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vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:44 pm
A river
In Madurai,
city of temples and poets,
who sang of cities and temples,
every summer
a river dries to a trickle
in the sand,
baring the sand ribs,
straw and women's hair
clogging the watergates
at the rusty bars
under the bridges with patches
of repair all over them
the wet stones glistening like sleepy
crocodiles, the dry ones
shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun
The poets only sang of the floods.
He was there for a day
when they had the floods.
People everywhere talked
of the inches rising,
of the precise number of cobbled steps
run over by the water, rising
on the bathing places,
and the way it carried off three village houses,
one pregnant woman
and a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda as usual.
The new poets still quoted
the old poets, but no one spoke
in verse
of the pregnant woman
drowned, with perhaps twins in her,
kicking at blank walls
even before birth.
He said:
the river has water enough
to be poetic
about only once a year
and then
it carries away
in the first half-hour
three village houses,
a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda
and one pregnant woman
expecting identical twins
with no moles on their bodies,
with different coloured diapers
to tell them apart.
- A. K. Ramanujan
In Madurai,
city of temples and poets,
who sang of cities and temples,
every summer
a river dries to a trickle
in the sand,
baring the sand ribs,
straw and women's hair
clogging the watergates
at the rusty bars
under the bridges with patches
of repair all over them
the wet stones glistening like sleepy
crocodiles, the dry ones
shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun
The poets only sang of the floods.
He was there for a day
when they had the floods.
People everywhere talked
of the inches rising,
of the precise number of cobbled steps
run over by the water, rising
on the bathing places,
and the way it carried off three village houses,
one pregnant woman
and a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda as usual.
The new poets still quoted
the old poets, but no one spoke
in verse
of the pregnant woman
drowned, with perhaps twins in her,
kicking at blank walls
even before birth.
He said:
the river has water enough
to be poetic
about only once a year
and then
it carries away
in the first half-hour
three village houses,
a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda
and one pregnant woman
expecting identical twins
with no moles on their bodies,
with different coloured diapers
to tell them apart.
- A. K. Ramanujan
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
bw- Posts : 2922
Join date : 2012-11-15
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:48 pm
bw wrote:why vai-gai and not vaigai?
to emphasize that it has two syllables. do you like AKR's poetry?
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by bw Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:59 pm
MaxEntropy_Man wrote:bw wrote:why vai-gai and not vaigai?
to emphasize that it has two syllables. do you like AKR's poetry?
i haven't read any except this one now - is the original in tamil?
i haven't read any indian poetry, for that matter.
bw- Posts : 2922
Join date : 2012-11-15
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:04 pm
no the original was in english i believe. i posted another one called self portrait the other day.
here is another one
Chicago Zen
I
Now tidy your house,
dust especially your living room
and do not forget to name
all your children.
II
Watch your step. Sight may strike you
blind in unexpected places.
The traffic light turns orange
on 57th and Dorchester, and you stumble,
you fall into a vision of forest fires,
enter a frothing Himalayan river,
rapid, silent.
On the 14th floor,
Lake Michigan crawls and crawls
in the window. Your thumbnail
cracks a lobster louse on the windowpane
from your daughter's hair
and you drown, eyes open,
towards the Indies, the antipodes.
And you, always so perfectly sane.
III
Now you know what you always knew:
the country cannot be reached
by jet. Nor by boat on jungle river,
hashish behind the Monkey-temple,
nor moonshot to the cratered Sea
of Tranquillity, slim circus girls
on a tightrope between tree and tree
with white parasols, or the one
and only blue guitar.
Nor by any
other means of transport,
migrating with a clean valid passport,
no, not even by transmigrating
without any passport at all,
but only by answering ordinary
black telephones, questions
walls and small children ask,
and answering all calls of nature.
IV
Watch your step, watch it, I say,
especially at the first high
threshold,
and the sudden low
one near the end
of the flight
of stairs,
and watch
for the last
step that's never there.
-A.K.Ramaujan
here is another one
Chicago Zen
I
Now tidy your house,
dust especially your living room
and do not forget to name
all your children.
II
Watch your step. Sight may strike you
blind in unexpected places.
The traffic light turns orange
on 57th and Dorchester, and you stumble,
you fall into a vision of forest fires,
enter a frothing Himalayan river,
rapid, silent.
