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Long-time resident Chaitali Sengupta’s second poetry work draws on her Indian history and her experiences working with immigrants in the Netherlands. crossroadsThe series focuses on the experiences of people who have left their homes (fleeing, migrating, or moving to live somewhere else).
Sengupta started off strong with the piece “And Then, One Day…”
“Then, one day, they left. They neutered our future.
With a sterilized gun, mocking
Our lives are in a quagmire.”
The work is divided into three parts, exploring human migration from different perspectives. The first part, “War”, is the most exciting, showing a lot of Indian history. The second part, “Migration”, traces the footsteps of people who left their homes. The last part, “Survival”, combines the experiences of new immigrants with reflections on past traumas.
Transit isn’t always a hopeful work, but it reflects the lived experiences of immigrants.
Given the subject matter, it’s not surprising that these works were difficult to create. In The Fall of Mariupol, Sengupta depicts the city after the Russian invasion.
“Human swollen fingers
Aggression, caressing her wrinkled face. Horrible
Destruction split her heart like a robber,
It pierced her to the bone, leaving her hungry for more.”
The poems focus on migration in contemporary times as well as in history. Sengupta draws on his own history, including the Partition of India, the separation of India and Pakistan in 1947.
“It takes weeks to draw that jagged line, a border. Time,
They warned that the line was short. This line is similar to the one we removed.
Life. Destroy temples, flatten mosques, throw us into the air.”
In her efforts to bring in a variety of perspectives, the work can feel disjointed at times. Many of the initial poems focus on India and are told in a voice that is similar in tone to Sengupta’s own. In later sections, other perspectives emerge in the first person. It can be challenging at times for the reader to understand these perspectives.
“I don’t have anything to say
Now, the map of Afghanistan hangs on my wall. I imagine
My brothers and sisters’ voices
The memory is still fresh, but I can’t remember the way back.”
The work ends not entirely on a positive note, but rather a sense of survival in the face of adversity.
“History swings unnaturally upward,
Scarred and grief-stricken
Day of burial. You can flee your land,
Bury history.
But not everything dies.
When you bury them.”
The author followed her husband from her native India to Eindhoven in 2000. She told Dutch News: “As an immigrant or international person, you will never be 100% Dutch.”
You can purchase a copy of Crossroads from the publisher, Hawakar Press.
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