Aathmaanaam: Translations from Heaven and Hell

Firewood To burn this human firewood why do you pile wooden firewood what sin did it commit?

Tomorrow for us too Puffed rice with peanuts will satisfy hunger Little money will gather glee The flower petals will show the way

She Climbing my stage of marriage the women who lost their virginity Pregnant after marriage My lady of my marriage stage don't know whose marriage stage love she is?

In the well of life In the well of life in the lustful water the splashing "bucket" I am Who is that messenger who pulls it with a noose

Go sir go   I am a bad guy I smoke beedi      I am a bad guy      I smoke curled leaf I am a bad guy I smoke a cigarette     I am a bad guy     I smoke a filter cigarette I am a bad guy I smoke a filter kings cigarette     I am a bad guy     I smoke a cigar I am a bad guy I smoke a pipe    I am a bad guy    I snuff I am a bad guy I eat betel-nut leaves     I am a bad guy     I eat tobacco I am a bad guy I eat 'zarda beeda'     I am a bad guy     I wear vest and brief I am a bad guy I wear pant and shirt     I am a bad guy     I go in car I am a bad guy I go in a taxi     I am a bad guy     I go in an autorickshaw I am a bad guy I go in an cycle-rickshaw      I am a bad guy      I go in cycle I am a bad guy I go in a bus     I a...

A true story One day night I started counting the stars in the clear sky Becoming a great man I started a yagna which no one tried Counting counting counting gnitnuoc gnitnuoc gnitnuoc ingcount ingcount ingcount When clearly correct Suddenly from somehwere a star came I added that too another one again Like this one by one one by one kept coming tiring tired I got tired I tore and threw that count list chit I had marked on In the clear sky stars blinking their eyes they blinked themselves I was curled in my corner

In the new sacred couplet verse a wondrous chapter Raising on the hip of those twin coconut trees the shining silver To which does it belong to

The other side On the ground me       on the wall lizard Of the hanging lamp       dancing shadows Fading sounds      in the evening darkness Heard faraway     child's cry Heard in the darkness     pipe's seep In the room on the air     colorful insects flying in between     the split second In the embracing darkness     smilingly floating in the sky      pattern of dots Between the      cyclic displacement On the ground me       on the wall lizard

A line on the paper Cris-cross lines you draw one by one one hundred thousand ten thousand a lakh ten lakhs a crore ten crores hundred crores more and more with all their nature you have drawn them No other way After that you draw small and big lines even them as above You come to a confusing conclusion For all in the end will there be no lines like your white paper at the beginning But even on the white paper without us knowing there will be some Cris-cross lines

A poem for nothing Tell me about your friends I will tell you who you are said a great scholar I said Tell me about yourself I will tell you about your friends The way he blinked would have swallowed that blink How does it matter who you are How does it matter who I am Unnecessary questions Unnecessary answers Without proving anything just be quiet

The Habit With the square I got I was learning to walk legs got powerful with the walking happiness grew Knowing my friendship a few animals explained can't even walk on roads he walks inside a square eh am i with a hundred snakes for a hundred days my legs my walk routine my square

The Question Waking up in the morning the squirrel that prances for a hunt where does it sleep at nights on the flower branch bed or on the riverbed slope or on the square circle angled alleys and pontus For sure they will be in hundreds these squirrels are not one with their childish faces with their child like hands they enjoy and eat this About what do they dream of apart from food and sleep

The Invitation On the second floor - at the attic near the single window me with myself eating food Nearby on the neem tree branch a crow called Thinking whether ancestors or deities I placed a morsel of rice outside Rice by rice the crow flew away I do not know whose ancestors they were Note : An ordinary man with extraordinary deeds

At this moment the old and the new Amazed at the grassland dewdrops of love For the questions intriguing the mind the answer is present in the sea foam's aerospace Note : After a drink if you need to read love come here

One more me I am not a saint too I am not a Siththan* I am a genius lunacy caught non-lunatic I am an educated uneducated poet I am a patient though knowing  the medicine who does not take it I am an inexperienced/ignorant  who has touched truth Not a perfect but does not know to lie Not a truthful person but I say the truth I am the one who exists transgressing these Note : *Siththan - What is the English equivalent?