On the 14th floor,
Lake Michigan crawls and crawls
in the window. Your thumbnail
cracks a lobster louse on the windowpane
from your daughter's hair
and you drown, eyes open,
towards the Indies, the antipodes.
And you, always so perfectly sane.
III
Now you know what you always knew:
the country cannot be reached
by jet. Nor by boat on jungle river,
hashish behind the Monkey-temple,
nor moonshot to the cratered Sea
of Tranquillity, slim circus girls
on a tightrope between tree and tree
with white parasols, or the one
and only blue guitar.
Nor by any
other means of transport,
migrating with a clean valid passport,
no, not even by transmigrating
without any passport at all,
but only by answering ordinary
black telephones, questions
walls and small children ask,
and answering all calls of nature.
IV
Watch your step, watch it, I say,
especially at the first high
threshold,
and the sudden low
one near the end
of the flight
of stairs,
and watch
for the last
step that's never there.
-A.K.Ramaujan
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:05 pm
AKR spent a good portion of his life as a faculty member in the english department of the u of chicago.
sorry i just checked. he was a professor in the south asian languages and civilizations department.
sorry i just checked. he was a professor in the south asian languages and civilizations department.
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:16 pm
i also like arun kolatkar. sort of the same genre.
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:25 pm
here is an excerpt from arun kolatkar's jejuri:
what is god
and what is stone
the dividing line
if it exists
is very thin
at jejuri
and every other stone
is god or his cousin
there is no crop
other than god
and god is harvested here
around the year
and round the clock
out of the bad earth
and the hard rock
that giant hunk of rock
the size of a bedroom
is khandoba's wife turned to stone
the crack that runs right across
is the scar from his broadsword
he struck her down with
once in a fit of rage
scratch a rock
and a legend springs
what is god
and what is stone
the dividing line
if it exists
is very thin
at jejuri
and every other stone
is god or his cousin
there is no crop
other than god
and god is harvested here
around the year
and round the clock
out of the bad earth
and the hard rock
that giant hunk of rock
the size of a bedroom
is khandoba's wife turned to stone
the crack that runs right across
is the scar from his broadsword
he struck her down with
once in a fit of rage
scratch a rock
and a legend springs
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by bw Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:29 pm
thanks. shall try reading some.
the poem "a river" is about the poets not writing about the people killed by the river but instead focusing on romanticizing and glorifying the flood, i guess.
am reminded of robert frost's poem "the flood".
The Flood (by Robert Frost)
Blood has been harder to dam back than water.
Just when we think we have it impounded safe
Behind new barrier walls (and let it chafe!),
It breaks away in some new kind of slaughter.
We choose to say it is let loose by the devil;
But power of blood itself releases blood.
It goes by might of being such a flood
Held high at so unnatural a level.
It will have outlet, brave and not so brave.
weapons of war and implements of peace
Are but the points at which it finds release.
And now it is once more the tidal wave
That when it has swept by leaves summits stained.
Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained.
the poem "a river" is about the poets not writing about the people killed by the river but instead focusing on romanticizing and glorifying the flood, i guess.
am reminded of robert frost's poem "the flood".
The Flood (by Robert Frost)
Blood has been harder to dam back than water.
Just when we think we have it impounded safe
Behind new barrier walls (and let it chafe!),
It breaks away in some new kind of slaughter.
We choose to say it is let loose by the devil;
But power of blood itself releases blood.
It goes by might of being such a flood
Held high at so unnatural a level.
It will have outlet, brave and not so brave.
weapons of war and implements of peace
Are but the points at which it finds release.
And now it is once more the tidal wave
That when it has swept by leaves summits stained.
Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained.
bw- Posts : 2922
Join date : 2012-11-15
Re: vai-gai
by Kayalvizhi Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:35 pm
It is vaihai or vaiyai (வைகை, வையை)
காவிரி போல் வையயைப் போல்
எழுந்தனரோ எந்தமிழர்
செந்தமிழைக் காத்திடவே!
Have our Tamil people risen like Kaviri, like Vaiyai to protect Tamil (Sung in awe of the great Tamil uprising of 1965)
காவிரி போல் வையயைப் போல்
எழுந்தனரோ எந்தமிழர்
செந்தமிழைக் காத்திடவே!
