Once in a Month (poem)
Telugu Original: Mandarapu Hymavati
EnglishTranslation: Syamala Kallury
The permanent address for my
ATM card is always my husband’s pocket
I forgot the pin numbers long time back
Like the memory of ancient life
In the days when the salary was
Given in hand
One day at least
The salary baby like a pet parrot
Would perch on my forearm
Thirty mornings of stress
Many many evenings of late returns
Looking forward to the pay day
From the end of the month
Was like waiting forgarland of poems.
On the evening of the pay day
With all the colleagues
Sticking the stamps
Attesting signatures
Counting the notes-
It is all like festive occasion.
After the dream curtain has fallen
After the stress of handing over
From my hand to my husband’s hand
It is long time since I saw the bouquet
Currency notes.
Like an annual offering to Lord Venkateswara
Every month I offer the salary
And stand, hand outstretched,
Before my husband
Begging for money
For my daily needs.
*****
Syamala Kallury taught for over a decade and a half in the AP Govt colleges in Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam as Lecturer in English She moved to Delhi after marriage where she taught in Delhi University, and in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Delhi till 2011 She has two daughters Ahana and Kruttika, who live in UK and Dubai respectively. Currently she lives in Visakhapatman with her dog Subbu, a cocker spaniel. A bilingual writer and translator, Syamala authored many books. 1. Telugu Short Stories women’s Voices: An Inner Voyage(1930-2000) Asian Publication House (2001)2. Twentieth Century Telugu Poetry (2006) 3. Godavari Tales Viveka Foundation (2006) 4.స్వగతాలు (2009) 5. If you Want To be a Poet, Patridge India (2018) 6. కంచికి వెళ్లకూడని కథలు navachetana పబ్లిషర్స్ (2019) 7.భావవిహంగాలు Telugu translation of Tagore’ s Stray Birds (1988, 2019)8. Rajanigandha, translation of Papineni Sivasankar’s award winning poetry collection with the same title published by Sahitya Academy New Delare ఆ few of her పబ్లికేషన్స్ in addition to a number of academic articles