வருகை Arrival

வருகை

ஞானதீபன் வந்தவுடனேயே ஒருவனைக் 
கொன்று விடுகிறான் 
எந்த ஆண்டு வந்தான்? 
ஜோர்மனியா? பிரான்ஸா? 
எதுவும் தெரியவில்லை, தெரிவதெல்லாம் 
வந்தவுடனேயே ஒருவனைக் 
கொன்றுவிடுகிறான்
 
அவனைக் கொல்ல வேண்டும் போலிருந்தது
கொன்றுவிடுகிறான்
பின்னர்;
பின்னர் எதுவுமில்லை
 
கொல்லப்பட்டவன் தமிழனாயும்
வெள்ளைக்காரனாயும்
இரண்டு உருவங்களில் அவனுக்குத் தெரிகிறான்
 
இருவரையும் அழைத்துக் கொண்டு பொலிஸிற்க்குப் போகிறான்
அகதிக்காக விண்ணப்பிக்க.
 
“ஐயா! எனது காலத்துக்கால 
இடப் பெயர்வுகளையும் சித்திரவதைகளையும் 
உயிராபத்துகளையும் மற்றும் கஸ்ர-நஸ்ரங்களையும் 
எங்கிருந்து எப்படித் தொடங்குவதென்று தெரியவில்லை………”
 

Arrival

As soon as he arrived
Gnanadeepan killed a man. 
When did he get here?
Could be Germany? France?
Who knows? What he knows
is that he killed a man
as soon as he arrived. 
 
He felt like killing
so he killed him. 
And then, 
then nothing. 
 
The dead man appeared 
two figures 
Tamil and white.
 
He took them both to the police station
To seek asylum. 
 
“Sir! Time after time
I was uprooted and tortured
in danger and hardship
I know hot how or from where or when to begin…” 
 

Arrival

Jnanadeepan killed someone
when he arrived
when did he arrive?
Was it Germany? Or France?
Not sure. All he knows
is that he killed someone
when he arrived
 
He wanted kill
so he killed
Then,
then nothing. 
 
The victim was Tamil
was also a white man
He saw two figures 
 
He took them both 
to the police station 
seeking asylum 
 
“Sir! Time and time again, 
I have been tortured and displaced
my life was in danger and I endured such hardship
I know not how or where to begin…”
 
 

Translating the poem together as a group we had divergent views of how best to read the poem, we were lucky to have several Tamil speakers in the group who could see the logic of both sides. Some felt that the killings enacted by Gnanandeepan in the poem are entirely metaphorical and, in a sense they relate to the death of the ‘Tamil’ the subject was as well as the living dead ‘white’ figure he must now be in this strange, ill-defined European country. In this reading, the final stanza would be spoken as a more general (and entirely earnest) plea – something closer to: ‘Sir! Again and again / in my time there has been torture, displacement / danger and hardship / where to begin’. The other interpretation, and the one that we have leaned more towards in the final translation presented here allows for the possibility of former interpretation but also allows for the possibility of the killings to be metaphorical or not and allows for the final stanza requesting asylum to be unclear in its claims. In part, we were guided by the suggestions of Sugan’s wider critical views on Sri Lankan poetry of war and trauma that Hari, our guest translator, explained.

Edward Doegar, Commissioning Editor

Original Poem by

Sugan

Translated by

Hari Rajaledchumy with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Tamil

Country

Sri Lanka