Have our Tamil people risen like Kaviri, like Vaiyai to protect Tamil (Sung in awe of the great Tamil uprising of 1965)
Kayalvizhi- Posts : 3659
Join date : 2011-05-16
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:55 pm
Kayalvizhi wrote:It is vaihai or vaiyai (வைகை, வையை)
காவிரி போல் வையயைப் போல்
எழுந்தனரோ எந்தமிழர்
செந்தமிழைக் காத்திடவே!
Have our Tamil people risen like Kaviri, like Vaiyai to protect Tamil (Sung in awe of the great Tamil uprising of 1965)
you are wrong. there is no "ha" sound in tamil. and வையை sounds like a clear example of what is known in tamil grammar as மரூஉமொழி, i.e. a distorted variant.
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by Kayalvizhi Sat Jan 26, 2013 11:10 pm
correction to the poem'
காவிரி போல் வையயைப் போல்
கான்யாற்று வெள்ளம் போல்
எழுந்தனரோ எந்தமிழர்
செந்தமிழைக் காத்திடவே!
Have our Tamil people risen like Kaviri, like Vaiyai, like the river flood waters to protect Tamil (Sung in awe of the great Tamil uprising of 1965)
காவிரி போல் வையயைப் போல்
கான்யாற்று வெள்ளம் போல்
எழுந்தனரோ எந்தமிழர்
செந்தமிழைக் காத்திடவே!
Have our Tamil people risen like Kaviri, like Vaiyai, like the river flood waters to protect Tamil (Sung in awe of the great Tamil uprising of 1965)
Kayalvizhi- Posts : 3659
Join date : 2011-05-16
Re: vai-gai
by goodcitizn Sun Jan 27, 2013 4:15 am
I found the following Tamil verse from Silappadhigaram and its English translation, describing the river vaiyai (vaigai):
As I always say Silapadigaram is one of the most poetical epics you can ever read. Though Silapadikaram has lot of borrowed elements from Sangam poetry, it is a great work since it has embedded the greatness of the Sangam poetry in the story of Kovalan and Kannagi. I was reading the Forest book (Aranya Kandam) of Kamba Ramayana , Rama , Sita and Lakshmana are walking along the banks of river Godavari and the river seeing their plight of roaming around in the forest cries. I have read a similar motif in Silapadikaram where river Vaigai sensing the danger that Kovalan and Kannagi would face in Madurai, cries thinking about their fate. I surely don’t know how much of an inspiration Kamban had from Silapadikaram , but the motif is really striking. I have given you verses and translation from Kambaramayanam and Silapadikaram.
“வையை ஆற்றின் காட்சி”
குரவமும், வகுளமும், கோங்கமும், வேங்கையும்,
மரவமும், நாகமும், திலகமும், மருதமும்,
சேடலும், செருந்தியும், செண்பக ஓங்கலும்,
பாடலம்-தன்னொடு பல் மலர் விரிந்து;
குருகும், தளவமும், கொழுங்கொடி முசுண்டையும்,
விரி மலர் அதிரலும், வெண் கூதாளமும்,
குடசமும், வெதிரமும், கொழுங் கொடிப் பகன்றையும்,
பிடவமும், மயிலையும், பிணங்கு அரில் மணந்த
கொடுங் கரை மேகலைக் கோவை யாங்கணும்
மிடைந்து, சூழ்போகியஅகன்று ஏந்து அல்குல்:
வாலுகம் குவைஇய மலர்ப் பூந் துருத்தி,
பால்புடைக் கொண்டு, பல் மலர் ஓங்கி,
எதிர் எதிர் விளங்கிய கதிர் இள வன முலை:
கரைநின்று உதிர்த்த கவிர் இதழ்ச் செவ் வாய்:
அருவி முல்லை அணி நகைஆட்டி-
விலங்கு நிமிர்ந்து ஒழுகிய கருங் கயல் நெடுங் கண்:
விரை மலர் நீங்கா அவிர் அறல் கூந்தல்;
உலகு புரந்து ஊட்டும் உயர் பேர் ஒழுக்கத்துப்
புலவர் நாவில் பொருந்திய பூங்கொடி-
வையை என்ற பொய்யாக் குலக்கொடி-
தையற்கு உறுவது தான் அறிந்தனள் போல்,
புண்ணிய நறு மலர் ஆடை போர்த்து,
கண் நிறை நெடு நீர் கரந்தனள், அடக்கி-
புனல் யாறு அன்று; இது பூம் புனல் யாறு!ஒ என,
அன நடை மாதரும் ஐயனும் தொழுது;
The Vaigai river, daughter of the sky, wanders ever on the tongues of poets, who sing the generous gifts she bestows on the land she has blessed. Most cherished possession of the Pandya Kingdom, she resembles a noble and respected maiden. Her dress is worven of all the flowers that fall from the date tree,the vakulam,the kino,the white kadamba,the gamboge,the tilak,the jasmine,the myrobalan, the pear tree,the great champak, and the saffron plant. The broad belt she wears low around her hips is adorned with lovely flowers of kuru and golden jasmine, mixed with the mushundai’s thick Lianas,the wild jasmine,the convolvulus,the bamboo,the volubilis,the pidavam, and Arabian jasmine. The sandbanks,edged by tress in blossom, are her youthful breasts. Her red lips are the trees that spread their red petals along the shore. Her lovely teeth are wild jasmine buds floating in the stream. Her long eyes are the carp, which playing in water,appear and vanish like a wink. Her tresses are the flowing waters filled with petals.
