The
equivalence between the flow of rivers and verse is almost as old as rivers
themselves. Our ambition in creating Teesta is to offer the equivalent of a
river bank to voices, both poets and readers, participants and observers who
have chosen to live in the poetic. Heraclitus’s oft-quoted axiom, ‘You cannot
step into the same river twice’, is how we think of the poetic – of
everydayness, its repetition and difference. Just as a river doesn’t reject
anything that enters its flow, Teesta, our literary magazine, is open to all
kinds of interpretations of the poetic.
The
Teesta is a river that runs from Sikkim through north Bengal and Bangladesh.
The Torsha is its companion river in the Dooars. In a section that we’ve called
the Torsha, we will have the themed segment of our current issue. Angrabhasha, a stream of North Bengal, takes
its name from its place and flows through Tikianpur forest plantation in
Jalpaiguri. Its name includes "bhasha" which means language; as
though it tries to communicate things in its own language as it whispers past
the expanse of green forest and fallen leaves. In this section we shall host
translations of poems from vernacular languages (bhasha) into English.
It’d
be tautological to say that a river belongs to everyone. So the Teesta is yours
as much as it is ours.
Teesta
Review is a biannual Journal. It is published in May and November. The journal
accepts poetry, articles, photos and translations twice a year through e-mail
submissions. The dates of acceptance and the theme for the issues will be
declared from time to time.
Let
us flow like the river.