Nothing Nothing Just like that Nothing else Even the beginning is nothing then how are these this much All of these are nothing Me and You too? Yes nothing What we speak What we write What we paint What we publish What we read everything is nothing Then which is that one thing That is also nothing In notingness is there this much Then after in that nothing there is something beyond us Note : How he tricks nothingness into poetry ...

Appearance Appearance is not an ordinary thing Everyone should know how to appear Not only in real life in the imaginary life too It is easy to appear in real life because there everyone show their appearance In serving tea in inviting for food in carrying out marriages in going to office in going to cinema in going to drama in listening to music like these across different ways Appearing in imaginary world is difficult even there there are some truthful people As a scientist as a philosopher as a sculptor as an artist as a poet as a music connoisseur as a drama director as a danseur as a drama connoisseur as a film professional Among these who are we? It is hard to find because in all of these there remains a little of each Even in the time that it is found out we will not find to exist like this again

Some future facts Like the rice beads that scattered from the rice bag Like the small ant that came running, fleeing, escaping, perplexed and direction less Like the single pin that went missing on the mosaic floor Like these a thousand more likes  

A tamarind tree A tamarind tree became my friend recently Accidentally when I went there after a voice from the shadow do you know me I shuddered looking upon that tamarind tree do you remember the other day when you came to pick the tamarind fruits you slept on my sister's lap then I waved the cool wind on your face on your body everywhere come however to my lap

Fall Level One Why knowledge Why meaning Why experiences Time Space One Two searching, searching and searching with obscurity and deriving pleasure Fearing and becoming that Angrily encountering the ones you face Why Applauding waves laughing The small fish talking to us in silent language

My room You are habituated to my room Why only for you it is for me as well Why do rooms socialize with us No we socialize with the rooms We are all room dwellers Within the room we all get air Lying sinked crawl and play Within the room lives a water pot a stove that serves food a lot of papers see there a lizard on the room corner Danger says the pointing finger flying man monkey man flying man showing big tits the big princess stonewalls beneath the limestones we are fashionable cavemen With the pen of bone we are stonemen roaming around With this the old stories with which we fool us We are intelligent sowing seeds on paper and ploughing intellectuals For revolution we are the middle class that wait and yawn With bravery lifting our chests we are the intelligent pigs scratching our backs First let us abolish our intelligence and stand naked on the the waving water-shore

Around After going around a pipal tree was born a son After going around a neem tree was born a son By going around which tree was this son born Could it have been an useless tree

Poem The empty tent Like chairs seated is the listening crowd of people forgetfully immersed in the speech of the leader You do not have the buying power We do not have the giving power The power of speech shows there The power of writing shows there How many days will it take to tie the hands of the painter of law chains prisons either... sound of chappals shouts confusion decimation and again emptiness

The End Today has ended Following in futile in search of the end the wandering legs fall in fatigue on the bed The mind above and above it flies away Where is the end The fluttering papers mock at The bustling leaves sway in rythym How will be the end On sky? On land? On water? The person who searched for ages is in deep sleep under the soil Sometime in my dream came the end It was not clear I was there in the vast space with the sun on the side of my head the sea under my feet Where were you lost until this time I asked Who are you asked a voice When replied It is the beginning that searched you and got tired I am inside you said the end Before I could say by then now dawn was visible

Time The street that my legs walked on has become a whore The shacks hiding the bricks gloss in the lime The walls that veil like a loincloth invite loudly The cowardly leaders with their birthday garland, crown and smile mock at the the people With the advertisements of fake world class movies bouncing the thumb finger, shedding blood the stones that kissed have sunk in the soil. The street sand that I walked on today, the animals that were born before and after me get grounded by vehicles and have become soft like facial powder On the street I walk just by arranging human legs sucking on the poisonous air

Water and Land The sea tries bouncing and colliding to wrap the sand within it's blue Saree with great love and affection The sandy rock - stands as a mountain Even if this is three parts of the one this is not a water orb but a sand orb

Again and again Saying and saying again words inebriate Writing and writing again letters die In the confused mind letter and word The things lying on the trash midden become sentences What is the philosophy that all these words explain What is the secret that all these words present in the air say The disciple the guru again and again On the guru's lips again and again The disciple disappeared transforming into the guru

