Pavada

Two more by Siva Reddy: A Dream & Burrow

by Crazyfinger

My excuse for the long gap in posting is the usual lamo one: too much work.  But honestly I did try my hand at one or two poems but it is depressing when they don't come out right.  At last I managed two Siva Reddy poems.  Both are from his collection of poems "Anthology of poems on woman" that I got recently.  I am not entirely sure if I got the "munagada deesukuni" in the 3rd line of Dream right.    

 

A Dream

She
Slept just like that
Snuggled in front like a puppy -
Over her
Summer seasons may pass
Rainy seasons may pass
Cold winds of winter may pass
But
The spring that arrived late
Just sat at her feet,

She slept just like that
As though someone bundled up
A long drawn dream and 
Forgot to take it while leaving 

Burrow

I have a way
I will crawl away into it
But, what does she have
Darkness without trails
All around iron walls dug in,
Nowhere she can go
Wherever she goes, 
It is back again to within -
In it is way too dark
Brooding, agonizing
Into the emptiness
Head split in 
Thousand empty pieces -
No choice
Each and everyone
Must search for himself
The burrow that leads
Out of life

The scanned copies of Telugu versions are below: Dream is "Oka Swapnam" (12 Dec 2007) and Burrow is "Sorangam" (3 Sept 2002).

 
 

Nesara: English Version

by Anu

An old favorite kannada song from the movie Kakana Kote.  Below is the transliteration and an attempt to translate into English.

nE saa ra nODu nEsara nODu

nEsaa ra nODu nEsara nODu  
mooDANa byliNda mElakke haari

doorada maleyA taleyaanE Eri
nE saa ra nODu nEsara nODu

nEsaa ra nODu nEsara nODu  
horaLitu iruLu beLakina gooDu

tereyitu noDu beLagitu nADu
nE saa ra nODu nEsara nODu

nEsaa ra nODu nEsara nODu  

**

Look at the sun, look at the sun

Look at the sun, look at the sun
Flying high across the eastern plains

Climbing atop the faraway mountain peak
Look at the sun, look at the sun

Look at the sun, look at the sun
Night’s darkness has moved on,

See, the luminous cave has opened
The land has brightened.

Look at the sun, look at the sun.

Poem by Siva Reddy (and remembering Bhargavi P. Rao)

by Crazyfinger

Two discoveries this week brought me back into the folds of re-collecting.  First I found out on the internet that Bhargavi P Rao had passed away a while ago.  I still remember talking to her about "The Gift of Magi," the O. Henry story.  Wasn't it only in 2007 that I ran into her at the airport...?  What happened?   

The second discovery was K. Siva Reddy, the Telugu poet for this post.  I could only find this to link to online, this Introduction to the collection of translations of a few of his poems.  Fascinating to read he taught English at V.V. Degree college between 1967 and 1999.  So in my school days at V.V. High School, I would have run into him.  More poignant, a cousin of mine who was a student at the degree college - were he alive today - would surely have recalled him.  

Here is my English version of his Telugu poem "Oka Nelavanka." (One crescent moon).  The scan of Telugu version from his collection, below.

Crescent Moon

Arms and legs
Thrown this way and that way
As though not hers
She sat

Like a concrete heap
Driven in way back when
On the road side 
Is she in this world, don't know
As though she was swimming inwardly
As though unable to know which shore to reach
As though like an ocean parching
Somewhere beyond the sunset
Unaware of anything

Wind rustling in the hair
Drawing crazy lines on her forehead

The cheap ring on the finger
Bringing back some memory

With a gentle palm on its head
Caressing the dog that 
Wagging its tail
Sat next to her 
A faint smile in the corner of lips
Appearing playfully, like a 
Crescent moon not quite yet