Oy BhAratiyArE!--A Child's Eye View of the Poet

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Aug 2011, 23:19

Ravi,
Others can tell you, especially CML, but I'm pretty sure it was the British. The French kept an eye on the svadESis, I bet, but for other reasons. They did not mind their living in their territory, but the World War might have changed it somewhat. Revolutionaries are capable of stirring the emotions of the populace and what if they repeated their action against the French government too? I really don't know.
As for the British, anything that Bharathi wrote would have been flagrant in their eyes, and for a good reason. He was raising national consciousness with his patriotic poems.So, the Vizuppuram check point. My aunt once said that her father smuggled (her word) some poems of Bharathi on his trips to Puduvai, and that's how she got to sing them. I wish I had remembered, which ones exactly!
What struck me most in this chapter was the appearance of the Mother, in her former life!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 18 Aug 2011, 23:46

Thanks Arasi. Did the Brit police serach the belongings of everyone traveling from Pondy, or just a few? And how did they select whom to search? In this day and age of facebook, and facebook-aided regime changes, I am sure the Brits would have lasted nary a week....
The appearance of the 'Mother' wasn't so out of the way for me, since I had come to know about her history when I lived in Pondy.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Aug 2011, 23:52

I mean, that Yadugiri met her in her pUrvASramam...

As for whether all passengers were searched, I don't guess so. Being a young (and married) child, she would not have traveled alone. If her father had accompanied her, they would have checked without fail!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Aug 2011, 02:55

SEVENTEEN

dEvar varugavenRu
(Welcoming the Celestials)

After a family wedding in Bangalore, I went back to Mysore to my in-laws. Four months later, my grandmother took me to Chennai. My mother went to Puduvai soon after. She took with her the two silver images of Krishna I had brought for Sakunthala and Subhadra (Iyer's daughter). I heard that Sakunthala played with her Krishna all day long, bathed him and sang to him at bed time. Bhayalakshmi Ammal put Subhadra's Krishna in a box lined with red silk and put it in her pUjA nook.

My friend Meena and I had been corresponding regularly. In one of her letters, she had said that Sakunthala had lost her Krishna and that very same day, she got high fever. "She is still very ill. Bharathi asked me to write to you to ask you if you could send another one for her. Please do, without fail." I sent another idol of Krishna through my mother.

In naLa varusham, in the month of aippasi, I went to Puduvai. Sakunthala was well now.
Iyer and Bharathi came to see me. I had heard that Bharathi was not his cheerful old self. My mother used to say: BharathiAr is always surrounded by people. It's because of his greatness as a poet.
It was not so now. It would have taken Bharathi some time to get used to the absence of his admiring crowd, I thought.

I was not that well myself. I could not go out freely as I used to. Still, after a few days, I went to Bharathi's house with my baby. He had just broken his vow of silence.
The baby was playing on the mat. Bharathi was very happy to see the way it was kicking its legs and gurgling. He was thrilled to see its play that he sang 'chinnanjiru kiLiyE kaNNammA' to it.
He said, "Look, Chellamma! The baby is playing divinely! "

Chellamma: Yadugiri, he hasn't seen a baby play in a long while. That's why he's so excited!

Bharathi: When a child plays happily, we are so happy. If it gets sick, we cannot bear it!

Chellamma: Yadugiri, I'm scared even now, to think of what we went through last year! This man who tells us forever to be brave, was squirming like a worm in grief. AmbAL saved Sakunthala. Even though he sang out most of the time, he couldn't calm down.

Bharathi: Chellmma spouts all this about me. You should have seen her! She wouldn't stay in a place for a moment, She would go about the place with a long face. "God, give me the fever and spare the child!," she would keep mumbling. I had to take care of her along with the child!

Chellamma: As if he did! He wouldn't let me go near her without my washing my hands in that horrible-smelling medicine! Whatever I touched, reeked of that stuff!I If I refused, he would fight with me. The child kept calling out 'Chellamma, Chellamma!'. I got fed up with his fussing. It's all like a nightmare now, when I think about it.

Bharathi: How would the germs die if we don't wash our hands? The doctor had warned us about it a hundred times. It was a dangerous kind of fever!

Chellamma: She suffered that burning fever, and the second week, he stuck the thermometer into her mouth and saw that she had very high fever. He shook it to check the temperature again, but it fell and broke because he was afraid and his hand was shaking! What could I do? I sent the servant maid to fetch the doctor. He said, "We have to wait until tomorrow to see how she does. Don't worry, though."
He gave her an injection. "I shouldn't have given you that thermometer," he added.
The child didn't seem conscious. She didn't utter a word, but we could see that she was suffering. I sat by her side without moving. Bharathi was wailing. "PApA!, I thought you were going to orate in big gatherings! That you would be a scholar! You can't even utter a word now!" He hit his head against the wall. I had to console him. All night, he kept crying out: Sakti, Sakti!
The fever came down the next morning. We had no money. How could we put up with all this?

Bharathi: Truly, those two months were hell. When Thangamma had the pneumonia, it wasn't that bad. Nanjunda Rao (in Chennai) looked after her as his own daughter. Swarnam (?) was there.

Chellamma: Appadurai (Chellmma's brother--publisher) was also there. You didn't have to be around. You were happy, being with your friends at work. Who's there for us here, though?

Yadugiri: Meena had written to me about Sakunthala. My father had written later that she was feeling much better.
BharathiyArE! How many new songs have you written?

Chellamma: Nowadays, it's all about the stupid vow of silence. More of those than verses! Yadugiri, I can't bear it. He used to sing or speak all the time. Now, it's all silence. He only communicates with signs and by writing things down. What weirdness is this!

Bharathi: Chellamma, you try to be silent too. There is happiness in it.

Chellamma: Yes, It's happiness I'm seeking! Who's to take care of the milkwoman, oil woman and the rest? I don't know which worthless (Chellamma uses the expression--maNNAIp pOgiRa=one who turns to dust) fellow led him to this!

Bharathi: No one had to. I tried it one day and it was bliss. So, I'm continuing it. If I do not utter a word for three days in a week, my writing flows unimpeded. Then, SvadESa mitran sends us the money regularly. Does it bother you?

Chellamma: The rainy season is here. The tiles on the roof are broken. The owner of the house has said that we have to get the roof repaired ourselves. ANNiammA told me that the house at the end of the street, a two-storied one, is vacant and the rent is reasonable. The owner had come to see us yesterday. Bharathi was observing silence. So, I had to tell him that Bharathi would see him in his house tomorrow. SAmiArs and paNDArams can indulge in vows of silence, not a householder! Where is it written that you can't write unless you observe silence? Everything at home comes to a standstill when he does this. I've gone through all kinds of drama with him. This is one of them! I don't know how many more I have to endure!

Bharathi: Chellamma, You don't have to go that far! You sound so bitter. I've spoken to the man and we are moving there on the next auspicious day. I will observe silence only for a few days in a month. How about that? Yadugiri, I do this because I want to find a new word in Tamizh, an equivalent for the word Aum.

Bharathi then sang dEvar varugavenRu.He also gave me copies of some other verses. Saktikku Atma samarppaNam, jayamuNDu bayamillai manamE, iyaRkai enRunai uraippAr, ulagattu nAyagiyE engaL muttumAri, kAlamAm vanattil, pozhudu pularndadu, manamEvu tiruvE and a part of kuyil pATTu were all there. I took them home with me.

