From what little she could see by glancing above, a streak of the sky revealed itself—as narrow and as skewed as herself.
She asked that filtered slice of sky, “Tell me sister, of which city are you the blue alley?”
In the afternoon, she would catch a glimpse of the sun for just a moment and think, “I couldn’t understand any of that.”
Overwhelmed, the alleyway uttered, “There wasn’t any problem when it was parched dry. Why this sudden pouring trouble?”
At the end of spring the southern wind looks delinquent, raising swirls of dust and sweeping torn pieces of paper. The alleyway says, bewildered, “Which god’s drunken dance is this?”
She knows that all the garbage that gathers around her every day—fish scales, stove ash, vegetable peels, dead rats—are reality. With those around, she never thinks, “Why all this?”
Yet when the autumn sun slants itself on the balcony of a house, when the notes of Bhairavi float from the puja nahabat*, she thinks for a second, “Perhaps something big really lies beyond this concrete track.”
The day yawns; sunlight drops from the shoulders of the houses to rest in a corner of the alleyway, just like the slipping away of the end of a housewife’s sari. The clock strikes nine; the maidservant walks by, tucking to her waist a basket of vegetables she bought from the market; the smell and smoke of cooking envelopes the alleyway; office goers get busy.
And the alleyway thinks again, “All of reality is contained within this concrete road. What I had thought of as something big must be just a dream.”
* Music room or a tower from which live music is played/performed during festive occasions.
Bhaswati Ghosh 
I like this.There is truth in alleyways.Thank you, Bhaswati.
Yes, Bhas. Even the dark voice of reality can read like poetry if you can catch the sudden ray of light. And to see the white from the black… Tagore has given us this gift of sight.
Beautifully done, Bhaswati. Thanks so much for so thoughtfully translating a Tagore story for us. I have enjoyed it very much, this is such a treat!
I may not see an alleyway the same again 🙂 Nicely done.
Since I live in a small town, I’ve only seen alleyways like this on television or pictures. But you brought it to life for me. Thank you for translating this for us. 🙂
Thanks, Bernita. This is from a book called “Lipika” by Tagore. These are brief, reflective pieces. The book is one of my all-time favourites. Susan, I couldn’t agree with you more on Tagore. Lotus, thanks for the kind words. My translation can, at the best, only be an approximation of Tagore’s own words . I am glad you liked it :)Yoda, that was my reaction, too, after I read that piece of Tagore’s (the original, I mean). He sure has a special vision to look at mundane things, doesn’t he?Esther, I am glad to share this with you. Come to India, you won’t find a dearth of alleyways like these 😉
Powerful imagery. I enjoyed this very much. 🙂
I am glad you liked it, Jeff 🙂
What a beautiful passage Bhaswati. I love the descriptions. Inspirational for nascent writers like myself.I finally finished my carnival story. 3K, so come by when you have the time.
Thanks, Scott, though I can hardly take the credit. I am glad you liked it. I will look to share more of Tagore’s shorter writings here. As for you, nascent or not, you are talented. Your wonderful way with words sparkles in each of your blog posts. I will soon hop over to read the carnival story. Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for a very well translated story.
That is such a beautiful piece of writing, and I have to think your translation was vital in creating that beauty.Thanks, Bhaswati. For more than a moment, I was there.
BS, thanks for the kind words. Glad to share. Many thanks, Jason. I tried. It’s amazing how great writers like Tagore can breathe life into the most “lifeless” of things. Who would think a narrow, neglected alleyway could be looked at in this manner?
Enjoyed reading, a great translation
Thanks a lot, Amitabh da.