Aathmaanaam: Translations from Heaven and Hell

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

Walking Hands One among the people who question what to do today Where is he going in this crowd Leg and hand are his assets from his home Head and Stomach are his assets from the house where he was bred Where is he going with a hand on his head The hand on his head is not his it is his hand from the house where he was bred Where is he going Oho to vote To perform his duty for his country of birth Oh another hand on his back pushes him which hand is that That's the hand of the power of the nation The hand that violates to perform the duty of the leader He is going where Where is he going It is not his hands that walk His hands through their legs kick the donkey Note : எட்டி? Another tough poem to translate

Here is a poem Here is a poem Now in this room in conversation are you and me If we are the two then the room gets angered this room's secrets recorded and only we hear that voice That's our voice Don't ask why Explanations will not be comprehensible Explanations will not give clarity Even if  there exist several eons For a eon how many ciphers is a knowledge only our ancestor knows After this where will I be However the hope that there will be some who remain Is this poetry What's in it Without searching anything just read it The words that break your spectacles Now throw them away Soon only then you will see The Tamil Teacher who is hanging Continuing still Tomorrow is our's This is gent's toilet the lady's toilet is adjacent In the city in the four road junctions these buildings are there with pictures The cleaner Veerappan is here from eight to five The city council that constructed this building has an income of ten paise ...

Telex To the capital the news flew This morning until 9 1,75,843 heads have fell Excellent great achievement is there space to bury these heads No more and more heads keep falling We will send a new imported machine to burn the heads for the grape gardens they will make a good fertilizer keep your heads safe They will be useful as tomorrow's exhibits To cut down more heads do you have a minimum viable plan If two more police stations ten thousand food corps are there then our plan will get motivated We grant you that you have full freedom Note : A rebellious political parody

The Rush In that city if two assemble then it is crowd if four assemble then it is rally On the street you should not walk as a crowd In the house anybody can walk Every house is bond by a tarred street There are no hideouts there People taking bath should do so in masses and only at those midnights when the water is available Also there is a ban on smoking there If the officer sees the ashtray He will be sent to the Sahara of the city And there with the person who is already there he should make it green The city's anticipated hurry Domestic mental clarity The only tonic of the city's people is hardwork There are no advertisements in magazines that say buy this buy that We got a lot for cheap the mayor's mottoes Everyone praised him Ministers praised him Government officalis praised him People existed in prosperity peeing time and then in a hurry

She Within ten months a ban on urination again The reason for their downfall it's the same thing again in a different name My good time I remained home But suddenly on the streets with striking colours they exist The fee is the same ten paisa The same Veerayyaa or Venkaiyyaa I went in on all the places where my feet stepped were dirt and smell filled as the omnipresent I immediately came out A man wearing khaki trousers said ten paise I asked him I could not go inside why should I go give you ten paise Those calculations don't work here if you go inside then there is a payment he said By that time with hats two khaki uniforms came Who is making trouble here against the government public toilet As with the new ordinance put him inside Urine was out I was in Even if history turns upside down it again turns upside down Note : The title looks odd and not befitting - PjM check needed. The நான் is a lady? Another politi...

The bull and I As usual the bull is tied to the coconut tree for it's horns colorful bells for it's neck shaky anklet around the belly the rope that guards from the evil eyes Chewing slowly the bull was calm I with my cooling glasses a music player nearby and a few books As if we were on the same level the mind chewed slowly In some time untying the rope that was tied with the rope between the nostrils the carter took away the bull the bull too moved off I touched my nose thinking of people pulling rope a fear arose from the abdominal cavity However I was relieved I have a brain Mind is calm

Ghosts at Night When the blind eyes open and see only darkness is seen bright When the dumb ears try sharply only silence is heard as an uproar When the anosmic nose is pushed in the smell of sewage is like perfume for the man who changed appearance after he changed the body and changed the mind Note : This is going to be Yashu's favourite :)

The Operation From the mountains I climbed and came down from the seas I drowned and came up After touring the rivers and downtown I toured the dense forests Everywhere the movement of the cells I came emerging from the atomic explosion of a particular moment Exceeding the speed of light I took a breath loosing a breath - naturally At that moment I realized That we were dead and the time had gone past

The Puja Within the redness of the Vermilion submerged are the life source statures The dark spots appearing on the grey green bodies on the exploding belly laughter of the pumpkins on the middle of the street Weapons Vehicles wearing the tilaks Here it is the pooja of the arms

The alms Be cursed as a beggar cry for alms your cries not even at the corner of the street should cross the expanse The food for your hunger is not in those few rice grains Your have nothing except for a few rectangular bricks There is also no one to provide you alms except for yourself And it is you who is saying this