* * * * *

smala · Post by **smala** » 19 Aug 2011, 10:02

Thanks Arasi, I feel vindicated now, re. the song 'chinnanjiru kiLiyE kaNNammA' t

Yadugiri's memoirs give us the valuable and specific context in which select powerful songs were composed - that this song full of intimate tender love was composed and sung in the company of Yadugiri and as a tribute to her newborn, is as poignant and meaningful as it is reflective of a love that he had for the child-women around him. That he suffered during Sakuntala's prolonged illness is equally salient. The presence of the newborn, his dear Yadugiri, his own Sakuntala well again after that worrisome illness...relief let his Muse finally break his silence releasing his pent-up emotions as it gushed through the exquisite lyrics.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 19 Aug 2011, 10:14

smala wrote:Thanks Arasi, I feel vindicated now, re. the song 'chinnanjiru kiLiyE kaNNammA' to it. Yadugiri's memoirs give us the valuable and specific context in which select songs were composed - that this song full of intimate tender love was composed and sung in the company of Yadugiri and as a direct tribute to her newborn, is poignant and meaningful. That he suffered during Sakuntala's prolonged illness is equally salient.

smala,
Arasi mentioned as :

The baby was playing on the mat. Bharathi was very happy to see the way it was kicking its legs and gurgling. He was thrilled to see its play that he sang 'chinnanjiru kiLiyE kaNNammA' to it.

That does not mean that he composed the song and sang for the first time before yAdugiri's kid. He may have composed much before and perhaps sang that for the 100th time.

Arasi,
What I like about yadugiri in general , she just casually mentions that she put her baby in the mat , a new born baby is a big think to talk and write.Yadugiri mentions casually as though she put a handkerchief , all her focus in the write up is all about workings of Mahakavi's mind . Kudos to yadugiri's focus .

smala · Post by **smala** » 19 Aug 2011, 11:18

"....That does not mean that he composed the song and sang for the first time before yAdugiri's kid. He may have composed much before and perhaps sang that for the 100th time."

Rajesh, since you say "may have composed" - does anyone know for certain, from any of the other writings -- WHEN the song could have been composed ? Or that he could have sung "that for the 100th time ?" This latter statement seems to be too casual, almost irreverent, to such a deep intimate song...

Even though Arasi's translation does not explicitly state anything about the time for this kiLiyE composition, the memoirs have, till now, mostly provided -- contexts and the time -- during which some of the songs were composed.

I would like to believe that the song "may", if you like, have been composed when Yadugiri's baby was present, or maybe, for Yadugiri, or Sakuntala...A belief is that this composition was for parAsakti, imagined as a child! If Yadugiri had passed on the pieces of paper that Bharathi gave her with his songs written on them to her descendants and they still have those treasures -- we may know! Until then, the "may" could work either way - do we know for certain otherwise?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Aug 2011, 19:35

smala and Rajesh,
I am 'living' with Yadugiri, Bharathi, Chellamma and others now, and in a way, shuttling back and forth (seeing the story as you all do and going further into it for my translation. Add to it an aging mind--which makes me unfit for pinning things down. However, I feel that it was not composed at that moment. Otherwise, Y certainly would have exclaimed saying: on seeing my baby play, Bharathi burst into song. Of course, she would have asked for the written down song--more so because it was about her baby. No. I do' think so. Kannan pATTugaL came earlier, is my guess. Of course, I wait for the experts to chime in.

Rajesh, I don't think the child was a new-born to have been so engaging in its play.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 19 Aug 2011, 20:13

Though the book says that Bharathi composed the song visualizing parasakthi as a child, it is quite possible that he composed it on the spur of the moment (as an ASu kavi) with Yadugiri's baby. He may have added a few stanzas and polished it later. It appears Bhairvi is a natural raga for the song as has appeared in print
Why should a parasakthi song appear in the Kannan pATTukaL collections? That is an oxymoron!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Aug 2011, 21:43

BharathiyAr's fascination with the tiruvAi mozhi is one reason for his using the word kaNNammA in his poetry. The AzhvArs use it while addressing kaNNan (Ar uLargaLE kaNNammA, aranga mA nagaruLAnE in UrilEn kANi illai is a verse many of us are familiar with).
We do know that Divinity and Nature inspired him. Humanity too. He loved people--and individuals. It's not possible to know the who, how, in which song and so on! Is it written that the inspiration of a song cannot flow into another? The poetic process does not necessarily limit you to one emotional context. It's a sum total of your experiences which it springs from. It's like saying: the violinist was superb, that's what made the vocalist give an inspired tODi. True to some extent, but that's a trigger, but the singer's total experience of the rAgam also comes into play. He or she cannot shut it off.
Another example: we engage in instant, impromptu poetry in the KavidaigaL thread. Even though in that trivial pursuit we come up with a response with a few lines, triggered by the words in the previous verse, we we do not isolate ourselves from the totality of our own poetic instincts and the experiences which happen to be our own. With Bharathi--it would have been impossible for him to create in such a compartmentalized way. Had he been that way, he would have stayed on happily at the ETTayapuram samasthAnam, writing about his employer, leading a comfortable life with Chellamma.

smala · Post by **smala** » 19 Aug 2011, 23:08

"...Otherwise, Y certainly would have exclaimed saying: on seeing my baby play, Bharathi burst into song."

Arasi -

FIVE things I get from these Yadugiri memoirs via your translation :

1) Yadugiri comes across as a *very* modest person in these memoirs - not even her own baby was uppermost for her when she visited Bharathi with her first-born. [Not her marriage, not her reaching puberty, not her conceiving or the birth of her first child!]
2) Further, she lived life loving Bharathi, always holding Bharathi, his ideals, his notions, his thinking, his inspirational songs in much higher esteem than her own self, more than the personal happenings to her.
3) She writes in an impassioned way, never too excited or too agitated or taken in by the moment, regardless of the happenings or how profound the impact may have been!
4) Bharathi, with his regard for Divinity and Nature, but more particularly his deep caring for Humanity, - specifically for those immediately around him - was a man deeply present in his moment so the composition is very very likely to relate to such moments, as we have seen with his other songs! Why discount or deny the context for this kiLiyE song is beyond me!
5) If there was a parAsakti bent/fascination, with songs composed earlier than Yadugiri's recognition, they would still have found mention in her memoirs at some point, even if casually. [I firmly believe parAsakti is a concocted notion and attribution - by folks who compiled his songs, somewhat ill-at-ease with his passionate, intimate compositions vis-a-vis his other compositions, lofty, full of ideals and fervor of a non-personal kind. That he put that same fervor into some personal, intimate songs, is too hard to bear for some folks.]

Given this, I feel she has downplayed Bharathi's singing to her baby, mentioning it casually, and she has not talked of this particular song or its import : -
a) because, while it is a beautiful, intimately worded deeply expressive song to us, in our alienated ways these days ! - to her was just one expressing common-in-those-days sweetness to a child;
b) because, to her, it was not particularly a song expressing svadEsi or women's progressive, or other higher notions from him that seemed to have triggered her imagination to have been so savored - to put it in expressive language! [however, these were memories that lasted long enough to write with contexts in the memoirs, much much later.]

I still feel the way I do re. the birth of the kiLiyE composition. No parAsakti anywhere close !

