When You Learn to Love by Manoranjan Sahoo, translated by Pitambar Naik

Manoranjan Sahoo is an award-winning poet. He writes in Odia and contributes to various Odia journals regularly. He is the author of three collections of poetry—Apadebata (2000), Khalihatare (2009) and Kicchi Kabita Kichhi Nirabata (2022). Translations from his work are forthcoming or have appeared in journals and anthologies such as The Bayou Review (University of Houston-Downtown), Carmina Magazine, Mad Swirl, i-70 Review, Prachya Review, FURY SPECIES, an anthology of translation of Odia Poetry of Resistance, BARNAMALA, an anthology of translation of Odia poetry (by poets born between 1900-2000 years) and Unnayan among others. He was born and raised in Indupur, Kendrapara, Odisha, India. He can be reached at msahoo9937@gmail.com.

Pitambar Naik is an advertising professional and award-winning writer. When he’s not creating ideas for brands, he writes and translates poetry. His recent work has appeared in JMWW, Singapore Unbound, Ellipsis Literature and Art, The McNeese Review, The Notre Dame Review and elsewhere. He’s the author of two books of poetry, The Anatomy of Solitude (2019) and Fury Species, a translation of Odia Poetry of Resistance (2023) and now working on his next two collections of poetry simultaneously. He grew up in the Kalahandi District of Odisha and now lives in Hyderabad, India.

In a highly materialistic society like ours, one of the most difficult deals could be to keep up, nourish, and make a relationship more efficacious and worthwhile. At times, many of us have a relationship almost without love, that is the missing element in a relational delicacy. Why is it so? We need to answer this question. In this small poignant and moving piece of poem, Manoranjan Sahoo explores the aftermath of a loving relationship and the power it holds which we seldom realise in our journey. He tries to exegete in a nutshell, how love is contagious, where it can take you and what it can offer your life. May love heal our wounds, may love fill up all the fissures we hold in our bodies and lives.