Issue: Vol. IV, No. 2, August-October, 2025
Happy Birthday
They say that
It is the date of my birth
As I complete
my fifty seventh
In my continued effort to live
In the dogged fight for life.
Quite a long time though
For something about this world to know.
When my friends wish me
“Happy birthday”
I ask myself a query
Is it really a day to be so happy?
Many things come to my mind
Both flimsy and logical
Those that I never thought before
Being forced to think now
Because of my growing age.
When they wish me “Happy birthday”
I ask myself another query
What if I were not born
On that so called ‘happy day’
How it would have harmed anyone
Or made a difference?
Was there really a need
Of this world
To have me born in this world?
A birth means a life
I’ve seen this since
the time
I’ve been able to know the things of this life
A life means a struggle
And a game of win and loss
Full of conflict
And a race to live on
Counting the gains and losses
The catches and the misses
I am just a small fry
In this ocean of people
I am not someone different
And I am in the race together
Running to out run others
Till I get tired
May be I will stop running someday
When this road ends with no gateway
But does it mean anything to live in this way?
As everyone lives for self
Why I could not become different
And live more for others?
If I was born to live for myself alone
Then what was the need for me to live?
When all wish me
“Happy birthday”
I ask myself a query
Is it really a special day
Which do I need to celebrate as a happy day?
Translated by Mriganka Shekhar Chaliha
Dr Prosanta Pratim Sarmah is a gynaecologist working in Assam Government. He did his MBBS and MD from Assam Medical College.
Dr Mriganka Shekhar Chaliha is currently Professor and Head of the department of Cardiology in Assam Medical College. He did his MBBS and MD from Assam Medical College and DM in cardiology from PGI Chandigarh. He has written about 20 poems and translated many Assamese poems to English and vice versa though. His poems have been published in Gariyosi; Spandan Jibonor etc.