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Aug 2011, 01:15

smala,
We all are entitled to our viewpoints, and some of what you say rings true to me, but I may not see everything the way you do. It's similar to the way we look at Bharathi's works. How many different interpretations can be given to one particular line!
As you say, Yadugiri was self-effacing perhaps, but from everything that I've read so far, I feel that she was vry expressive and got excited about every new song and it showed! Any mother, however cruel a mother she is (which Y certainly was not!)--even a woman who did not know anything at all about Bharathi's worth as a poet would have said: he made a song specially for my child!
While I don't want to be like the men of his times who went to the trouble of making it all sound kosher--after all, Bharathi was in love with romantic poetry, yet another influence, to the extent that one of his pen names was Shelley dAsan! I do not want to go to the other extreme either to seek clues in everything said or not said by her. Something akin to what modern journalism does--even the papers known for their integrity, at times sinking to the level of the tabloids. To show wart and all--is fine by me, so long as the wart doesn't become the focus and the inspiring subject matter recedes to the background. While I like openness in expression, dealings and in writing (Bharathi was all that!), I am not that keen on digging to the point that the essence of all I seek eludes me in such efforts.
Again, nothing personal, and before anyone else does (aha!) let me put the blame on my not being a spring chicken, if they think I sound 'proper'. Those who have read my poems (not the impromptu jottings on the forum;)) know that I'm not an old-fashioned, conservative old woman!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 20 Aug 2011, 01:41

Those who have read my poems (not the impromptu jottings on the forum;)) know that I'm not an old-fashioned, conservative old woman!

I can vouch for that!!

smala · Post by **smala** » 20 Aug 2011, 03:54

Wish I was fascile with Tamil to get into all of the writings on and by Bharathi. I have only tried to go by what seems plausible from my very limited understanding of the man and his works.

Not delving into the why and wherefores for each song and losing the feel or the flow though I'm keenly interested in Bharathi's love poems - I'd say this :

By the same token that Yadugiri might have been more enthusiastic if a song was written for her first-born, my premise holds that had Bharathi been so involved with his imaginative parAsakti as lover or child, we would have heard from Yadugiri. Obliquely, laterally, directly, some way!...there's not as much as a whisper on this trait, on a rather significant set of love poems from Bharathi. In fact he was not even a particularly religious poosari type of man nor a strict adherent to convention himself - one who threw away his brahmin thread!

No more distractions, looking forward to the next segment, Arasi.

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 20 Aug 2011, 13:31

FIFTEEN
When my grandmother says: telugu tETa, KannaDa kastUri, aravam advAnam (Telugu is honey, KannaDa precious and Tamizh is useless) ...

என் பாட்டி சொல்லுவார்: 'தெலுகு தேளு, கன்னட கஸ்தூரி, அரவு அத்வானம்' என்று.
It is clear that 'aravu' refers to Tamil language. Is 'aravu' a Kannada word or Telugu word? And what is the meaning of that word?

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 20 Aug 2011, 17:55

Bharati started moving very closely with 'sAmiyArs' and 'panDArams' at Pondicherry, and spent lot of time singing old 'Sithar' songs and dancing with them at Siddhananda Swami Matam. Bharati was deeply moved and inspired by the traditional 'Sithar' songs. The use of 'அடி' (aDi) and 'கண்ணம்மா' (kaNNammA) by Bharati was the result of the following song, where these expressions are repeatedly used in every stanza.

அழுகணிச் சித்தர் பாடல்

கலித்தாழிசை

மூலப் பதியடியோ மூவிரண்டு வீடதிலே
கோலப் பதியடியோ குதர்க்கத் தெருநடுவே
பாலப் பதிதனிலே தணலாய் வளர்த்தகம்பம்
மேலப் பதிதனிலே -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
விளையாட்டைப் பாரேனோ! 1

எண்சாண் உடம்படியோ ஏழிரண்டு வாயிலடி
பஞ்சாயக் காரர்ஐவர் பட்டணமுந் தானிரண்டு
அஞ்சாமற் பேசுகின்றாய் ஆக்கினைக்குத் தான்பயந்து
நெஞ்சார நில்லாமல் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
நிலைகடந்து வாடுறண்டி! 2

முத்து முகப்படியோ முச்சந்தி வீதியிலே
பத்தாம் இதழ்பரப்பிப் பஞ்சணையின் மேலிருத்தி
அத்தை யடக்கிநிலை ஆருமில்லா வேளையிலே
குத்து விளக்கேற்றி -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
கோலமிட்டுப் பாரேனோ! 3

சம்பா அரிசியடி சாதம் சமைத்திருக்க!
உண்பாய் நீயென்று சொல்லி உழக்குழக்கு நெய்வார்த்து
முத்துப் போலன்னமிட்டு முப்பழமும் சர்க்கரையும்
தித்திக்குந் தேனாமிர்தம் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
தின்றுகளைப் பாரேனோ! 4

பைம்பொற் சிலம்பணிந்து பாடகக்கால் மேல்தூக்கிச்
செம்பொற் கலையுடுத்திச் சேல்விழிக்கு மையெழுதி
அம்பொற் பணிபூண் டறுகோண வீதியிலே
கம்பத்தின் மேலிருந்தே -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
கண்குளிரப் பாரேனோ! 5

எட்டாப் புரவியடி யீராறு காலடியோ
விட்டாலும் பாரமடி வீதியிலே தான்மறித்துக்
கட்டக் கயிறெடுத்துக் கால்நாலும் சேர்த்திறுக்கி
அட்டாள தேசமெல்லாம் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
ஆண்டிருந்தா லாகாதோ! 6

கொல்லன் உலைபோலக் கொதிக்குதடி யென்வயிறு
நில்லென்று சொன்னால் நிலைநிறுத்தக் கூடுதில்லை
நில்லென்று சொல்லியல்லோ நிலைநிறுத்த வல்லார்க்குக்
கொல்லென்று வந்தநமன் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
குடியோடிப் போகானோ! 7

ஊற்றைச் சடலமடி உப்பிருந்த பாண்டமடி
மாற்றிப் பிறக்க மருந்தெனக்குக் கிட்டுதில்லை
மாற்றிப் பிறக்க மருந்தெனக்கு கிட்டுமென்றால்
ஊற்றைச் சடலம் விட்டே -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
உன்பாதஞ் சேரேனோ! 8

வாழைப் பழந்தின்றால் வாய்நோகு மென்றுசொல்லித்
தாழைப் பழத்தின்று சாவெனக்கு வந்ததடி
தாழைப் பழத்தைவிட்டுச் சாகாமற் சாகவல்லோ
வாழைப் பழந்தின்றால் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
வாழ்வெனக்கு வாராதோ! 9

பையூரி லேயிருந்து பாழூரிலே பிறந்து
மெய்யூரில் போவதற்கு வேதாந்த வீடறியேன்,
மெய்யூரிற் போவதற்கு வேதாந்த வீடறிந்தால்
பையூரும் மெய்யூரும் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
பாழாய் முடியாவோ! 10

மாமன் மகளடியோ மச்சினியோ நானறியேன்
காமன் கணையெனக்குக் கனலாக வேகுதடி
மாமன் மகளாகி மச்சினியும் நீயானால்
காமன் கணைகளெல்லாம் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
கண்விழிக்க வேகாவோ! 11

அந்தரத்தை வில்லாக்கி ஐந்தெழுத்தை யம்பாக்கி
மந்திரத்தே ரேறியல்லோ மான்வேட்டை யாடுதற்குச்
சந்திரரும் சூரியரும் தாம்போந்த காவனத்தே
வந்துவிளை யாடியல்லோ -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
மனமகிழ்ந்து பார்ப்பதென்றோ! 12

