Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Ganga At Gaumukh


She is the creator
She is the sustainer

She renders our soil fertile
We drink from her waters

She is the perennial Ganges
An endless supply of life since eternity

On her banks a civilisation flourished
Empires rose and fell

I undertook an odyssey
To prostrate before that mother who gave us all life

Four thousand meters above the sea
Away from men and away from material

As I stood before the glacier of Gaumukh
I found myself witnessing the birth of that mother

Ah! What greater spectacle in this world
Than to watch the birth of your own mother!


7 comments:

Priya said...

A great tribute indeed.

Sowmya Chakravarthy said...

Thanks Priya...

I was really inspired to write this...

DonJose said...

"Ah! What greater spectacle in this world
Than to watch the birth of your own mother!"

No words... one of the best metaphors (not sure whether this is the right word) I've ever come across...

To be a lil critical, I got a feeling that it started off as a beautiful poem, moved towards prose in between and came back to poem... was it intentional?

Sowmya Chakravarthy said...

Jose,

I am not sure. My prose seems like poetry most of the time....and my poems seem like prose... :)

There are moments when you are really inspired. if you pen your thoughts at that very moment, you create a masterpiece of sincerety... but when busy schedules cause writing to be postponed, and by the time you have found time, the intensity of the feeling has lessened... and it shows in your work.

DonJose said...

I understand... that does dilute the presentation a bit, but you've still managed to preserve the essence of it in all its beauty... and once more, the ending is a masterpiece...

Sowmya Chakravarthy said...

Thank you Jose but I must confess that there is some plagiarism...

Do you remember one of those billboards in Bangalore that had the words "Every minute, a mother is born"...it was a maternity hospital advertisement ... When I saw the Ganges I think I recalled these words...

Unknown said...

I just came across your blog. I am not a blogger myself. (I was looking for Bodhayanasutra and landed into yours) As one writing poetry, I read some of yours. Good. Keep it up. Your lines on "Gaumukh" reflect the feelings I had too when I visited it a decade ago. With falling stones, it was a risky trek in August! You come off as a person with feelings and refined interests. Since you like carnatic music, you may read the book "The Saint and the Sinner" by V.Sriram on Bangalore Nagarathnamma (as you stay in Bangalore). On reading the Book i visited the hillock temple "Naraharirayaragudda" in Hanumanthanagar (Once a Shiva temple built around 1905 for Bangalore nagarathnamma. Minister Jairam Ramesh had commented on the book in "Thiruvaiyaru".
Keep blogging and writing! Best wishes...