Thursday, June 03, 2010

Calcutta, Tilottama



"Kolkata ek din kollolini tilottoma hawbe."

Jibananda Das

Calcutta shall one day be a swaying Tilottama.


Tilottama: the sum total of every iota of all the beautiful elements on earth, pieced together to every last bit. The line is from Jibanananda Das' poem "Suchetana", written in the late 1930s. The poet says that all the bloodshed and warfare and material advancement are not the last thing, and expresses hope for a transformation towards eternal truths .

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Are you sure 'kallolini' translates as 'swaying'? I thought differently, but as I don't have a Chalantika at hand, perhaps you could look it up and let me know.

Sagnik said...

Kallolini is more suitably translated as vibrant, to my belief.

Unknown said...

Absolutely. Swaying does not sit comfortably.