காட்டானை மேலேறிக் கடைத்தெருவே போகையிலே
நாட்டார் நமைமறித்து நகைபுரியப் பார்ப்பதென்றோ
நாட்டார் நமைமறித்து நகைபுரியப் பார்த்தாலும்
காட்டானை மேலேறி -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
கண்குளிரக் காண்பேனோ! 13

உச்சிக்குக் கீழடியோ ஊசிமுனை வாசலுக்குள்
மச்சுக்கு மேலேறி வானுதிரம் தானேடுத்துக்
கச்சை வடம்புரியக் காயலூர்ப் பாதையிலே
வச்சு மறந்தல்லோ -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
வகைமோச மானேண்டி! 14

மூக்கால் அரும்பெடுத்து மூவிரண்டாய்த் தான்தூக்கி
நாக்கால் வளைபரப்பி நாற்சதுர வீடுகட்டி
நாக்கால் வலைபரப்பி நாற்சதுர வீட்டினுள்ளே
மூக்காலைக் காணாமல் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
முழுதும் தவிக்கிறண்டி! 15

காமமலர் தூவக் கருத்தெனக்கு வந்ததடி
பாமவலி தொலைக்கப் பாசவலி கிட்டுதில்லை
பாமவலி தொலைக்கப் பாசவலி நிற்குமென்றால்
காமமலர் மூன்றும் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
கண்ணெதிரே நில்லாவோ! 16

தங்காயம் தோன்றாமல் சாண்கலக் கொல்லைகட்டி
வெங்காய நாற்றுவிட்டு வெகுநாளாய்க் காத்திருந்தேன்
வெங்காயந் தின்னாமல் மேற்றொல்லைத் தின்றலவோ
தங்காயந் தோணாமல் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
சாகிறண்டி சாகாமல்! 17

பற்றற்ற நீரதிலே பாசி படர்ந்ததுபோல்
உற்றுற்றுப் பார்த்தாலும் உன்மயக்கம் தீரவில்லை
உற்றுற்றுப் பார்த்தாலும் உன்மயக்கந் தீர்ந்தக்கால்
பற்றற்ற நீராகும் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
பாசியது வேறாமோ! 18

கற்றாரும் மற்றாருந் தொண்ணூற்றோ டாறதிலே
உற்றாரும் பெற்றாரும் ஒன்றென்றே யானிருந்தேன்
உற்றாரும் பெற்றாரும் ஊரைவிட்டுப் போகையிலே
சுற்றாரு மில்லாமல் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
துணையிழந்து நின்றதென்ன ? 19

கண்ணுக்கு மூக்கடியோ காதோர மத்திமத்தில்
உண்ணாக்கு மேலேறி உன்புதுமை மெத்தவுண்டு
உண்ணாக்கு மேலேறி உன்புதுமை கண்டவர்க்கும்
கண்ணுக்கு மூக்கடியோ -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
காரணங்கள் மெத்தவுண்டே! 20

சாயச் சரக்கெடுத்தே சாதிலிங்கம் தான்சேர்த்து
மாயப் பொடிகலந்து வாலுழுவை நெய்யூற்றிப்
பொட்டென்று பொட்டுமிட்டாள் புருவத்திடை நடுவே
இட்ட மருந்தாலே -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
இவ்வேட மானேண்டி! 21

பாதாள மூலியடி பாடாணம் தான்சேர்த்து
வேதாளங் கூட்டியல்லோ வெண்டாரை நெய்யூற்றிச்
செந்தூர மையடியோ செகமெல்லாம் தான்மிரட்டித்
தந்த மருந்தாலே -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
தணலாக வேகுறண்டி! 22

கள்ளர் பயமெனக்குக் கால்தூக்க வொட்டாமல்
பிள்ளை யழுதுநின்றால பெற்றவட்குப் பாரமடி
பிள்ளை யழுவாமல் பெற்றமனம் நோகாமல்
கள்ளர் பயமெனக்கே -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
கடுகளவு காணாதோ! 23

பட்டணத்தை யாளுகின்ற பஞ்சவர்கள் ராசாக்கள்
விட்டுப் பிரியாமல் வீரியங்கள் தாம்பேசி
விட்டுப் பிரிந்தவரே வேறு படுங்காலம்
பட்டணமும் தான்பறிபோய் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
படைமன்னர் மாண்டதென்ன ? 24

ஆகாப் புலையனடி அஞ்ஞானந் தான்பேசிச்
சாகாத் தலையறியேன் தன்னறிவு தானறியேன்
வேகாத காலறியேன் விதிமோச மானேனடி
நோகாமல் நொந்தல்லோ -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
நொடியில்மெழு கானேனடி! 25

தாயைச் சதமென்றே தந்தையரை ஒப்பென்றே
மாயக் கலவிவந்து மதிமயக்க மானேனடி
மாயக் கலவிவிட்டு மதிமயக்கம் தீர்ந்தக்கால்
தாயுஞ் சதமாமோ -- என் கண்னம்மா!
தந்தையரு மொப்பாமோ ? 26

அஞ்சாத கள்ளனடி ஆருமற்ற பாவியடி
நெஞ்சாரப் போய்சொல்லும் நேயமில்லா நிட்டூரன்
கஞ்சா வெறியனடி கைசேத மாகுமுன்னே
அஞ்சாதே யென்றுசொல்லி -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
ஆண்டிருந்தா லாகாதோ! 27

உன்னை மறந்தல்லோ உளுத்த மரமானேன்
தன்னை மறந்தார்க்குத் தாய்தந்தை யில்லையடி
தன்னை மறக்காமற் றாயாரு முண்டானால்
உன்னை மறக்காமல் -- என் கண்னம்மா!
ஒத்திருந்து வாழேனோ ? 28

காயப் பதிதனிலே கந்தமூலம் வாங்கி
மாயப் பணிபூண்டு வாழுஞ் சரக்கெடுத்தே
ஆயத் துறைதனிலே ஆராய்ந்து பார்க்குமுன்னே
மாயச் சுருளோலை -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
மடிமேல் விழுந்ததென்ன ? 29

சித்திரத்தை குத்தியல்லோ சிலையை எழுதிவைத்து
உத்திரத்தைக் காட்டாமல் ஊரம்ப லமானேன்
உத்திரத்தைக் காட்டியல்லோ ஊரம்ப லமானால்
சித்திரமும் வேறாமோ -- என் கண்னம்மா!
சிலையுங் குலையாதோ! 30

புல்ல ரிடத்திற்போய்ப் பொருள்தனக்குக் கையேந்திப்
பல்லை மிகக்காட்டிப் பரக்க விழிக்கிறண்டி
பல்லை மிகக்காட்டமல் பரக்க விழிக்காமல்
புல்லரிடம் போகமல் -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
பொருளெனக்குத் தாராயோ ? 31

வெட்டுண்ட சக்கரத்தால் வேண தனமளித்துக்
குட்டுண்டு நின்றேண்டி கோடிமனு முன்னாலே
குட்டுண்டு நில்லாமற் கோடிமனு முன்னாக
வெட்டுண்டு பிணிநீங்கி -- என் கண்ணம்மா!
விழித்துவெளி காட்டாயோ! 32

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 20 Aug 2011, 18:20

PB, not sure about kannaDA, but IIRC, aravam is the Telugu word for tamizh.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 20 Aug 2011, 20:53

As I understand the word 'aravam' means 'raucous sound' (கர்ணகடூரம்}
It was coined by the Telugus who were called GULT (derogatory) by the Tamils in the silicon valley during the Y2K days!

kvchellappa · Post by **kvchellappa** » 20 Aug 2011, 21:16

The old pontiff of Kanchi Mutt, Paramacharya, has written that Aravam is the name of a border place between Tamilnadu and Andhra and that the language spoken those south of that place was called "aravam' by Telugu speaking people. The 'derogatory' connotation seems imagined.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 20 Aug 2011, 22:12

cmlover wrote:It was coined by the Telugus who were called GULT (derogatory) by the Tamils in the silicon valley during the Y2K days!

