by Crazyfinger
One more Telugu poet discovery I made last week: Kalpana Rentala. She blogs too, though infrequently. Below is the English version of her Telugu poem, "Rahasya Vaana," which means "secret (rahasya) rain (vaana)." I don't think "Secret Rain," makes sense for the title in English.
Telugu original at Kalpana Rentala blog here.
The last four lines are very tricky, and I don't quite see yet how I could write them in English in any other way. Something is lost, not seen in the English words below, a sort of a feeling of a heart that just began to race its beat at the onrush of a desire, that feeling is lost, I think. The "let us seize a little, come here," actually appears as the last line in the original Telugu. More important, the last two-word pair in the Telugu original, "itu randi," is addressing the someone in plural "you" form - which gives a sense that this calling is by a wife to a husband. It doesn't have to be. My point is that, that particular detail is missing in English. For a man reading this poem, reading the last two words in Telugu will most certainly elevate the soft feeling; these final two words will at once surprise him pleasantly, perhaps even a feeling of subdued strangeness will come over him. Nothing stirs a man with an inexplicable wonderment more than a feeling of love directed at him from a woman. That feeling which visits him from outside is, for him, not exactly the same as the one he feels for his woman. In feeling for a woman, a man is in his natural solipsistic self, in other words he is full of himself. But such a visitation almost always takes him out of his skin - or threatens to such a possibility - and I think that just might be at the root of a gentle discomfort he feels, and prepares him for the love. Jeez...did I write that...:- )
Furtive Torrent
The eyes can still hear
Those footstep sounds
Of the raindrops
The ears can still see
That windswept beat
Of the window pane
The unrest within
Is still caressing the cheek
The wet mark
Is still knocking the ocean's door
There no one mingles with anyone now
The furtive torrent that spares nothing for anyone
Is emanating the youth
Agitating the desires
Let us seize a little, come here
That, so hard to let out-of-hand, seclusion
That, unable to be near-at-hand, body
That, moistening it like a fire, rain
--
On author background, I haven't had time to dig up enough about the poets to write an introduction but here is an overview by Ismail (the poet): "Sixty Years of Telugu Poetry: A telugu retrospective," that is quite good. I may have to hit the Creative Commons for the visuals since all my pictures are in black-and-white and I haven't found anything appropriate in them yet.
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