Poem Untitled This poem how it will end where it will end is not known It will not end planned this I know When it ends the existing me (If existing) is he is the one who existed in the beginning Why this question aimed at who With the hope that I will eat dinner tonight I will exist here A belief even like this could exist The yesterday that existed was with darker moments for me Their frog voices are being heard frequently when not knowing how to ignore them in distress The noises of the event tear apart the eardrum Tomorrow as a light of sea will grab the eye The heart says here here and beats

That which is asked That which is not asked From the world I expect love mercy   humanitarianism understanding emergence of truth and more others You are expecting too much from the world says the human race I am not asking for a job not asking for food not asking for a place to live I ask only one thing ... I am different  ...You are different ... is a lie Me and you are the same realize this that's it

Outdated Today's day is forgotten Today's date is forgotten Today's month is forgotten Today's year is forgotten Only the vehicles moving on the road tell that this is twentieth century Only that being said again and again has frozen in memory Otherwise the same chariot festivals consecrations priests princes in the names of ministers* property disputes parting families competition jealousy animosity war mania death threats democratic dictatorship law books human rights in deep sleep instability To forget the grief magazines cinema astrological and  religious magazines Why this poetry for which citizen For the dog that prattles under my feet Still my hope has not diminished Still some more love is left Note : * What does this line mean?

Peace Peace - 2 My first absurd poem got published Scratching the wind, a tiger Poor people were sleeping in the cinema sheds Slowly I reached the gate The pickle jar and the salt jar lay nearby in peace All the arrows shot kissed the land and came back into the quiver The commander came with an entourage to loot our temples We need a new leader ... Hue and Cry everywhere in silence

The Window Seeing and seeing again the darkness the eyes have darkened and bulked and dried Even if a small light ray arrives they were excited like a boon from a great penance The light ray that appeared like a moment's moment got tired and went into hiding saying do not feed on me for your gory hunger Thinking of the light ray that was never to be found anywhere the inner started searching the deeper The silly eye facing the darkness thinking that the dark space is better started researching the surface From the dream bane of the light ray hidden in some corner of the universe the whole body filled with eyes and each eye swelling and bulking in the dark everywhere a bloody battlefield Each eye was searching for the light ray Eyes everywhere eyes Each eye started battling saying that it was the first to be born for the light ray In utter darkness every eye started searching the other eye In the hope that anyway in...

Love In a world where love is hard to be seen cruelty is present immeasurably Blood oozes from her needle stricken fingers The needle that cut is pulsating The manager comes with his business talk Not even the love that is needed for treatment is there The clothes lie scattered everywhere Man is wandering naked all over the city in search of love with fear

That Tamarind Tree From yesterday they have been felling that tamarind tree At first they reached the tamarind tree's top They broke the small branches As the leaves and flowers fell the small branches embraced the earth Upon losing its small branches the tree with it's formless form was sucking on the sky Climbing down the tree they brought a colossal tree saw They were scraping off the tamarind tree aiming at it's bottom with the sawdust flowing on either sides They brought down the tall tree Cutting off They cut off the remaining branches and arranged them in order Placing them in the cart they started Between the bushes a tamarind sapling looked at itself Note: ஒரு புளியமரத்தின் கவிதை

A movement Sound arose Slowly it moved It was possible to follow the sound In a while it merged on the main road In noise the sound lost form and started shouting and rolling like a round ball with the other formless sound particles Kasa Pisa Kuka Keke Pike Dakku Pukku All the round balls from the various arterial roads came together and circling over the city they scratched the sky and were exiting New new sound particles turning into round balls were going to the Celestia I caught hold of a sound particle snatched it and swallowed it like a tablet Everywhere within the sound particles were running and playing I entered into the main road with veins bloated I became like a ball Rolling and bulking I rose up Scratching the sky scratching the space beyond the beyond I was travelling With light and darkness as two eyes I was able to be at the back on the front on both sides on all four sides Body of light Vast space Everywhere ...

