Translation of Kannazhaga from 3

Music, Man and Woman, and Magic


Woman: 
I wonder what is beautiful...
Is it your eyes or toes?
You are my golden beauty,
and the man for the lady.


Is it your tiptoeing fingers 
that tread over?
Or your demeanour 
that weaves 
a myriad of magic together?


Man:
Oh my life, 
there isn't anything as you
that is dearer to me,
among the living.


Oh my beauty,
there isn't anything as you,
that is beautiful 
among the beautiful.


Woman:
You look somewhere 
and say the unsaid.
And your enrapturing magic 
makes me all set, 
to cross our limit.


Man:
All I do is 
to look into you, 
and say the truth.
Of course, I look for means 
to entwine my life with yours.


Woman:
Let's let our lips 
meet each other.
I am sure, 
this isn't a new curse... 


Man:
Close your eyes
and draw near me,
there isn't 
any better pleasure 
than this.


Woman:
Come look into me, 
let me hear the truth,
and
I would teach you 
to entwine our lives.


Man:
You are my doe-eyed, 
quintessence and epitome 
of beauty.
You are my life 
and
there isn't anything as you
that is dearer to me,
among the living.




Music aka Magic depicts the rest...

A Beautiful Moment

There are some moments in your life that you never want to miss and want to hold them in mind forever and replay when you are happy. One such was what it was like today evening...

The clear and dark starlit sky,

the beautiful heart-mellowing crescent,

the glow that it manages to surround itself with,

the star beside—not the troika that you usually admire but this one seems a different one,

a patch of clouds for the moon's company,

the mellifluous song playing in your ears that you want to keep listening to all your life,

the beautiful verses it has,

the music that let you imagine the setting and the mood of the song,

the gratifying etched memories that recurs in your mind,

the bountiful energy that you derive out of nowhere that makes you think you just want to leave everything and go for an exerting work-out or a run,

or rather keep writing till you drop,

and amidst this,

the curse of your mind on itself for not being able to hold on to the thoughts that occur to you.

And all you can do to salvage the current stream of thoughts would be to leave the scene at where it is and rush to reach to the device that can save your thoughts.

Indeed, who could have better said it than who said,

'A thing of beauty is joy forever.'

For, after I wrote these lines,

and when I came over,

the scene was longer present,

with the winds crowding the sky with clouds aplenty,

and the moon almost dying in the horizon.

You leave the place with 'what happens is for your best.'

-Dated: 6:45 PM, 27 Jan, 2012

Music Panacea

How much ever I temper my mind, 
it does not seem to get tamed 
And falls prey to the tormenting questions 
that have no answers


And so, 


I seek music


To clear my mind clouded with contemplation
As company to the monologues in my mind
To temper my mind further and 
To shield it from miseries.


Dated: June 23, 2011

If by Rudyard Kipling

If

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘Or walk with Kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

You, me, and metaphysics

Your thoughts spread on my brain
like
Ink on a blotting paper.


Your confessions liberate me 
like
Balloon filled with helium.


Your presence make me feel
like
I am a log on water.


Your words sting me
like
Arrow from a taut bow.


Your letting-go act makes me 
like
A ball thrown in the air.


You go away and yet I am
like
A ball sunk in the water.


All I do is
to follow the law of physics;
and when you are with me,
Who am I to defy gravity?

Some Retro Records to Welcome 2012

Mishaps are like knives that either serve us or cut us,
As we grasp them by the blade or the handle.
~ James Russell Lovell


I complained I had no shoes
till...
I saw a man that had no feet.
~ Author Unknown


Experience is a hard teacher
because she gives the test first,
the lesson afterword.
~ Vernon Law


When one door closes another door opens;
but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door,
that we do not see the ones which open for us.
~ Helen Keller


Tell me and I'll forget;
show me and I may remember;
involve me and I'll understand.
~Chinese Proverb


Leadership is doing what is right,
even when no one is watching.
~ Marquis de Vauvernargues


What lies behind us and what lies before us
are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


Worrying is like a rocking chair,
It gives you something to do,
But it does not get you anywhere.
~ Unknown


Our greatest battles are that with our own minds.
~ Jameson Frank


For every minute you are angry,
you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dated: Sometime in 2003 - 2004
The above quotes are a few of the yields of my recent dusting.

You and me

You at the cafeteria...
My eyes have done this a thousand times now:
Wander for a while and trace back to you.
Like a ball set in motion at the rim of a funnel.

Translation of Kadhal Vaithu from Deepavali

Love Sunk

I awaited embracing all the love and desire,

trying to sieve your voice in the air…

In your mirth I realized music.

In your drift I realized direction.

I fell into the sea of love,

but remained afloat even after I was ashore.

Your moves made me move.

Alas! I vanished beautifully and seen nowhere.

Every time I heard the fairy tales,

I dismissed them to be farce.

But when my eyes met yours,

they fathomed it cannot be false.

My dainty mornings arise

with the sweet hope of seeing you.

My dusky evenings set

with the intoxication of having seen you.

The day I saw you

Mesmerizes me like the day of my dawn.

