The Revelation - Poem with Telugu Original

 The Revelation

“If this alliance gets settled

I want to rent an apartment

And live with you”

“Father, I don’t know, right now

Studies and research are important.

May not get time to buy vegetables.”

“Recently doctor checked

My cholesterol, a bit high

He said”

Umm

“Do you have to make any

Changes in food?”

Those days, father used to eat

Only once in a day, that too with very little oil

What cholesterol? What readings?

(Some) new problems!

“Can’t do this job any more, dear.

May go to Rajahmundry and work

As a busboy in a mess or hotel”

Certain things aren’t in our hands

Fate is very powerful

Nonetheless, plenty of intentional

Or unintended mistakes

Umpteen mistakes, of my own make

Indeed

“Dear, try to remember with affection

Your parents, grand, great grand parents

All (departed ones) on both sides”

Streams of tears flowed from the eyes

Incessantly

Old memories, emotional tides -

They’ve moved, melted away

The sensitive lacquer like heart

That is why one must

Read widely and learn things

Must read in younger days:

The holy accounts of Sravana Kumar,

Markandeya, Puru-Yayati

Mother’s advice is like the nourishing

Breakfast

Any day, in any age

(It’s healthy and rejuvenating)

 సత్య దర్శనము                                                          

“ఈ సంబంధము నిశ్చయమైతే

ఇక్కడో ఇల్లు తీసుకొని నీతో ఉంటాను”

“ఎమో నాన్న, ఇప్పుడు

చదువు, రీసెర్చి ముఖ్యము. కూరలు కొనడానికి తీరిక లేదు"

    

"ఈ మధ్యన డాక్టరు  టెస్టు చేసి

కొలస్ట్రాలు ఎక్కువ అన్నారు"

Umm

"ఏమన్నా మార్పులు చెయ్యలా తిండిలో?"

ఆరోజుల్లోనాన్నగారిది ఒంటిపూట భోజనము

నూనెచాల తక్కువ. ఏం కొలెస్ట్రాలు ఏంటో 

క్రొత్తబాధలు!

“ఇంక ఈ ఉద్యోగం చెయ్యలేనురా, బాబు

రాజమండ్రివెళ్లి ఏదో మెస్, హోటల్లో

సర్వర్ గా పనిచేస్తానేమో”

కొన్ని విషయాలు మన చేతుల్లో లేవు 

విధి చాలా బలీయము 

అప్పటికీ తెలిసీ తెలియక చేసిన 

నా తప్పులు, లోపాలు

ఎన్నో, కోకొల్లలు

“నాయనా, మీ తల్లితండ్రుల్ని, తాత ముత్తాతలని 

మీ వంశము రెండు వైపులా అందరిని ప్రేమతో

తలుచుకో” 

తెరపులేని ధారలు రెండు కళ్ళలోంచి కారాయి

పాత జ్ఞాపకాలు, భావోద్వేగాలు

కదిపి కరిగించేసింది ఆ లక్క హృదయాన్ని

అందుకనే చదవాలి, నేర్చుకోవాలి

చిన్నప్పుడే శ్రవణ కుమారుని, మార్కండేయుని, పురు-యయాతిల పావన చరితాలు 

తల్లి మాటలు చద్ది మూటలు 

ఏ రోజైనా, ఏ యుగమైనా  Copyright 2019 by the author

Tera Tiyara Tirupati Song - Telugu Lyrics

రచయత: ఆత్రేయ 

గాయకుడు: పద్మ విభూషణ డా. బాలమురళీకృష్ణ 

తెర తీయరా తిరుపతి దేవరా

తెర తీసి నీ వెలుగు కిరణాలు ప్రసరించి 

మా లోని తిమిరాలు హరియించి మము బ్రోవరా మా భూవరా

సంపంగి చంపక పూగ పున్నాగ

పూలంగి సేవలో పొద్దంత (ప్రొద్దంత) చూడగ

నీపైని మోహము నిత్యమూ సత్యమై

అహము పోదోలురా ఇహము చేదౌనురా ఆ ఆ ఆహా …  

ఏలా లవంగాలు పచ్చ కర్పూరాలు

కలిపిన ఆకాశ గంగా జలముతో

అభిషేక మొనరించు అపురూప (పు) సమయాన

నేత్ర దర్శన మొసఁగ రా, మా కళ్ళు తెరిపించరా 

హారతి ఇచ్చే వేళ ఆశ్చర్యమున మేము ఎన్నెన్నొ 

రూపాలు నీలోన చూతుము -

శివుడవూ (వో), భవుడవూ(వో) మాధవుడవూ(వో) నీవు

పరతత్వమును తెలుపరా , పరమ పదమును చూపరా

tera tiiyaraa tirupati dEvaraa

tera tIsi velugu kiraNaalu chuupinchi

maa lOni timiraalu hariyinchi mamu brovaraa maa bhuuvaraa

sampangi champaka puuga punnaaga

puulangi sEvalO poddanta (proddanta) chuuDaga

nIpaini mOhamu nityamuu satyamai

ahamu pOdOluraa ihamu chEdaunuraa

Elaa lavangaalu paccha karpuuraalu

kalipina aakaaSa gangaa jalamutO

abhishEka monarinchu apuruupa samayaana

nEtra darSana mosagaraa, maa kaLLu teripincharaa 

haarati ichchae vaeLa aaScharyamuna maemu ennenno 
roopaalu neelOna chootumu -
Sivudavuu (vO), bhavuDavuu(vO), maadhavuDavuu(vO) niivu

