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आमा अनि असार पन्द्रह  : Aama and the Fifteenth of Ashadh

By -Kiran Upadhyay

Translated by-Shivam Sharma Kharel

Aama these days doesn’t set the curd

And doesn’t offer rice flakes with curd to anyone

The curd set by Aama’s hand,

The delight of rice flakes with curd every fifteenth of Asadh

And the joy of that moment

Let it never come to an end!

Eating a pound to sprout a ton

Is the month of Ashadh, and

The self-sufficient us,

Would never be pressed down by the market those days!

Moreover today

Eating rice flakes with curd

Compulsorily playing mud and planting paddy

Till its completion is celebrated!

At that time for us

It used to be a huge carnival

The heart always used to say in childhood

When to become a hugely successful person

And to earn a lot of money!

The same heart says today

Let I be a child again!

May I get that boundless joy and pleasure all over again!

But why is it so,

After Baba fell ill

For Aama, it is always the fifteenth of Ashadh

Aama is busy from the morning

Today is the day to go to hospital

The morning’s breakfast for Baba

Noon’s lunch

After the dialysis

Baba seems to get more hungry

A meal for that too

Warm water, cold water, black tea

In between fruits for Baba to eat

The pouch of Baba’s medicine

Food for oneself

Food for the driver and the other who accompanies

What all the mother has to remember!

It must be why

These days, it is always the fifteenth of Ashadh for Aama!

Quicken up, the vehicle has come!

If we don’t reach in time, someone else will be laid in the bed!

Aama hastens

Its raining torrentially

We reach the hospital

The rain is still pouring down

While returning, inside the vehicle, Aama asks

Won’t you eat rice flakes and curd!

Within my heart, I think

I was wrong

Aama never forgets the fifteenth of Ashadh!

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