CML y2k is way too late for this coinage. aravam was in use way back when, even before Silicon Valley.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Aug 2011, 22:29

Ravi,
He did not say aravam was. GULT(?) was the word the Silicone valley guys were guilty of!

Chellappa,
Thanks. The word has no prejudice at all (coming from the highest authority). However, advAnam has! Also means barren in usage. example: EdO oru advAnak kATTiRku transfer paNNAdirundAl sari!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Aug 2011, 04:10

EIGHTEEN

kANi nilam VENDum
(A Piece of Land!)

In naLa varusham, in the month of Aippasi, on the eighth (16-11-16), a wednesday, an auspicious day, Bharathi's family moved house.
We were waiting for the rains, and on that day, a storm came, bringing with it the rain. In the afternoon, dark clouds gathered ominously.

Our house was a haven in summer but not so in the rainy season. But for the sunken room in the middle of the two stories, the road-side room and the room with a cradle in it--all other parts of the house got soaked if it rained hard.

We finished dinner at seven and went upstairs. My father, my two sisters and I, with the baby on my lap, sat on two benches. My mother was still downstairs in the kitchen.Heavy rains started in about an hour. We had read in the bhAgavatam of such a rain--the one IndrA had brought about. Now, we saw it with our own eyes. With every thunderbolt, the house shook. The lightening blinded our eyes.

Finger-thick strands of rain came down ceaselessly. One side of our house had a high wall. There was a law against building a wall that high.The owners had obviously ignored it when they built the house. It was an old house and the owner was no more. His wife was keen on collecting the rent but had not kept the house in good repair.

Whenever it thundered, the house shook violently. Around midnight, the wall on the eastern side with glass-paned windows came crumbling down. We were sheltered against the western wall. We were concerned that it might tumble down too. My father said, "If it does, we will all get crushed under it, but I don't think it will come to that, with God's grace."

We were petrified about how my mother was faring downstairs, all alone. There was no way to reach her. The wind blew mercilessly and we couldn't even hear each other in its fury, though we were huddled together. We realized that the back wall of the house was down too. It was horrendous all night.

At dawn, things calmed down and we stirred, and looked around us. On the floor, we saw pictures and the clock crashed to pieces. We hurried downstairs to look for my mother, hoping nothing had happened to her. She was fine and was relieved to see that the storm had spared us all.

After an hour, we opened the front door and saw that a river was flowing in it. About a furlong from us was a big drain and it had flooded. Wherever we looked, we saw fallen trees. Tree limbs were floating in it. Coconut and pUvarasu trees were uprooted. Electric posts and wires were in a sorry state.

Bharathi and Iyer came by and were relieved to see that our family was safe. "Who cares about house and belongings at this hour!", they said.

Iyer: Yadugiri, clean up as much as you can and try to get some food together. The poor are in a pathetic state. We are helping them as much as we can. Please ask your mother not to go the pond to take her customary bath. Corpses are floating around. After things get better, you can go out. Stay indoors!

We stayed in, but my mother went out to bathe. She would not listen to us. Those who were outside, asked her to go back home--"In such chaos, you won't be able to find the pond", they said. It didn't stop her. She did take her dip in the pond and came back home at noon!

The svadESis pooled together all the money they had and then sent Nagaswamy and others to collect more money to relieve the distressed. They gathered all the homeless in one place, treated the injured and took care of the dead. They arranged to cook gruel at Dharamarajan temple to feed them. Other good-hearted townsmen joined the volunteers. They gathered the fallen coconut tree fronds and started weaving panels for roofs. Workmen were herded to build walls for the huts. They made sure that all this work was done without any delay. They allotted work for themselves and helped the workmen.
Even in this calamity, Bharathi's love for Nature did not abate.

The next day, he told us a story: There was an old lady who came to me when I was learning the art of making a roof panel. She said, 'AppEn! My son! My house crumbled, melted in the rain and floated away. Will you rebuild it for me? I can't see very well and I have no one to call my own. Will you build my home up for me? God will bless you!". I asked her where her hut stood. She showed me a mere door frame with no trace of a door, windows or a roof and I laughed out when I saw this 'house'.
She said, "Had you seen my house before the rain and the wind, you would not have laughed but would have said what a beautiful place it was.You laugh now. These bodies of ours have the same fate in store. This wind came as yamA too!
My heart went out to her. She was right. After death, all you see is the skeletal frames of us. I said: Yes, AyA! You will get your house back.
Then we all worked together to build a hut for her.
This incident was published as an essay by Bharathi in the svadESa Mitran the next day.

I saw the meaning of SankarAchAryA's saying all around me--"When mAyA leaves us, then it's the state of nirvANA".

That afternoon, beating their drums, the town criers announced that it would take a month to restore water and electricity. For a week, women and children had to stay indoors. We had to get alternative sources for lights.

The town which was lush with coconut and pUvarasu trees looked like sandy terrain. It took the municipality a month to clear the debris and clean up the streets.

Kalavai Sankara Chettiar moaned: Had they made saplings out of the fallen pUVarasu, they would have grown into trees in four or five years. The municipality wants to plant new trees! What craziness!

After building the huts up, the volunteers found jobs for the poor. The liquor shops had been leveled in the storm and the drunkards of the town looked like normal people.

For nearly a month, gruel was made twice a day at the temple and the poor were well-fed. The svadESis worked as coolies for a month.

Our house was not repaired until after three months. Masons were hard to come by. It was the same with all others. We knew what vana vAsam (forest dwelling) would have been like, during those months of living without the facilities of a town.

In all this, Bharathi was as spirited as joyful as ever. He would do abhinayA to eTTU dikkum SidaRi and mimic the mammoth rain.

After the storm, he went to see all his favorite haunts--the beach, ponds and groves. A small coconut grove with not more than a hundred trees, but for a few fallen trees looked as if the storm hadn't touched it. Seeing that made him thank parASakti for saving a poor man's grove. This song is called pizhaitta tennandOppu. "Even the wind has been kind to a poor man", he exclaimed. We went to see that grove the next day. After Bharathi sang about it, it became the place of a miracle as it were, and crowds of people went to see it and were happy.

At this time, Japan had brought about a new law in their country. Cultivable land was divided equally among its people, to do away with beggars and lazy people. On learning about it, the svadeSis figured out how much land a small Indian family needed to live by. Bharathi sang about it in kANi nilam vENDum.

He also felt that after the age of twenty, the young should live independently and take care of themselves--without being a burden to their parents.

* * * * *

smala · Post by **smala** » 21 Aug 2011, 10:19

Finally, mention of parAsakti.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 21 Aug 2011, 19:52

What is the first line of the song 'pizhaitta tennan thOppu'?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Aug 2011, 19:56

NINETEEN

VENDumaDi viDudalai
(Yes, Freedom!)

Bharathi and Chellamma thanked parASakti with a celebration for saving us all from the storm. Meena, her sister-in-law, her mother, Padmavathi, her baby Raji, vAdyAr's wife and Bhagyalakshmi Ammal were also invited. After the pUjA, Bharathi sang vandE mAtaram as usual, and then his new poem 'peNmai vAzhgenRu' (victory to womanhood) in an english meTTu (tune). He then asked each of us to sing a song. Meena's mother was reluctant at first about her girls singing.

