09-"enganam SenRirundIr?"
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https://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=202358#p202358
by arasi »
NINE
Enganam SenRirundIr?
(Where have you been?)
As days went by, police vigilance on Bharathi and other svadESis increased. Gradually, money orders and letters stopped coming and the letters they sent from Puduvai got burnt at Vizhuppuram--someone who worked in the post office informed us. During such difficult times, Bharathi wanted to send the first part of PAnjAli Sabadam to the press for a reprint. Copies of the first edition had either been sold or were given away by Bharathi as gifts. He could not locate the manuscript either. He came to our house to ask Aiyya (my father) and Iyer if they had a copy. They did not.
Iyer said, "Bharathi, how could you do this? Why didn't you save a copy for yourself?"
Bharathi: I thought I had one. Never mind. I will rewrite it. It may not turn out to be as good. Still, I can do it.
Aiyya: Let's ask the children. They sometimes save books because they find the cover illustrations attractive.
Bharathi called me and asked if I had a copy.
I said I did but was not sure if I should part with it. I added, "I once gave you Adi Parvam and you lent it to someone and it did'nt come back!"
"I will give you a new copy of Adi Parvam. I will give you a brand new copy of PAnjAli Sabadam too!", he pleaded.
I said I did not want a new one but wanted this one back. Bharathi agreed.
I did not get the book back. On the first page of the book, Bharathi had written: to SowbhAyavathi Yadugiri with affection--Subrahmanya Bharathi.
Bharathi gave me a copy of his books whenever they came out--even the ones he wrote in English. Va ve Su gave me Mangaiyarkkarasi, Chandra gupthan and other books but he did not autograph them.
I did not fully understand it then, but when I look back, I wonder how Bharathi's household could have survived in those hard times.
I asked my father why Bharathi was not writing anything now.
"He has other things on his mind", was his answer. When I at last heard Bharathi's voice in our house, I ran up the stairs like a SAtakA bird to see him. He was happy to see me and asked me to sit next to him. He said, "Look at her! She's more eager today to hear my verses than ever!"
Sri Sri said (Yadugiri refers to her father as Ayya (Dad) too at times--Arasi), "Yadugiri has been asking me why you don't write much poetry these days. I told her you are busy with other things."
Bharathi: Fiddlesticks! Rajaraman (a friend of Bharathi in Puduvai. Editor's note says: look up the opening lines of the poem Guru darSanam in bhArathi aRubaththiARru) asked me to check his father's translation of the Upanishads.That took nearly three months! Well, I've composed a Sarasvathi stOTram today."
He sang to us "enganam SenRirundIr?" in the noNDich chindu mode. Va ve su arrived soon after. Bharathi sang it again for him.
Va ve su: Bharathi! Excellent! You have invested all the inspiration of the past few months in these fine verses!
Sri Sri: bharathi alone has the gift of implying a hundred meanings in a single word!
Bharathi: Let's see. The four of us make it all complete. You say I"m a good poet. I say you are an excellent writer, Iyer is the best translator there is and we know there is no equal to Babu (Arabindo) in translating the vEdAs.
Sri Sri: Bharathi, Good times are around the corner. Let's not get impatient. These are hard times.
Va ve su: When the celestials churned the milky ocean, it was poison that came out of it first. When we walk a new path, there will be obstacles. Our lot is a true example of that. Those who do not fall apart but put their minds to achieving their goal, are bound to attain AmrutA.
Bharathi: We do not get any letters from home. Chellamma wants to go back.
Sri Sri: I can understand her. Oh, you have sung Sarasvathi stOtram today. Just wait till tomorrow! You will get some news from swadESamitran.
The next day, Chellamma came to our house. She was in a happy mood. She said, "Glad news! We got a letter from SvadESamitran asking for another article. We also received all the money which was pending the past three months. Yadugiri, what your Aiyya said yesterday came true!''
I said, "Bharathi says you want to go back home. I was wondering. Are you expecting?"
Chellamma said, "No, I'm not. God doesn't test us to the extreme. Yadugiri, these two girls are more than enough. I don't need another child to add to the troubles."
"Don't you want a son?"
"What's a son going to do for me which the daughters won't? Look at him! He wears no pUNUl (holy thread), does not perform tharppaNam (rites for the departed parents) and with all this, I have the need for a son to do my last rites?"
"Why doesn't BharathiyAr wear a pUNUl?"
"He removed it after Thangamma was born. He contended that only those who do yAgams and yagnyams deserve to wear them! When the priest brought a new one, he gave it back to him!"
By then, BharathiyAr arrived. We walked together. Chellamma told him of the questions I had asked.
"A boy? It's said: puthrAt Sata guNam puthri. In English they say, a son is a son until he takes a wife but a daughter is a daughter for life. What have I done at all for my father? As if I need a son!"
Around eight, we returned home after talking about many things. There was a tinge of bitterness and indifference in all that Bharathi said that day.
* * * * *
continued at
Enganam SenRirundIr?
(Where have you been?)
