If you haven’t shown some love already to the first parts of this story,
please do consider part 1, part 2, part 3
It was the Racial Harmony Day in Singapore. Schools celebrate it by encouraging students to appreciate and cherish one another’s cultures. His form teacher suggested and invited some students to share a poem or fable from their own cultures. He was an enthusiastic child who was always eager to take the stage. So, he did not think twice before volunteering to share. But the question was: what literary work can a Primary Five student present before the class? Like most children, he had gone to his mother for help and she taught him her favourite poem, Mambazham, written by Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon, a famous poet of Malayalam literature.
Rajesh’s mother translated the Malayalam poem into English. It was made crisp and short for him to learn. Sitting in the car, Rajesh closed his eyes and traced back his memories.
Anganathaimavil nni- From the mango tree in the yard,
naadyathe pazham veezhke- as its very first mango fell,
yammathan naethrathilni- from the eyes of the mother,
nuthirnu choodu kanner. a warm drop of tear ran down.He could only recall the first few lines. Isn’t it funny that one could get lost even on the paths that had been travelled before? However, like everyone else, he too could not forget how those paths had made him feel.
It was about a mother and her child. When the first mango of that season fell down, she faced tears rolling down her cheeks. Because the very last summer, when that mango tree flowered for the first time, her kid was playing with its flowers by plucking them. Mother chided her child and punished him. This summer, when the very first mango fell, her child was no more.
Little Rajesh could not control his tears when his mother explained the poem. He could relate to the child and the mother in ways his little heart could not explain. He found some deep roots connecting him to those characters. The death of the child had made a strong impression on Rajesh’s young mind. He realised he too could be gone even before the next mango falls.
to be continued…