The words I spoke to you

echoes deep down inside my heart.

You made me

speak to the sea,

and

sham the concept of time.

You made me

bathe with the rain

and

celebrate the sun.

Childlike Joy

I twisted and curled in my bed.

Forget it. You are crazy, I said. 

I thought I would be able to tame, 

But my heart was not game. 

Yet again I was moonstruck. 

Could not say if it was good or bad luck. 

And when clock struck three,  

I thought I must let it free  

and stop the insane spree.  

I was so fixated that I would not rest. 

And went on as long as the joy would last, 

Till I got all the words right. 

And then when I was finally done, 

All I could say was... a-w-e-s-o-m-e! 

About this masterpiece from the maestro's son.

The above was what exactly happened just before, during, and after my attempt to translate the song Kadhal Vaithu... from Deepavali.
Coming soon... 

P.S.: After a few rounds of editing, I removed a few lines from the above piece to give it some twist... :-)

.
.
.
 Could not say if it was good or bad luck. 

Translation thoughts were firmly stuck.

And when clock struck three,  
I thought I must let it free  
and stop the insane spree. 

So I left the bed,

With the song looping in my head.

I was so fixated that I would not rest. 
.

.

.

Translation of Un Perai Sonnale from Dum Dum Dum

What is in Name?

All I say is your name, and sweetness takes over me.
Please do not depart me.
All I do is walk with you, and new blooms brim my path.
Would you not go with me?

Countless thoughts of you lurk in my mind,
ready and waiting to devour my life.

I shatter down, fleck by fleck, on the floor.
Oh dear, where are you?

I forget the consonants and the alphabets too.
And sooner, I turn dumb.

Like the child that is aware but yet teases the fire,
I hark back to think of you...
And the pain creeps through.

I tremble like the base and throb like a drum.

How can life and flesh be apart?

Is this fate or a way out?
Why throw thunder on a plant?
Don’t go away. Don’t go away…

My love!
Do you say this is not the reality, or that you do not remember?
Would you say who you are—my friend forever, or just a passer?
Utter the answer, my sweeter part.

Oh sanguine sun!
Why do you torment the moon?
Won't you tell me all your pain?
Why did you stir a storm, inside this red screw pine?
Won’t you tell me, oh divine?

Disclaimer: I hope that except for ‘I tremble like the base and throb like a drum,’ I have done justice to the rest of the words. If not, do let me know!

___

I am yet again on translations... This time it is my long-lost love—‘Un Perai Sonnale’ from ‘Dumm Dumm Dumm’. I wonder why and how I had missed this beautiful song? And even more of a wonder is why and how Karthik Raja has been missing his trains so much after such beauties in the movie. A real sparkle, this one and the song ‘Ragasiyamai’ is! And of course, both Sadhana Sargam and Unnikrishnan's parts and versions (in the same song) are on par and brimming with the right emotions. My only complaint is that, in the movie, the song is not visually complete. If it were, then I am sure we would at least get to see the song more often on air.

More wonderings…

Like asking ‘How can life and flesh be apart,’ I think I must also ask ‘How can music and words be apart?’

My love and thirst for the song was quenched when I was able to translate the words; but what do I do to the music. Alas, I cannot translate or render it!

Snack break

Just a few minutes ago, I had this urge or a kind of an obsessive compulsion to drink coffee from the new CCD vending machine. Of course, my mind and heart did not sing the same notes. My mind was mindful of the calories in the cup of coffee but my heart was with the pleasure in the sip. Just when I was leaving my seat, a conversation picked up and a while went by and I was again in two minds.

I thought aloud about my coffee thoughts and immediately, my friend offered me a box and asked me to snack it.

I looked the box-and-spoon setup eagerly. The spoon was lying supine on the chill steel box. It was resting stylishly, with its lower-head and mid-torso touching the box. The face of the spoon had some white particles and it deceived me into believing that it was a popular South-Indian snack called Puttu—not the piped version, but the powdered version. As opposed to the folks who know the Puttu that is cylindrical, I have always known it only by its powdered form. At least that is how my parents prepared it. For the unknown, whatever the shape of the Puttu is, it is primarily a steamed dish, with its main ingredients being coarsely powdered rice, grated coconut, and my version had sugar as well. If it is a rich man's version, then it had cashews sautéed in ghee.

So, I separated the couples—the spoon and the box, and went into the separation act a further beyond. I removed the lid of the box and in front of my eyes was something that looked very much like Puttu, but it was not snow-white. It was mid-way between white and cream, glistening, and it also had speckles of black sparsely placed.

As is the nature of anyone, I was first devouring the snack with my eyes, wondering how it would taste. Then, immediately, I spaded out a portion with the spoon and passed it on to my mouth. It was hard, like the cold truth as against the soft Puttu, which was like the sweet lie.

For sure it was not Puttu. But then, the glistening part was sugar and the black speckles were that of the coconut skin. So, with most of the constituents figured out, I now delved into understanding what the main part was. It was an enigma in a true sense!

