Tag: Shareefa Beegam PP

Categories
Festive Special

Lighting Lamps of Love

Light of mine, O light, the universe is filled with your effulgence, 
My heart is yours; my eyes drown in your refulgence. 
…. 
The sky awakens, the breeze flits, the Earth laughs. 
As luminous currents surge, thousands of butterflies take flight. 

— Aalo Amar Aalo (Light, My Light), Bichitra, 1911, Rabindranath Tagore

There was a time when lights were a part of joy and celebrations as in Tagore’s poem above. Lighting lamps, people welcomed home their beloved prince Rama on Deepavali, who returned after a fourteen year exile, and during his banishment, killed the demonic Ravana. On the same day in Bengal, lamps were lit to ward off evil and celebrate the victory of Kali, (the dark woman goddess wooed by Tantrics) over the rakshasa, Raktabeeja. In the Southern part of India, lamps were lit to celebrate the victory of Krishna over Narakasura. The reasons could be many but lights and fireworks were lit to celebrate the victory of good over evil during the festival of lights.

In the current world with lines blurred between good and evil, while climate crises seeks smoke free, coal free energy, flames of fire or fireworks are often frowned upon. In these times, we can only hope to light the lamp of love — so that differences can be settled amicably without killing the helpless and innocent, infact without violence, greed, peacefully and with kindness, keeping in mind the safety of our species and our home, the Earth. We invite you to partake of our content, writings that light the lamp of love — 

Poetry

I Gather Words by Shareefa Beegam P P. Click here to read.

The Language of Dreams by Sister Lou Ella Hickman: Click here to read.

Dreams are like Stars by Mitra Samal: Click here to read.

At Teotihuacan by Jonathan Chan: Click here to read.

Love Poetry by Gayatri Majumdar: Click here to read.

Today’s Child by Atta Shad, translated from Balochi by Fazal Baloch: Click here to read.

Endless Love, Ananto Prem (Endless Love) by Tagore, translated from Bengali by Professor Fakrul Alam. Click here to read.

Prose

Hena: a short story about love and war by Nazrul, has been translated from Bengali by Sohana Manzoor. Click here to read.

Annapurna Bhavan: Lakshmi Kannan closes class divides in Chennai over a meal. Click here to read.

Rituals in the Garden: Marcelo Medone discusses motherhood, aging and loss in this poignant flash fiction from Argentina. Click here to read.

The Tree of Life: An unusual flash fiction by Parnil Yodha about a Tibetan monk. Click here to read.

Adoption: A poignant real life story by Jeanie Kortum on adopting a child. Click here to read.

The Potato Prince: A funny but poignant love story by Sohana Manzoor. Click here to read.

A Taste of Bibimbap & More: G Venkatesh revisits the kindness he that laced his travels within Korea. Click here to read. 

Therese Schumacher and Nagayoshi Nagai: A Love Story: Suzanne Kamata introduces us to one of the first German women married to a Japanese scientist and their love story. Click here to read.

Categories
Contents

Borderless, September 2022

Art by Sohana Manzoor

Editorial

When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall… Click here to read.

Conversations

Meet Barun Chanda, an actor who started his career as the lead protagonist of a Satyajit Ray film and now is a bi-lingual writer of fiction and more recently, a non-fiction published by Om Books International, Satyajit Ray: The Man Who Knew Too Much in conversation Click here to read.

Jim Goodman, an American traveler, author, ethnologist and photographer who has spent the last half-century in Asia, converses with Keith Lyons. Click here to read.

Translations

Professor Fakrul Alam has translated three Tagore songs around autumn from Bengali. Click here to read.

Nagmati by Prafulla Roy has been translated from Bengali as Snake Maiden by Aruna Chakravarti. Click here to read.

A Balochi Folksong that is rather flirtatious has been translated by Fazal Baloch. Click here to read.

A Letter Adrift in the Breeze by Haneef Sharif has been translated from Balochi by Mashreen Hameed. Click here to read.

Jajangmyeon Love, a poem has been written in Korean and translated by Ihlwha Choi. Click here to read.

