Abhijeet Gogoi

Date of Publish: 2025-08-31

A Few poems by Abhijeet Gogoi

Light Reflection Theory

 

To ask of the bamboo chunga

The air through its tunnelly path we blow

Of its volume, mass and speed

We stand, against the odds

 

With trembling fingers

We hazard a move

Just to feel the ember's heat

We stand, against the odds

And thus wait we do

 

We look on

At the pictures we made

How are they faring now?

 

Condition, situation, circumstance

Such discipline, once in place

Gives no way away

 

Only one thing does:

'Light reflection theory'

Note:

*Chunga* - A traditional bamboo tool for blowing air by mouth with the purpose of effective fire generation in the fireplace.

(Translated from original Assamese by Dr Bibhash Choudhury)

Face to face

 

I craned my neck

Yet

the shower did not abate

Rather

It turned intense with every step

 

Those olden days are pushed to oblivion

 

I make intense effort

to keep my eyes shut

no words

if vented

must face many a talkie

 

What to do

with whom

do I converse

gazing at each other’s eye

( Ttranslated from original Assamese to English by Bibekananda Choudhury)

Seeking the answer

 

As a young boy

Forced by the situation

I stored a seed with my mother

My relatives know that

 

They query at every chance

What happened to the seed

Is it alive or dead

If it is alive

Is it in the same condition

or

something has changed

etcetera etcetera

 

Some two years back

The seed

That did not disturb so long

One specific midday

Without knowing-thinking

Started bothering my mind

 

This botherations rather made me happy

Immediately after

I started delving

The entire household

In search of the seed

 

Finally I found

The location of the seed

But

With passing time

The seed did not remain seed anymore

 

It has sprouted

To establish connection with the soil

 

Today

In the sand-shore of twenty-first century

Some has made an effort

To strengthen the short-span relation

employing fertilizer

Someone else

On the other hand

With a long strategy

Striving to a grow A tree

Dating back to grandpa’s era

 

Now the question is

This relationship

Is just for the coming two-three years

or

for the oncoming future

( Ttranslated from original Assamese to English by Bibekananda Choudhury)

 

Spent the entire night

It has been long

That the eyed veered from its path

 

Sometimes

I get startled

At the whining of wind and

the roar of lightning and thunder

Staying silent for a while

I move along putting the glasses on

 

I spot

 

A stack – multilayered

A horde of ants moving around

Inside and outside the stack

Of course

The stack is somewhat old

Though old it still carries a characteristic smell

The bottle of essence manufactured by multinational companies

Cannot vie with it

 

If the stack

Tries to fly out life a leaf embracing the root

Then there shouldn’t be any objection

Because there is objection

A passersby trample on it

 

If it is repeated

Would the stack remain so

Would the smell remain so

And

What would befall on the ants

 

Worrying about all these

I spent the entire night

( Ttranslated from original Assamese to English by Bibekananda Choudhury)

Come let's sleep

 

Pondering over

Even today the sky

Gets startled

 

Pondering

The paddy-field of father

Replete with grains

Rows of vendors

Load of school

In an attempt make a seat

Out of an areca nut stem

Urn of straight lines

Stacked up in the verandah

Under whiplash of bamboo bars.

 

Overflowing

Everywhere it is overflowing

 

Whatever happens afterwards

 

Afterwards

Wind that was eavesdropping

Moves away to unknown

Showing its back automatically

Thinking

How far is that hand of language

Path of sunshine

Voice of a horde of chequered dreams

Feeling of kindredness

 

Shh! What are we thinking of

 

Leave it

Come lets enjoy a nap

( Ttranslated from original Assamese to English by Bibekananda Choudhury)

 

About the poet

Abhijeet Gogoi is a young Assamese poet. His poems has been published in leading Assamese literary magazines including Gariyoshi and Prakash and translated into other Indian and English languages. His translated poems have been published in Indian Literature and Samakaleen Bharatiya Sahitya. His poetry ciollections include Music Chair (2022) and Anya Ata Dinor Babe"(2024).

He received the Sahitya Akademi Young Authors Travel Grant 2024 and the Asam Sahitya Sabha Yuva Award (Kabyashree Hazarika Trust Award 2023-2025).

He can be contacted at - [email protected]