ANITHA THAMPI
On Digging a Well: Five Poems
Translated from the Malayalam by J. Devika, A. J. Thomas and C. S. Venkiteswaran
On Digging a Well
[‘Kinar kuzhikkunnathineppati)’, 2015, Translated from the Malayalam by J Devika]
Diggers begin at dawn.
They tunnel down into the ground till dusk. Descend lower and lower each day.
Into the depths, the darkness, the silence.
Life-breath grows thin.
Slowly, the flurry of the first days settles.
Like when one digs into oneself; even the breath turns inaudible.
The pulley’s fading whistle as the empty basket descends, the gasp of the full basket’s ascent,
they alone remain.
And then, one day, from the remoteness, a call. It reaches the surface, runs about, pulls everyone to the edge of the circle.
A wave of sound washes over the faces that peep in :
Water ... Water ...
Some leave the day water is found. They take their wages, leave, satisfied, relieved, that it was sighted. But old-timers know, it won’t last. Next summer, the bottom will be only mud, again. When water’s sighted, you need to tunnel three lengths more. You need to scoop up the trickle, and dig and dig. You need to reach that depth - from where will rise water - that summer cannot dry.
Digging a well does not climax in sighting water. You need to summon water, tame it for all time. You need to earn its promise to be forever. You need to re-establish life’s primordial tie on the banks of death.
The moment of birth in which the soil, water, and the dark coalesce. In that moment, you can climb up. You can climb up from any depth.
That moment is the sign.
Dirt
[‘Azhukku’, 2006, Translated from the Malayalam by A J Thomas & C S Venkiteswaran]
Well scrubbed floor
Walls, stain-free
Roof so smooth that even spiders
Dread to weave their web
Bathroom with a floor
That doesn’t get wet.
Beds and dresses
That waft the scent
Of foreign lands
Kitchen, a surgery chamber.
Silence
In rooms where everything is
As it is meant to be
If one stays for a moment more
Dirt will gather..
Tomorrow
Those who come to whitewash will say:
“Oh ! Stains left by some pest long dead.”
Sweep it off ….
It will rain tomorrow.
Lying deep
In the crevices of earth
Where roots sprout
For the wild growth in the backyard,
Where every dirt turns beauteous,
Lying deep there
Let
An entire lifespan of cleanness
Be forgotten..
Forgiven ..
Ghost
[‘Pretham’, 2012, Translated by from the Malayalam A J Thomas]
At dusk
All alone
This way
The whore-sunlight walking beside, grazing
The harlot breeze blowing the dhoti high
The strumpet shadow twining on, following, tenaciously
Seducing towards night—
At dusk, crimson-darkening—
All alone
This way
Just as turning at this bend, where
The loose casuarinas on both sides
Sway in commotion
All the women born till then
Their faces powdered,
Wearing flower-bunches in their hair
Wiggling their wide hips
Walking full on the path
Inviting for a riotous, giant orgy of lust…
They come
At the spectacle,
Shocked and erect
Sinking, rising and sinking again
Into the fathomless water
Surging from
Countless lips, breasts and nether-mouths--
Bloated,
Dead,
Drifted ashore
At dusk
Alone
Upon this very same
damned slut-land.
Sara Cohen*
(written in tune with a Jewish song in Malayalam)
[‘Sarah Cohen’, 2017, from Mattanchery Poems, Translated from the Malayalam by A J Thomas]
Are you listening to my words,
O Compassionate, Mighty Lord?
I was born in this Cochini soil
I grew up on this Cochini soil
I listened to chaste Malayalam, and spoke it
I listened to chaste Malayalam and wrote it.
Chanting the Tehillim, the day passed and dusk fell
From the seven candles, light fell.
Life at the point of five centuries of knitting
Has become a habit.
Where, O where did you go Jacob?
When is the next Simha Torah?
The Jew Street from where the young sons left
The Jew Street from where the young daughters left,
O the pain, my Lord!
O the loneliness, my Lord!
O Compassionate, Mighty Lord,
Are you listening to my words?
*Sarah Jacob Cohen was the oldest Jew living in Kochi .She died on 30 August 2019.
One Who Cut Her Hair
[‘Mutimurichaval’, 2018, Translated from the Malayalam by A J Thomas]
She was standing in the courtyard of the house. She had just cut off her hair growing thick
and lush over four decades. She looked at us startled. Good that I cut my hair. Now I don‘t
have to wash and dry it. Now I don‘t have to dye it. Now I don‘t have to take the trouble of
combing and tying it up. Good, very good, indeed.
Yes, it‘s very good, we said.
Now I don‘t have to die as someone who wore her hair long always. Good.
Yes, it‘s very good, we said.
The grey strands of hair would have rippled their way down to her buttocks
The winter sunshine too would have rippled alongside.
The dog stood to one side, gaping at her.
Her husband stood shearing the sheep.
The child was singing a song.
We had arrived to see her from the southern tip of the continent that let loose its hair.
∙
[‘Mutimurichaval’, 2018, Translated from the Malayalam by A J Thomas]
Anita Thampi is a Malayalam poet who has been translated into many Indian and foreign languages. She has published four collections of poetry: Muttamatikkumpol (While Sweeping the Frontyard, 2004), Azhakillaathavayellam (All That Are Bereft of Beauty, 2010), Alappuzha Vellam (Alappuzha Water, 2016), and a trilingual co-authored collection, A Different Water (2018). Her translations into Malayalam include writings of Juan Ramón Jiménez, Carlo Collodi, Les Murray and Mourid Barghouti. Her new collection of poetry is due in October 2022. She lives and works in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
J. Devika is a social researcher, historian, writer and translator based in Trivandrum, Kerala. She translates literary writing from Malayalam to English and social science writing from English to Malayalam. She teaches at Centre for Development Studies(CDS), Trivandrum, Kerala.
A.J. Thomas is an Indian English poet and translator with more than 20 books. He was Editor of Indian Literature, and later, its Guest Editor for about seven years in two stints. Has M.Phil, and PhD degrees in English (Translation Studies). He taught English in Benghazi University, Ajdabiya Branch, Libya from 2008 to 2014. He was also a Senior Consultant at IGNOU. He is the translator of illustrious writers like O.N.V. Kurup, Paul Zacharia and M. Mukundan and editor of books by U.R. Anantha Murthy. He co-edited Best of Indian Literature (1500 pages in two books and four volumes, Sahitya Akademi). He is a recipient of Katha Award, AKMG Prize (which enabled him to tour USA, UK and Europe in 1997) and Vodafone Crossword Award (2007). He was a holder of Senior Fellowship, Department of Culture, Govt. of India and was Honorary Fellow, Department of Culture, Government of South Korea. He has been invited as a Guest Speaker in writers’ conferences and readings in South Korea(thrice), Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Nepal, besides centres all over India.
C. S. Venkiteswaran is a media critic, curator and translator based in Kerala. He has written several books on visual media and has published English translations of Malayalam poems in major journals and magazines.