For the Coimbatore-based Tamil poet Sirpi Balasubramaniam, the river Aazhiyar, on whose banks his native village is located, is his Ganga and Cauvery, according to one of his poems in his book A Village River. Sirpi's book of Tamil poems Oru Gramaththu Nadhi, which bagged him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002, was translated into English by his peer Bala alias Balachandran and released as A Village River.
For the Coimbatore-based Tamil poet Sirpi Balasubramaniam, the river Aazhiyar, on whose banks his native village is located, is his Ganga and Cauvery, according to one of his poems in his book A Village River. Sirpi's book of Tamil poems Oru Gramaththu Nadhi, which bagged him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002, was translated into English by his peer Bala alias Balachandran and released as A Village River. The book of English poems, which has been published by Sahitya Akademi, is centered on the river Aazhiyar, which is associated with several incidents at his native village, Aathu Pollachi, that have become indelible in the heart of the great poet since his childhood, In the first poem of the book, Sirpi narrates his spiritual relationship with the river:
“Where from comes this river?
From the mountains breaking its silence?
From the skies tearing the dress of clouds?
From the forests
Bringing the secrets
Exchanged between the woods?
No...
From inside me...
Opening the fountain’s head
Of my privacy”
Sirpi, who is also the convenor of Sahitya Akademi, Tamil Nadu, todaycontinues by saying,
“This is my Ganga...
This river flows into another state
Never picking up any quarrels
This is my Kaveri"
The allusion to the politics behind the allocation of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu is very clear in these lines. The 84- year-old poet predicts his final relationship with the fast-flowing river in his village through the verse that moves the reader to tears, He remembers the age-old tradition of cremating dead bodies on the riverbank, and says,
“During the nights
The river is a lilting anklet
Dancing to the tunes of the distant chords of winds
It is my ale
Its fishes are my food
I Too will become one day
Food for this river”
Sirpi’s verses in the book are vivid reflections of his memories, as he writes on the rustic folk and the incidents that he saw in his native village when he was a boy. The many vivid characters in the book include Angamma, who the villagers called ‘Akka’ (elder sister), Sirpi’s great- grandfather Karuppasami and a robust ‘man, who everyone calls Oomayan (Dumb Fellow). Sirpi depicts the ‘Dumb Fellow’ is as a performer of remarkable feats. The poet compares him to 'Bhima' as he could carry a sack of rice for three miles on his back with no complaints. However, on a day he has a stroke and is unable to move his legs and hands.
Sirpi describes the moving scene of the strong 'Dumb fellow' lying dead.
“From his lifeless eyes
Dripped streams of tears
As if life drips out of them”
And from the gossip of the two women Devathal and Sadaichi, Sirpi reveals in the poem how the 'Dumb Fellow' met his doom:
“One night, you know
He teased Kitnaveni, the widow And Kaliappan, her man
Fed him with a potion
Obtained from a magic man of Malayalam Land
Leave it, why should we invite trouble”
The river, however, could not clean the minds of her people at Athu Pollachi, as Sirpi explains that they disapproved of the eloping of one Valliathal, a fair-complexioned girl, with Kanniappan, a shepherd.