[Transcreation] Gaya

Gaya

A cruel lesson!

 

Beside

the star retreats,

named synonymous

with the Great one,

prostrate seedy by-lanes

in yellow tatters

 

Like Bodhisatva*

from the Jataka* tales,

the Banyan is in

its umpteenth reincarnation

 

It’s roots are on sale,

at every nook and corner,

at obscene prices

 

A tonsured evening

gets lost in the cacophony

of bells and conchs

-shuns prayer

 

The progenies of Bimbisara* know,

the teeming crowd,

their lame limbs,

are beyond His reach

 

The Nirvana attained by

the ones who walk out

is alien to the ones

who are thrown out

 

A Banyan’s shade is not must

to attain enlightenment

I realized

at the railway platform

 

I became Buddha

before my adieu to Gaya

 

 

 

A poem in Malayalam by Venu Kandurkunnu

Transcreation by Vijay © 6^th February, 2008

 

 

* Bodhisattva

* Jataka

* Bimbisara