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U Atreya Sarma |
Have a good day,
sonny!
I had then rued I
had no time
To bask in the
refreshing sunrise
Or soak up the
serene sundown.
For I would simply
sleep into the home from work,
And wake up back
into the office, the next morn.
***
But now I have time
plenty to bid the sun
‘Good morning’ as well
as ‘Good evening’.
Yet my restless
errands in between are harried
By the pestilence
of pestering beggars
At the squares,
eateries, or temples.
The sunrise and the
sunset
Though copiously
available now
Aren’t cheering me
up, I sense.
They look just
jaded affairs of dreary
Mechanical moments
and movements.
Seeking out solace
I drive to a temple
Where I feel
greeted with a ‘Good morning’
By the unwelcome
beggars, old, scrawny,
Squatting outside with
weak, imploring looks.
Tucking a few
notes and coins
Out of the wallet into
my pockets,
I leave my sandals
out and wash my feet
Before stepping
into the sacred precincts.
Circumambulating
the sanctums,
I chime the bells
and bow to the gods.
My wife pitches in
suddenly
“We’ll go in for a
special puja.”
So I have to pull
out my wallet
And withdraw a few
more notes.
The budgeted coins
and notes
As well as the offerings
in kind
Duly find their respective
receptacles –
In the ticket
counter, the altar,
The camphor
platter, and the hundi.
But fazed is my focus
on the deities or my wishes,
As the skinny miserable
beggars
With their
nuisance, loom large in my mind.
We nibble some prasadam
and step out.
The two beggars still
staying on there
Are feebly mumbling
something.
And… involuntarily
I ease my wallet out
And drop a handful
of coppers
In their
near-empty bowls.
***
Back in the car,
my wife reminds me
Of my old but good
enough wardrobe
Which has gone
a-begging for a long time.
On reaching home I
pick out the things,
And drive back to
the temple
With the packages
heavy
But with a
lightened mind and heart.
Luckily, the two
beggars are still around,
And I place the
packets in their eager hands.
As I am driving
back home,
The sun peeping
through the glass
Seems to kiss me with
his rays and say
‘A small deed at
last! Have a good day, sonny!’
And everything I
do later on in the day
Sails through
smooth and soft, with no hitch.
As I sit in the
balcony sipping my six pm coffee,
The receding orb
of the ray-less sun casts a smile:
‘Hi, good evening!
And bye my dear!’
***
“Hi, good morning,
my dear cheering sun!
Thank you. How
true your greetings turned yesterday!”
It’s no longer the
badgering begging nuisance;
It’s the dawn of a
humanitarian sense.
Bio: U Atreya Sarma
Interested in literature, U Atreya Sarma is into writing poetry, freelance editing, book-reviewing and translating. His poems and writings (articles, editorials, reviews, forewords, translations) mostly in English and a sprinkling in Telugu – have appeared in various print/online media and anthologies. A freelance editor with 18 years of experience, he is Chief Editor of the Muse India e-journal (www.museindia.com) since Nov 2016, having joined its team since Nov 2009; he was Editor (Fiction) up to Mar-Apr 2017 issue; he handled its News & Events column also up to Sep 2017; and continues to handle Reviews and Telugu Literature sections. His past editorship includes Bharatiya Pragna monthly and Cyberhood weekly. He is the official critic of Metverse Muse, an international journal of metrical poetry from Visakhapatnam; and is on the Advisory Board of Teesta: An International Journal of Poetry.As Contributing Editor (Telugu Literature), he has so far presented four exhaustive features on Telugu Literature in Muse India.He composed in English the profiles of 132 modern Telugu Stalwarts for the bilingual book Marapuraani Maanikyaalu (2010) (with wordy & pictorial sketches in Telugu by BNIM, a noted writer & artist).Atreya Sarma has edited nine books: (1) Celebrating Creativity: HLF 2010 (An anthology of poems/ short stories by 76 writers); (2) Souvenir: HLF 2010; (3) Lung Care and Long Life by Dr Shyam Sunder Raj (2012); (4) Memoirs & Musings of an IAS Officer by KV Natarajan, IAS (Retd) (Menaka Prakashan, 2013); (5) Turquoise Tulips (a collection of short stories) by the USA-based Dr Ashok Patwari (Authors Press 2015); (6) Prolegomena and Transformative Articles on Literary Translation by Dr VVB Rama Rao (Authors Press, 2015); (7) Femininity: Poetic Endeavours (Authors Press, 2016); ‘Oka prasthaanam’ (р░Тр░Х р░к్р░░р░╕్р░еాр░иం) (translated into Telugu by Varanasi Nagalakshmi of ‘A Journey’ a collection of poems rendered into English by Mantha Ravi from Narendra Modi’s Gujarati original) (awaiting publication). And a fictional autobiography by Gian Singh Shatir (in the pipeline).Atreya Sarma has translated three books from Telugu into English. His translation of 16 Telugu short stories by a senior and prominent writer Dr Mallemala Venugopala Reddy under the title Salt of the Earth (2013) has been acclaimed by reviewers. As a panellist, he has translated into English 6 out of 36 chapters of Jnan Pith awardee Viswanatha Satyanarayana’s Telugu mega novel Veyipadagalu under the title Thousand Hoods, under the aegis of the Hyderabad based Viswanatha Sahitee Peetham (2015). His English translation of ‘Harisshva’ Dornadula Kesi’s unpublished Telugu manuscript as ‘The Mystery of the Eclipse Island’ (Vol. 1 of the multiple volume ‘Merciless Dark’) is awaiting publication. Apart from this, he has translated many individual poems, short stories and articles from Telugu into English.Atreya’s first collection of English poems, Sunny Rain-n-Snow, came out in May 2016.Atreya Sarma has been, since 2013, featuring and encouraging poets through his weekly column ‘Wordsmith’ in The Hans India, a Hyderabad based English daily.He has also guest-edited a Feature ‘India @ 70’ for the Aug 2017 issue of Setu magazine (http://www.segumag.com/p/setu-home.html).He holds an MA (English Litt), a PG Dip (Mass Communications & Telugu Translation Techniques), a BA (English Litt, Sanskrit Litt, History) and BSc (Botany, Zoology, Chemistry), and CAIIB (Part I) with mid-level managerial experience in SBI.He is a recipient of the “Setu Award for Excellence 2017” conferred by the Pittsburgh based Setu, a monthly bilingual online journal.While his home base is Hyderabad, Atreya Sarma lives between Hyderabad and Bengaluru.Email: atreyasarma@gmail.com
Looking at things in a new light does make the difference.
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Hema for bringing out the nuanced way of perception.
ReplyDeleteDeep and incisive!
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Gopal.
DeletePoignant poetry with glaring visual imagery. Enjoyable read, 'sonny' Atreya ji.
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Leo.
DeleteDawn of the humanitarian sense...this humane approach to a social dilemma we face is worth appreciation...begging is nuisance...beggars are not! Imagery and message both are commendable. Aalia Khan
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Aalia.
Delete