As I was ruminating, the suspense was spread across, as the box travelled to the nearby bays—word-of-mouth marketing! More eyes and taste buds were now examining the make of the snack. The most common guesses of the eyes were that it was Puttu. Some of the buds said it was stale bread powered and garnished with coconut and sugar—that was certainly for the comic reliefs! More guesses came in and none came close to the actual. Finally the hands and mind that made it revealed that it was powdered Murukku (a snack made for Diwali with primary ingredients being urad and rice flour) mixed with all other constituents that most of them rightly guessed.

Later on, I checked to see how many Murukkus were powdered to make a box-full of snack. They were 25. In fact, it would make a good puzzle—how would you fit 25 Murukkus in a medium-sized box?

Altogether, the snack break was a success; kindling all the elements—break from monotony, food for mind and stomach, mild satisfaction for the taste-buds, humor, and all in the right mix.

Analogy

Love and Accidents

Are all around
Seen anywhere and anytime
Has no logic
Bound by fate
Follows no rules
Respects no rationale
Blindfolded
Mysterious
Dangerous
Soul-wrenching

--Inspired from the movie Engeyum Eppodhum

Imagery

Body = Wall
Food = Plaster Mixture
Exercise = Plasterer's Float


Thanks to... 
Dr. C. Saravanan MBBS, MS, MRCS, M.Ch (paed)

The Lane Story

The two-second sound and light play
Scene:
Lane 2 - In my fast-car, on the highway.
Lane 2 - A lady on a bike, just ahead.


Dialog:
Me: Honk Honk


She: Indicated the right way, 
with her blinkers
and moved to lane 1.

Food for thought...

Just behind me,
the blender was taking the life out of the fruits.
It was not the scream of the mixer, 
but 
the shrill of the fruits
like
the bleat of the butchered animals.

The Wind Rogue

This time...

The rains did not rain.

It was swept off its feet.

Not by romance but by force.

The clouds budded them fine 

but it could not bloom.

This time...

The clouds did not float.

It was being shoved around.

It was being chased

and could not save its grace.

Because,

the wind played rogue

teasing and rampaging,

the clouds and the rain.

And when it was all over,

darkness loomed...

Translation of Nee Korinaal from 180

The five-minute wonder!

Nee Korinaal is yet another beauty! Alright, in terms of what this time? A lyrical beauty, a visual beauty, and a musical treat. The format of the song just swept me off my feet: each line standing on its own, with absolutely no connection between its siblings and still making it a great song. The song has the male and female voices repeating a verse, each in a normal pitch and the second time, in a high and longish pitch. Seems like someone reads a secret the first time and the next time, revives it with their vocals. This happens for all the verses, expect the opening verse. A great song structure put in action by the music director, Sharreth. It is a wonder in so many senses--you must listen to appreciate the nuances of the song. In fact, the music arrangement compliments the lyrics as well as the voice, taking the lead only where required.

And Karthik and Swetha Mohan have just made this song scintillate, in terms of the way it has been sung. Especially the brilliant Swetha for the way she emotes, playing it low and high wherever and whenever required. Though Karthik gives a great opening with his endearing questions, Swetha has the last laugh. She is relentless even in places where she has to go on a low but steady and a breathless pitch, and gradually has to flight up for the re-opening verse that she sings after that. A perfect 10, like Nadia Comaneci, I would say.

So here is me gratifying my impulse--I dont know why, I often feel I want to devour the song, everytime I listen to this chirpy song--the translation of Nee Korinal from the movie 180 (Nootrenbadhu).


If you ask for, my sweetheart,
won't the sky change, forever?
won't the clouds patter, incessantly?

You seared my soul, my sunshine,
yet I see no fire around...

Now, don't shut your windows, oh ladylove,
and shy away from me.

You run away, oh poetry in motion,
from me, steadfast yet still...

Am I of the recluse clan to not caress you,
oh beautiful,
even after I set my eyes on you?

You are my reflecting self, oh silken flower,
I pray, do not wither away.

Your intoxicating lips invite me, oh alluring!
Come, let me have a sip of you.

Success

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

          ~ inaccurately attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson
             (http://www.transcendentalists.com/success.htm)

Notes

Somehow liked this quote a lot! It makes a lot of sense but we hardly put it to practice...

The palest ink is better than the best memory. - Chinese Proverb

Mazhai Varum... from Veppam - My rendition / translation

My eyes see the harbinger of rains,

but my heart seems to be drenching,

is this love or loss?

As I see the times of our togetherness unfurl before me,

I seem to be losing grip of the ground under me,

why is this so?

My eyes that brighten as I lean on your shoulders,

now look forlorn, looking for you.

The flowers that bloom by our path,

now look dismayed, waiting for your arrival.

The seed of our juvenile love

now has grown full-blown, all by itself

And, when at the bloom of a new flower,

I wonder who has plucked it.

I came by, tracing your footsteps,

Now I seem to have lost it and heading nowhere...

I had asked for beautiful times,

and someone just blessed me with tears in my eyes.

I had asked for the magical rainbows,

and someone just blessed my journey with sorrows.

This love is excruciating,

it burns me down together with my soul.