Bharathi: Let them sing, Amma. You know that there are no strange men in this gathering--just us, who are like your brothers.

Then, Meena's mother asked her daughter and daughter-in-law to sing.

Meena's mother: I didn't realize until now how genuine and open you are! I'm old-fashioned. Men in my younger days, if they asked us to sing, like you did, would gossip behind our backs later. Don't misunderstand me for my refusing at first!

Bharathi: We are not such hypocrites, AmmA. In fact, we want to do away with the enslaving of women. We detest gossiping about them!

Meena's mother: I understand. Oh, are you looking for a match for Thangamma?

Bharathi: Not yet.

Meena's mother: In our days, they would get busy when the girls were eight. Nowadays, even when they're sixteen, people don't seem to bother! Chellamma, don't delay. Find a match for Thangam.

Chellamma: Don't we need money for it, AmmAmi?

Meena's mother: The important thing is to find a boy. Money, you can somehow manage. Don't take me wrong for telling you this.

Chellamma: There's nothing wrong in what you say. My sister is coming from kASi this year. Thangamma is more her daughter than mine. She will not return to kASi without seeing Thangamma married.

It looked to me as though Chellamma was suffering a lot inwardly. BharathiyAr did not seem to be happy either. I could not figure out as to what was ailing them.

My mother was away. I wasn't well-versed in giving the baby an oil bath. I would keep everything ready for Chellamma who came to our house every day at four to give the baby a bath. Then we freshened up and went to the beach. Bharathi came with us sometimes, but it wasn't like old times. He barely sat down with us. Even if he did, they both started arguing. He would walk away and sit alone by the sea but he joined us when we returned home.

The Sivan Temple asked for a bhajanai song for SivarAtri from him. He wrote the song murugA murugA and gave it to them. "If six of you sing it together, it will put you all in a trance", he said.

He was very fond of chanting nammAzhvAr's ten verses at that time, acting it all out that God dwells in every particle of us. He did this by gestures, pointing to the top of his head, his tongue, his chest, shoulders and so on. I did not understand NammAzhvAr's verses very well then. All I could think then was that Bharathi proclaimed that God lived in him, but in reality, he was helpless when it came to driving away the problems he and Chellamma had to cope with.

ivaiyum avaiyum uvaiyum, ivarum avarum uvarum
evaiyum yAvaiyum tannuLLE Agiyum Akkiyum kAkkum
tani mudal emmAn, kaNNapirAn en amudam
Suvaiyan, tiruvin maNALan ennuDai SUzhaluLAnE

(The following is A. K. Ramanujan's translation--Arasi)

The Paradigm

We here and that man, this man, and that other in-between,
And that woman, this woman, and that other, whoever--

Those people and these, and these others in-between,
This thing, that thing, and this other in-between--whichever,

All things dying, these things,
those things, those others in-between,
good things, bad things,
things that were, that will be--

Being all of them, He stands there.

Bharathi was not the same anymore, but my devotion, affection and esteem for him remained the same.
I knew he had changed and that the changes came in rapid succession. It looked as though he was drawn to unwelcome influences. No one could stop him, it seemed. I could see that he was mindless of Chellamma's pleas. When I was a child, I could question him boldly, but I was a mother of a child now. I also realized that I couldn't communicate as freely with him as I did with Chellamma.

Bharathi had a way of looking at everything intently, without batting an eyelid. The glow and the beauty of his eyes were gone now. Chellamma said that it was because he was now given to staring at the sun a lot.

When Bharathi came to our house, he sang vENDumaDi viDudalai in the kIRtanai mode .

Yadugiri: Why have you set the music for this song as in a kIrtanai?

Bharathi: Thangamma says she's not keen on my old tunes any more. She wanted it sung like a traditional kIrtanai. That's why. Do you like it?

Yadugiri: I do.

Bharathi: I'm searching for something new.

Yadugiri: What is it?

Bharathi: I don't want to die. I'm going to find a way to live forever.

Yadugiri: They say miracles are possible, but not this. If you can, that would be the wonder of wonders.

Bharathi: I'm searching and I will find it.

My father happened to hear this. He said, "Bharathi, what's the need for a young woman to get into the realms of vEdAntA? kuruvi talai panangAi pOla (like placing a burden of a palmyra palm fruit on the head of a sparrow to carry around). She can wait until she gets older to ponder over such things."

Bharathi did not answer him. Without saying a word, he got up and went away.

As for me, I kept singing the song 'vENDumaDi viDudalai with the help of the notes* he gave me.

*Yadugiri uses the word kuRippugaL sometimes when she speaks of the copies of the songs that Bharathi gives her. I wonder now if they are notations--Arasi.

* * * * *

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 21 Aug 2011, 20:15

cmlover wrote:What is the first line of the song 'pizhaitta tennan thOppu'?

http://www.lakshmansruthi.com/tamilbook ... -III17.asp

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Aug 2011, 20:24

Thanks PB for bringing the poem pronto!

CML,
This poem also contains the memorable line: tanimai kaNDaduNDu, adil sAramirukkudamma!

nETRirundOm anda vITTInilE--inda
nEramirundAl en paDuvOm?

The poem puyal kATRu (16) mentions that they had moved house just that day!

dikkugaL eTTum SidaRi to which Bharathi did the abhinaya: poem 15.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 21 Aug 2011, 20:45

Thanks PB
சிறிய திட்டையிலே,உளதோர்-தென்னஞ் சிறுதோப்பு
வறியவ னுடைமை-அதனை-வாயு பொடிக்க வில்லை
very beautiful poetically.
Arasi
These happened in 1916 at Pondy. Bharathy died in 1919 at chennai. So when did he move to TN?
When did Iyer move to TN and start his gurukulam at Seranmahadevi?
Perhaps we should lookat the chronology of all events later after you finish!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 21 Aug 2011, 21:47

CML,
Bharathi died in September 1921.
After the war ended in November 1918, but for Arabindo, the svadESis came back to TN. Bharathi was released from the prison in December of that year. He went directly to Kadayam from there. He went to Chennai briefly to give lectures on vEdAntA. That was when he met Gandhiji . Though he had sung about the Mahatma in 1908, he met him only in 1919.
He was back in Chennai in November 1920 to work as a sub-editor at SvadESa Mitran. In less than a year, in September 1921, we lost him.

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 22 Aug 2011, 07:56

Bharati:-
Bharathi left Pondicherry on 20th November 1918. He was arrested at Cuddalore (British India territory) and was imprisoned. He was released on 14th December 1918 when he signed a suitable undertaking.

VVS Iyer:-
After World War, when the British government declared general amnesty in 1920, VVS Iyer left Pondicherry. He went to Madras and soon became the Editor of 'Desabakthan'. An article published on 6.5.1921 in Desabakthan was highly critical of the British Government's attitude towards the non-cooperation movement. For this, VVS Iyer was jailed for nine months. After release, Iyer moved to Seranmadevi where he started a Gurukulam in 1920.

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 22 Aug 2011, 09:31

செல்:- பணம் வேண்டாமா அம்மாமி? எங்கள் ஊர்ப் பக்கத்தில் வரதட்சிணைப் பேய் தலைவிரித்தாடுகிறது. நல்ல வரன் எங்கிருந்து கொண்டு வருவது?
... ... ...
செல்லம்மா சொல்லவும் முடியாமல் விழுங்கவும் முடியாமல் எதையோ மனத்தில் வைத்துக் கொண்டு கஷ்டப்படுவதாக எனக்குத் தோன்றியது. செல்லம்மா-பாரதியாரின் மாறுதலுக்குக் காரணம் என்னவென்று எனக்குத் தெரியவில்லை.

