A. Ayyappan

For the anthropologist of the same name, see A. Aiyappan.
A. Ayyappan
Born (1949-10-27)27 October 1949
Nemom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Died 21 October 2010(2010-10-21) (aged 60)
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Occupation Poet, essayist, translator, lyricist, traveller, editor, proof reader, political worker
Nationality Indian
Notable works Veyil Thinnunna Pakshi
Greeshmame Sakhee
Notable awards Asan Poetry Prize (2010)
Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (1999)

A. Ayyappan (27 October 1949 – 21 October 2010) was a Malayalam poet in the modernist period. He is considered as the icon of anarchism in Malayalam poetry.

Life

Early life

Born in a wealthy Viswakarma (goldsmith) family, in Nemom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, he became a non-conformist member of reading Malayali families. He had a very tragic childhood. His father, Arumukham, died when he was only one year old, perhaps due to poison. Ayyappan, who had said that he was not sure whether his father’s death was a suicide or a murder, wrote in a poem that his mother was pregnant at the time of the suicide. He lost his mother, Muthammal, when he was 15. Ayyappan was supported by his sister Subbalakshmi and his brother-in-law V. Krishnan.[1]

Literary career

Ayyappan started writing poetry when he was a student. He became involved in the Communist Party and joined the staff of Janayugom, the party newspaper. Ayyappan is well known for his heart touching poems and his bohemian lifestyle. Ayyappan, who got intoxicated by the creativity of turning the pain of the homeless into poetry, slept on shop verandas and wrote poems — which were untainted depiction of life. In his own words, destitution and insecurity transformed him into a poet. He can be considered the icon of anarchism in Kerala. He was a close friend of the late filmmaker John Abraham. Ayyappan was also famous as a great lover of sunlight ('veyil' in Malayalam language) and a passionate adherent of Communism. For English translation of his poems see 'Selected Poems of A. Ayyappan from God's Own Country' published by Authors Press - translation by P.K.N.Panicker ISBN 978-81-7273-840-2. Also available in electronic format through Kindlebooks.

"Though a bohemian in the tradition of P. Kunhiraman Nair, Malayalam's celebrated poet of yesteryear, Ayyappan was amazingly rigorous in his poetic expression. Often, the street was his home, for homes seldom welcomed the poet in. But few writers in these times can claim to have had so vast a circle of loving and adoring friends, a large majority of them young men and women."[2]

Death

His body was found abandoned in the streets of Thampanoor, Thiruvananthapuram, on 21 October 2010. Without recognising the poet, police took his body to General Hospital. His body was kept in hospital mortuary without anybody recognising who he was and later identified by noon on 22 October 2010.[2] He was on his way to Chennai to accept the Asan Puraskaram on Saturday, 23 October 2010.[3] According to other news papers like Gulf News, Gulf Times, The Times of India, Haryana News and Indian Express, he died in a local general hospital after being found unconscious at a roadside.

Awards

He won the Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram (Asan Poetry Prize),[4] one of the highest literary awards in Malayalam literature, for the year 2010. Ayyappan was also a recipient of Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 1999.[2] Ayyappan's life has been documented on a short film, Ithrayum Yathabhagam, made by Odessa Sathyan, one of the founders of Odessa Collective, a people's film movement in Kerala.[5]

Important works

From His Last Poem.

അമ്പ് ഏതു നിമിഷവും മുതുകില്‍ തറയ്ക്കാം

പ്രാണനും കൊണ്ട് ഓടുകയാണ്

വേടന്റെ കൂര കഴിഞ്ഞ് റാന്തല്‍ വിളക്കുകള്‍ ചുറ്റും

എന്റെ രുചിയോര്‍ത്ത് അഞ്ചെട്ടുപേര്‍ കൊതിയോടെ

ഒരു മരവും മറ തന്നില്ല

ഒരു പാറയുടെ വാതില്‍ തുറന്ന് ഒരു ഗര്‍ജനം സ്വീകരിച്ചു

അവന്റെ വായ്ക്ക് ഞാനിരയാ യി

References

  1. ↑ Who's who of Indian Writers, 1999: A-M – Google Books
  2. 1 2 3 The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Poet A. Ayyappan passes away
  3. ↑ Tragic end to people's poet Ayyappan
  4. ↑ The Hindu : States : Asan Poetry Prize to A. Ayyappan Acharry
  5. ↑ EXpress News Service (20 August 2014). "Documentary". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 20 August 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.