The talk I can drive a cycle I can drive a bus I can drive an auto-rickshaw Caught between the buses the auto will topple I can drive a car Hitting the bus the car will crumple I will run and sit on the driver's lap Oh yeah accept it let's all go in a bus Note : What a playfully beautiful poem

The foreigners The foreigners have arrived said the helper Let them inside I said Removing their hats two came in I asked them to remove their footwear and come in Switching on the A.C. I asked them what they wanted Whiskey they said I told them it is all local here They turned around the letters on the table and said what are these Indian letters I told them those were all translations Laughingly they asked who was he who asked Can the prosperous Tamilians suffer What for that now I asked In Estonian language and Swahili we have come here to translate that they said From the paper bundles that lay like garbage I took out it's translation The local arrived

The suburban A day when no one is expected no great work to do was able to turn a few pages The audio player played time went by Evening siting on the stairs the world was moving in sweat A woman of the Kurava tribe picks her firewood the schoolgirls without their uniforms the cows that eat papers the humans who have skewed faces from their crumpling work on the returning buses Some clear faces on the starting buses my radio is heard With the small organizations peace prevails The evening dailies roam around in furore In the tea stalls politics is served hot with no partiality to any party The common man is satisfied Apparent riot confusion mystery with nothing of this sort The suburban crawls in peace

Truth It has been ages since the old lady who said when you speak the truth God is within you has died When I speak only the truth for this world You are a liar You are an opportunist You are an antisocial You are a traitor and several other The only lie I said was There is God

Achievement Have you achieved asked a question I do not have an answer now When my body dies before the tombstone that arises ask this

Two Poems Near the library desk a man is reading a book He is reading a different book You are reading a different book Some day you both all will read only one book That will be your book      With the fluttering pages      the letters morphing as words      the words morphing as sentences      the meaning was realised      After the meaning was realised      the world ruined      and a new world was in vision      The meaning was realised in a moment      when that moment too was lost      I see the same world which I saw before      with the fluttering pages Note : Two poems in a single poem which could have been made into two poems with a connection ... That said language, meaning, books and interpretation is a consistent subject that is beautifully debated here

I am VeeraKesari* I am VeeraKesari I spin my sword that was sleeping in the sheath and tear your thin dry stomach I place a straw and suck the blood With the sharp claws I cut open the stomach pull out the intestine and throw them to the dogs that wander for leftover leaves The boneless flesh has a lot of competition from the eagles I tear with a blade the remaining pieces of the body jump and kick and push them to the mosquito filled drainage On the moving parts of the body with a double barrel gun I keep shooting You keep watching Note : * VeeraKesari is a 1963 Vittalacharya Movie in Kannada - does it have any relevance here? Kesari means Lion in Tamil - does it have any relevance here? It is also a symbol in Srilankan flag ... is this an outtake on Tamil Eelam ... There is a daily by that name as well A violent and dark tone The powerful can do anything to the dependents

A conversation with a plant A plant smiled at me I too was fascinated by a new introduction It asked me who I was I ... I .. I didn't know what to say I let off a sigh Why do you suffer like this Be at peace like me The wind hugs me I too sway and shake and be happy Within the place you exist heaven beckons The wind is light it fills the body with coldness The wing keeps flowing It doesn't know to stop or flow The wind that loves me loves this whole world My leaves with the welcoming of the wind dance in delight Ma - Why does the wind love us is a never a question asked by the leaves Even the rain is like this Time and again it nourishes me The rain that showers at winter titillates As if the wind and rain nourish me even the sun with it's diamond rays looks at me pleasantly sometimes and with presence of mind at times With the light of my my leaves he is the one who offers it to this world I don's have any kind o...

Peace Peace - 1 Peace Peace Universal peace When it prevails this moment Not even the sound of your breath within the dark caves in the deep valleys echo loud Your breath tidied without sound extending time silently Make it come out Music Dance Art Literature all these are to entertain us Today apart from the the mountain dwelling tribes no one suffers from hunger Truth Don't be tensed Who's life has submerged now Peacefully pleasantly silently blow your breath For a prosperous future without labour to progress The national lottery's new series has come Why are you tensed Peace Peace Note : Not even the / sound of your breath / silence - a haiku. His another expressively written masterpiece.

