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