Original Malayalam Text

Verukal - Balachandran Chullikad

Choodathe poyi nee, Ninakkayi Njan chora-

Chari chuvaooichoren  panineerpoovukal ,

Kanathe poyi nee, ninakayi Njan Ente

Pranante pinnil kurichitta vakkukal

Onnu thodathe poyi viral thumbinal

Ennum ninakaymidikumen thanthrikal

Andhamam  samvalsarangalkum akkarae

Antha mezhatha ormakalku akkare

Kunkumam thottu varunna saralkala-

Sandhyanu ennumeniku nee omane

Dhukkamanengilum ninne kurichulla

Dhukkam enthu anandhamanu eniku omane

Enne nnum en panapathram niraykatte

Nin sannydhym pakarunna vedhana

Translation Text from Malayalam to English

Roots by Balachandran Chullikad

For you I made white flowers red with my blood

Yet you did not care to wear them.

You went without reading the lines, what I wrote about you in my life.

You did not even run your fingers upon the tunes of the lines I wrote for you.

Even beyond infinity, even beyond memories that do not end.

Even today, my dear, you are like the colourful dawn wearing vermilion.

Even if it is sadness,

When the feeling is about you, it is enjoyable my dear.

Let the cup I drink from, be always full, with the pain of your absence.

Balachandran Chullikad is sixty-five years old born on the 30th of July 1957. He is a famous Indian poet, orator, lyricist, and actor in the Malayalam language. Apart from writing he has also acted in various Malayalam movies and serials. He has to his account the poems, Pathinettu Kavithkal, Amaavaasi, Ghazal, Maanasaanthram etc. A complete collection of his poems is called Balachandran Chullikkadinte Kavithakal which was published by DC Books in Kottayam, Kerala, India in the year 2000. He has contributed to various national literary seminars by the Central Academy of Letters, India. He was also one of the ten members of a cultural delegation of India to Sweden in the year 1997 invited by the Swedish Writer’s Union and represented Indian poetry at the international book fair in Gothenburg.

About the Poem and Significance of the Title

The poem "Verukal" by Balachandran Chullikad translates to “Roots”. Although the poem is titled as roots the poet does not mention the word roots anywhere in the poem. In the poem, the poet talks about how deeply he loves a person and how that love is extremely important to him. He says that he wants that person to be in his life throughout and not leave him ever. He also says that his love for the person will never die, and he will always love the person in every situation of his life, and he is ready to sacrifice his own life for the person if needed. I feel that the poet has named the poem as root (Verukal) since he feels that the person, he loves is like a root for him giving him support like how a tree or a plant cannot stand without support.