Whenever a new song releases these days, people go gaga over it almost instantly. Fans rave about it, discuss it intensely and, in some cases, even fight over it, making social networking sites look like battlefields.
These songs are sensational, no doubt. But suddenly, like how a puff of dust disappears into thin air and becomes nothing, these ‘sensations’ die down and gradually disappear from our memory. And, people get ready for the next sensation.
But one man’s poetry still stands tall, defying the sands of time. When you read it even now, it feels as fresh as the first rain drop. He looks gargantuan and it is hard to imagine any poet overpowering him in the next thousand years.
When I utter his name — Bharathiyar — our minds brim with optimism, like we are under a divine spell. All of us live. All of us die. But only very few manage to live even after they die. Bharati is one example.
Apart from reciting his poems and applauding them for their brilliance in imagination and language proficiency, it is important to understand that his poems are a kaleidoscope to see his colourful character. In a nutshell, he was a man of steel with the softest of hearts. He was an oxymoron.
Many of us have an image of Bharathiyar as a person who sang songs only on patriotism, women’s liberation, caste discrimination, and so on. While that is true, it is high time we looked into his work deeply.
What he wrote evolved out of love and compassion from his heart, which was like a flower in full bloom.
Bharathiyar had several love affairs that made him pen songs. If the love for his wife and children made him sing ‘Nimirndha Nannadai Ner Konda’ and ‘Oadi Vilayaadu Paapa’, respectively, it was love for fellow human beings and the nation that made him sing ‘Thani Oruvanukku Unavillai Yenil Jagathinai Azhithiduvom’ and ‘Paarukkulle Nalla Naadu’.
He even loved his enemies — he dedicated ‘Pagaivanukku Arulvaai’ for them.
Despite being amidst strife and agony, he never ceased to shower his ‘thaaimai’ (motherliness). Be it feeling for the plight of workers in the sugarcane fields of Fiji, feeding the sparrows even when his family was struggling for food, sharing the neem fruit with his shepherd friends, stroking the mane of a lion inside a cage and cuddling a donkey… he was just unstoppable.
It is this quality — sensitivity towards everyone — that we should try to imbibe. The more insensitive a person is, the more vulnerable he or she becomes.
Personally, being the great great grandson of Bharathiyar is a boon and a blessing. In my childhood, I knew that I was from an illustrious lineage, but it never really hit me. It was when I was in my teens that I started to realise this… and I started to write poems myself. Before this realisation, I was like a child watching the endless ocean of poetry called Bharathiyar from the shores. After I started writing poems, I began to immerse myself in him.
I feel grateful to him for kindling my passion for Tamil. My ability to write Tamil poems and lyrics, my incessant desire to make it a full-time career... was all because of that great turbanator. I feel it is my responsibility to popularise his works to the next generation, and I’m trying to do that as much as possible.
(As told to SRINIVASA RAMANUJAM)
