Let's Relax Now - No Warning Bells!

Thanks, Seethalaksmi!

Nice to know that you are a fan of Bharatiyar and that you are happy to read these poems.
regards,
sridhar

 

You are right, I already said that!

Hi Krishnamma,
thanks for the kind words. Yes the next post is going to be really, really heavy. As I was finalising the first draft around midnight yesterday, I felt very heavy and could not sleep for a long, long time.
A warning to all ladies, be prepared. Those who do not have enough courage to look deep into their own minds (the sight is frightening), please stay away.
sridhar

 

Thanks, Seena!

Seena,
Books on the history of Tamil literature mark out Bharati's period as a kind of watershed. Before Bharathi you needed a Tamil Professor to explain the poetry. With Bharathi it is simple, straighforward, easy to understand but very difficult to appreciate the depth of the meaning.
I am happier still to know that you have picked the best possible lines of the second poem as your favourite.
regards,
sridhar

 

Thanks Vidhi!

The entire credit goes to the "meesai kavignan", Bharati. His words are so powerful that the translation almost wrote itself.
sridhar

 

Thanks a Million, Vidya!

Dear Vidya,
With a poet like Bharatiyar, it is enough if you have an open mind to enjoy his great, simple words. Once you do it, once you let his words enter your mind and do their work, all the rest like a good translation or even a good lecture on the subject matter of the poem, are quite incidental. You do not have to strain yourself for that.

Even a normally dull man, if he falls in love with a beautiful girl, then the girls presence is enough for him to become a poet. In this case Bharatiyars poem played the role of beautiful girl for this dull man to come up with a good translation. Thats the crux of it.

All your words of praise should go to my Tamil teachers in school and college who first recited this poem when I was in an impressionable age and made it an inseparable part of my being.

The entire poem collection was entitled "Yoga Siddhi". The poems quoted above did not have any titles. I gave them titles for easy understanding and better appreciation.

Surely will consider your request to post more of Bharati's poems, especially on Parasakthi and the glory of womanhood.

Thanks once again,
sridhar

 

Re: Silence is Golden!

Dear Vandhana,
No post of mine is complete without your short, cryptic and sweet comments. As you have rightly said, these poems of Bharathi are meant to be drunk, not in a gulp as drunkards do, but sip by sip as connoisseurs do, all the time maintaining the golden silence.
regards,
sridhar

 

Re: Blessed with bliss.. by Kamla!

Well to be very frank Kamla, my knowledge about Bharatiyars poetry is only slightly less frugal than you. Tamil has better nuances compared to English. This does not come from my bigotry. But my living experience with these two languages. Language gets its beauty and subtle nuances only over long periods of usage. In that way Tamil has a seniority of a few thousand years over English.
As I already stated Bharatiyar started a new Saga in the history of Tamil literature. He wrote poems which an ordinary man could understand and appreciate. He did not write for bearded intellectuals. He wrote for us, those who are trapped in our daily lives. If the translation was good, the inspiration was from the great poet.

The incident with Krishnapremi was what I experienced first hand. I hate the so called Godmen who are chatterboxes wasting their energies on pointless small talk. Krishnapremis energy is conserved and manifests itself beautifully when he elucidates Bhagavatham.

And finally Kamla Madam, one small request. If posts like these are going to add a Sir to my name, then I may have to seriously think of toning down the content. Whatever I say and write, I shall always remain "sridhar" (no need even to capitalise s) to you and all the ILites.
regards,
sridhar