Love shared..

This I wrote in bits and pieces.. the psalm itself  was read from an open Bible while waiting for my friend to get ready.. The page inspired me to think of the words and write something.. Weaned.. but not orphaned.. were the thoughts that were going on for a few days..Google searched to get the psalm.

photo courtesy - Sri raam kalingarayar.

My heart is not proud O lord,

My eyes are not haughty,

I do not concern myself  with great matters.

Or things too wonderful for me

But I have stilled and quietened my soul

Like a weaned child with its mother,

Like a weaned child is my soul within me..

Psalm 131

 I do not know, how far those words apply for me..have I stilled and quietened my soul? Do I not concern myself with matters which are great, desires which are materialistic? when I think of that, I remember another pasuram by Nammazhwar.. somehow I connected both the shepherd and the cowherd..the english translation too written sometime back while sitting simply in clinic..

Love shared..

Weaned, but not orphaned,

Held, but not burdened

Loved ,and so set free

Bond unseen, like roots of a tree

Cast, answered, by a rolling dice

Of fate, which wrought some joy and vice..

Always but, you did hold in place

A mere pawn though, safe and cared.

The hands are but of your own grace..

That plays and mocks,  and the  love shared..

The Nammazhwar pasuram..

' கையார் சக்கரத்தென்  கருமாணிக்கமே !' என்றென்று 

பொய்யே கைம்மை சொல்லி புறமே புறமேயாடி 

மெய்யே பெற்று  ஒழிந்தேன் : விதிவாய்க்கின்று  காப்பாரார்?

ஐயோ! கண்ணபிரான் அரையோ இனிப்போனாலே ..

நம்மாழ்வார் 

"Disc adorned lord, My dear  black pearl"

My tastes lie low, In vain I praise thou.,

My false love you claim, To flaunt as pure and true.

My heart is locked with yours, In divine grace and bliss

Will I stop the flow? lest others? stop this Love?

Could I cease to bond? 'Kanna!' my dear, My lord!

Nammazhwar.

I thought there were not much mystic poems in tamil.. Haven't read Rumi In Persian, Don't know the meanings of Abhangs.. But these 4000 verses, still sung in some temples, though with some mechanical recitation, captivates when read and savoured alone..

Probably religion also is a sort of exaltation., when will I become sober?

Tugging the nets..

The title ( Caption for photographers) is a borrowed one.. I used to be surprised as  to how crisp and poetic were the captions.. Made up? for example..( http://caughtoncamera.aminus3.com/image/2010-05-27.html).. But this particular photo, caption and the small write up..made me write a poem in tamil  and an english translation...( Fisherfolk at Kasimedu tugging at their nets .These nets were entangled in the sea during the recent storm. The fishermen were surprisingly very friendly....). Never meant to be critical..It was just my opinion about the write up at that particular time..

why this post now? A story By KP sir and the response by Anil Kurup( Such values are often found more among the poor and economically marginalised. ) reminded me of  this old poem..

photo courtesy - sriraam kalingarayar.http://caughtoncamera.aminus3.com/image/2010-07-06.html.

வியக்கத்தகும் நட்பு ??

அவர் கடமை அவர்க்கு உண்டு
ஒரு தசையும் உன் விழி பார்த்து அசையவில்லை
தன் செயல் செய்திடுவார், தத்தமது  போக்கினிலே,
ஒரு முகத்திலும் அயர்ச்சியோ , களைப்போ இல்லை
விதண்டாவாதம் பேசி வேதனை படுத்தாதே நண்பா ,
பேச்சை கொடுத்துப்பார், உயிரை கொடுத்திடுவார்
வியக்கத்தகும் நட்பு, வீதியிலும், சேரியிலும் உண்டு..
மாடியிலும், மேட்டுக்குடியிலும் தான் அரிது..

The english translation..

Surprisingly friendly??

Not a brow raised against your lens.
Diligent and involved, tangled livelihood
Not a face showing disgust, nor resent
They are on their own, why blame them mate?
Give them your words, they'll pour out their hearts..
Never tis surprising to find true friendships
in penury and lowly, than find truth in affluence and fame...

those photos have reduced if not stopped all together.. but it was at that time, that I took small steps writing poems in English  and revived my Tamil writing..

when I have nothing to write...

Actually I had small small moments to write down somthing.. to store in the drafts of my cell phone.. An open bible which I happened to see while waiting for my friend to get ready ( car pooling)..and something which evoked me to write.. A nammazhwar pasuram which i tried translating ineffectively..
And, If i sit in front of computer on a sunday, with kids running around, phone calls to attend, festive season in the air.. what poetry could i try to write all of a sudden?.. Some one wants a caesarean section at a particular time today. The operating doctor had called me to assist.. haven't got much time either.
But I wrote an email today.. actually for my friend who went to watch  this movie "Engeyum Eppothum" tamil movie with his pregnant wife.. which they had to quit half way because of the tragic incident which takes place in the movie.. He asked me to send me a review of the movie..
So I just copied to paste the mail..
( A short recap of story - the movie it self starts with two buses colliding head on, coming from opposite directions. It is about the lives of people who travelled inside those buses.. Meeting of two lovers.. their flash back and a climax where the two love tracks end..)

hi thambi..

