[Photothought] Pankhh - Wings

[Translation] Saree

[Translation] Album

I

Harithakam and me

harithakam.com/ is a boon for Malayalees (as opposed to Keralaites - since I would only call those who can read, write and speak Malayalam as Malayalees), who stay miles away from their land of birth or lineage.

The site hosts well-known, lesser-known and amateur poets and their poetry. You can get to read some very very good creations on this site. There are also critical appraisals of some popular poetry works. In one of sojourns here, I was engulfed by this urge to translate and transcreate Malayalam Poetry to English. Having read Malayalam till the eighth grade and having kept in touch with the language over the years, through reading, theatre, films, etc., I thought I should better give it a try.

Though I had done some translation and transcreation from Hindi/Urdu to English and vice-versa, I found it quite a taxing and draining effort doing the same from Malayalam to English. However, I am glad I attempted.

Now, I am privileged to have some of my translations/transcreations uploaded on Harithakam.

You can read them here: ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

Whither?

Wait

For you, Mumbai

Seven little holes, your gift
Pitch octave, seven seconds
Life flows, harmony grows
My city plays the flute again

Vijay © 12th July, 2006

[Verse] Endless

Inside me
lives a demon.
Through sleepless nights
I hear him whine.
I wonder,
What if I let him out?

Plugging all exits of my mind
in retrospect, I search
for a reason, a face
a moment, a word—
but find none.

Then I hear
that whimper again.

Vijay (c) 11th July, 2006

[Verse] Ageless

The caress of morning sun
shimmers in her kohl-lined eyes
and wind-teased playful hair strands
like the back-water canals, ferry hope
Unmindful of over-crowded steamers’ hoots
conch invocations and azaan* calls vie for attention
Weather-beaten Synagogues peek
through closely stacked Churches
Coconut masts sway to panchavaadyam*
Weary naval ships dock in her lap
In her silhouette,
dissolve Chinese fishing-nets
and the sky-scrapers along the bay
Waves splash, prostrate at her feet
in deference, in obeisance
She defies age. The ageless beauty,
the Queen of the Arabian Sea

Vijay © 7th July, 2006


*azaan - Call for Namaaz
*Panchavaadyam - A musical ensemble mainly comprising of precussion instruments.

[Poem] Business

Your death is my business
I thrive on the dead
You are no more, they grieve
But that’s my butter and bread

‘fore the soil on your grave dries
‘fore the embers of your pyre die
I retrieve all that you left behind
with a probing keen eye

I care not what you bequeathed
and to whom has the bounty gone
you may wonder what I do
and on which side am I on

I look for in your remains
what you ever did by choice
or were compelled to carry out
by force or by a divine voice

I gather one and all
and string them in a thread
Remember, I just told you
It’s my butter, it’s my bread

They paid him through their nose
when “Death at my doorstep”, he wrote
But the nobody that I am
My obituaries, they don’t quote


Vijay © 5th July, 2006

P.S. Due apologies to Khushwant Singh-
The author of “Death at my doorsteps”