As if she knew the sad fate that lay in store for young Kannagi, the Vaigai had put on her best veil made of precious flowers, and could not hold back the tears that filled her eyes. After passing along narrow paths through the woods, Kannagi and Kovalan reached the bank of the river. Both cried out in wonder:
“This is not a river but a stream in blossom.”
Wiki has this to say regarding the name Vaigai (albeit it ought to be vaikai since kai, not gai, represents the hand).
The following story is told about the birth of the river Vaigai. Meenakshi, the daughter of a Pandyan king, was an incarnation of Parvati. From a very young age, she made up her mind to marry Lord Shiva and none else. Her family was initially against this but eventually consented to her wish and arranged the wedding. Sundareswara (Siva), being an ascetic, came to the wedding without any family or relatives accompanying him. Disappointed at this, the Pandyan king angrily showed Siva the huge amount of food prepared for the bridegroom's relatives. Siva pointed to a friend he had brought with him saying 'He will consume all the food that you've made'. This friend was a Rakshasa named Kundodhara. After Kundodhara finished all the food that was prepared, He became very thirsty and started asking for water. All the wells and canals in Madurai were not sufficient to quench his thirst. Then, Siva asked Kundodhara to put his hand out and opened a small part of his hair lock and Ganga began to flow into his hand. After quenching his thirst, The rest of the waters began flowing in Madurai as the Vaigai river. Vaigai means 'put your hand out' in Tamil.
As I always say Silapadigaram is one of the most poetical epics you can ever read. Though Silapadikaram has lot of borrowed elements from Sangam poetry, it is a great work since it has embedded the greatness of the Sangam poetry in the story of Kovalan and Kannagi. I was reading the Forest book (Aranya Kandam) of Kamba Ramayana , Rama , Sita and Lakshmana are walking along the banks of river Godavari and the river seeing their plight of roaming around in the forest cries. I have read a similar motif in Silapadikaram where river Vaigai sensing the danger that Kovalan and Kannagi would face in Madurai, cries thinking about their fate. I surely don’t know how much of an inspiration Kamban had from Silapadikaram , but the motif is really striking. I have given you verses and translation from Kambaramayanam and Silapadikaram.
