Nishagandhi, Nee Ethra Dhanya

August 3, 2022 @ 9.37 pm

7 years! That’s how long I waited. Sometime over the years, it became more than just a flower. I started reading more meaning into it and its refusal to bloom. It became a symbol, a metaphor, an encrypted message… of a dream that would never be fulfilled, of unattainable hopes, and deep longings that would never be realized, of something even I didn’t recognize within me, of what would never be… it had become more than a flower. It had become an emotion. An emotion in search of words. In search of a name.

Advertisement

The Song of the Wolf

 

Original art from Venmurasu by Artist Shanmughavel

There are several moments in Jeyamohan’s VenMurasu that do not occur in the original Mahabharatha. These additions elevate the story, chisel out defining moments, and provide more insight into the psyche of characters, helping us see their internal evolution. This prose-poem is inspired by one such moment – a seminal moment in the tale.

Feeling Blue

I am an emotional reader. When a book or a character appeals to me, it takes me a while to say goodbye to them. Sometimes never. But no book has ever done what B Jeyamohan’s Neelam did to me.

Bharathiyar’s Oozhikoothu – The Dance of Kali

When, Composer Rajan Somasundaram told me his next project (after the brillianlty done Sangham poetry album Santham), was a song by Subramania Bharathiyar, I was already looking forward to it. And when he told me which poem he had chosen for his project,  I looked forward to it even more. Then he dropped the bombshell.

Sandham – Sangam Poetry meets Symphony

This was a rendezvous that was two millennia in the making. What else can you say about this album? Surprising isn’t it, that this mother lode of possibilities stayed untouched for two thousand years? I don’t mean from a research or academic point of view. Plenty on that front. I mean musically.