Poems of Aduri Satyavathi Devi
Poem-30
The Bay at Bhimili
Telugu Original: Aduri Satyavathi Devi
English Translation: NS Murthy
When I walk about that way
Spread-eagling my curious looks
I get a feeling of sneaking through a new window.
Lapping itself in several folds
The Sea seems a primordial man
Swathing under its watery covers.
Like somebody tickling you trying to wake up
When the sun was high on the sky
The Sea moves languorously
Spraying smiles of surf all around.
Sprinting up to beach sands, terrain,
And swaying with its frothy bubbles,
Resembling the anklet bells of a baby,
It appears like a silken cloudlet aground.
With its eons-old eagerly looks
It dreamily awaits the first baby-boats
Which tossed over its chest.
How many juvenile infatuations it must be hiding!
How many sweet nascent ideas it must have swallowed!
Leaping tide over tide
It presents itself in consummate beauty.
For the incoherent babble of the wind in my ears
My heart aches— with a spring of poetic urge.
But, before I could make any headway,
The string of inexplicable ideas vanishes into ether.
That’s why I feel
One could only preserve those luscious sceneries in mind’s eye
Than could ever fix them in poetic diction.
*****
Telugu Original :‘Bhimili Vadda Samudram’
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.