Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-20
Learning to Walk Afresh
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: Shyamala Kallury
A girl grows leaning on those very dreams
A boy studies to walk the path of the same destination.
To sing on that branch as koels,
To blossom on a different festival of spring
The youth of the nation have one focused aim
And they fly faster and faster with different tongues
To the beauty spot that lures them all
Into its fascinating shade, like butterflies,
They fly to realize their dreams.
Dream after dream
Girl for a boy and boy for a girl
Dream of turning into dollar trees, hugging tightly.
Once things of pride, these migrations,
Now ‘Trishankus’ that swing the parents slowly
Into a lonely old age that twists their insides
They clutch their computers to their laps…
Hoping maybe one day…
One day it will shed one tear drop for them
On its own.
Or enjoy the touch of their loving hand
They live on cheating themselves
And start learning to walk afresh.
*****
Telugu Original :‘Kotha Nadaka’
Aduri Satyavathi Devi was born in Guntur in the year 1948 and settled in Visakhapatnam after marriage in 1969. She began her literary career as a lyricist at the age of 13. She wrote a variety of lyrics numbering about 300 — light, classical, devotional, patriotic, children’s and others. More than 50 songs of Satyavati Devi were broadcast over All India Radio. Eventually she made forays into various other literary genres like Poetry, Short story, Essay, Radio Play, Musical Feature, Books, Film reviews, Forewords etc..She created a substantial corpus of poetry with more than 180 poems included in 4 anthologies of poetry. She received accolades from readers, scholars, critics and litterateurs for her sensitive rendering of poems. She participated in many Poetry Meets, Festivals conducted by All India Radio, Doordarshan and the Sahitya Akademi. She was widely translated into English and Hindi. Some of the translations appeared in renowned journals like Indian Literature (English), and Samakaaleen Bharateeya Saahitya (Hindi).
She published her first volume of lyrics Vennello Venugaanam in 1988. Her first volume of poetry Rekkamudavani Raagam was published in 1992 followed by Jalapaata Geetam in 1997 and Veyirangula Velugu Raagam in 2006. Hindi translation of Rekkamudavani Raagam came out in 2008 as “Pankh an Modnevaalaa Raag” and a miscellany of various facets of her literary endeavour Vennela Paarijaataalu was published posthumously in Dec 2008. She received many prizes and awards for her literary pursuits and accomplishments like STVD Kalasamithi Award for Rekkamudavani Raagam in 1993, and Telugu University’s “Pratibha Puraskaram” as “Best Poet” in 1994, “Krishna Sastry Award” from Andhra Lalita Kala Samithi (Secunderabad) in 1998, UNESCO Literary Award in 2000, and “Ramavruksha Benipuri Janma Sataabdi Sammaan” from Jaimuni Academy (Panipat) in 2002. An English translation of her poem, “Veyirekkala Pavuram” (Myriad Winged Bird) has been included in the syllabus of English texts in the poetry section of Degree year students by the Common Core syllabus Committee in AP from 2008.