Tuesday 13 February 2024

Pranayam - Limited Version




Title: Pranayam – Limited Version
Genre: Flipbook of Pictures, Poems in Malayalam with Translation in English
Poet: Jayarsree T.
Translator: Sujatha Warrier
Photographers: Basanth Peringode, Manikantan Mundakkal, Poornima G.,
                             Riya Anes, Sudevan, Zakariya, and Jayasree T.
Publisher: Writers International Edition
Bookstore: Google Books

Excerpt from the Foreword by Shreekumar Varma

Translators usually tread a tightrope. There is a tendency to either stay safe, or push ahead, and often venture away from the original markers. Here, in this encompassing volume, Malayalam words, even when they seem uniquely untranslatable, are rendered into English with an independence, even whimsicality, that startles at times (as in the case of “Thiruvathira”), but always remaining loyal and pristine, always embracing the sensibility of the original. This allows poet and translator to stand up as twin towers, as one voice, and unique at the same time.

Excerpt from the Foreword by Kavitha Balakrishnan

ഇവിടെ ഒരു മനസ്സ്. അത് ഏറ്റവും പരിമിതമായ കരുക്കൾ ഉപയോഗിച്ച് സ്വയം ആവിഷ്‌ക്കരിക്കാൻ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു. സ്വയം, ഒരു 'ജയശ്രീ' എന്ന മനുഷ്യൻ / കവി അല്ല. അത് പരസ്പരം പടർന്ന് ഇണങ്ങി വ്യാപിച്ചും കലർന്നും കാണാൻ പറ്റാത്തത്രയും സൂക്ഷ്മമായ ഒന്നാകാൻ ശ്രമിക്കുമ്പോലെ തോന്നും ഈ കവിതകളും കാഴ്ചകളും കാണുമ്പോൾ. ഇവിടെ ഒരു പ്രണയം. അത് നശ്വരമാണെങ്കിലും വൈവിധ്യമാർന്നതാണ്. സർവ്വവ്യാപിയും ഭൗമവുമായ ഒരു ജീവജാലപ്രപഞ്ചത്തിൽ അത് സജീവമാണ്.

About the Book

Pranayam, or Love, is such an emotion that cannot be limited. Pranayam – Limited Version gathers Jayasree T.’s reflections on unlimited love expressed through very limited number of words and lines of poetry. The poems are inspired by photographs captured by the poet herself as well as by other nature lovers, some of whom are photographers by profession and some for diversion. Jayasree’s poems in Malayalam have been translated into English by Sujatha Warrier. What began as a light-hearted exercise of creative camaraderie grew into a collection of pictures, poems and their translation.

Readers’ Reviews:

Love as ‘Limited Version’ speaks a lot ironically. The capacious nature and manifestations of love, and its kinship with nature and human nature lends a dimension which is immeasurable, thus rigidly limiting the interpretation of love. The many shades and infinite permutations and combinations of love, the essence of the abstract, remind me of the “melakartha ragas” and their infinite “janyas”…the chromatical brilliance of colours, the chiaroscuro of myriad shades.

Yes, the very idea of translation is a daring “tread on a tightrope” as graphically stated by Shreekumar Varma.

Jayasree has stretched it and Sujatha has covered the stretch.

PRANAYAM – an e-book with a difference…intellectually challenging, visually pleasing.

-      Professor Rangarajan G.

ആദ്യമായാണ് ഇത്തരത്തിൽ ഒരു ഇ ബുക്ക് പണം മുടക്കി വാങ്ങി ‌ വായിക്കുന്നത്. ഒട്ടും മുഷിഞ്ഞില്ലെന്നു മാത്രമല്ല ഏറെ സൗകര്യപ്രദവും... ജയടീച്ചറുടെ 'സാരമില്ല' വാങ്ങി വായിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. അതിനും മുൻപേ ടീച്ചറുടെ ചിത്ര കവിതകളെ പിന്തുടരുന്നും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. ഇതിലെ കവിതകളും അതിന്റെ വിവർത്തനവും ഒരേ പോലെ ഭംഗിയായി തോന്നി. ഇതിലെ ഒരു കവിതയുടെ വിവർത്തനം ഓഡിയോ ആയി കേട്ടിരുന്നു. ഇതിനോടൊപ്പം തന്നെ മുഴുവൻ കവിതകൾക്കും ആ ഒരു ഓഡിയോ ഭാഗം കൂടി ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ എന്ന് മോഹിച്ചു പോയി ️ അഭിനന്ദനങ്ങൾ സുജാത വാര്യർ 🥰 ജയടീച്ചർ 🥰

-      Sudheer Peringode 


Saturday 10 February 2024

Book Launch at Kochi: Pranayam - Limited Version




Rammohan
Paliyath
Following the initial release of Pranayam (Love) – Limited Version at Mysuru on January 6, the e-book was launched at River Bourne Center, Kochi, by Author and Columnist Rammohan Paliyath on February 4, 2024. The audience  a coterie of bookish people – was looking forward to the "Webinivesam" author’s informal and delightful oratory, and it was as effortlessly engaging as expected. 
Shreekumar
Varma

Playwright, Author, Poet, and Columnist Shreekumar Varma shared his thoughts on the three-dimensional creative collaboration of poetry and photography, and the individual and collective experiences of the pictures and poems. Poet, Artist, Curator and Researcher Kavitha Balakrishnan, who was expected to but could not make it to the event, made her virtual presence felt. 

An introduction of the photographers and their pictures along with poetry rendition by the poets was well received by the audience. Not to mention the musical rendition of a select few Malayalam poems by Lyricist, Composer and Short Film Director Krishnakumar Varma.

Rangarajan G.
Pranayam – Limited Version (Love – Limited Version) is a flipbook of pictures and poems in Malayalam and English. Jayasree T.’s Malayalam poems are inspired by photographs captured by Basanth Peringode, Manikantan Mundakkal, Poornima G., Riya Anes, Sudevan and Zakariya, and translated by Sujatha Warrier. The e-book, designed by Bharati Varrier, has been published by Writers International Edition. The e-book is available on Google Books. For your copy of the e-book, please click here.

Jayadas. T.
The concluding session, which was an interactive one, turned out to be thoroughly entertaining as well with the participation of Poet, Professor and much-more Rangarajan G. and  Jayadas T., a teacher of math who is full of mirth. The evening ended with amazing twilight waterfront photo opportunities well exploited by the guests and participants.


Kavitha
Balakrishnan
Krishnakumar
Varma