Mini Poems (మినీ కవితలు)

శిశరం '18

నాల్గు సిందూర కాయ 

తొడిమలు  

ఉడుత పిల్లలు

ఆడుకొన్నాయి తొక్కుడు బిళ్ల ! 

----

ప్రాధమిక పాఠశాల 

బడి ముందర

 రెండు బుల్లి సైకిళ్లు                           

 ఓ చిన్ని స్కూటరు -                            

 ఓ ఆడ, రెండు మొగ                           

లేక రెండు ఆడ, ఒక మొగ

  ----

గోరింక గూడు 

రాలిపోయె - దారిలో  

పిల్లలు ఎగిరి పోయె 

ఇక వచ్చేది చలి కాలము

---  

కరోనా కళ  '20

ఇరవై ఉయ్యాలలు

పంచ రంగుల జారుడు బల్లలు మూడు  

ఒక్క పిల్ల లేదు, 

ఒక్క కేరింత వినిపించదు 

Autumn ‘18

Four acorn cupules 

Some squirrels

‘ve played hopscotch here!

----

The robin’s nest

Scattered across the path

The chicks flown away

Now, comes the hard winter

---

Elementary School

At the entrance

Two small bicycles

And a tiny push scooter –

One girl’s and two boys’

Or, maybe two girls’ and one boy’s

---

Corona’s Glitz (’20)

Twenty Swings

And three colorful slides

Not a single child

Can’t hear one scream

Hydrangea

The Moody Mophead 

(Big Leaf Hydrangea)

Avid green thumbs and master gardeners encounter classic problems with flowering and fruiting plants or shrubs. In some previous gardening posts, I might have narrated troubles with rose bushes. (In Telugu classes, our kind learned pundits warned us to look out for this defect - Unwarranted Repetition (పునరుక్తి దోషము)). Still, to educate the beginners in gardening hobby, I enumerate the following practical experiences. Once we had a rose plant in a sunny spot adjacent to a vegetable patch. It received everything – plenty of light, moisture, and fertilizer. Still year after year it produced only copious green foliage and dead-end shoots with no flower buds. Nothing seemed to work for this rose bush. Once after lot of frustration, I took a dull handsaw and mercilessly cut it down to ground leaving just one-foot long bare stump. I tried to uproot it completely. But I could not despite using all my strength. I gave up after vigorously shaking the barren trunk and part of the root system. Then I could not believe the results and my eyes! Either the same summer or the following year, it produced plenty of vigorous flowers. It was an unbelievable spectacular pleasant sight, nestled next to a patch of cucumber vine, eggplants, beans, and bell peppers. A similar incident happened with another rose bush; this one is a wild rose shrub with white single flowers. 

Somewhere on the Internet or newspapers, I came across a more surprising phenomenon with a guava tree. Once a well-trained horticulturist complained to his mentor to the effect thus: “I have a nice guava tree in our backyard. Even after several years there is not a single flower or fruit, just totally barren. The tree is healthy and grows vigorously. We tried everything including balanced fertilizer, etc. The soil is good.” Then the professor suggested a radical treatment. “Cut the damn tree to size. Remove all its leaves and branches. Just leave it with one green branch and a few leaves.” Miraculously the barren tree started yielding fruit the next season. So, it seems there is more to gardening than simple pruning, soil, fertilizer, and watering. Probably there are some hidden secrets about trace level nutrients, ambient moisture, air circulation, light and dark cycles, and solar radiation (spectral colors).

In the village too we had a few interesting problems. Once we had a double hibiscus plant with pink flowers. Mother grew it with love from a cutting and soon it developed roots and thrived next to the parapet with big luscious green leaves. But it would not yield a single flower for many months. Some one in the village suggested giving it a smoke treatment. Promptly I rushed to the grocer in the next block and bought a dozen black seeds of Semecarpus Anacardium also known as the marking-nut tree, Jidi (పెద జీడి). This tree is related to the cashew nut tree, an important cash crop. Smoking treatment is also used in mango orchards to stimulate vigorous flowering and fruiting. Whether the hibiscuses (there were two one double pink and the other double red) produced flowers due to smoke or not I cannot recall now. But within two or three months the shrubs grew vigorously with plenty of healthy flowers. I still do not know – what stimulated them. Was it less care and watering? Or stronger sunrays in the subsequent dry winter, spring, and summer months? Of course, in the tropical south India only the monsoon months are cloudy and fully overcast.