The Scene At first you were the one who found me I didn't know Observing people I was advancing forward With a lively face you gleamed and turned around I am not responsible for the aftermath The moment my view is not on you you see me and I am watching that too One of your brother-in-law's changes your place the scene changes and changes You and me finish off a drama

Do Something Do Something Do Something Your brother is driven into madness Your sister is raped in the middle of the street Incapable you watch Do Something Do Something Should you not show your stricture Beat Kick Chase Stage a procession conduct a rally Do Something Do Something You could sum up a crowd You could explain it to the public You could shout at them as bastards Do Something Do Something Incapable if you do not perform this your soul will not leave you alone History and This present moment will mock you as a coward and an impotent They will make your anger deviated and shed on the ignorant and taken for granted Be angry be agitated Taking the grass that you find tear off the bully's belly Against those who feast and cherish with the idiosyncrasy of your fellow beings Do Something Do Something * This poem is written with the poem Do Something by Gunter Grass as a pioneer. Grass's poem is basically a parody. But Aat...

The skeleton that comes to the class (Second Edition)* The skeletons that came to the class have today got educated with a degree got a doctorate too and started their governance All the skeletons sociable gleaming and cool acted as if they were happy The new born skeletons taking the lunch boxes to their classes has stopped The teacher skeletons were happy creating new new intelligent and voting capable skeletons majorly The blood parched cockroaches pests the albino lizards that held tight to the cardamom leaves and a few other living beings formed coalitions and prepared to rebel By that time the skeletons held their voting tickets readily in their hands * With the same title Njaanakkooththan has penned a poem in his collection "That was another day". So Aathmaanaam has named his poem as second edition ... Note: A satirical political poem hidden in metaphors and images

Dimension The princess has started her conversation She has a lot of questions What is the color of this My mind is laden with the blue With all matter the blue clings on To increase and decrease the colors that are excess with blue we should be proficient He said already that the world is colorful Sight is an important aspect All matter is made of color A subject has to be explained in it's entirety Every word has it's meaning It has to be said with that meaning It should appear as a complete portrait The portrait should have a voice That voice should have life After all this synthesize it should have a beauty The educated should see the seer should speak Clarity in speech Clarity is perennial All of you are filling a plain land

Rain The rain that failed fell in the night The rain that chilled the air caresses the body gently On the small small craters on the streets water has logged Since our land is of red soil the rain water is saffron laden As the wind blows small waves float gently In the well too the water has percolated it's crystal clearness makes my eyes shy When the clouds that were pregnant but ran around and played make love to the land rain is born Every drop of it is our food Meditating Rain through words we pray Rain You Me This world in it's entirety Today rain is our only thought Today rain is our only God

The Street Watch the street watch at the highway Watch the two sides of these streets that aesthetically share your worries The government could have made them as it's own Even then they are in relationship with only you Watch the lorry that carries the iron waste Watch the bullock cart that carries the hay In between watch the statues of leaders amidst the habitat of the people Watch the nature of the street that moves while being still Even if I am in one corner of the street you are in the other corner of the street We exist in the street The street bonds us The trees are in relationship with us The journey becomes gracious Throw away you poetry collection

Three Poems 1. The cry of the oyster that lost it's gem on the seashore For the angler fish there is an assured basket always 2. In the mosque where the future jumps up and comes a trivial bird I tried to move it aside The world is beautiful As wind as tree as a flower on a plant it possessed me I stood and watched from the corner of this wide world The world is beautiful 3. Amidst the heated afternoon the death news snatch the void Watching the empty space with the mechanical sounds operating somewhere and moving intoxicated for a moment the chest weighs more Like the sand that got caught into the grip of the hand the wavering sea uproars Somewhere a few birds will build their nests

The world that fills within you Newly each Of those moments with the truths existing Let you see this world With that deep music let you stand in trance

State of being  Hands like faces Trees like demons Like the voyeuristic strumpets who show themselves The night dogs are amused seeing us When the shadows talk to us we will not exist On the huts the freedom flags fly like loincloths Only the cycle spokes love each other

The Cloud On the void with nothing to hold with the smear of lightning with the cough of thunder helplessly in between with the heat of containment towards the dry land as tears it fell transformed ... Note : I am reminded of Pramil's imagery poetry

The Great People Up and down thin lips Teeth hidden inside by the mouths The noses that try to exploit the air The blinking eyes and the foreheads above Sedge grass hair barren heads On the space where there is no darkness no light lakhs of heads wide spread With grazing eyes grazing eyes turning around with boredom visible in dreams visible in memory bleeding in writing and moving on the streets Note : Another challenging poem with the ordering of words between languages in each sentence. It's a song it has a rhythm.