“வையை ஆற்றின் காட்சி”
குரவமும், வகுளமும், கோங்கமும், வேங்கையும்,
மரவமும், நாகமும், திலகமும், மருதமும்,
சேடலும், செருந்தியும், செண்பக ஓங்கலும்,
பாடலம்-தன்னொடு பல் மலர் விரிந்து;
குருகும், தளவமும், கொழுங்கொடி முசுண்டையும்,
விரி மலர் அதிரலும், வெண் கூதாளமும்,
குடசமும், வெதிரமும், கொழுங் கொடிப் பகன்றையும்,
பிடவமும், மயிலையும், பிணங்கு அரில் மணந்த
கொடுங் கரை மேகலைக் கோவை யாங்கணும்
மிடைந்து, சூழ்போகியஅகன்று ஏந்து அல்குல்:
வாலுகம் குவைஇய மலர்ப் பூந் துருத்தி,
பால்புடைக் கொண்டு, பல் மலர் ஓங்கி,
எதிர் எதிர் விளங்கிய கதிர் இள வன முலை:
கரைநின்று உதிர்த்த கவிர் இதழ்ச் செவ் வாய்:
அருவி முல்லை அணி நகைஆட்டி-
விலங்கு நிமிர்ந்து ஒழுகிய கருங் கயல் நெடுங் கண்:
விரை மலர் நீங்கா அவிர் அறல் கூந்தல்;
உலகு புரந்து ஊட்டும் உயர் பேர் ஒழுக்கத்துப்
புலவர் நாவில் பொருந்திய பூங்கொடி-
வையை என்ற பொய்யாக் குலக்கொடி-
தையற்கு உறுவது தான் அறிந்தனள் போல்,
புண்ணிய நறு மலர் ஆடை போர்த்து,
கண் நிறை நெடு நீர் கரந்தனள், அடக்கி-
புனல் யாறு அன்று; இது பூம் புனல் யாறு!ஒ என,
அன நடை மாதரும் ஐயனும் தொழுது;
The Vaigai river, daughter of the sky, wanders ever on the tongues of poets, who sing the generous gifts she bestows on the land she has blessed. Most cherished possession of the Pandya Kingdom, she resembles a noble and respected maiden. Her dress is worven of all the flowers that fall from the date tree,the vakulam,the kino,the white kadamba,the gamboge,the tilak,the jasmine,the myrobalan, the pear tree,the great champak, and the saffron plant. The broad belt she wears low around her hips is adorned with lovely flowers of kuru and golden jasmine, mixed with the mushundai’s thick Lianas,the wild jasmine,the convolvulus,the bamboo,the volubilis,the pidavam, and Arabian jasmine. The sandbanks,edged by tress in blossom, are her youthful breasts. Her red lips are the trees that spread their red petals along the shore. Her lovely teeth are wild jasmine buds floating in the stream. Her long eyes are the carp, which playing in water,appear and vanish like a wink. Her tresses are the flowing waters filled with petals.
As if she knew the sad fate that lay in store for young Kannagi, the Vaigai had put on her best veil made of precious flowers, and could not hold back the tears that filled her eyes. After passing along narrow paths through the woods, Kannagi and Kovalan reached the bank of the river. Both cried out in wonder:
“This is not a river but a stream in blossom.”
Wiki has this to say regarding the name Vaigai (albeit it ought to be vaikai since kai, not gai, represents the hand).
The following story is told about the birth of the river Vaigai. Meenakshi, the daughter of a Pandyan king, was an incarnation of Parvati. From a very young age, she made up her mind to marry Lord Shiva and none else. Her family was initially against this but eventually consented to her wish and arranged the wedding. Sundareswara (Siva), being an ascetic, came to the wedding without any family or relatives accompanying him. Disappointed at this, the Pandyan king angrily showed Siva the huge amount of food prepared for the bridegroom's relatives. Siva pointed to a friend he had brought with him saying 'He will consume all the food that you've made'. This friend was a Rakshasa named Kundodhara. After Kundodhara finished all the food that was prepared, He became very thirsty and started asking for water. All the wells and canals in Madurai were not sufficient to quench his thirst. Then, Siva asked Kundodhara to put his hand out and opened a small part of his hair lock and Ganga began to flow into his hand. After quenching his thirst, The rest of the waters began flowing in Madurai as the Vaigai river. Vaigai means 'put your hand out' in Tamil.
goodcitizn- Posts : 3263
Join date : 2011-05-03
Re: vai-gai
by Guest Sun Jan 27, 2013 4:59 am
yeah, he was a good friend of saul bellow in UoC. bellow was his fan.MaxEntropy_Man wrote:AKR spent a good portion of his life as a faculty member in the english department of the u of chicago.
sorry i just checked. he was a professor in the south asian languages and civilizations department.
Guest- Guest
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:25 am
goodcitizn wrote:
albeit it ought to be vaikai since kai, not gai, represents the hand
thanks for the verse excerpt from silambu. enjoyed reading it. regarding the vallinams, the rule is that if the sound occurs at the beginning of a word the sharper sound (e.g. ka, cha, ta, tha, pa) is used if it occurs in the middle of a word, the softer sound is used (e.g. ga, sa, da, dha, ba). the rule is different when there is a doubled sound in which case it reverts back to the sharper sound. e.g. pachchai. although it occurs in the middle of the word, the meyyezhththu preceding the cha (ch) makes it cha and not sa. so it's not passai. although they are two separate words merged into a single one, the puNarchi vidigal created vaigai and since it occurs in the middle, it is a ga sound. words imported from foreign languages including sanskrit are transcribed as they are in the original. IMO many of mispronounced sanskrit words in tamil is because their origin has by now long become obscure and tamilians think of these words as tamil words. hence the weirdly transcribed sounds. i had a detailed post about this a long time ago in sulekha. it is now lost in the sands of time. i'll try to google it.
the vai kai story is why i think vaiyai is a marUumozhi.
