Went to the Sujatha remembrance meeting held by bloggers in Marina Beach. I knew only Prakash and Badri. Era. Murukan,Venkatraman and Dr. Bruno were some of the others I could identify. The meeting was agendaless, so there was more general talk than about Sujatha's writing. Venkatraman was critical about Sujatha's science articles. Badri talked about the irrelevance of metred poetry in modern Tamil literature and got into a serious discussion with Srikanth on aesthetics and purpose of poetry. My contribution was to mention that Sujatha's earlier writing in Kanayaali were more powerful than his later day Kattradhum Pettradhum. My next point silenced the group for a few moments - that Sujatha's articles were laced with a sort of condescending humor (is that the correct word for அலட்சியம்?) towards his readers. Some agreed with me, and those who didn't agree stared at me. In between all this the discussion veered from Dosais in Vaishnavite temples to Tho. Paramasivan's cultural studies to Kamalhassan's Vikram. As my family was waiting nearby, I left the meeting after an hour.
When talking about Sujatha, can one miss his ardent fan Lazy Geek? He has been trying his hand in Tamil short stories. His recent short story has come out really well.
CC is on a nostalgia trip with Ilayaraja's songs. He had translated a couplet from the வெள்ளைப் புறா ஒன்று song and asked me how I would have done it. Here is my version
நீயும் நானும் சேர்ந்த போது கோடை கூட மார்கழி...
பிரிந்த பின்பு பூவும் என்னை சுடுவதென்ன காதலி...
துடுப்பிழந்ததும் காதல் ஓடம்
திசை மறந்தது பைங்கிளி..
போகும் வழி நூறானதே... கண்ணீரினால் சேறானதே..
இல்லாத உறவுக்கு நான் செய்யும் அபிஷேகம்..
When we were together, even summer was pleasant as spring
My love, now that we're apart, even the blossoms sting.
Our coracle of love lost its oar
and spun away, sweetheart.
The way ahead is lost to me
My tears make it murky.
These tears are my consecration,
of our love that is no more.
7 comments:
saapada pathi pesaatha meet'e kidaiyaadhu pola!!
More translation, this time from Moondram Pirai.
Soon, I hope, I shall write my own.
What's with the of trying prose poetry when one can't write prose or poetry?
Hawk - there was a funny twist to that dosai story. Venkat was in Kanchipuram Varadaraja Perumal temple when one mama asked him to come and collect the dosai. While about to give it to Venkat, the mama casually asked "Neenga Vadakalaya, Then kalaya?". After an awkward silence, Venkat left the scene. A blogger who heard this story piped up "Naan echakalainnu sollittu dosaiya vangi iruppen"
CC - so the poet is resurfacing?
Nilu - trying is the key word. If I could write well, I would have published my works by now.
technical question :Lmargazhi epdi spring agum?
Bala - literal translation would have meant even summer is as pleasant as winter, which reads odd. Also, 'Kodai' being a season, the comparison should have been with another season 'vasantham' or 'kaarkaalam'. I think the lyricist used 'Margazhi' a month, just because it rhymes with 'Kadali'. So I took a poetic licence to correct it in the translation.
Yesterday I read a good 4 page article about the bengali aruvalmunai -- the Bonti.
When a person writes well, they can make even that kitchen utensil seem too interesting.
wonder what your friend lali would have said about that piece.
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