This is a simple translation of Tagore’s Rabindra Sangeet : ‘’Akash bhora, surjo tara,’’ from his ‘Gitobitan’ – ‘Book of Songs’. Translating Tagore word by word though possible, is not advisable, because it breaks the poetic rhythm & melody of his verse! Therefore, the basic essence & meaning of his song I tried to capture along with its philosophical & inner content. Tagore, our universal poet & Noble Laureate, belonged to the reformist ‘Brahmo Samaj’, which believed in the worship of an eternal and a single formless Divine spirit which pervades the entire Universe! English poet William Wordsworth had also shared this view in many of his poems.    -Raj Nandy, New Delhi
                                                                                                                      
SKY  FULL OF SUN AND  THE
       GLITTERING STARS !
The sky is full of sun and starlight.
The entire cosmos is pulsating with life.
Within this glorious vast expanse I found
my place,
Making me to burst forth into song in
wonder and amazement of this
marvelous sight!

This world swings in the lap of time, with
its eternal ebb and flow.  
And I feel in my veins its pulsation and
beating rhythm,
As in wonder and praise my words begin
to flow!

I have walked barefoot on the grass,
While traveling through the forest path.
Startled by the fragrance of flowers,
Which gladdened my beating heart!
The song of happiness pervades all around,
And with merriment it me surrounds!

With eagerness to hear, and with eyes opened wide,
I have poured myself in the flowing river of Life.
As I sought to seek the unknown, which lies hidden
within the known, *
And which has so far eluded my sight!

This outpouring of my song in wonder and
admiration I have put to verse.
For having found my habitat and abode,
Amidst the sun and the glittering stars of this
Universe!
                                                   -Translation by Raj Nandy.
                                                     20 June 2020
NOTE: *Here we find Tagore’s mysticism which takes us on a Spiritual quest to seek the infinite in the midst of the finite; unity at the heart of all diversity; and the Divine in all beings and things of the universe! This theme recurs in Tagore’s other poems also.

THE GOOD, BAD, AND THE NAKED TRUTH!
I have often wondered why, bad things happen
to the good,
And good things happen to the bad?
It is also often said that God takes away the
good folks from this world earlier,
While letting the bad ones to stay and suffer!
But given a choice, all of us would certainly want  
to live longer, and also fight out the Chinese
Corona!

Some say that our life’s happenings had been
programmed earlier,
Based on the Hindu theory of individual Karma!
But the atheist and the agnostics, speak of these
as mere random happenings!
Yet some intellectuals also think, that this concept
of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are merely relative things.
As one man’s meat becomes poison for the other,
-  among other things!
Now to get rid of these confusing thoughts and free
my mind,
I feel it is always better to err on the positive side,
And perform actions and deeds which are right.
But at the same time I would love to sing with the
American poet Philip Appleman, who wrote these
great immortal lines;-

“ O Karma, Dharma, pudding and pie,
   Gimme a break before I die;
   Grant me wisdom, will, and grit,
   Purity, probity, pluck and grit.
  Trustworthy, helpful, friendly, kind,
  Gimme great abs and a steel-trap mind.
  And forgive, Ye Gods, some humble advice -
  These little blessings would suffice,
  To beget an earthly paradise :
  Make the bad people good,
  And the good people nice.
  And before our World goes over the brink,
  Teach the believers how to Think!”
                                                    -Raj Nandy, New Delhi.
NOTES: Philip Appleman was born in Indiana in 1926, and served in the US Army. He has displayed greater foresight & understanding than most of our narrow minded politicians and religious leaders! May God bless his soul!

Dear Readers, thses are my few old memories of Calcutta from my early childhood days, after having reached the milestone on the road side reading 77.  Hope you like it ! Best wishes, - Raj, New Delhi.