The primary aim of director is commercial success..If his concern was genuine, at least 50 %that his message should go across, then his intention has to be appreciated.
we don't know how much of good things we follow watching movies..the influence itself lasts few hours..I mean, how much of personality change is effected by such movies. Ppl tend to grasp easily the darker side of such things.
coming to the movie proper.. the characters are woven around the central theme of the accident..to make it appear appealing, the accident itself shown gruesome.,but that 's what happens in accidents.. this, when compared to some english movies like final destination is very very mild, and predictable thing.
though , the hero who dies is not met with any of those gory butcheries..he is shown only to bleed a little from his ears..the director is intelligent in that respect.. hasn't made it more disgusting for the one whom we have seen thru the whole movie..
the success of the movie lies in the way the passion is created between the characters.. both the love stories are told in a very simple, yet gripping manner.. the flaw in the one between Sarvanand and Ananya is that, it is somewhat unbelievable that a girl from trichy has so much of ignorance about city life.. but certain characters are like that.. her secret glances, her stubbornness, fear, passion, faith all captured in that one walk of that day..
even Sarvanand's initial irritation, the one hour permission, extending into the full day leave, and his fascination into her naive personality is sequenced without much skepticism. When she takes a dig at arranged marriage, that love seems more plausible with her explanation.
Jai and Anjali's story appears amusing.. their love itself is strengthened by the small pranks, and the way she tries to over power him. and his submissive nature..the ego between the conductor and the passenger, because of which these two are forced to get down later on, tells about the scheme of destiny..
the other characters which are being cast are shown to tell how eager, the father, or how illustrious the  kid in the bus is.. keeps us queasy  as to who is going to die and who will survive..
though they come for a short time, the passion is shown effectively, between father and daughter, and an infatuated girl and boy.. and a newly married couple.. though some excesses are shown in those characters...
to up the effect the screeching of both buses are shown.. it keeps us guessing what went wrong, who violated the rules and all..
the song, govinda.. is nice..others I don't remember..
ultimately, when we come out , we feel heavy hearted, little fearful..
over all the movie was nice..
but did i start wearing seat belt? did i stop talking in mobile phone while driving? do the private bus drivers stop blaring  behind us while driving the bike? do ppl stop over speeding because they saw this movie?
everyone has a passionate wife, kid or mother , each life is precious..reminds me of the incident whre a night sleeper bus caught fire and all in that lost life..( KPN?)..
meena shuddered in between, wept and all..
are traffic  laws stricter in foreign countries? Is the sheer enormity of our population makes life here cheap? because everyone knows to subvert or bend the laws..a driver too has got a family and some responsibility towards them too.. whom to blame?
the other day, when my ent friend's car came to leave his wife in my college, i called him up later and asked.. whether he saw the movie.. because his car itself was zooming past with the turn of my head..
at least helps to make fun..
bye
saravana..

Journeying through....

Splintered, fallen and lost all edges,
Shed all dust, polished and tamed
Slimy and wet, with a greenish vein,
The smoothness carved, without any pain
The ripples and the river were a potter's hand
Shaping and caressing even along the bend.,
And then, some day, the river ceased to flow
The sun beat down to crack and to frown
Still I lay, reflecting the heat,
Some rain, some day, would drown me again
Some sun, another day will break me to grain...

photo courtesy - sri raam kalingarayar..

சத்தம் போடாதே, சலசலத்து நடக்கின்றாள்

மூதாட்டி பெரும்பாறை உடைந்து சில்லாகி 

வழியெங்கும் காத்திருக்க, 

புனலாய் இச்சிறுமி, பெருநீர் பெருக்கெடுத்து 

கூட்டி ச்செல்வதென்று?

பேச்சை தொலைத்து விட்டு 

பாறை எல்லாம் நின்றிருக்கு

கல்லு சில்லெல்லாம் ஓடையோடும், ஓசையோடும்

துணையாய் செல்கிறதோ?

எட்டிப் பார்க்கும் சில பாறைக்குள்ளும் கூட

ஈரமும் காற்றுமாய் உள்ளே போய் வெளி வந்து

மெல்ல கரைக்கின்றாள்

தந்தை மார்பில் கிடந்த பெண் குழந்தை போல் இந்த

சின்னஞ்சிறு அருவி... 

 

the tamil poem was written long time back..parents and kids came to stay with us for ten days.. so I lost touch with blogging for some time.. nothing flashed too..but then i wrote this english poem while i was waiting for a patient to deliver.. and I knew what photo to select for this.. The added bonus was, there was already a tamil poem for that.. but an entirely different theme..