আনন্দময়
আমার হৃদয়
নব বর্ষের প্রথম সূর্যোদয়

ঠাকুরের গানে নাচে পাখি
এই দিনকে এত ভালো বাসী
সাদা লাল অম্বরের নীচে
খেলে বাংলার সবাই বাসী

নুতুন বছর আনে উন্নতি
এতই আমার প্রার্থনা
শুভ নববর্ষ
পয়লা বৈশাখের শুভকামনা

Beautiful Bangladesh naturally is pretty cute
on second thought is a masterstroke.
You gotta see it to believe how stunning it looks
as if the sunrise rendered a beauty spot
gladly put it on the morning rose!

Pop into a country of mass people
you could be walking down the singing birds
hanging low nearby our princely open doors.
Every one of us knows in the heart
we are sitting on a land of pure gold!

Should you bask in at the crack of dawn
as the crackling light of heaven stumbles upon
follow the first light that gives you your cue!
Besides the world's ******* Aladdin's
three wishes came true: the longest beach
the biggest tea gardens and mangrove forest,
in ***'s Bazar, Sylhet and Sundarbans.
Take your peep eye on in every direction
ah, moments await you on both sides of the pool!

Vividly mesmerising the Bengal of Gold,
a narrative in words can't always be told.
Sometimes it's said with whispers of old
in the shade of bamboo when that flute is heard
expect it to be carried to you by the frost-kissed air!

Hang onto your cameras even though
you walked passed the twilight in scenic Bandarban
seen the sunset in Kuakata is de ja vu ambling down this nook
you might feel walking one step down beneath the Moon!

I miss the Norwesters
I miss the heavy rains
I miss hurrying to catch a bus
Completely drenched

Oh Kolkata!
Without you I am
Like a fish out of water

I miss the olden buildings
I miss the bustling streets
I miss riding the tramway
With a song playing on repeat

Oh Kolkata!
Without you I am
But a fish out of water

I miss the winter sunsets
I miss evenings by the lake
I miss Maharaja's kachoris
And jalebis on a steel plate

Oh Kolkata!
Without you I am
Just a fish out of water

I miss the yellow taxis
I miss the hawkers' stalls
I miss the political graffiti
Adorning the walls

Oh Kolkata!
Without you I am
Still a fish out of water

Now I'm so far
But yet so near
My heart can't shelter
These hopes and fears
Rejection, reduction
I feel choked once again
Within your walls of nostalgia
Maybe I'll be safe

Oh Kolkata!
Show me a way
To return to the water

Rises
A great ghost!
As my grandpa
Called it!
The broken ghost
Like the
Dullness
Of black pottery
Are it's weights!
O there the puffs
Of mighty
Nature blow
O I wonder
What is next!
I feel flowing
With the wind
In a moment
Drops pour
Torrentially
Till they satiate me
O it takes
Just a few moments!
O it arrives!
This is my
Kalbaisakhi

I.
My mother places a dot of
Vermillion
On my forehead the same hands
That have helped
Bury a million
Unborn babies in the lush green
Fields that the brochures display

II.
The young bride enters her groom's house
Her alta colored feet leave red
Bloodstains in her wake
A young girl trails behind
places her little feet
in the same prints and
Waits

III.
The gotar mali has her arms tied above
Her head and her legs splayed blood
Drops from her body and the officials
Frame it in a green background and
call it a flag, call it a country, call it a
Dying woman's honor

IV.
My mother places a dot of
Vermillion
on my forehead
And I wonder if it's way of
branding
Women with an honor
they did not ask for
And cannot control