I am breaking… My silence
- Independent Ink
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Translator’s note: I translated this Hindi poem by Nityanand Gayen at a time when it was becoming oppressive to live in America as an immigrant, a person of colour and a woman, under the rhetoric of political leaders who degraded these core aspects of my identity.
By Nityanand Gayen
Injustice
Injustice again
And still the silence too
There is a protocol
Of silence
That we comprehend
Those who remain silent in this era
Have resigned to self-defense
I am breaking
My silence
Now it’s your turn
Original Poem in Hindi by: Nityanand Gayen.
Translation by Jyoti Bachani.
Also see: Love in the time of ceasefire
Nityanand Gayen is a Hindi poet, writer, journalist, and social activist based in India. Born on 20 August, 1981 in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, he grew up amid a landscape marked by complex social textures, political histories, and the quiet resilience of everyday life—elements that continue to shape his literary and public engagements.
Working across poetry, prose, and journalism, Gayen’s writing engages with themes of love, memory, injustice, resistance, and the fragile dignity of ordinary human existence. His creative practice is deeply attentive to the intersections between the personal and the political, exploring how intimate emotions are shaped—and often scarred—by larger structures of power and violence.
He is the author of the poetry collections, Apne Hisse Ka Prem, Tumhara Kavi, and Is Tarah Dhah Jaata Hai Ek Desh. His poems are known for their restrained yet powerful voice, seeking to bear witness without spectacle—recording pain without exaggeration, and love without sentimentality.
Translator's note.
About the Work: I translated this Hindi poem by Nityanand Gayen at a time when it was becoming oppressive to live in America as an immigrant, a person of colour and a woman, under the rhetoric of political leaders who degraded these core aspects of my identity.
The country experienced a ban on visas for people from nations where Islam is the dominant religion, a women’s awakening with the MeToo movement and the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum as the murders of African Americans continued to escalate with brutal violence perpetuated by the law enforcement officers. As citizens, vast majority of us had a political awakening where remaining silent was no longer an option.
I do not know the context in which the poet wrote the poem, but being a young contemporary poet, the news from India with politically motivated violence against women and Muslims begged for attention by everyone.
Jyoti Bachani, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Saint Mary’s College of California. She is the founder of the US chapter of International Humanistic Management Association, where she is the flag-bearer for the use of Arts to Humanize Management. She is a former Fulbright Senior Research Scholar.
Her expertise in case-writing is recognized internationally. She has been reading and translating Hindi poetry into English for twenty years and in the past four years has brought poetry and improv to the Academy of Management and other conferences. In April 2017.
She was a featured poet for U.K. Poetry Society’s Poetry@3 at Saint Giles in London. She is the founder of a group called Poetry of Diaspora of Silicon Valley that has met monthly since 2017, and since March 2020, has been meeting weekly to read poems in all languages. Some of her poems were published in the anthology called Celebrating Creativity, by Kaecey McCormick, the Cupertino Poet Laureate.
She earned her PhD at London Business School and Masters in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. She is a graduate of St. Stephens College, Delhi University, with a BS in Physics and of Faculty of Management Studies with an MBA from Delhi University.