Coatings In the mirror of life looking at the face combing the head applying powder I started to go outside Like me men and women in their own mirror of life looking at their face and decorating it waited standing In the vehicles that came and went common people without being able to identify differences sitting and standing were traveling My vehicle has come Amidst the chaos I too clung to a bar Somewhere in a place the ground broke the sea quaked a flower crawled down

The self It was the self that started fighting claiming that it was the one born first for the light ray In the dense darkness every eye started searching the other eye hoping that anyway in a magical ray of light an eye will be visible In the cosmic expanse not visible to any eye mysteriously hid the light ray

The answer [Taking the connecting ends of these words]* Separating them syllable by syllable Bonding them conjunction by conjunction Placing a consonant Coming round and round Filling the ink everywhere Adding meaning Researching the words For every sentence placing comma and full stop Something has to be said Why take the trouble for us Note : * Not an exact match for the original line https://ta.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D https://ta.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B1%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D https://ta.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF சீர் - syllable? தளை - conjunction? ஒற்று - consonant?

The Crow Veda A crowd of good crows arose for a few peanuts The ailing humans consoled themselves They arise jump up team by team With the salted sea breeze they wait for a few more morsels The crow that flew last said aloud that it was a crow

The Fence The fence with it's lost brightness even though existing was lying as if non existent Many crossed the fence Many cut open and went through the fence For the goats and cows the fence was not a matter of concern One day the fence has been removed and rolled up Trees grass-crowd foliage were in deep thought In front of the eyes appeared and stood erect a fence Note : நிஸ்சிந்தை? Sanskrit - http://wiki.senthamil.org/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B8%E0%AF%8D

Do or Die I could be isolated Unnecessarily for me new bosses could be created Only for me three times food could be assured When the whole world eats money how can I be different Do your work Save with provident funds Music dance drama literature all of these are your hobbies True but My pen My paper My poem

Earthworms We laid smelling like jimsonweed flowers We laid withered like dry leaves of the fence We laid bleeding like crown flowers We laid in ire like the red oleander flowers You drew our colours Look at us we who have never set foot on ground We do not know outside or inside Announce that we are this world's earthworms

An imaginary poem The mind commanded me to die in imagination I died I lived in the imaginary world Everyone were happy even me and my friends I saw wonderful paintings I listened to the music that arose from the bottom of the heart I saw the auspicious wonderful art and literary forms I wrote true poetry read true poetry I ran a complete magazine One day when I was sitting in my easy-chair my mind asked me how I was I said I am doing good it is just that the hunger is not curbed

Title: Street Lamps for Comfort The distant street lamps turn into iron men during the night With the burden of shadows on the hand they guard the night from the day The morning dawns slowly Little by little the street lamps die They go faraway and become invisible to the eye Again comes the night slowly slowly driving away the daylight Again from nowhere come and jump the street lamps to safeguard the night

Silence A new wave arose inside me With every letter I spoke it weaved it's strength Words were diving towards their depths Sentences buzzed with sound Meaning formed Without Questions answers came out Silence Ah Why

The Rotation The eyes of fish lie in the middle of the street The sharp rays of the sun scatter on all four sides The smoothness of the mature grapes The sick old lady is being taken in the rickshaw The rumbling train comes for me

The Removal I removed myself there was my body I removed my body there was me I removed me there was the void vacuity space I removed the void vacuity space there was nothing

A poem called a poem When I lost my handwriting one day my mind faked being empty the surrounding broad daylight ruled me No one approached with pity Morning evening night everything were very well visible I started swirling in a single path In the endless expanse the fake mind At that time a few eggs broke To myself the sky within me Touring like the screw of a swing I carried the ceiling on my leg

Devoid Title I exist I exist without knowing that I exist When I knew my existence I and I existed The true I and true like I conversed and conversed I became the true like me I become the true me from time to time when the true like me was hidden The true me tells that The true like me does not exist at all The true like me accepts saying OK Watching this I realised that There is no true me There is no true like me and only I exist When only I existed it was peaceful Even after realising that it is peaceful I became some other thing I and the some other I are a lie I don't exist Note : Another wordplay poem on I at a subconscious level.