Bharati wanted to get his daughter married to another Iyer freedom fighter (Class A terrorist according to the British), who was known very well to the family. He was a close associate of Bharati at Pondicherry. Chellamma did not accept this proposal of Bharati, and probably that was the reason for the strained relationship at that time.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 22 Aug 2011, 16:48

Thanks, PB!
Fascinating. It's not as if Bharathi did not do his part in finding a groom. It was only natural that he wanted a spirited young man as a husband for his dear daughter and not a kaTTup peTTi. If not Chellamma, her family would have been dead against this match! The reason is obvious.

Whose book is the quote from?

Pratyaksham Bala · Post by **Pratyaksham Bala** » 22 Aug 2011, 17:19

Chellamma was against the match proposed by Bharati. May be, her family too. She left Pondicherry with her daughters, and the marriage was arranged without Bharati's knowledge. Bharati was terribly upset. He gave away everything and left Pondicherry.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 22 Aug 2011, 17:24

TWENTY

nIrOTTam
(The Flow)

Dr. Ambeau had said that my health would improve if I walked for an hour every day. I followed his instructions. My mother looked after the baby, and I went to the beach for a walk every morning. This went on for a month. My father and sister kept me company.

One day at the crack of dawn, as we were walking, we heard someone sing in a morning rAgA. It melted my heart. When I listened intently, it sounded like a tiruvAimozhi verse. On my listening for a minute more, it sounded clear as a bell and sounded like a familiar voice--that of Bharathi. I asked my father what he thought.
My father said, ''Let's find him."

We walked in the direction from which the voice came. We saw Bharathi, seated on a kaTTumaram (boat). He was wearing a black top and a vEshTi. He was facing the sun with joined hands. It wasn't light yet. The song sounded majestic. The beautiful rAgam and the meaning of the words gave me goose bumps. It seemed like a divine vision. I was filled with joy.

Sri Sri: Bharathi, what are you doing here?

Bharathi: Is that Anna? Why are you and the children here so early in the morning?

Sri Sri: The doctor said that it was good for Yadugiri's health to walk for an hour every morning. Yadugiri thought she heard your voice and when we came closer, we realized that it was you, after all!

Bharathi: I came here last night. I was flying in the world of my imagination. I woke up and realized that I was on the beach. Such a pleasant hour, this. I was lost in the inspiring verses of the tiruvAimozhi, and you called!

Sri Sri (in a rather irritated voice): Some world of imagination! Do you realize how worried they'd be at home! Is it fair? What are you doing here at this hour?

Bharathi: (with his head bent): It was unbearably hot last night. The beach and the world of imagination were beckoning. Did Chellamma come to your house and ask about me? Am I a child?

My father got Bharathi down from the boat, and like a dear brother would, put his arms around him in a hug. He told me and my sister to keep walking and said that he would soon join us. He started talking to Bharathi in English. Bharathi did not answer but tears fell freely from his eyes. I can never forget that scene. We walked to Bharathi's house now. Chellamma was standing at the door. Thangamma and Sakunthala were asleep. Chellamma did not ask Bharathi where he had been. Seeing my father, with her head down, she went into the house. I woke the children up and then we went home.

My sister Ranganayaki questioned my father: Why did Bharathi cry like that? The tears wouldn't stop!

Sri Sri: Perhaps some sand got into his eyes.

Yadugiri: Bharathi wasn't home all night and yet Chellamma didn't say a word! Why?

Sri Sri: No, I don't think it's something new. Who knows where all he roams at night? The beach, the groves, by the pond...

Yadugiri: AiyyA! He doesn't look the same. I've been observing him ever since I came to Puduvai. Things seem so different when I go to see them now.

Sri Sri: Please don't ask Bharathi or Chellamma about it. It may upset them.

Iyer came home that evening and I told him about the incident at the beach.

Iyer: Did Bharathi recognize your father as soon as he called him?

Yadugiri: Yes, he did and he was surprised to see us so early in the morning. I don't know what's ailing him. AiyyA didn't say much. It's all puzzling to me. Chellamma looks grief-stricken. At least, you can tell me what this is all about.

Iyer: Yadugiri, when something new captures his imagination, Bharathi doesn't stop to think if it's right for him or not. I have appealed to him many times. He just keeps going. I don't know where it's all going to lead him.Trouble at home, too. A woman in our country can somehow manage to cope with problems when it's about children and others at home, but not with a husband. I don't think there is an easy solution for the problems. If a husband behaves justly and adheres to his duties, there won't be any trouble at all. If he doesn't, there will be no cheer--just tears and upheavals. Their home becomes a prison. The woman cannot give up her children--nor can she leave her husband. Troubles multiply and the husband, forgetting the problems at hand and forgetting even his own stature and his greatness, finds solace in hallucinating substances--just for those fleeting moments of pleasure--and starts living in an ivory tower. As the effect of the stimulant wears away, he is spent as a rag and his health deteriorates. If you stop a stupid man from going to the liquor shop, he would get annoyed with you and say, 'who are you to stop me? I'm drinking, spending my own money'. Yet, It's possible to restrain that fool for a while. It's impossible to do that with an enlightened man who is weak and is weak-willed. The one who tries to stop him ends up being the fool. We are all helpless. All that we can do is rue over it.

Yadugiri: The udaya (dawn) rAgam which he sang was divine.

Iyer: Bharathi's voice sounds like bell metal. Early morning, the birds singing, the sound of the waves and his majestic singing! I can imagine how it would have felt.
His association with a few sAmiArs and paNDArams is leading him to all this. A man who has control over his mind is a strong man. The one who follows the manakkurangu (a mind like that of a monkey) goes any which way, doing things as that quirky mind of his dictates. It isn't a good thing for him, and surely, not for his family!

Iyer sighed. His heart was heavy. What he said agitated me. I felt very sad.

* * * * *

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 Aug 2011, 00:30

Yadugiri has presented the man, wrinkles and all! I am very glad that however obliquely and fleetingly, she has described the mahAkavi's flirtation with hallucinogens.

kaTTamaram = catamaran (one of the few English words that have a tamizh origin)

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Aug 2011, 01:15

Ravi,
As far as I know, it is kaTTumaram (bound wood). How the poor man's boat (similar to a raft) has morphed into a speedy catamaran today!Years ago, the Malibu used to be a cool car--malivu illai!).

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 Aug 2011, 02:40

Arasi - you are right - it is kaTTumaram.

smala · Post by **smala** » 23 Aug 2011, 06:46

rshankar wrote:Yadugiri has presented the man, wrinkles and all! I am very glad that however obliquely and fleetingly, she has described the mahAkavi's flirtation with hallucinogens.

Chellamal appears to be no saint, either. Iyer's account is of a withdrawn, reclusive Bharathi and makes it sound like its the husband's fault but C had some contribution to this state. Her refusal to accept Bharathi's choice of a son-in-law.

I am more convinced especially after reading what P.Bala says : that C left Puducheri with her daughters and even arranged Thangamma's marriage without Bharathi having a part in it. That must have been devastating to an idealistic sensitive man, one who loved his daughters immensely.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:03

If I understand it, the hallucinogens preceded Smt. Chellama's departure from Pondicherry.

smala · Post by **smala** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:19

rshankar wrote:If I understand it, the hallucinogens preceded Smt. Chellama's departure from Pondicherry.