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sun Jan 27, 2013 10:29 am
MaxEntropy_Man wrote: i had a detailed post about this a long time ago in sulekha. it is now lost in the sands of time. i'll try to google it.
idho, ingE pArungaL
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by goodcitizn Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:37 am
MaxEntropy_Man wrote:goodcitizn wrote:
albeit it ought to be vaikai since kai, not gai, represents the hand
thanks for the verse excerpt from silambu. enjoyed reading it. regarding the vallinams, the rule is that if the sound occurs at the beginning of a word the sharper sound (e.g. ka, cha, ta, tha, pa) is used if it occurs in the middle of a word, the softer sound is used (e.g. ga, sa, da, dha, ba). the rule is different when there is a doubled sound in which case it reverts back to the sharper sound. e.g. pachchai. although it occurs in the middle of the word, the meyyezhththu preceding the cha (ch) makes it cha and not sa. so it's not passai. although they are two separate words merged into a single one, the puNarchi vidigal created vaigai and since it occurs in the middle, it is a ga sound. words imported from foreign languages including sanskrit are transcribed as they are in the original. IMO many of mispronounced sanskrit words in tamil is because their origin has by now long become obscure and tamilians think of these words as tamil words. hence the weirdly transcribed sounds. i had a detailed post about this a long time ago in sulekha. it is now lost in the sands of time. i'll try to google it.
the vai kai story is why i think vaiyai is a marUumozhi.
I was also thinking about words that form the difference in sound between gai and kai. Depending on the conjunction letter, the sound varies. E.g. Parukkai or iyaRkai versus salangai or poigai. There has to be some logic to it. In the absence of a conjunction letter, the sound usually is gai not kai ... like pugai, nagai, thOgai, thoorigai etc. When it is at the start of a word, the kai sound and not the gai sound that predominates. E.g. Kaidhi. Wonder why.
goodcitizn- Posts : 3263
Join date : 2011-05-03
Re: vai-gai
by MaxEntropy_Man Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:06 pm
as to why the rules came about the way they did is a matter for phoneticists to figure out. but this is all written down in the tholkappiyam the grammar text.
MaxEntropy_Man- Posts : 14702
Join date : 2011-04-28
Re: vai-gai
by pravalika nanda Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:30 pm
MaxEntropy_Man wrote:no the original was in english i believe. i posted another one called self portrait the other day.
here is another one
Chicago Zen
I
Now tidy your house,
dust especially your living room
and do not forget to name
all your children.
II
Watch your step. Sight may strike you
blind in unexpected places.
The traffic light turns orange
on 57th and Dorchester, and you stumble,
you fall into a vision of forest fires,
enter a frothing Himalayan river,
rapid, silent.
On the 14th floor,
Lake Michigan crawls and crawls
in the window. Your thumbnail
cracks a lobster louse on the windowpane
from your daughter's hair
and you drown, eyes open,
towards the Indies, the antipodes.
And you, always so perfectly sane.
III
Now you know what you always knew:
the country cannot be reached
by jet. Nor by boat on jungle river,
hashish behind the Monkey-temple,
nor moonshot to the cratered Sea
of Tranquillity, slim circus girls
on a tightrope between tree and tree
with white parasols, or the one
and only blue guitar.
Nor by any
other means of transport,
migrating with a clean valid passport,
no, not even by transmigrating
without any passport at all,
but only by answering ordinary
black telephones, questions
walls and small children ask,
and answering all calls of nature.
IV
Watch your step, watch it, I say,
especially at the first high
threshold,
and the sudden low
one near the end
of the flight
of stairs,
and watch
for the last
step that's never there.
-A.K.Ramaujan
** this is nice. i thought someone our age had written it, but he's actually much older.
pravalika nanda- Posts : 2372
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