Thursday, March 20, 2008

lajja

mar 19th, 2008

taslima nasrin has been forced to leave india and go to scandinavia. she said she had been a prisoner in india.

nice work, manmohan and buddhadeb!

i am reminded yet again of a malayalam verse probably from the krishna gatha by thunchath ezuthachan. it is from an 'asariri' (celestial voice) when kamsa tries to kill devaki's 8th child (he thinks) by dashing her against a stone. the girl-child slips from his grasp and flies off heavenward, being a divine child. (of course, krishna, the real 8th child, has been safely transported elsewhere). the verse goes:

arre, durachara nrusama kamsa
parakramam streekalodalla vendoo

hey you villainous, loathsome kamsa,
your valor is not to be shown on some poor woman

thus,

arre durachara manmohan karat yechuri prabhrtikale,
parakramam streekalodalla vendoo

bloody cowards!

2 comments:

RM said...

Perfect proverb for the occassion. By the way, Krishna Gatha was written by Cherusseri (15-16th century CE).

nizhal yoddha said...

ah, i stand corrected. thunchath ezhuthachan wrote the 'adhyatma ramayanam'.

yes, it comes back to me: i took malayalam throughout my school days as my third language. it was tough, and they gave you poor grades, but now i am really glad my parents made me do it. it gave me an solid connection with, and roots in, kerala. i wish most people would insist that their children are fluent in their mother-tongues.

oddly enough, according to the kerala authorities who implemented the three language formula, hindi was the 1st language, english was the 2nd language (both were compulsory), and the 3rd was optional: french, tamil, sanskrit, malayalam, etc. so i struggled through hindi which i have much later become sort of fluent in: meaning i can talk to taxi drivers in mumbai; and even carry on meaningful conversations in bhopal's shuddha hindi.