Ten Years in the Campus

Pabitra Mohan Dash

Translated by Sailen Routray  

Cracked skin of an Aesculus
Photo Credit - Wikimedia Commons

It all ends like this. Madeline goes back to Sweden after having finished her survey. Bisakha leaves as a bride to Kalikata. Sukanta leaves the room and absconds. Sikha goes to Gujarat and never returns. Samir clears the PSC, and lives in Silchar. Suchitra commits suicide, jumping from the roof. 

The fellowship ends. But what do not end are Ranjan’s pretensions regarding his ‘Thesis on Town Planning’.  

What do continue are, the buying of forms, bank drafts, photocopying, speed posts, studying GK and the assiduous penances for climbing ladders. Sometimes it is the written exam that makes one stumble, sometimes it is the interviews, and sometimes it is the lack of money.

New governments and reservations come and go. As usual, all strikes, hartals and gheraos end up being completely useless. One goes through all the books in the Parija library. One cannot squeeze dreams out of words any longer. One can no longer grow intimate with Siddharth, or Santiago, or for that matter with Gabriel Farista and Sarbu Gaonta.

The khati in Gobinda Sahu market, its tasteless tea and stale bread wave their hands and call; so do a few friends. From Socrates to Rajneesh, the fire does not go out.

One gets news of baba’s retirement, and ma’s colic; news also reaches that the age of the unmarried sister is increasing, month by month. But Ranjan does not agree.

The lenses of the spectacle change frequently. The kadamba tree in front of the hostel grows old. Life does not end.

Translator's Note: Pabitra Mohan Dash (b. 1968) is one of the clearest and freshest voices in contemporary Odia poetry. He has several collections of poems such as 'Bajra Banshi' (1995), 'Rakta Shasya', 'Swapnamedha' (2007), Megha Sanchar (2014) to his credit. Although primarily known as a poet, he is also an acclaimed writer of fiction and criticism in Odia. His novel 'Hamsahani' (2016) paints a rich mosaic of contemporary social life in coastal Orissa.