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Keeping the Vayalar legacy alive

Vayalar's granddaughter, Meenakshi, has made it her mission to learn all his poems and she recites them with emotion, and also listens to all the songs he has penned

POETIC LEGACY Meenakshi maintains the legacy of Vayalar

In an age when children are mastering music and dance to gain brownie points over their friends in youth festivals, Meenakshi is trying to maintain the legacy of her grandfather, Vayalar Rama Varma, who has left behind a golden treasury of poems and songs for the Malayalis to relish. S.Meenakshi is a Std VI student of Carmel Higher Secondary School, Chalakkudy.

Recently, for a commemorative meeting of the immortal poet, Vayalar Rama Varma, organised by the Vayalar Smaraka Samithi in Thiruvananthapuram, poet O.N.V.Kurup and composer G.Devarajan among others, were stunned by the voice of this cute little girl who recited `Sarga Sangeetham' in a baritone. For Meenakshi, the day was special for it was her first meeting with Devarajan. She had heard from her parents enough and more about the intimate friendship her grandpa shared with him and also their creative accomplishments. She likes to listen and sing some of their songs too. But the most delightful thing for the little girl is to recite the poems of Vayalar. "My mother painstakingly teaches me the poems of my grandfather. She also teaches the meaning of each poem.

Perhaps that makes the learning process easy," she says. Meenakshi has a fairly good collection of the songs of Vayalar, who is her mother's father and listening to them is perhaps her favourite past time. What amuses her are the occasional visits to Raghava Parambu, which offer unrestricted freedom to climb up the trees and play around with friends.

"While playing with my friends near the memorial of my grandfather, I yearn for his presence," she says.

N. J. NAIR

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