En kavidhai arangetram!!

It was the 125th birth anniversary of MAHAKAVI BHARATHIYAR on 11th december 2007 and it was celebrated with so much fanfare.I am one of the fortunate few to have been residing opposite to the place where the great poet and intellect once lived.The memorial is located on t.p.koil street,triplicane.An organistion named VANAVIL had organised for the celebrations spread over four days from 8th to 11th december in his memorial.i had involved myself in it and most of the time I was there at the memorial taking part in the celebrations. The festivities include an oration by famous Sukhi Sivam on the the topic “INDA GNANAM VANDAL”(meaning”what if this knowledge comes?”).the speaker emphasised that if we really understand the meaning of our existence without regard to material pleasures,bodily pleasures the mind becomes clear ,helping us in knowing the reality.i really enjoyed the session.it made me feel good that some of the principles which I follow are set in the right direction.i was not present the next two days because of my ill health but I made sure that I was there on 11th.

It was the day when tamizh(I have stopped typing it as tamil)poets both legends and starters dedicated their poetic creations on the feet of the great poet.it was called kavi pozhivu(poetic showers).the day also saw me presenting a poem titled “PURATCHI VEDAM”.people let me tell you I gave up studying tamizh in class5 and took sanskrit as my second language but now the love for the language has made me come running towards it and my knowledge of tamizh is jus derived from weekly magazines like ananda vikatan,kalki,kungumam and off late by the books of sujatha,vairamuthu etc.i can read but my writing is full of spelling mistakes(ezuthu pizhaigal!!).to be precise it was the day of my kavidhai arangetram and the chief guest was non other than the Mahakavi himself and the tamizh loving audience.my poem was centered around equality for all and development of an utopian society.i had taken two more poems but they allowed me to present only one and I presented the one with the theme which was always close to the Mahakavi’s heart.i feel proud of the fact that bein a non-tamizhian I was able to read my poem without any stammering in front of an audience which had so many scholars and intellects.i was initially nervous and was trembling in my legs but bharathi’s lines “achamillai achamillai” came to my rescue.the day would stand cherished in my mind for all life.