Skip to main content

Heart

Kamala Das [From Wikipedia]


Lady, what did you gain by giving up Krishna

And embracing the Prophet’s amorphous Allah?

Did your heart throb better

With your head veiled with the hijab?

The heart works better without the head!

But yours didn’t.

Your head was as good as your heart.

 

You learnt the hard way

That you (nor I, nor anyone)

Can’t run away from yourself

By changing the god.

You betrayed your most beloved god,

The playful Krishna,

In favour of a “rigid husband.”

 

And you remained unhappy

Till the end of your life.

 

Happiness is not given by any god!

Let it be Krishna or Kristu or Allah,

Let it be any god from any culture –

Have you ever come across a happy god anywhere? –

Happiness cannot be given by gods.

Happiness is in your heart:

Or else you won’t ever have it.

 

PS. I’m going to teach a poem of Kamala Das tomorrow. These lines were a result of my reflection on the poet. Kamala Das became Kamala Suraiyya at the age of 65 by changing her religion. And she lost her smile after that. 

An earlier post on Kamala Das: Stains on Greatness 

Top post on Blogchatter

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanMarch 19, 2023 at 4:59 PM

    Hari OM
    "Happiness is in your heart"... yes, this! YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. ArtiMarch 20, 2023 at 1:46 PM

    The 'happiness is in your heart' message has come my way twice this morning. First, via an Insta share and now this post. Perhaps, the universe is nudging me to smile and accept the lethargic state of my writing these days:) Perhaps. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 20, 2023 at 2:38 PM

      The universe has its own ways of telling us certain vital things. All tje best.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousMarch 21, 2023 at 5:13 PM

    Your Stories/ poems are refreshing. Keep written. Lots of love 💟

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMarch 21, 2023 at 7:50 PM

    Proud to be your student rrly!Love the way You teach

    ReplyDelete
  5. vanderloostMarch 22, 2023 at 9:04 PM

    Very well written

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousMarch 24, 2023 at 6:28 PM

    Sir, can I ask some question?
    According to physics energy can neither be created nor be destroyed so what happens to the human energy after death?,also where does our soul go?what are your views on the concept of souls?
    It's not related to what you have posted yet I'm curious to know all about this. F

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 24, 2023 at 9:05 PM

      If you study biology, the answer would be that all organic energy is bum with death. Which branch of science accepts soul? Soul is a good concept for poetry like
      When it rains
      Souls rise like seeds...

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMarch 25, 2023 at 1:02 PM

      Everything knowable about the "soul" can be learned by studying the functioning of the brain. In their view, neuroscience is the only branch of scientific study relevant to understanding the soul.-Google.
      I had a teacher who said that after death we all are subjected to judgement and a lot of other things related to what might happen after death. He also said some stuff related to souls.which made me more curious about souls so i decided to read a book on it named destiny of souls. After 2 chapters i stopped reading it though. But still there is this one question which i haven't got a proper answer. What happens after death? Why living if it is to just decay in soil? There must be something more to it. After all humans are considered miracle. Do you think we evolved into this form?Why does humans exist,if existence of humans is dangerous to earth considering the current situations.

      Delete
    3. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 25, 2023 at 8:05 PM

      Glad you're seeking to know the deepest truths. I'm no guru. But i can tell you my convictions.

      Life has the meaning we give to it. I know that death will mark the end of all that I am. But it's my duty to live a 'good' life till death for the sake of promoting goodness on earth. Why? Good is better than bad! Not because I'll receive eternal rewards.