paratatvamunu chuuparaa, parama padamunu chuuparaa

Remembering Mahatma Gandhi

Remembering Mahatma Gandhi on October 2, 2019

(150^th Birth Anniversary)

On this glorious anniversary day of Gandhiji, here are a few stories and aphorisms:

            In his school days, he succumbed to the influence of his friends to pick up the habit of meat eating.  In the American context, such influences and adolescent hiccups are euphemistically termed as "peer pressure".  The teenager Gandhi, after gathering considerable courage tasted goat meat.  His friend bandied the usual argument like this: "Indians are weak people, because they do not eat meat.  Try eating meat, it will give strength.  The Britishers are strong because they eat meat."  On that first day of meat eating, in the sleep Gandhi had nightmares.  He felt that he saw a bleating goat inside the stomach.  That is a fertile imagination of a young boy.  Due to his sensitive nature, and due to the great respect for his parents, he gave up meat eating.  He thought that lying to his parents about meat eating would be a greater sin.  In a similar vein, the young Gandhi was saved from smoking, stealing, etc. by his inner strength and sincerity; by the care provided by his parents and nurse.

            In South Africa, as a brown barrister, Gandhi could not get a haircut.  In those apartheid days, the barber would cut the hair of only white people.  Gandhi bought a clipper, he could cut the front locks with the clipper, but back hair was difficult to cut.  So he went to the court with a shabby hair cut.  His friends ridiculed; but Gandhi just told the truth.  How many of us have the guts to walk in the street with a ragged haircut nonchalantly?  One can already gleam traces of extraordinary courage of a would-be Mahatma; also we can see his total disregard to unnecessary superficial social customs.

            Although Gandhiji's "Satyagraha" - is often termed as non-violence, non-cooperation movement - such words do not connote the true meaning, nor do they convey the true purport of "Satyagraha".  Tracing its origins to Samskrit (Sanskrit), Satyagraha¹ means, "true firmness or true anger" i.e., believing in ones righteous cause and rejecting oppression.  A number of second and third-rate imitations of Gandhiji's non-violent movements earned Nobel peace prize. The Nobel peace committee still regrets its omission of peace prize for Gandhi.  But who cares?  His own people had showered on Gandhi a number of titles to show their love and respect:  Bapuji, Father of the Nation, and Mahatma.

            Before adult literacy became a fashion and decades before Paulo Freire (the Brazilian educationist in 1970s), Gandhiji initiated a drive for educating the illiterate masses of Indian villages - this was way back in 1934.  Pundits and elites may quibble about his personality, queer habits such as embalming with mudpacks, hydrotherapy, or drinking goat’s milk.  But no one can dispute that he trail blazed a number of revolutions against colonialism, racism, and violence.  Now people go gaga over alternate therapy but the Mahatma tried naturotherapy on himself and others long ago! Be it public sanitation, personal hygiene, frugality, or sustainable living, Gandhiji was way ahead of the time.

Selected Aphorisms

Politics without principles, Gandhi said, is a deadly sin that contributes to violence.

                       

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism, or the holy name of liberty, or democracy?

Ends never justify the means

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote the freedom to err.

The woes of the Mahatmas are known only to the Mahatmas.

Sarojini Naidu" if only Bapu knows the cost of setting him up in poverty" (This remark came after totaling all the expenses incurred on behalf of Mahatma’s travel in a third class railway compartment. It included things like putting a mat, a spinning wheel, etc.)

The Swedish economist, Gunnar Myrdal called Gandhi "Enlightened Liberal".

Let me conclude with a quotation by Albert Einstein on hearing his death:

"Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth".

1. (aagraha = attack, persistence, force, courage, seizing)

(A version of this article was originally posted at Sulekha. It received sizeable readership and a small reward. My friend and I were lucky to see Gandhi’s historical documents, personal effects, his spinning wheel, and reading glasses via a traveling exhibition at Kakinada Port station. Later I visited his memorial in Delhi and spent a day in Wardha ashram. Wearing a simple khadi shirt on a hot sultry day, adhering to truth even in the most humiliating situation, or taking a mud bath in a stream may teach us much more about the Mahatma than simply reading volumes of second hand biographical accounts. In the entire world there was only one Mahatma, who could mobilize thousands instantaneously for a just cause. India was lucky to have such a gifted son in its most trying circumstances.)

Copyright by the author 2019