Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-27
A Dash of Exquisite Beauty
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: NS Murthy
Hemmed between the ethereal and the mundane,
Gasping for breath in the apartments,
And wandering through the currents of civilization
Like an ant-head,
For once, one evening,
After looking at the scintillating browny sun on the occidental sky
I slipped into my cherished memories’ album.
On the meadow canvas of my mind
One memory, still green, shakes off
And takes off like a kite…
Hovering over the known and unknown terrain, exhausted,
Settles ultimately on a string of impressive experiences.
Sitting me on the bed of branches, rollicking,
Bathes me in showers of nectar of soft, delicate flowers.
The wing touches me ever so gently
And sneaking under my eyelids
Leaves me in a world of magical realism.
My childhood
Which capered around my village like a belled calf,
Becomes a sugar lump near Basil plant this moment,
And on the next becomes
A salivating holy Sagittarian-month’s offering
On a banana leaf.
For a while, moments of my dabbling with the classics
Appeara fresh leaving indent on my memory.
As if sieged by my childhood pals
I enter my village, choked with emotion
In a new frame of mind.
Velvet green fanning branches,
Pageants of birds doing aerobatics,
The sly-eyed watery ways,
The dense lotus pond,
And gold-panicled rice fields…
Like a ripple, nay, an eternal stream, they stay within me.
Whenever my village comes to my mind
I forget myself … recalling her exquisite beauty.
*****
Telugu Original :‘Soundarya Lahari’
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.