I am not a person who is into literary works or the highly intellectual kind of Tamizh poetry. Yet- the language shines , even in simple film music lyrics.
For instance,
"VeLLai PookaL ulagam engum malarhavae!!
vidiyum Bhoomi amaidhikaaga vidihavae!!
manmel manjal veluchcham vizhuhavae!!
malarae sombal muRiththu ezhuhavae!!
kuzhanthai vizhikattumae
Thaayin katha kathappil
ulagam vidiyattumae
piLLayin sirumugha siRippil
VeLLai PookaL ulagam engum malarhavae!!
vidiyum Bhoomi amaidhikaaga vidihavae!!
kaatrin perisaiyil mazhai paadum paadangalum
oru maunam poal inbam tarumooOO
koadi keertanamum kavi koartha vaarthaiygalum
thuLi kaNNer poal arththam tharumo
VeLLai PookaL ulagam engum malarhavae!!
vidiyum Bhoomi amaidhikaaga vidihavae!!
yengusiru kuzhanthai than kaigal neetidumo
angu thondrayo koLLai nilavae
enghu manidha Inam poar oyinthu sayinthidumo
angu koovadho veLLai kuyilae
VeLLai PookaL ulagam engum malarhavae !!
vidiyum Bhoomi amaidhikaaga vidihavae!!"
What brilliance in the imagery!!The language offers so much to those who want to be creative- those who want to delve into beautiful nuances .I am not even going to attempt to translate this piece- for it will lose its brilliance.
The back drop for this song is -- a man yearning for peace in his home country. Wishing with all his might, that his country will wake up to all the happy thing in life.
In the same movie, there is another gem-
"Vidai kodu ENGAL naade kadal vaasal thelikkum veede
panaimara kaade paravaigal koode marumurai orumurai paarpoma
uthadil punnahai puthaithom
uyirai udambukkul puthaithom
verum koodugal mattum oorvalam pogindrom "
Sheer emotion-the backdrop for this song is a bunch of people ( Tamils in this case) , forced to vacate their home country ( Lanka) beacause of the war waging in ther land.
The above verse translates to
"Bid Adieu to us , our mother land..
Our home-where the sea washes our front yard..
palm trees and birds nests- will we ever see you again?
We lost our smiles in our lips..
We burried our soul and life into our bodies.
We are just skeletons going on a procession"
Even as I translate this, I know I havent done justice to the language.It is packed with so much emotion, that it brings a tear to your eye.
Another favorite of mine is a song from Aayutha yezhuthu-- this one is filled with raw passion of two lovers.
"yaakkai thiri kaadhal sudar anbae
jeevan nadhi kaadhal kadal nenjae
piRavi pizhai kaadhal thiruththam nenjae
irudhayam kal kaadhal siRpam anbae"
This roughly translates to-
"Body is the wick and love is the light (lamp?)
Soul(life?) is a river and love is the ocean
Birth is a fault (mistake?)- love is the correction...
Heart is a stone and love is the statue carved from it..."
Again, I havent done justice to the original poetry ...
Most people appreciate english songs and poetry- but I havent come across an english song that even comes close to what Tamizh can do.
I wish I was proficient enough in this beautiful language of mine to read the ancient prose and poetry. If this is what the contemporary poetry is like, I cant even begin to imagine how profound the ancient poetry should have been...
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4 years ago
6 comments:
Appreciate it Ramya!!!!!
In my 3 months of stay in US,I can handpick the nunmber of Indians who acknowledge their nationality.
Indians are such a confused lot of ppl once they come here.They lack a feeling of pride in who they are.
Consider the growing number of Indian families[the great Indian middle class] that embrace English as the medium of communication within the family!!!Tht definitely sends wrong signals.The westerners speak English at home bcos its "their" language.Y r ppl ashamed to be called "amma or appa"..I dont make claims that India and all kinds of Indianisms are the best on earth,but,y do ppl want to dessert their original identitry and go for a new one????
One of my colleagues happily joked with a couple of westerners that Indian hens dint qualify to KFC standards.Fact or not,am not worried,but I really dint understand wat made her joke abt it.She wouldnt let down her MOther in front of others,then y ur mother country???Its good to apreciate ,be tolerant towards and even adapt other customs or traditions but i shun letting down one's mother country/language/watever that means his orginial identity.Am not an extremist or a fanatic,just an Indian with a whole lot of questions for her people.
Meena.
I wish I understood Tamil too :-(
@ Meena,
Very very true.You have inspsired me into doing another post on this. will post soon.
@ JLT,
Hehe.. I know you are Mallu..I wish I understood Mallu too-bcos I am a half mallu.My dad's a keralite-but his family came to Tamizh nadu 3 generations ago and so, we dont even speak malayalam at my grandparents house ( just the odd usages-like "chamandhi" and "cherriamma")..I can understand conversational malayalam and reply in "butler" malayalam.. but not the pure version of it.
u mean DHAMIL ??
i am so thrilled to see this post! I do this all the time- I marvel at the beauty of Tamil lyrics and struggle with words I dont understand.
a few others I just play over and over in my head - kannathil muthamittal (the song), poongkatrile (uyire), sandhosha kanneere(uyire) - and thats only the beginning.
K's mom,
welcome welcome :).All the songs you have mentioned are gems.Tamizh rocks!
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