      Read Albert Camus, if you can. The Myth of Sisyphus.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Country where humour died

Humour died a thousand deaths in India after May 2014. The reason – let me put it as someone put it on X.  The stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra called a politician some names like ‘traitor’ which made his audience laugh because they misunderstood it as a joke. Kunal Kamra has to explain the joke now in a court of justice. I hope his judge won’t be caught with crores of rupees of black money in his store room . India itself is the biggest joke now. Our courts of justice are huge jokes. Our universities are. Our temples, our textbooks, even our markets. Let alone our Parliament. I’m studying the Ramayana these days in detail because I’ve joined an A-to-Z blog challenge and my theme is Ramayana, as I wrote already in an earlier post . In order to understand the culture behind Ramayana, I even took the trouble to brush up my little knowledge of Sanskrit by attending a brief course. For proof, here’s part of a lesson in my handwriting.  The last day taught me some subhashit...
10 comments
Read more

Lucifer and some reflections

Let me start with a disclaimer: this is not a review of the Malayalam movie, Lucifer . These are some thoughts that came to my mind as I watched the movie today. However, just to give an idea about the movie: it’s a good entertainer with an engaging plot, Bollywood style settings, superman type violence in which the hero decimates the villains with pomp and show, and a spicy dance that is neatly tucked into the terribly orgasmic climax of the plot. The theme is highly relevant and that is what engaged me more. The role of certain mafia gangs in political governance is a theme that deserves to be examined in a good movie. In the movie, the mafia-politician nexus is busted and, like in our great myths, virtue triumphs over vice. Such a triumph is an artistic requirement. Real life, however, follows the principle of entropy: chaos flourishes with vengeance. Lucifer is the real winner in real life. The title of the movie as well as a final dialogue from the eponymous hero sugg...
4 comments
Read more

Abdullah’s Religion

O Abdulla Renowned Malayalam movie actor Mohanlal recently offered special prayers for Mammootty, another equally renowned actor of Kerala. The ritual was performed at Sabarimala temple, one of the supreme Hindu pilgrimage centres in Kerala. No one in Kerala found anything wrong in Mohanlal, a Hindu, praying for Mammootty, a Muslim, to a Hindu deity. Malayalis were concerned about Mammootty’s wellbeing and were relieved to know that the actor wasn’t suffering from anything as serious as it appeared. Except O Abdulla. Who is this Abdulla? I had never heard of him until he created an unsavoury controversy about a Hindu praying for a Muslim. This man’s Facebook profile describes him as: “Former Professor Islahiaya, Media Critic, Ex-Interpreter of Indian Ambassador, Founder Member MADHYAMAM.” He has 108K followers on FB. As I was reading Malayalam weekly this morning, I came to know that this Abdulla is a former member of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Kerala , a fundamentalist organisation. ...
10 comments
Read more

56-Inch Self-Image

The cover story of the latest issue of The Caravan [March 2025] is titled The Balakot Misdirection: How the Modi government drew political mileage out of military failure . The essay that runs to over 20 pages is a bold slap on the glowing cheek of India’s Prime Minister. The entire series of military actions taken by Narendra Modi against Pakistan, right from the surgical strike of 2016, turns out to be mere sham in this essay. War was used by all inefficient kings in the past in order to augment the patriotism of the citizens, particularly in times of trouble. For example, the Controller of the Exchequer taxed the citizens as much as he thought they could bear without violent protest and when he was wrong the King declared a war against a neighbouring country. Patriotism, nationalism, and religion – the best thing about these is that a king can use them all very effectively to control the citizens’ sentiments. Nowadays a lot of leaders emulate the ancient kings’ examples enviabl...
6 comments
Read more

Violence and Leaders

The latest issue of India Today magazine studies what it calls India’s Gross Domestic Behaviour (GDB). India is all poised to be an economic superpower. But what about its civic sense? Very poor, that’s what the study has found. Can GDP numbers and infrastructure projects alone determine a country’s development? Obviously, no. Will India be a really ‘developed’ country by 2030 although it may be $7-trillion economy by then? Again, no is the answer. India’s civic behaviour leaves a lot, lot to be desired. Ironically, the brand ambassador state of the country, Uttar Pradesh, is the worst on most parameters: civic behaviour, public safety, gender attitudes, and discrimination of various types. And UP is governed by a monk!  India Today Is there any correlation between the behaviour of a people and the values and principles displayed by their leaders? This is the question that arose in my mind as I read the India Today story. I put the question to ChatGPT. “Yes,” pat came the ...
10 comments
Read more