REMINISCENCE OF A SENIOR SEPTUAGENARIAN
I was born in the early forties during those black and
white days,
When those big old valve radios and gramophones
records played.
The British flag was flying over Calcutta, the city of
my birth.
That first old capital of British India with its horse
and buggy, crowded buses, and tram cars.
The main streets got washed with water hoses from  
high pressured hydrants every morning,
And the lamplighter with his ladder lighted the
street gas lights every evening.
Radiograms were a status symbol, and transistor
radios had come decades later.
With rickshaws pulled manually by poor old
rickshaw pullers!
Juke Box played popular songs (during our school
days in the fifties) in ice cream parlors.
Whoever even thought of a TV or a mobile phone,
during those happy hours!
For the Bongs the theatres of north Calcutta was a
classical source of entertainment.
Eye ball contact was meaningful with a hug and a
hand shake, - life remained fully extroverted.
Unlike our present highly advanced Corona days!
No wonder I love that great old South Indian serial
titled the ‘Malgudi Days’!
Like our old songs, those golden days shall forever
remain cherished and nostalgic;
And as a part of a senior citizen’s waking dream!
Now please smile, take a selfie with your I-phone,
and go to sleep!
                                       -Raj Nandy, New Delhi.

THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME*
Walt Disney’s ‘Tom & Jerry’ cartoons are popular
even to this day.
Cat’s stealth-like pursuits with near captures,
and the mouse’s repeated escapes, -
Is the very essence of the Cat and Mouse Game!
A test of patience and perseverance for the Cat,
But that Mouse usually manages to escape the
paws of the Cat!

The serious game our Doctors with patience
and dedication have continued to play,
Ever since that elusive Chinese virus has come
our way, deserves our Commendation!
As with sprays, hand sanitizers, and a mask we
try to prevent Corona’s inhalation.
Fighting an unseen enemy which continues to
haunt and escape detection!
Wish there was ‘a game plan’ for its destruction!

A rat poison can be more effective than the Cat,
But only an anti-dote or a vaccine can **** our Rat!
Let us pray that soon a vaccine comes to light,
To drive away our gloom and make the future
look Bright!
                                       -Raj Nandy, New Delhi.

(Dear Friends, reacting to the latest TV Report about China’s claim
of the Himalayan Range this verse got composed. Hope you like it.)

CHINA’S  VAULTING  HIMALAYAN  AMBITION !
                           By Raj Nandy
From Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’: “vaulting ambition,
which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other.”
……………………………………………………………………….
China, having infected the entire world by unleashing
the deadly Corona virus,
Have now started to measure the height of the mighty
Himalayas!
Having begun a dispute with Nepal, her peaceful
southern neighbor,
By trying to claim that entire Himalayan range as  
part of China!
Ignorant about Macbeth’s ‘vaulting ambition’, -
which led to his downfall and destruction!
In the Tibetan portion of this mountain range,
An unmanned radar device was earlier set up by
China for air surveillance.
Now under the pretext of monitoring air traffic
over Tibet,
Two more radars devices are being set up on the
Himalayas once again,
Which will also act as snooping devices upon her
peaceful southern neighbors!
China already has her jaundiced eye upon India’s
Arunachal Pradesh,
Not forgetting her earlier illegal occupation of India’s
Aksai-Chin region.
She also has full co-operation from her ‘boot-licking  
friend’ present across India’s western borders.
Unfortunately, only Historians remember the rise
and fall of ambitious Empires.
China too shall one day realize her Himalayan
Blunder!  
                                      -Raj Nandy, New Delhi; 16 May 2020

BEHIND  THE  MASK
               By Raj Nandy

That Clinical Mask which covers our face,
As a screen between that Chinese virus and
the human race.
Along with sanitizers and hand wash now
life becomes worth living.
But God has also to be kind and forgiving!

But even without a mask a face can be a
total fake.
And a double faked face even the underworld
goons dread!
Like the double agent in a spy thriller with a
double fake face.
Playing a dangerous double game with his
mask-less, faked, yet a known face!

But our mask-less Chinese virus is an invisible
enemy unseen.
Lurking in open and closed spaces, and in public
gatherings.
So better to have even a double faked face,
To hoodwink that virus and save the Human
Race!                    
                - Raj Nandy, New Delhi, 11 May 2020.

Even under lockdown and quarantine,
The Poet's mind forever remains free.
Free of all earthly ******* and takes flight, -
To that ethereal land of poetry!
Nothing lasts forever in this world of
change and flux.
But poetry tingles my mind, gladdens my heart,
and elevates my soul,
Free from all our earthly virus!
                                       - Raj Nandy, New Delhi