Yes, that is apparent. I meant Chellammal's contribution to Bharathi's state prior to her departure - around the time of her refusal to accept Bharathi's choice of son-in-law [P. Bala supplies this valuable light]. He must have put in a lot of thought being a thinking man on his growing daughters, and his ideals for a future son-in-law. That refusal from Chellama must have hurt him deeply, his idealistic passions spurned by a too pragmatic Chellamal. I'd even say - that's where it all began, the downhill trend. In a sense it was a rejection of who he was, more than what he stood for - from a life-partner. The hallucinogens didn't happen out of a mere desire for experimentation or a "mind-monkey" weakness.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:22

Chellamma was torn between her family and Bharathi--with his extreme ideas, in the way he lived. The safe haven of a piRandagam, where they played everything safe in life. Then Bharathi, living dangerously, playing with fate(all this a century ago!). The pressure from Kadayam would have been too much for her. Here was a 'rebel with a cause' at home, a daughter who needed to be married, no money and as Ravi says, in addition--Bharathi's addiction. That would have been the last straw. As we progress with the story, you see more of her being torn between the two worlds--still finding it difficult to inable to write him off. Iyer was right.

smala · Post by **smala** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:24

The "addiction" - or respite - Bharathi gravitated to - I have already stated the impetus. It's not as if he was one with a fatal flaw. Rather, one who buckled under when the "rejection" [as stated in post 215 ] became unbearable. Like Lear, he didn't quite go mad but went under a "mad" influence...[re. hallucinogens, I think rshankar has it right with "flirtation" rather than "addiction", since he didn't become a junkie and did use his mind and even became a sub-editor towards his last days.]

Iyer's one-sided stance does not exonerate Chellammal with her middle-class comfortable upbringing and world-view influencing her treatment of a spouse, an idealistic Bharathi. She did not rise up to the occasion, to cherish his dreams. Had she been truly devoted to her husband, she might have felt his anguish and heeded his way of thinking and resisted her own birth-family pressures.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:53

TWENTY ONE

SAgA varam
(Immortality)

In PingaLa varusham, many things happened in succession--all heart-wrenching.

I got a letter from home announcing the arrival of my baby brother. My father needed help and he had asked me to come to Puduvai. I stopped with my uncle in Banaglore on my way. Unfortunately, my child got sick and died there.
I went to Puduvai, my heart heavy with my loss. Another sad news awaited me there. My friend Meena had lost her baby too and was terribly sick. She was longing to see me. Chellamma took me to her house. Meena looked pathetic. When she saw me, like a possessed woman, she cried out: Yadugiri! Bring back my child!
After calming down a bit, she poured out her aching heart to me, about the loss of her child and of her ill health. I contained myself and consoled her. "Meena, don't you remember what Bharathi has said? Fear is like poison, to be brave is amruta. Don't lose heart, Meena!", I begged of her. She could not be pacified. She started screaming, "Baby, my baby!" Then she fainted. They said she fainted often. It was painful to see her like that.
I was reluctant to leave her side. I had turned my heart into stone when I was with her, but when I left her, all my grief which I had kept in check, flooded out of me. Leaving Meena behind in the shadow of death broke my heart. Chellamma and I cried copiously.
When he saw me, Bharathi had tears in his eyes too. He had started a fifteen day vow of silence that day. After some time, he signaled to us to come upstairs. He wrote on a piece of paper: It's our misfortune to see you without your child!
I looked up at him. He was a mere skeleton. His eyes were red and he looked very weak and drained. I couldn't bear to see him like that.

As if he had read my thoughts, Bharathi wrote down: I'm practicing a new kind of yoga. That's why I've lost weight.

He had just finished writing the tugiluriyum sargam of PanJAli Sabadam (the part where Draupadi is disrobed by the kauravAs). He sang the verses to me (he did not give up singing when he observed silence).

Then, Chellamma said with a heavy heart: Yaduguri, we have seen enough of the quirks of fate. If the gods deal out misfortunes to us, should we on our part add to the misery by our own actions?
Bharathi sang, 'eLLattanaip pozhudum payaninRi irAden nAvinilE' (without my being idle even for a moment, Sakti, let my tongue pour out poetry incessantly), and now to see him gesturing like a mute person breaks my heart! I don't wish this terrible thing even to my enemies.The Way, he calls it--and the tragedy of it! I can't bear to see him like this!

Bharathi wrote again: In my search for the magic word, I stay silent and Chellamma teases me for that!

I sat there for a while, saying nothing. Chellamma made me eat with her (had Bharathi eaten before, or was he fasting?--Arasi).

We went back upstairs and I asked: Will Meena survive, Chellamma?

Chellamma: I'm afraid not. Not for long.

Yadugiri: BharathiyAr told me once that he was going to find a way to immortality. AiyyA stopped him before he could tell me more about it. When my child died in Bangalore, I was thinking about what he had said. Death is such a horrible thing. If only he could save Meena from death!

Bharathi started writing something down. Reading it, Chellamma got up, caught hold of my hand and took me downstairs. "Yadugiri, it's not wise to speak of it to him now. It's getting late. You better go home!"

As I left them, I thought, Bharathi sang of freedom for women with all his heart but he made Chellamma do things his way. Rarely had she acted on her own accord. However much she had begged of him, he observed his vow of silence for days.
He once was silent for forty days in a row. That was when he started writing bhArathi aRubattARu.
When you read it now, you realize that it is a work born out of great penance.

*

After a few days, SivakAmi ammal and Subramania SivA came to Puduvai, bearing BhArata mAtA's flag. Since they went straight to Bharathi's house, he had to break his silence. They went with him to rishi Aravindar's house, to Iyer's and to other places and came to our house. We did not meet them because they were hurrying back. My father said that they stopped by and had spent a few minutes with him by the door.

* * * * *

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:59

arasi, all the episodes bring tears to my eyes!

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 23 Aug 2011, 07:59

arasi wrote:
The safe haven of a piRandagam, where they played everything safe in life.
....
The pressure from Kadayam would have been too much for her.

Arasi
What is piRandagam and kadayam, I did not get both.

smala · Post by **smala** » 23 Aug 2011, 08:08

piRandagam - house/home of birth (piRanda - Agam). A corrupted "aam" from Agam is commonly used for veedu.

Kadayam - location of Chellamal's home of birth/her upbringing.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Aug 2011, 08:11

KaDayam is a village near Tirunelveli where both Chellamma's and some of Bharathi's family lived.
Not far from my ancestral village vIravanallUr (and to HarikESanallUr). A folk song I remember goes like this:
villu villUrAm, vIrava nallUrAm
kallu kallUrAm, kaDaya nallUrAm
vil aDichchAn kOiIlilE viLakku ETRa nEramille (villu villUrAm).

smala · Post by **smala** » 23 Aug 2011, 08:21

PUNARVASU wrote:arasi, all the episodes bring tears to my eyes!

yes. Punarvasu, just tears. Nothing will bring Bharathi or Yadugiri back.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Aug 2011, 08:34

Punarvasu,
Here's something to put a smile on your face. A bit of humor

Rather a mini chapter.
We are nearly at the end. The book ends with chapter Twenty six.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 23 Aug 2011, 08:59

Punarvasu,
I'm sorry to keep you moist-eyed a little longer

I got the chapters mixed up. The mini chapter is 23. Let's get on with 22 and then, bring 23 in!