As days went by, police vigilance on Bharathi and other svadESis increased. Gradually, money orders and letters stopped coming and the letters they sent from Puduvai got burnt at Vizhuppuram--someone who worked in the post office informed us. During such difficult times, Bharathi wanted to send the first part of PAnjAli Sabadam to the press for a reprint. Copies of the first edition had either been sold or were given away by Bharathi as gifts. He could not locate the manuscript either. He came to our house to ask Aiyya (my father) and Iyer if they had a copy. They did not.
Iyer said, "Bharathi, how could you do this? Why didn't you save a copy for yourself?"
Bharathi: I thought I had one. Never mind. I will rewrite it. It may not turn out to be as good. Still, I can do it.
Aiyya: Let's ask the children. They sometimes save books because they find the cover illustrations attractive.
Bharathi called me and asked if I had a copy.
I said I did but was not sure if I should part with it. I added, "I once gave you Adi Parvam and you lent it to someone and it did'nt come back!"
"I will give you a new copy of Adi Parvam. I will give you a brand new copy of PAnjAli Sabadam too!", he pleaded.
I said I did not want a new one but wanted this one back. Bharathi agreed.
I did not get the book back. On the first page of the book, Bharathi had written: to SowbhAyavathi Yadugiri with affection--Subrahmanya Bharathi.
Bharathi gave me a copy of his books whenever they came out--even the ones he wrote in English. Va ve Su gave me Mangaiyarkkarasi, Chandra gupthan and other books but he did not autograph them.
I did not fully understand it then, but when I look back, I wonder how Bharathi's household could have survived in those hard times.
I asked my father why Bharathi was not writing anything now.
"He has other things on his mind", was his answer. When I at last heard Bharathi's voice in our house, I ran up the stairs like a SAtakA bird to see him. He was happy to see me and asked me to sit next to him. He said, "Look at her! She's more eager today to hear my verses than ever!"
Sri Sri said (Yadugiri refers to her father as Ayya (Dad) too at times--Arasi), "Yadugiri has been asking me why you don't write much poetry these days. I told her you are busy with other things."
Bharathi: Fiddlesticks! Rajaraman (a friend of Bharathi in Puduvai. Editor's note says: look up the opening lines of the poem Guru darSanam in bhArathi aRubaththiARru) asked me to check his father's translation of the Upanishads.That took nearly three months! Well, I've composed a Sarasvathi stOTram today."
He sang to us "enganam SenRirundIr?" in the noNDich chindu mode. Va ve su arrived soon after. Bharathi sang it again for him.
Va ve su: Bharathi! Excellent! You have invested all the inspiration of the past few months in these fine verses!
Sri Sri: bharathi alone has the gift of implying a hundred meanings in a single word!
Bharathi: Let's see. The four of us make it all complete. You say I"m a good poet. I say you are an excellent writer, Iyer is the best translator there is and we know there is no equal to Babu (Arabindo) in translating the vEdAs.
Sri Sri: Bharathi, Good times are around the corner. Let's not get impatient. These are hard times.
Va ve su: When the celestials churned the milky ocean, it was poison that came out of it first. When we walk a new path, there will be obstacles. Our lot is a true example of that. Those who do not fall apart but put their minds to achieving their goal, are bound to attain AmrutA.
Bharathi: We do not get any letters from home. Chellamma wants to go back.
Sri Sri: I can understand her. Oh, you have sung Sarasvathi stOtram today. Just wait till tomorrow! You will get some news from swadESamitran.
The next day, Chellamma came to our house. She was in a happy mood. She said, "Glad news! We got a letter from SvadESamitran asking for another article. We also received all the money which was pending the past three months. Yadugiri, what your Aiyya said yesterday came true!''
I said, "Bharathi says you want to go back home. I was wondering. Are you expecting?"
Chellamma said, "No, I'm not. God doesn't test us to the extreme. Yadugiri, these two girls are more than enough. I don't need another child to add to the troubles."
"Don't you want a son?"
"What's a son going to do for me which the daughters won't? Look at him! He wears no pUNUl (holy thread), does not perform tharppaNam (rites for the departed parents) and with all this, I have the need for a son to do my last rites?"
"Why doesn't BharathiyAr wear a pUNUl?"
"He removed it after Thangamma was born. He contended that only those who do yAgams and yagnyams deserve to wear them! When the priest brought a new one, he gave it back to him!"
By then, BharathiyAr arrived. We walked together. Chellamma told him of the questions I had asked.
"A boy? It's said: puthrAt Sata guNam puthri. In English they say, a son is a son until he takes a wife but a daughter is a daughter for life. What have I done at all for my father? As if I need a son!"
Around eight, we returned home after talking about many things. There was a tinge of bitterness and indifference in all that Bharathi said that day.
* * * * *
continued at
Note: There are two words in the translation which I want to bring to your attention: 1. Song (and sing, too) which in Tamizh is pATTu (pADudal). We use the word both for a poem (and the recitation of one) and for a song (and for singing it). In Bharathi's case, he does both!
2. avar, ivar: a wife refers to her husband as avar and ivar, since women did not call their husbands or refer tothem by their names.
Last edited by arasi on 16 Jul 2011, 00:18, edited
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