Now coming to the problems of hydrangea, the topic at hand. Hydrangea has become a popular ornamental shrub, now even in the north with snowy winters (hardy zone 5). Here I see three varieties displayed in home gardens and office landscapes: The big leaf hydrangea (macrophylla), tree hydrangea (paniculata), and paniclehydrangea with white flowers.

We have three bushes of this moody flowering plant. It was springtime I think – we spotted two sprightly-potted hydrangea plants with purple flower bunches in the local farmers market. Most probably they came from a well-illuminated cozy greenhouse environment. We transplanted them next to a wall in a semi-shade location. In one way it gets some protection during the harsh winter from severe chilly (< 10 -15^o F) drafts. For about two or three years they produced at least one bunch of flowers from the lower (older) branches. Then they totally ceased producing any bloom at all. I tried everything: a bit of Epsom salt feeding, bone meal, balanced fertilizer, coffee grounds, cow manure, etc. Nothing seemed to work. Every year the hydrangea bushes produce luscious green large leaves; of course, they are beautiful to behold in the fall with slight coloration towards reddish brown or purple. In that way, they are ornamental to the landscape complimenting a Japanese red maple dwarf tree. We contacted the local university extension center for guidance. And tried to explore other possible causes like severe winter (frost bite), temperature swings in early spring, or lack of abundant sunshine.

After several years of frustration, we uprooted the hydrangea and transplanted in a sunnier place. We used fresh topsoil with a mixture of compost, clay, and sand (1:1:1). I do not remember whether we added any additional fertilizer. But this year this small bush produced five bunches with pink color. Some of the florets are turning purple (blue-violet) also. I have not done any pruning on this bush in the spring. There are a few dead wood (dry stems) branches on the plant. These can be safely trimmed without adverse effect on future growth.  

Even with the best care and fertilizer, it seems hydrangea (particularly the mophead variety) is a temperamental plant. Definitely it needs ample sunlight. Also, we should be careful not to prune the old wood (growth from previous year) lest it may remove latent flower buds. In the northeast we have a limited (shortened) growing season. And some days are even completely overcast giving only diffused light to many flowering plants. But these limitations (of hydrangea) are offset by their large colorful flower bunches suitable for decoration in hotel entrances or wedding parties. Two other varieties (tree hydrangea and white/green bloom hydrangea) are more forgiving. Mostly they yield flowers year after year even with benign neglect. But in terms of color, density, and attractiveness nothing like the mophead hydrangea.

I’ve not tried deliberately protecting the bush from the winter cold. We do such protective shielding for rose bushes to save the delicate exposed branches. Maybe, this fall I will cover the hydrangeas with a pile of dry leaves and pine needles. It shouldn’t do any harm. Or, I may cover it with a semitransparent white plastic trash bag (with a few holes for breathing) to keep it warm during the bone chilly winter months. Now we have to attend to the other two hydrangea bushes languishing in a semi-shade location. Gardening is always more work – whether it is a success or a failure. (Cf.) In graduate school our professor always dumped more work on dedicated brilliant students. Life’s like that! Enjoy it. Copyright 2020 by the author

Lyrics of "Nadupai balkieru" Kirtana

నాదుపై బలికేరు (పలికేరు)  నరులు శ్రీరామ
వేద సన్నుత భవము వేరు జేసితి ననుచు

ఆజాను బాహుయుగ శ్రీజానకి పతి
పయోజాక్ష శ్రీ త్యాగరాజ నుత చరణా
ఈ జగతిలో నిన్ను పూజించు వారిని
అవ్యాజమున బ్రోచు సురాజుని (సురాజ!)  (నీ) వాడైన

naadupai balikEru (palikEru) narulu Sriiraama
vEda sannuta bhavamu vEru jEsiti nanuchu

aajaanu baahuyuga SrIjaanaki pati
payOjaaksha Srii tyaagaraaja nuta charaNaa
ii jagatilO ninnu puujinchu vaarini
avyaajamuna brOchu suraajuni (suraaja!) (nii) vaaDaina