Dragonfly I let fly my helicopters dragonflies everywhere I let fly my dragonflies bomber aircrafts everywhere I let fly my bomber aircrafts peace everywhere I let fly my peace unbearable perversity everywhere

Nowadays Yeah this is good the cushioning grass land a few birds that come seeking me again and again For a change I submerge in their colors and   layers of their feathers When I wake up nowadays I search the birds for a change

The Returning  The sky started from the aloevera that suddenly showed its flowered body The mind returned after wandering elsewhere as usual Sea sand grass land street vehicles zigzag humans turned on the opposite from where do these ships wait to return I have to return like a daily each moment until the next day morning Note : Home Coming

Oscillations Sometimes I think if I was born at an inauspicious time When I sit on the tea stall bench and look at the hands and legs on it I remember the memories of their ancestors From the mirrors of the building I realize the light from the reflector Someone keeps wailing about the price hike The people who have ate the black of the charcoal uproar on their leader's birthday Before knowing the basics the shadows burns and immerses in the gap between the fusion of ancient time and new age

Four Poems I People revolt against the atom From the nuclear reactor an atom has dispersed The mob shouts With strange vehicles on water and land they research We have to exit from this environment From the inner world to the outer world we have to escape Once again humanity is enslaved by its own invention II Within me inside me I spread and submerged inside as myself Imagination truth time light sound travel form content I searched everywhere Knowingly unknown spread but not spread existing but non existent Ah why III Wondrously dawned morning With the long shadows designing the land the world in a mix of colors solid ground with truth buried under my feet IV Like an untitled poem life I counted the continuing days as one day two days At that time when morning followed by evening mates in time and becomes night I stood along the seashore Note : ஆன் = Cow-dung but is it relevant here in II last line ... Aathm...

Elsewhere A face seen elsewhere The eyes seen elsewhere The sound heard seen elsewhere Everything is elsewhere elsewhere elsewhere No one else he is me Between you and me there is difference of several thousand years Before it is dream After it is memory Now is me Shedding away your dreams and memories now watch me who stands before you then time will vanish and only me and you in my opposite will exist if you have thought about the mathematics of a withering flower only then you will understand this else ask the rock that talks to me always

Your Memories Even then I looked at the the lamp that throws sharp diamonds that emit the light rays At-least then I wanted to break free from the pounding hearts bonding I will go to the art that sculpted the ground that says I can't I can't go on like this The tamed painting too ditches me The paper flowers that can't wither apart loose their color With a low sound the music that clanged on to the pulses and nerves gives a breath I continue with the letter crowds too at some corner your memories In my room when I lay subdued my mind longs for if you have pressed and gone the lifeless buzzer After that with the lively birds I search the wandering memories

Me Twenty two years study work business I have seen it all I have started forgetting the faces I have met My mother is a widow now Radios have been exchanged for TVs Millions of words infuse and appear as poems everywhere Old and new literature keep getting published Political parties break and new ones have formed A lot of leaders have died New new leaders have arose New downtowns have formed In science and philosophy a lot of beak-troughs happen We have seen a lot of wars The fear of Here comes world war Here comes world war has come many a time We are also used to the voice that there is nor more war both sides are equal We have also threatened that after the atomic war it will only be a new society Even then not even once I have spoken to my neighbor

Tomorrow is ours With tears brimming in my eyes I say this Twentieth century is dead Thinkers became small groups With principles clad on fanatic slogans the leaders marched Depression started becoming an art Simple people ate slow poison They became alienated from the words revolution and struggle Not knowing existence my fellow human beings pray for death Amidst this hopelessness my hope is that  Tomorrow is ours Note: Another political prosaic poetry

Freedom If my freedom is snatched by government or an individual then it is not my freedom it is only their freedom You have a room you have a cot you have a table the only right you have is to think Your writing provokes others How will the society permit this Look at the mountains Look at the trees Look at the flowering plants Look at the river of life that runs uninterruptedly Look at the wide sea Look at the soothing seashore How much is not there for you to see Why do yo worry and erupt about those delinquents and orchestrate crowd of letters Your work your food The freedom you need to go to and come back from work Beyond these what else do you want Eat Sleep Shit Go to work If you love yourself don't interrupt Note : Prosaic Poetry on Politics

Frozen Time Before you learn stylistics tear fly fragment fragment drink lamp line comb outcry ancient music bleeding ink The crawling earthworm in the bus pen cigarette photograph of the dead torn plastic scatters of the city torn trouser long bag needful money chalk piece shaving kit lift letter tent single rug button round ball full stop in vacuity

Need a place Need a place to sit After this city has burnt and turned into ashes at the second level or third level the populace will come alive and search for a place somewhere A day will come when this will be valued Coming alive and functioning in a fuss this place will become dysfunctional destruct and come alive again Even if there is no place to urinate to shit to sit and eat a place is needed to at-least sit At that time the fire that caught the city will come near with dust storm even if it comes with a heat that can submerge me I will not get up Will we get a place to sit I will get a place to get submerged in the quicksand of history as usual Need a place to sit Note : Destruction and Reconstruction ... the norm of the world is explored in Aaathmaanaam's unique way