Mambazham - Vailoppilli Sreedhara Menon. Labels: Vailoppilli Sreedhara Menon. Nattunadappu - C V P Namboodiri.

Mambhazham by Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon

Part 1:

• Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon (11 May 1911 – 22 December 1985) (also written as Vailoppilli) was an Indian poet of Malayalam literature. Known for his works such as Kudiyozhikkal, Kannikkoythu and Mambazham, Menon was the founder president of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham, an organization of Kerala-based artists, writers and art and literature enthusiasts.
• Vailoppilli Sreedhara Menon got Kendra Sahithya Academy award (1964 and 1971) and Vayalar Award for 1981. Vailoppilli Sreedhara Menon was born on 11 May 1911 in Kaloor, Ernakulam district, Kerala. Mambazham in Malayalam language translates to “ripe mango”. The poet depicts memories of an unfortunate mother who just lost her child.
• Mambazham by Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon - Angana thaimaavil ninnadhyathe pazham veezhke amma than nethrathil ninnadarnnu choodu kanneer. Malayalam Kavitha.
• Mambazham (മാമ്പഴം) is the most famous poem by Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon. He penned it in 1936. The poem portrays a mother mourning her son and was a part of a collection published in 1936, in the Onam Edition of the Mathrubhumi newspaper.

Part 2:

Mambazham (by Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon) is one of my favorite poems. In this beautiful poem, the poet depicts the heartache and memories of a mourning mother who lost her child to death. Her sadness is amplified by the sight of a ripe mango falling from the tree, which reminds her of her son and a related event. I wanted to share the story told by this poem.
This is not a literal translation nor is it an attempt to explain every single line of the poem. This is my effort to articulate the story and pictures that comes to my mind every time I listen/read to this beautiful poem.

(Loose) Translation:
With the sight of the season’s first mango fruit (ripe) falling from the tree in her courtyard, warm tears started shedding from mother’s eyes. Four months ago, when the mango tree was budding (after a long time), the mother’s child (son) came to her running with handful of buds, to show how he can imitate a firework with the flowers (mango buds). The mother got angry and scolded the child for destroying the mango bud. She asked him “Naughty boy! You are supposed to be the one running to pick up these mangoes when they get ripe, instead you destroyed the mango buds without waiting until they became ripe mangoes. Do you want spanking?”.
[My side-note: I am not sure my translation did justice to the scene … imagine a kid running to you with all his/her innocence trying to show you something. But then you see he/she has ruined a flower or picked a raw tomato that you were waiting to ripen … As adults, we usually get mad and yell at them. We don’t share the same excitement as the kid’s. Even worse, we hurt the kid’s feelings.]
Hearing this, the child’s mood changed, his face dropped, and then his eyes filled with tears. “I am not going to come to pick up the ripe mangoes!” He said this and threw the buds on the floor and walked away.

Mambazham Vailoppilli Sreedhara Menon

At this, the poet says, “Kids, who can barely add words to make a sentence, you are like the Gods who can see the future”
Before the summer heat could ripen the mangoes, without waiting for the ripe mangoes to fall from the tree, the mother’s child left her nest and went to the Other world (Heaven).

[Second part of the poem. ]

Now, when he is living as the darling of those people who live in the sky … the first mango fruit (ripe) fell from the tree in the courtyard, and warm tears started flowing from his mother’s eyes. The golden fruit that has fallen, so that her son can taste its nectar, is lying on her courtyard without any takers (without anyone claiming it). All of the neighbors’ kids are happily playing under their mango trees and eagerly praying (requesting) to the squirrel to drop down some mangoes for them. When a mango does fall down, they race among each other to get it . Just like this, for everyone else it is festive atmosphere of spring, but for her it is the darkest of the rainy seasons made of her own tears.

She stood there remembering this painful memory for a while and then she picked up that mango fruit, which is a sign of her misfortune, and took it to the place where her son’s delicate body is buried and placed it on his grave, and spoke these words “Without knowing the truth (that you have died), this fruit has come to existence only for you, my darling son, to be held in your delicate hands, and to be tasted by your baby mouth. In the past, even when you have walked away from me angry at me and even after throwing tantrums, you always used to come back to me shyly when it is time to have food and I called you to eat. Just like that, please come back my darling son (who I cannot see with my eyes anymore), come back to eat this fruit that your mother has brought for you, only then will this mother be relieved.”

Vailoppilli Mambazham Kavitha Lyrics

At that point, the loving son’s soul in the form of a cool breeze blew to console the mourning mother.

Vailoppilli Mambazham Kavitha

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