Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-26
A Foundling
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: NS Murthy
A screaming unwanted child when he was born
An offshoot of municipal rag-ring
A penalty paid by some innocence
For a trespass or somebody’s necessity….
The stains of blood over him
Won’t betray any addresses.
When delicate etiquettes had turned their backs
Throwing blankets of silence on his first cries,
Like ‘compassion’ had walked down…
Motherhood was still alive…
A pair of old hands from a street-end hut
Cuddled that dirty baby
Resurrecting humanness
And fostered him with love.
When on one stormy day
The curtain was downed
On an already tattered old life
The lone destitute, to the entire street,
Had become a sweetmeat
That we smacked our lips at.
Giving him the leftovers of our food,
Worn-out clothing, gratis
His childhood
We have been seasoning our lives with.
Without him, our days won’t take-off
Be it for marketing or
For leaving children at school.
Our polished shoes and creased clothing
Shine under the charity of his labour.
Whenever he meets me square in the eyes…smiling…
With a sense of guilt
I shrink to a mustard seed.
*****
Telugu Original :‘Gaali Mokka’
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.