Monday Morning Musings

Monday morning musings.

பாரதியார் expressed the following fervent wish to his woman

துன்பம் நேர்கையில் யாழ் எடுத்து நீ
இன்பம் சேர்க்க மாட்டாயா?

What a wonderful wish.

In this world of toil and sin, where our head grows bald but not our chin, there is no shortage of துன்பம், which comes in regular, steady doses. So, nobody can claim that there is a shortage of opportunity to fulfill this wish.

A certain high level of musical proficiency is needed on the part of the woman, in order to fulfill this. If all she can do is screech and scratch, it is துன்பம் that will accrue instead of இன்பம்.

What will I do if she sings out of tune?
Will I walk up and walk out on her?

Usually, in stories and poems, one can assume the existence of this type of skills without anybody raising any eyebrows. Do we ask how the hero in Mouna Ragam is able to hold on to a job if he spends all his time in coming up with creative ways of torturing his wife with words, while still not leaving the mantle of a nice guy? A magazine called தென்றல் is distributed for free in US Indian stores. It always has stories of men performing 24/7 service to Tamil, temples, or their villages back home. One doesn't ask "Don't they have a job?". As the articles themselves will say, they are all உலக வங்கியில் உயர் அதிகாரிகள். So, we can assume the equivalent of this in music for our woman.

The யாழ் itself is a placeholder. It can be any musical instrument, though

துன்பம் நேர்கையில் accordion எடுத்து நீ
இன்பம் சேர்க்க மாட்டாயா?

doesn't quite have the same panache. So, யாழ் it is going to be.

What else is left? The desire/motivation on the part of the woman. Often, this is where the rub is. If பாரதியார்'s woman says

"Buddy, you got problems, I got problems, deal with it"

then, his wish is not going to be fulfilled.

Monday morning musings.

 

Saras: I am glad you liked this.

 

Anjali,

You are right. Translations are indeed needed. I will provide these as a matter of course in the future, perhaps not in the blog entry itself but in a comment.

Here are a couple for starters:

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துன்பம் நேர்கையில் யாழ் எடுத்து நீ
இன்பம் சேர்க்க மாட்டாயா?

During my times of trouble, won't you bring me joy with your lyre?
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உலக வங்கியில் உயர் அதிகாரிகள்

High officials in the World Bank
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Thanks.

Sojourner