{"id":345211,"date":"2023-08-16T04:12:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T09:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=345211"},"modified":"2023-08-17T04:16:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T09:46:43","slug":"this-poetry-volume-penned-by-a-parliamentarian-has-a-huge-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/this-poetry-volume-penned-by-a-parliamentarian-has-a-huge-range\/","title":{"rendered":"This poetry volume penned by a parliamentarian has a huge range"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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While focusing on her verse tucked in her poetry volume titled \u2018The Throb of Silenc, there\u2019s verse after verse which holds out. Accompanied by sleek sketches, which just about add to the intensity\u2026 there\u2019s\u00a0 a diversity to her verse but what hold out all along are subtle emotions engulfing each verse. A book review by Humra Quraishi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title of the book \u2013 The Throb of\u00a0 Silence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author \u2013 Thamizhachi Thangapandian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation from Tamil to English –  K S  Subramanian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher \u2013 Vitasta<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pages – 158<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Price \u2013 Rs 425<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week at the Bangalore Poetry Festival, I met the graceful and beautiful Parliamentarian Dr T. Sumathy (aka) Thamizhachi Thangapandian. In fact, when she entered the venue auditorium, all of us turned to see her \u2026she looked a beautiful heroine along the traditional  strain. Later, as I was introduced to her, one realized she\u2019s a Parliamentarian (DMK) and a short story writer, a poet and an academic. Above all, a soft spoken, humble and modest person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been reading her two freshly launched books. A poetry volume and also a short story collection. This week I\u2019m focusing on her verse tucked in her poetry volume titled \u2013 The Throb of Silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s verse after verse which holds out. Accompanied by sleek sketches, which just about add to the intensity\u2026 there\u2019s a huge range, a diversity to her verse but what hold out all along are subtle emotions engulfing each verse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving you with her this absolutely hitting verse. Titled – Al Janabi\u2019s Sixth  Finger –   it  carries a vital  backgrounder to it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Janabi\u2019s Sixth Finger:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In Baghdad\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

on a March noon\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the grating and neighing\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of old and decrepit  horses\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time knocked at your door\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the stamp of youth still strong\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the grip of dominance on the one side\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the masculine arrogance\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

on the other \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

held captive\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your  body  slipping \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as a lump of flesh\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as the sixth finger\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

alienated from you,\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

your six-year old sister watching you\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the remnant of a sweet\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you had both shared\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

still lingering in her molar \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In eerie silence they watched \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the violent rape of land and woman\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

your mother hiding her veil\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and your  father at  gunpoint\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inhaling the stench of rancid blood\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the doddering  horses panting away \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

set out Time\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only witnesses \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a flutter of  dove wings\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

just a poem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

( Five American soldiers gang raped and killed 14-year old Abeer Qassim Al – Janabi. This is considered to be one of the significant atrocities of  American soldiers in Iraq).\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While focusing on her verse tucked in her poetry volume titled \u2018The Throb of Silenc, there\u2019s verse after verse which holds out. Accompanied by sleek sketches, which just about add to the intensity\u2026 there\u2019s\u00a0 a diversity to her verse but what hold out all along are subtle emotions engulfing each verse. A book review by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[650,23,2205],"tags":[17180],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345214,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345211\/revisions\/345214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/345212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}