Selective Amnesia There was a point to this. But I forgot.

19Sep/075

Tamil to English translation, BETA

ஒரு வண்ணத்துப் பூச்சி எந்தன் வழி தேடி வந்தது
அதன் வண்ணங்கள் மட்டும் இங்கு விரலோடு உள்ளது

Ammani feels Chenthil’s translation of the above lines are not adequate/crisp enough. Let me give it a shot…

A butterfly once came my way,
Alas, only traces of colours on my fingers stay.

The next few lines of this song are pretty good too: I touched fire. Traded (opened a store) on a deserted island. Built a house of sand

Such acts of brilliant futility.

(If you liked this, you might want to read some of my other translations: (Bharathi’s poems) 1, 2, 3)

Comments (5) Trackbacks (2)
  1. Ah. Nice. Retained the meaning and managed to rhyme :)

    Wondering if we can capture “en vazhi thedi” better…

    A butterfly came searching for me (came flitting towards me?),
    leaving wisps of colors lingering on my fingers…(mere wisps of colors stay back on my fingers?)

  2. By some quirk, I am not able to comment in my own blog. Your attempt is the best so far, will post it on my blog when the blogger gods are happy.

  3. Good one, this. I’d actually like it more without ‘alas.’ The wistfulness is best left unopened.
    Also, the present tense in the second line which is quite significant, is lost a bit. But then…

  4. I want tamil to english translation soft ware Or Books

  5. Stumbled on to your blog searching for something.

    My translation on this would look something as

    A butterfly came searching, on my path
    Only its colors, my fingers here hath

    I also notice you have some of Bharathi’s poems as well. Good translations above and on some of the Bharathi ones. I intend to translate sometime Suttum vizhi chudar thaan and Kaani Nilam vaendum. Skipping them here now to avoid being influenced. Will come back once I translate and hone them.

    I did try a few short translations. They are at

    http://thoughtrickles.blogspot.com/search/label/Subramanya%20Bharathi

    They aren’t metric equivalents, but very close to the meaning.


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