzoor

PLEASE NOTE: ARTICLES CAN ONLY BE REPRODUCED IN OTHER SITES WITH DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO BORDERLESS JOURNAL

Click here to access Wild Winds: The Borderless Anthology of Poems

Click here to access the Borderless anthology, Monalisa No Longer Smiles