By the shores of the Bay of Bengal, on Chennai’s Besant Nagar beach, a poet (Isaikavi Ramanan) narrates the Fisherwoman’s song. This is how the poem was born:
“I saw her. Wiry thin, unkempt disheveled hair struggling with the truant morning breeze, with a child on her hip. It was a baby girl. She walked in fits as if disturbed by thoughts. Suddenly she stopped with a poignant abruptness as though she had given up all hope.
Her neck slanted to her right, and the child’s to its left. She looked at the heaving horizon intently, for a heavy little while.
She turned and started walking back to where she came from.
And that is exactly when this poem was born.
She recited it through me, as though from memory.”
As the wind blows
I, with child
Stand with weary feet.
Damn you. won’t you come?
A namesake vermillion mark
And a garland.
A spectacle.
A barter for my life.
Rice hidden in the pot
Fish stew that grows stale
How long will they last?
My heart pines away.
Oh! You harlot sea! Is this your ruse?
I ask you without shame
Will you not send him home?
Rain and wind mate
And the seas rejoice
The thread round my neck
totters
To grab.
To give.
All is your will Mother.
He floats ‘pon your trust
He comes all alone, Mother
Send him back
To me, Mother
As the wind blows
I, with child
Stand with weary feet.
Damn you. won’t you come?
SoliloQ is the first of a series of performances by artists, featured exclusively on The Quint.
(Vikram Venkateswaran is a freelance writer, TV producer and media consultant. Headings, titles and captions are his kryptonite. He just moved to Chennai and hopes the city likes him and is nice to him.)
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