(Looks like there are three more stanzas in this song. I've not studied them, word by word, to decipher their import. Nor have I learnt to sing those three (missing here) stanzas. So, they have to wait for another day. This composition caught my attention while listening to an MLV cassette in the car while driving or waiting. I have tried to figure out each word after repeated "play", "pause", and "replay" of Sri Chembai Bhagavatar's performance. It is a beautiful lyrical composition with much meaning and depth of feeling. One need not 'mangle' the sweet Telugu words just because one is deficient in the language. You can enjoy the taste of sugarcane stem in two ways: a) In the village fields you can tear the outer cover and slowly chew the soft inner core with dripping juice. b) Or, in the house with friends you can chew the small cube-sized pieces with polished decorum. Your upbringing, taste, and culture should display your finesse and regard to the "sugarcane" - a product of long hours of physical labor, plant evolution, water, and the blessing of ample sunshine. Similarly, your singing of great compositions should bring out vividly all the colors of emotion, bhakti, meaning, and music. Foremost, you must with utter humbleness bow and pay respects to the composer. Distorting, swallowing words, mangling syllables will not do, absolutely not.

భవ = శివ (సం.); భవము = శివుడు) Copyright 2020   

Lyrics of "Yochana kamala Lochana" Kirtana

యోచనా కమల లోచనా

సూచనా తెలియక నొరుల (యొరుల)  యాచనా

చేయుననుచు నీకు 

తోచనా తుది విది కాయ తవి లోచన

నన్ను బ్రోవ నీకు 

ఖేచర నిజ భక్త విజయ ( నిచయ) పాప విమోచన గల 

బిరుదులెల్ల కల్గిన 

హేచన కృత విభీషణ వరాభిశేషణ

త్యాగరాజ పూజిత  

yOchanaa kamala lOchanaa

suuchanaa teliyaka norula yaachanaa

chEyunanuchu naaku 

tOchanaa tudi vidi kaaya tavi lOchana

nannu brOva niiku 

khEchara nija bhakta vijaya paapa vimOchana gala

birudulella kalgina 

hEchana kRta vibhIshaNa varaabhiSEshaNa
tyaagaraaja pUjita 

(This is one of my favorite devotional songs. If our great grandfather Annamayya explored the beauties of Tirumala, Tyagayya tried to put words into life's burdens. Out of the depths of pain, suffering, and desperation he shows us how to redeem ourselves with Lord Rama's name on our tongues. With or without the prevailing destruction of Corona, the world is still full of inconveniences. I had to solely rely on Dr. Balamurali's rendition for the exact words. I will try to find if possible other original Telugu textual sources to authenticate each word. Still, we can feel the full meaning of this composition. In a subsequent post we will look into each word, for its meaning and profundity. This song always lifts my mood though it starts out with a sad situation. Copyright 2020) 

  

కరోనా ఘాతము (కవన వీడ్కోలు) Eulogy in Telugu

కరోనా ఘాతము (కవన వీడ్కోలు)

