The charismatic River Tern

River tern with black hat, deep yellow bill and red feet gives an impression of a bird ready for the go. And truly it is a bird that has lots of attitude. A resident bird found invariably next to river bed they have long forked tail and wings, toes are webbed- has every signs of a water bird, though they never swim or perch on tree. They live on fishes, you could see them fly about 20 feet above the surface of water with strong swift beats (the reason why they are also referred to as Sea Swallows), and keep a keen eye on the fishes, on locating a shoal they circle more purposefully in shorter circles, a perpendicular drop and captured fish is swallowed in flight (more like pied kingfisher).

G Shankara Kurup: traveler with flute
Divine singer of the world
intoxicator of minds
you deign to live in me as music
how else would I dare
sing songs of life in joyous abandon

One of the foremost Malayalam poet and the first recipient of highest literary award in the country-the Jnanapeedam, for Odakuzhal or Flute (the above lines taken from the same), G Shankara Kurup (1901-1978) was born near Kalady (close to the great saint Shankaracharya, Kalady is also a reference to Vamana avataram’s request for three steps). His ancestors were closely associated with temple, a deeply religious man he spent most of his childhood close to nature in his village listening to folklore that had significant impact on him. These lines from the poem “shiva thandavam” (thandavam is cosmic form of Natraja-Shiva, it’s a dance of death and creation. Thandava posture was made extremely popular by exquisite Chola sculptures. Incidentally Chola sculptures are my favorite, intricate and aesthetic they are treat to eyes. “Hypnotized soul” would be apt if you see Uday Shankar perform). All lines from the poems herein are translated from Malayalam.

The spreading hairs are loosened
they appear as the sky
The star studded garland is broken
and all the stars are strewn
The violent dance has set the crescent to one side
it emits the blissful glow
The dim scarlet dusk is the elephant’s skin
dripping blood
The ashes are sprinkled on my hypnotized soul
in the guise of moonlight
In the far away Nebulae several solar systems
are opening their eyes to witness this cosmic dance

This from the poem “cuckoo”

says wayfarer-
life is short, a mere foot length
duties are vast and tremendous
infinite like the sky
yet, how is it, thou are wasting thyself
singing in self abandon the whole spring

cuckoo replies-
the flowering of the world
the towering temple of freedom
the covering blue vastness
my heart leap up to these
I forget myself and sing
never doubting for a moment
it means ‘business’ or not

These lines from the poem “In the garden”, the spider symbolizes imperialism

The sleepless nature could no longer
suffer the vanity of the puny creature
its heaving sigh tore the cobwebs
into hundred fragments
and with spider’s arrogance

Let the sins be atoned
Religion of the world !
born to mould god out of man
How you convert humans into beast
Poet’s words are hollow ineffective noise
otherwise, this instant, you would turn to ashes.
You built fences around human spirit
You sow seeds of segregation
we reaped quarrel, slavery, insult for too long
You go on building fences; how long?

Lines from “What a glorious growth”

That dauntless man who became lord
of all the land within arrow’s reach
Now transforms the very stars
into flowers strewn around his path
As he pursues his conquest far and high
What a glorious venture; before long
To make his rendezvous on the moon
Today no success beyond his reach
No fear but to himself

Before I conclude this blog I need to add that Shankara Kurup translated Khayyam’s Rubayait into Malayalam, he used meter in the poems that had high musical quality and became immensely popular. It became vanji pattu (boat song), it could be said that he transcreated Rubayait into Malayalam. He also translated Meghadootham (Kalidas) as also Gitanjali (Tagore)

Post script: today morning I came to know that ONV Kurup has been awarded the Jnanpeedam, ONV is an institution in himself. Apart from some amazing poetry he has written some very popular lyrics. He maintains high level of aesthetic sensibility, I used to see him quite often while I was studying in Thiruvanthapuram.

An interesting incident about Jnanapeedam: it was probably 1995-96, I was in Ernakulam doing odd job (I guess I was into Sales- meaning roaming around for no apparent reason!). I was next to the hall-on the way to bus stand-and there was commotion, a crowd and I found myself in middle of celebrities, next to Mamooty, Mohan Lal, and so on!!!. The area was cordoned off, I was in the celebrity circle!!. They had gathered to honor MT for Jnanapeedam. I was in the procession and I even thought of waving to the crowd!. One fellow in the crowd, I recall, even asked who is that?. I hung around for half an hour or so, then thought enough of it (I was working so had to report back!!). That’s about it.