Camping for poetry

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The little boy who could not resist plucking a tender mango from the tree in the courtyard was chided by his mother. Little did she know that when the mangoes would ripen on the tree, her dear one would not be alive to relish them.‘Mambazham’ fills your heart with a writhing pain that stems from the honest description of the child’s gestures. The poet conveys in the most subtle words, the superior understanding of children of the designs of providence. Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon’s dedication and reverence towards the profession of teaching has arguably informed his poetry and Mambazham, one of his most celebrated poems, is the finest illustration.The poet will have a befitting tribute paid to him in his birth centenary year when a troop of budding poets assemble at the Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan to take part in a poetry workshop on December 29 and 30.Sixty five young bards from all over Kerala, studying in classes from high school to plus two, will arrive at the cultural complex erected in honour of the poet to interact with leading poets, writers and academicians over the course of the two days. Minister V S Sivakumar will inaugurate the workshop on 29th at 9.30 am and K Muraleedharan MLA, will preside over the function.Poet Sugatha Kumari will engage the students in a session on the dialectics of poetry recital while author and academician Puthussery Ramachandran will share with them ‘the secrets of poetry writing’. Author Prabha Vrama will speak on poetic representation through the ages and theatre person Aliyar would discuss the dramatics of poetry.Chunakkara Ramankutty, B V Sivakumar, Ezhacerry Ramachandran, Vattapparambil Peethambaran, A B Raghunathan Nair, P Narayana Kurup and Perumbuzha Gopalakrishnan will interact with the gathering on topics as varied as poetic imagery, introduction to English poetry and modernism.On the night of December 29, the children will be joined by luminaries in the literary circle for a new year bash including cake cutting. The valedictory function on December 30 will be inaugurated by Culture Minister K C Joseph. K S Ravi Kumar and M Chandra Prakash will offer felicitations. Chunakkara Ramankutty will be the camp director and Kalam Kochera will co-ordinate.