Eshechhe Sarat (Autumn) by Tagore has been translated from Bengali by Mitali Chakravarty. Click here to read.

Poetry

Click on the names to read

Michael R Burch, Sunil Sharma, George Freek, Sutputra Radheye, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Arshi Mortuza, Ron Pickett, Prasant Kumar B K, David Francis, Shivani Srivastav, Marianne Tefft, Saranyan BV, Jim Bellamy, Shareefa BeegamPP, Irma Kurti, Gayatri Majumdar, Rhys Hughes

Poets, Poetry & Rhys Hughes

In The Chopsy Moggy, Rhys Hughes gives us a feline adventure. Click here to read.

Musings/Slices from Life

A Tale of Two Flags in the South Pacific

Meredith Stephens visits an island that opted to adopt the ways of foreign settlers with her camera and narrates her experiences. Click here to read.

A Taste of Bibimbap & More…

G Venkatesh revisits his Korean experience in a pre-pandemic world. Click here to read.

September Nights

Mike Smith in a short poetic monologue evokes what the season means for him. Click here to read.

Musings of a Copywriter

In El Condor Pasa or I’d Rather be a Sparrow…, Devraj Singh Kalsi explores his interactions with birds with a splatter of humour. Click here to read.

Notes from Japan

In Rabbit Island, Suzanne Kamata visits the island of Okunoshima, where among innocence of rabbits lurk historic horrors. Click here to read.

Essays

A Turkish Adventure with Sait Faik

Paul Mirabile takes us on a journey to Burgaz with his late Turkish friend to explore the writings of Sait Faik Abasiyanik. Click here to read.

A Salute to Ashutosh Bodhe

Ravi Shankar pays a tribute to a fellow trekker and gives a recap of their trekking adventures together near Mt Everest base camp. Click here to read.

The Observant Immigrant

In Sometimes Less is More…, Candice Louisa Daquin explores whether smaller communities can be assimilated into the mainstream. Click here to read.

Stories

Where Eagles Dare…

Munaj Gul Muhammad takes on the persona of a woman to voice about their rights in Balochistan. Click here to read.

My Eyes Don’t Speak

Chaturvedi Divi explores blindness and its outcome. Click here to read.

The Royal Retreat

Sangeetha G gives a brief view of intrigue at court. Click here to read.

Book Excerpts

Ruskin Bond, excerpted from Between Heaven and Earth: Writings on the Indian Hills, edited by Ruskin Bond and Bulbul Sharma. Click here to read.

Excerpts from Rhys Hughes’ Comfy Rascals: Short Fictions. Click here to read.

Book Reviews

Rakhi Dalal reviews Rhys Hughes’ Comfy Rascals: Short Fictions. Click here to read.

Hema Ravi reviews Mrutyunjay Sarangi’s A Train to Kolkata and Other Stories. Click here to read.

Bhaskar Parichha reviews Krishna Bose’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Life, Struggle and Politics, translated and edited by Sumantra Bose. Click here to read.

Categories
Poetry

I Gather Words…

By Ms. Shareefa Beegam PP

WORDS

I gather words, 
As a forest gathers sunlight through the interstices,
As a hut collects light through the crevices of a thatched roof.
The book I open is the sun that is ready
To beam into the depths of the earth in full swing,
But is impeded by the dough made in between
Neighbours ringing the doorbell.

I read a sentence,
And someone pops up from nowhere
Demanding a chit-chat I can’t shake off.
I read the next line --
It stumbles on twigs and leaves,
Orders of tea and snacks,
Demands for meals to be cooked and served,
To water plants,
Relentless demands of the household.

I read one more line and I am held up by offshoots.
My boy comes asking me to join him,
If not in play, to nap with him,
 “Please don’t read Mama, simply look at me.”

Dropping on these leaves and limbs,
The light in its fullness forms rays and showers.
Still, I get glimpses to gather,
The filtered vignettes of lights and beams
 I convert into,
Lightning and thunder.

Shareefa Beegam PP is an academic and a writer from India. She is an Assistant Professor at PSMO College, Tirurangadi, Kerala. She is also a researcher at Farook College, Calicut. She has translated contemporary Malayalam stories into English.

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