Wednesday 23 January 2013

Oru nurungu.


Oru nurungu

Chembarathiyila enna thechu kulichu,
thumpapoo chorum undu
mavinchottil, ammayariyathedutha mudanja-
olakal kondundakkiya kottarathil
aa odinja kaserayaya simhasanathil
irrunna chithrashalabhamam kuttikkalavum,
venalmazha pole vannupoya nombarangalum;
njanayi mariyathano nirangalum, vakkukalum
koottayivannathu?



 (An attempt to translate)

  An elfin muse.

The shower, with a little shoe-flower-leaves' oil,
a lunch with those thumpapoo flowers,
and when mom didn't see, stealthily,
the castle that we made with braided
coconut leaves, under the mango tree,
and the throne of that broken chair;
is it the butterfly like childhood
and the occasional summer-rain like sorrows,
that is, eventually the ‘me’ and the colors,
the words that befriended me?


This was something written for the foreign tongue prompt from dVerse. I was late. The first one is in MY OWN MALAYALAM, and my first attempt too. Hope the translation may do justice. Linking it with open link night.
Thumpapoo - Leuca indica flowers.  

12 comments:

  1. smiles...really cool flow to this....and some fun turns as well....cool to read your malay words as well...the butterfly like childhood...ha, yes that...smiles.

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  2. Sreeja, I enjoyed so very much reading the words in your language. All of them are such loonnnngggg words I find myself wondering if children have a lot of difficulty with spelling (smiles). I liked your translation too and picturing the mango tree and the coconut leaves! Nice.

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  3. The English translation is surely mesmerizing !!!

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  4. LOVE! Imagination grows! But I can not appreciate the language/translation because I do not know. How I would love to hear the sound!

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  5. What a coincident, today even I tried to write in English and Hindi simultaneously.

    Its beautiful like childhood dreams!

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  6. a castle made with braided coconut leaves..how cool is that...nice...and the MALAYALAM is way cool...

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  7. like the Malayalam one :)
    if u have time check my Malayalam blog : http://jidhusdiary.blogspot.com/

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  8. How beautiful...the wonderful memories of being a child and all its possibilities!

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  9. the castle that we made with braided
    coconut leaves, under the mango tree,

    Lovely! and the Malayalam words are so long! Would love to hear it read. :)

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  10. I love reading the words in your own language although I had no clue as to what it said until I read the translation. "the words that befriended me" I really like that. It describes a relationship with language...beautiful.

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  11. this is great. I love how the Malayalam adds an extra rhythm to the words. I find myself going back and forth between the translation and the original and am floored how cool the Malayalam sounds. So glad you posted this. THanks

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  12. "the words that befriended me"

    what better could happen to a poet? lovely, sreeja!

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