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PC: Journeying to the Goddess Bhoomikkoru Charamageetham or A Requiem to Earth is one of the most popular and much-loved works of Malayalam poet and lyricist ONV Kurup. This poem is a heartfelt lament to Earth, dying thanks to Man’s insatiable greed. The poem is a beautiful tapestry woven with rich imagery, mythological references from Indian and Greek mythology, and redolent with sensory…

Nishagandhi, Nee Ethra Dhanya

7 years! That’s how long I waited. Sometime over the years, it became more than just a flower. I started reading more meaning into it and its refusal to bloom. It became a symbol, a metaphor, an encrypted message… of a dream that would never be fulfilled, of unattainable hopes, and deep longings that would never be realized, of something even I didn’t recognize within me, of what would never be……

The Song of the Wolf

  Original art from Venmurasu by Artist Shanmughavel There are several moments in Jeyamohan’s VenMurasu that do not occur in the original Mahabharatha. These additions elevate the story, chisel out defining moments, and provide more insight into the psyche of characters, helping us see their internal evolution. This prose-poem is inspired by one such moment – a seminal moment in the tale.…

Another World Mother Language Day goes by and I find myself thinking about my mother tongue or rather my version of it, spoken where I come from. The language I grew up hearing; the language I was told never to use; the language I was told to forget even as I learnt to talk. And I have been thinking along this vein ever since I saw Ozhimuri. (more…)

Devi – Translation of a Short Story by B Jeyamohan

I would like to say I found a niche. And I am immensely enjoying doing this. So much that I ask myself what took me so long. What made translating Devi such an enjoyable experience – beyond the fact that it has a kickass woman at the center of things – is the language, the landscape, and the delightful array of characters. So familiar, so nostalgic… and if you know me, you know that nothing…

I am an emotional reader. When a book or a character appeals to me, it takes me a while to say goodbye to them. Sometimes never. But no book has ever done what B Jeyamohan’s Neelam did to me.Neelam is the fourth book in ‘Venmurasu’, the 26-book series of the Mahabharatham in novel form, in Tamil. Simply put, it is Krishna’s story.  But nothing about it is simple. It is a stand-alone book and so…

The Problem with Math

image courtesy : diapersanddivinity.com

It’s just one of those things that I cannot do. Math. My kids caught on to this handicap of mine quite early in life. And I realised how tuned to my failings they were, when my daughter called me for help with her homework one evening. “Amma, can you help me with homework? Oh, never mind, it’s math!” Daughter dear was in fifth grade then. Can’t blame the…

We, as a family, are foodies. Gathering around a table full of good food or just talking about good food, is one of our favorite things to do. As for my girls and me, looking up food videos in Instagram or drooling over the ones in Buzzfeed can keep us busy for hours. When we are bored or feeling down, we look at food. Comfort food doesn’t even have to be eaten. What I am trying to say is that,…

Bharathiyar’s Oozhikoothu – The Dance of Kali

When, Composer Rajan Somasundaram told me his next project (after the brillianlty done Sangham poetry album Santham), was a song by Subramania Bharathiyar, I was already looking forward to it. And when he told me which poem he had chosen for his project,  I looked forward to it even more. Then he dropped the bombshell. (more…)

Pallankuzhi – Seethakkali or Seethayattam – A Game for the Times

Manjadikkurus in pallankuzhi

According to legend, when Seetha was imprisoned in the Ashokavana by Ravana, she was allowed just one form of entertainment – a Pallankuzhi. A game with a wooden/metal board with shallow dips and red seeds. And on the Pallankuzhi, there are several two player games you can play; but either because none of the rakshasis (demonesses) guarding her wanted to have anything…

Image: All rights and credits to Thinkanish at Deviant Art

Tell me love, that I’m your sun and the moon

And your infinite stars in between (more…)

Sandham – Sangam Poetry meets Symphony

This was a rendezvous that was two millennia in the making. What else can you say about this album? Surprising isn’t it, that this mother lode of possibilities lay untouched for two thousand years? I don’t mean from a research or academic point of view. Plenty on that front. I mean musically. (more…)

Chromosome Chronicles: The Appointment

Another conversation with the lone Y chromosome at home.

XX: Did you make the appointment?

XY: What appointment? (more…)

Run. Hide. Fight. That is something no parent wishes to see in the subject line of an email from their child’s school. But that is exactly what parents of children who went to UNC Charlotte saw on Tuesday evening. An active shooter was on campus and everyone was being warned. It took me a while to register what was actually happening or maybe I was just in denial. But when it finally sunk in, it…

“Take my saris,” you plead,

“I no longer wear these.”

But I always refuse. (more…)

I Promise You This is Not Sentimental

Yesterday at the dinner table.

It’s September 21st. It’s already the 22nd back home. I am reminiscing about that terrible night 19 years ago. The night since when a phone call from India always made me assume the worst. Because that night a phone call did convey the worst. My father was no more. (more…)

PC: www.proprofs.com

Sometimes, while reading a book, you come across a line and you can go no further. It doesn’t matter if you were in the thick of things, it doesn’t matter if some great mystery that had you in its clutches since page one is about to be revealed with the turn of a page. Nothing matters. Except that line. You simply cannot turn the page or read a single word further. (more…)