లేదు 

ఇప్పుడు ఇనగంటి (ఇనకంటి) కుటుంబం లో 

మా సూరీడు 

ఎప్పుడూ నిండు మొగముతో, తెల్ల జుత్తుతో

పెన్సిల్ మీసముతో, తెల్ల చొక్కా పైజమా వేస్తే 

గుల్జార్ లా ఉండేవారు  

నవ్వుతూ మాట్లాడు కొనేవాళ్ళం

ఉద్వేగ భరిత వాదోపవాదాలు

జోకులు, అప్పుడప్పుడు నన్ను

ఆట పట్టించే వారు

అంతలోమర్చిపోయే వాళ్ళం 

ఇప్పటికి

కళ్ళలోజ్ఞాపకాలు సినిమా బొమ్మాల్లా

కదుల్తాయి -

శ్రీశైలములో కరివేన సత్రములో 

కలిసి భోంచేయడం

పెళ్ళికి ముందూ, పెళ్ళికి తర్వాత కూడా 

చాలా సార్లు నాగపూర్ స్టేషన్లో బండి ఎక్కించడమూ 

లేని రిజర్వేషన్లు, బెర్త్ సృష్టించడమూ మా ‘భైయా’ కే సాధ్యము 

ఎన్ని విషయాలు చర్చించుకునే వాళ్ళము -

ముళ్ల మొక్కలు దగ్గర్నుంచి, రాజకీయాలు, విజ్ఞానము 

ఆరోగ్య శాస్త్రము, సాహిత్యము 

ఎక్కడ దొరుకుతారు - అటువంటి అపురూప వ్యక్తి?

నాల్గు భాషలు క్షుణ్ణముగా ఎవరికి తెలుసు ఈనాడు?

ఎవరితో మాట్లాడ గలము ఇప్పుడు 

నాగపూర్ పోతుకూచి సుబ్రహ్మణ్య శాస్త్రి గారి గురించి

ఎవరికి అర్ధ మవుతాయి? ఈ నిగూఢ రహస్యాలు 

ప్రపంచంలోనే మహా ఉంటే పదిమంది ఉంటారు

మీ ఆత్మ

ఇప్పుడు ఎక్కడ ఉన్నా 

పరమ శాంతి సుఖాలతో సుందర ఉద్యానవనాల

ఫల పుష్ప రసాల పిక కపూత శ్రేణి భరిత లతా కుంజములలో

పచ్చపొలాల మధ్య నదీ ప్రవాహాల లాహరిలో సఖులతో 

ఆనంద డోలికలలో 

విహరించుగాక 

తదుపరి

“అహం బ్రహ్మాస్మి” సిద్ధి కల్గు గాక!

(English Translation of this Telugu poem was given in the previous post. It is difficult to describe, put words on a loss. I do not think the world leaders realize the immense tragedy that is spreading like a wild fire due to this nano-scopic virus. Like many caring scientists, this writer too has tried to give a word of caution through the online forum here. One does not understand the gravity of current circumstances until it truly hits home. Experience is a stern, merciless teacher; it takes its pound of flesh. Hope for healthier, simple, joyful days ahead. Copyright 2020 by the author)

Corona's Blow (Eulogy)

Corona’s Blow

No more

Now there is no sun

In our ‘Inaganti’ family

Always with smiley vivacious face

With grey hair

With pencil mustache

Used to look like Gulzar

In white kurta and pajamas

We’d talk boisterously

With passionate arguments

With jokes

At times he used to tease me

And, we’d forget it all

Still

Memories move in eyes

Like movie stills

In Srisailam

We dined in the Karivena Choultry

Before and after our marriage

Often he would see us off at

Nagpur train station

Only our “bhaiya” could materialize

A vacant seat or a berth on the spot (for us)

How many topics

Did we discuss?

From cacti to politics, science, medicine,

And Literature

Where would we find

Such a unique individual

These days

Who knows four languages thoroughly?

With whom can we talk about

P. S. Sastri from Nagpur?

Who understands such

Esoteric subjects

Hardly there are

Ten people in the entire world

Now

Wherever you are

Let your atma wander freely

Peacefully among verdant gardens

Filled with flowers and mango fruits

Among the bowers echoing the calls

Of koel and pigeons

Among green farms and cradling river waves

With friends in the swings of joy

Then, later

Let it realize “I am the Brahman”

State

So be it!

(Inaganti = ఇన + కంటి = The One who has Sun as one of the eyes. Siva has Sun, Moon, and Fire as the three eyes) 

(Translated from a Telugu verse, inspired by a close relative's struggles with Covid. Both poems Copyright 2020 by the author)