THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ottaplakkal Nambiyadikkal Velu Kurup, popularly known as O N V Kurup, the famous lyricist and poet, has turned 83. To honour his years of contribution to Malayalam literature and poetry, his disciples joined hands to make his birthday special. The students and admirers of the Jnanpith winner also launched ONV Prathibha Foundation at a function at VJT hall here on Tuesday.
ONV, along with his family, joined the traditional ‘sadya’ that was organised by the Foundation in which poet Sugathakumari also participated. “It is a precious day for me,” said Sugathakumari. According to her, ONV’s works could no less be defined as “Love of humanity.”
Sarojini Kurup, wife of ONV, said that the greatest wealth of ONV are his disciples. ‘Choroonu’ is one of my favourites among ONV’s poems. It was born out of the ‘Choroonu’ of our first child,” she said with a smile.
The Foundation emphasises on promoting the true essence of Malayalam poetry along with the other Indian poetry. “ONV Sir as a leading poet has spanned 5-6 decades. Tallest among the poets in Malayalam literature, we thought of connecting Indian poets with the social and cultural aspect of Malayalam poetry. It is our tribute for having catered to the sensibility of generations,” said K Jayakumar, Vice-Chancellor of Malayalam University.
The first poetry reading was done by Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar, who is very passionate about ONV’s poetry.
Sarkar, who translated a few of them to Bengali, spoke about Indian literature in his lecture on ‘Humanity in ONV’s art of poetry’. “Cultures of Kerala and Bengal are almost analogous and ONV’s poetry communed with the society and culture of Bengal. I sincerely believe, if his poems are translated at a wider level, it would be a greater success,” said Sarkar.
During the first half of the poetry reading session, ONV’s closely-knit bond with nature was highlighted. “ONV represents nature in its purity. He was never a visitor to nature like Wordsworth, instead, was nature himself. Childhood memories connected with nature are the foundation for his poetry,” said E P Rajagopalan, folklorist.
‘’If poetry is twice removed from reality, then ONV Sir is a living proof to distort Plato’s philosophy in ‘Republic.’ He wrote about humanity and for humanity. He was an induced romantic poet-turned-revolutionary romantic,” said M Chandrashekeran Nair, educationist at IGNOU, Delhi.
Executive members of the newly-formed Foundation consist of Bishop Samuel Mar Irenios, V Madhusoodan Nair, Radhika C Nair, V Rajeevan, Prabha Varma and Pirappancode Murali.