The question mark Praying for rain In my writing Commanding for rain I wet the ink In a pale green colour it spread on the paper It was raining in colours On a part I sprinkled the blue On another side I shed the black On another side the red Colourfully the rain was showering At that time a thing came in between Rain became that thing's colour Pausing a moment I thought of what the changing rain's first colour would be The rain was showering without colours That rain without colours was cold Continuing that rain was showering in my mind Outside the colourful rain Every moment I paused A thing without inside and outside took shape

They, All of them, I know They, All of them, I know The lorry company's owners The Omni bus proprietors Large mid and small scale artisans The officer who luxuriously returns in a car The Superintendent who returns in a scooter The artisan who walks back with his bicycle The Engineer The Doctor The Lawyer That person this person The street picker The school and college professors who focus just on doubling the money The aunt who returns from the temple The tea stall master The person who runs a gas agency The person who supplies the milk The person who delivers the daily newspaper The boy who delivers the newspaper The cycle shop person The person who does vulcanizing The firewood depot person The black Mariyamma Devi priest The traffic of the big city The employees of the traffic of the big city Taxi and Auto Rickshaw drivers The departmental store person The nationalised banks The savings bank persons ...

The Prohibition The prohibition with it's own confidence is declared Nobody should stand in a crowd No gatherings Apart from religious and funeral processions no other processions shall be conducted As the loud speaker from the Auto Rickshaw yells The public was purchasing vegetables The commoner does not respect anything So as that is this In this country when four people get together and converse the things that come out are well known Why this riot There has to be a respect for the prohibition To a person who just thinks from the sky (day dream) why this prohibition Arson to the bus Riot Lathi-Charge Teargas Gunfire unless these occur we don't have to touch it Let us value a prohibition Let us be respectful As I walked by this news fell into my ears Twelve people who were fired from their jobs were on hunger strike until death

The News is being read by Kamala Padhmhanabhan  Street Trees We progressed counting 236 Ash tree / Loong Tree 237 Tamarind tree 238 Banyan Tree 239 Palm Tree 240 Tree without a caste The ignorant trees did not mind At a distance the mountain forests' smoke sees the sky Grow a tree per house Trees are our country's asset We will auction the forests to the tree brokers Do not construct your houses wide Construct them to touch the sky This is the year of the environment Gardens are needed Playgrounds are needed Parks are needed Until March 22, 1982 1,82,48,352 saplings were planted by us As per the new order whoever cuts the trees will get a rigorous imprisonment for two years The Leader's message today manufacturing should increase toxic industries should be eradicated Let us prevent the Ganges water from being polluted Let us leave the manufacturing of axes to small scale industry artisans The price of trees has increased ...

Movement One Amidst the movement of the society the scattered people run breathless climbing up and down Opposing filled with breath when a plight arrives with a feeling that was the past overturned with an unknown form with disorganized faces shy by looking at their own self clinging solidly Shattered with the Iguana's clutch they row ahead the God Your name Your form Your Governance As if we were slaves Trees flowering smile with the hug of the wind

Tents on the playgrounds Tents on the playgrounds With machine guns Military soldiers on the street We need now discipline and peace A note Communication Ministers announce in their congregation Another seventy percent of people need to get television and radio           for what news Amidst the green bushes there are shadows the movements strengthen These will be subdued without a sound With the villages that burn with fire the lifeline is cut Disorder and panic enhance the pulse beats Not very far are the villages and cities When the discrepancies mature and mature similar ideologies unite The society wears a mask The faces of the burnt look similar without differences New new faces One by one they start expressing Amidst the smoky environment the news are being read Discipline and peace is what we need now Tents on the playgrounds Note : I am reminded of the movie Soylent Green ...

To burn this City To burn this City is so simple a matchbox is enough The price of a matchbox is cheap Cheaper and cheaper than a loaf of bread A litre of kerosene is also needed that will also be available in the government's regulated distribution In low noised midnight we can start anywhere Hanuman burnt Lanka When the tail was lit with fire the fire that touched the sky softened A new Lanka rose Did Ravan get destructed He fought for days He died in a flood of blood Even today Hanumans exist without tails Ravanas too exist Fire consumed Cities exist If an individual burns then it is violence If a government burns then it is warfare Note : Why does this poem written ages ago is still relevant ... Aaathmaanaam is the answer