Translation: Telugu poems

Translated from Telugu by T. S. Chandra Mouli

No Answers?

 ---- Mukunda Rama Rao Yellapu

Is poetry like a camera
depicting diversity
despite numerous clicks?
When the shutters of eyes fold,
casements of dreams unfold!
Look, dreams visit with velocity of light.
In the city no tree can grow as in a forest
don’t you know
there are restrictions for everything?

How many pieces of flesh
of trees in a forest once,
make frames in homes?
How many ancestors
formed foundation for the world?

Silence relates in which language?
Breeze hangs on to which hue?
Does a river realize its own bed?
Does a spider know how a web is spun?
Is canvas conscious of
the picture it bears?
Is any organism aware
when its last breath is born?

***

Who Am I?

 --- Yakoob 

I need to finalise a lot
you decide what is my religion soon.
You declare my sky, earth, the sun and the moon quickly
Tell me correctly, whether you bury me or cremate.
Draw a line or picture on my face
looking through your lenses, using yardsticks.
In a world where my birth lace remains unknown
every dust bin owns me.
Every desire,a faith that disowns me.
I just don’t know who am I
dear friends, you have your estimates
correctly evaluate who I am!
Those that examine my hands
those that attribute religion to my breath
those that relate my lament to some scripture---
you are not my men!

What your history or religious books taught unnecessary now
I need  a little space to sit amidst people
I long for a loving soul
I yearn  for a morsel of food to douse my hunger
I want  a few drops of water to slake my thirst.
I belong to the religion of birds and animals
no energy now to detail further.
Which religion relates to my birth
how far I know?
No proof available to tell truly
which kind lady gave me birth under some roof,
how I was flung into some dustbin.
I have neither historical records nor ballads
to probe the remote reasons and eras
to confirm place of my birth or reason for it.
I know how to imagine
but not how to confuse
whoever offers food when I am hungry is my man
I can place my bonds and brethren.
Answers to my questions unfold slowly
My decisions, my life---
all emerge from my thoughts now on!
***

Instant Surge of Emotion!

 ---Renuka Ayola

On the T.V. screen
a girl cries for justice
whatever be the injustice,
controversy alone is aired.
Red faced system looks furtively
recites regular verses on virtues,
traditions, culture, good and bad,
man-woman relationships.
That girl’s sorrow shattered
in the sword swirling society---
As whats-app clips crawl
sans clothes on the screen,
as drooling eyes rejoice
home of humanity vanished
amidst violence and cruelty.
You ruffians , she is a girl
a member of our family---
what purpose clothes serve?
When eyes slash, even a sari gets shredded!
Don’t kill cruelly
don’t ravage every inch
a girl has not only a body
freedom too!
Flinging a veil on freedom’s face
drawing lines of her anatomy
with stumps of your hands
smear not colours
choking her, scoundrels!
***

Awaiting the Day

---Dr A.V. Veerabhadrachari

Abandoning  all work
awaiting  your arrival dear friend,
despite weariness, surging anger,
just like that
with wide open eyes
rooted to the spot shown by you
with my legs as pillars
I stayed there.
What for you know?
Fragrance of your kindness, affection,
the regard you extend to friendship
I can never forget, never!
How many persons possess
your open hearted nature?
No semblance between you and
those shirkers offering lame excuses.
Looking at you  for what you are
I forget myself!
Poetry brought us together
temperament  fused our friendship
Whether  I visit SriSailam or Simhachalam,
 Bhadrachalam or Bhimavaram
past memories embrace
making me breathless!
Looking at spiralling corruption
with a heavy heart
on the podium you stated
a day will be there
for hanging all, one after the other!
With bated breath
people await the day!
***

---

SETU Bionote:

Mukunda Rama Rao Yellapu:
Mukunda Rama Rao Yellapu, from Hyderabad, is a well-known and prolific Telugu poet-writer-critic-translator with 18 books to his credit. Two volumes of poetry have been translated into English and Kannada.  His poems, articles and reviews have been published in leading newspapers, magazines and journals both print and online. His work has been well commented upon in 9 books of literary criticism. He has been interviewed by AIR and leading TV channels. He is the recipient of four prestigious awards. Basically an IT professional, he retired as Senior Project Manager from Hewlett Packard, Bengaluru in Dec, 2006. He lives in Hyderabad.

Email: mukundaramarao@hotmail.com
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Kavi Yakoob:
Kavi Yakoob is a well-known name in the world of Telugu literature, a poet, researcher, writer and singer by choice and natural propensities. Published 4 anthologies of Telugu poetry , edited twelve books and has authored eight books on Literary Criticism. He was honoured with several awards over the years. He is also founder of Kavisangamam, a Telugu Poetry forum.Founder of Rottamaku Revu Poetryspace Foundation (RRPF)Currently, he is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Telugu, in Hyderabad.

Email: kaviyakoob62@gmail.com
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Renuka Ayola:
Psuedonym of Renuka Ayyala Somayajula. Published 3 anthologies of poetry and 1 anthology of short stories in Telugu. Received 8 awards for her work. Rational and feminist approaches distinguish her creativity.

Contact- 9676853987

E mail:renuka.ayola@gmail.com
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A. V. Veerabhadrachari:
A perceptive writer he published 4 anthologies of poetry,3 books of literary criticism, a biography, a book on Vastu and Jyotishyam[astrology].Received D.Litt  from Banares Hindu University, Varanasi.He lives in Hyderabad.

Contact No: 91-939131086.
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Translator’s Bionote:

T. S. Chandra Mouli, an academic , poet, translator and critic, is a Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society, Great Britain and Ireland. With 3 books of poems in English to his credit, he published 26 books [19 edited anthologies of literary criticism and 7 authored works]. He completed translation assignments for institutions of higher learning.
His poems in English and translations of Telugu poetry and fiction are extensively published. He is the Chief Editor of VIRTUOSO, a Refereed Transnational Bi-Annual Journal of Language and Literature in English, approved by U.G.C.

Vice Chairman of AESI [Association of English Studies in India] for a second term, Dr Mouli made panel presentations in International Conferences in universities in China, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, U.K, France and Sri Lanka.

Address:
Dr T.Sai Chandra Mouli
Plot No A/93,Bapuji Nagar, Nacharam, Hyderabad-500076, INDIA.
Email: tscmouli@hotmail.com; tsmouli@hotmail.com
Phone: +91 984 900 5304

Setu, April 2018