Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A dose of good Music and Poetry

I was feeling very low today. Not really sure why as it had nothing to do with what happened today. I didn't have such a bad day after all.

I had no option but to go back to the magical voice of M.S.Subbulakshmi, particularly the song "Kurai ondrum illai". Thanks to M.S's divine voice and the involvement with which she sings this particular song written by Rajaji, I was brought back to normalcy.

You can listen to the song here. It is actually a video which gives you the additional opportunity to glimpse the heavenly face as well.

Kurai Ondrum Illai


Inspired by the song and its wonderful lyrics, I suddenly felt like reading Bharathiyar's poems but was not sure if I could get hold of one sitting in a foreign land. I started a search on google and was happy to find this site which has all of bharathiyar's works in Tamil.

http://www.tamilnation.org/literature/bharathy/kavithaikal/index.htm

Particularly liked this one which I had read before but had lost track of over the years. Maybe I will translate it someday in english for people who can't read this and understand. To me it seems like Bharathiyar was in a similar state of mine when he wrote this, though his outlook was more global. He must have been frustrated with the state of his nation and her people.

In essence in this poem Bharathiyar shares his frustration that inspite of knowing very well that conquering oneself is the key for success and knowing that this has been endorsed by all the scriptures, books and the wise men over the years, the people of his nation don't seem to be taking any step towards it and continue to be down trodden.

ஆத்ம ஜெயம்

கண்ணில் தெரியும் பொருளினைக் கைகள்
கவர்ந்திட மாட்டாவோ?-அட
மண்ணில் தெரியுது வானம்,அதுநம்
வசப்பட லாகாதோ?
எண்ணி யெண்ணிப்பல நாளு முயன்றிங்
கிறுதியிற் சோர்வோமோ?-அட,
விண்ணிலும் மண்ணிலும் கண்ணிலும் எண்ணிலும்
மேவு ப்ராசக்தியே!

என்ன வரங்கள்,பெருமைகள்,வெற்றிகள்,
எத்தனை மேன்மைகளோ!
தன்னை வென்றாலவை யாவும் பெறுவது
சத்திய மாகுமென்றே
முன்னை முனிவர் உரைத்த மறைப் பொருள்
முற்றுமுணர்ந்த பின்னும்
தன்னை வென்றாளும் திறமை பெறாதிங்கு
தாழ்வுற்று நிற்போமோ?

Thanks to the internet, I got a dose of music and poetry to pep me up. Just what the Doctor ordered!

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