To come here...
With eyes lit so bright,
a strong heart and gleeful words,
with strong shoulders,and a clear mind.
Rise against smallness of thought,
But feel for those who are
humble!Walk like a might Ox my dear,
I beckon you here!
I beseech you young India,
to show your unmatched skill.Rise and shine like the morning sun,
on a land that lost it's luster!
I beckon you to esteem,
the culture that seems lost.With just a gaze of your eyes,
go beyond both fame and infamy!
~ Narayan Srinivasan, 12/12/2014
Note:
As a tribute to the great
Tamil poet, Subramanya Bharati: Made an attempt to base this work on one of his
motivational classics.
It is not easy to match the
original poem, for it's simple but very uplifting rhtym and in the way he
called the people of India to come forward with a combination of strength and
humility, heart and mind, intellect and emotion!
The original repeats the words
"vaa vaa vaa" - an emphatic way of calling someone. The
word "vaa" in tamil means "come". Calling thrice shows
emphasis to listen to the message. Bharati uses optimistic words to encourage
people to awaken to their potential and bring back the forgotten luster - these
were times India was under British rule!
The last verse I believe is a
reference to Arjuna (the word pArthan is used in the original poem); and connected to the message to go beyond the duality of fame and infamy; as in acting without attachment to fame or fear of infamy.
While those words decades ago had
their reason: the voice of reason and tact in his poem are universally
appealing and uplifting!
The original can be found in this
link (copied the content in Tamil as well).
OLi padaitha kaNNinai vaa vaa
vaa
uRudhi konda nenjinaai vaa vaa vaakaLi padaiththa mozhiyinaai vaa vaa vaa
kadumai konda thoLinaai vaa vaa vaa
theLivu petra madhiyinaai vaa vaa vaa
siRumai kaNdu ponguvaai vaa vaa vaa
eLimai kaNdiranguvaai vaa vaa vaay
eRu pol nadaiyinaai vaa vaa vaa
iLaya bharadhathinaai vaa vaa vaa
edirila Valathinaai vaa vaa vaaoLi izhandha naatile nindReRum
udhaya gyayiRoppave vaa vaa vaa
kaLai izhandha naatile mun pole
kaLai siRakka vandhanai vaa vaa vaaviLayum maNmbu yavaiyum paarththan pol
vizhiyinal viLakkuvai vaa vaa vaa
