P.P. Ramachandran: A Poet who Embodies Minimalism and Simplicity (2024)

A Humble Attempt to Acquaint and Familiarize the Contemporary Malayalam Poet P.P. Ramachandran to the LinkedIn Family :))

"How Simple" is the English translation of the Malayalam poem "Lalitham" penned by poet PP Ramachandran.An English translation of the poem by the author of this article is appended at the end.

The poem is a modest attempt by the poet to juxtapose the complexity and artificiality of human life vis-à-vis the simplicity and spontaneity of avian life. Man may boast to be the crown of creation, but he has a lot to learn from the birds and animals around him.

Birds go about their business quietly, without ever unsettling the harmony of the natural environment they live in. Man, on the other hand, meddles with everything, raises a hue and cry when he achieves something of ‘everyday insignificance’, and disturbs the beauty and serenity of the world he lives in. He messes things up, expecting the future generations to mend and repair on his behalf. Greedy, and over-ambitious, man leaves no stones unturned to have the posterity remember him. Tombs and monuments are erected, memorial ceremonies are conducted, statues and portraits are installed everywhere, just to make the world remember.

“How Simple!” opens in the first person with the bird as the speaker. The bird affirms that “It takes/ only a sweet little cry/ to let the world know/ that I am here”. Evidently, the bird is describing the effortless simplicity with which it articulates its existence in the present. The bird gives out a sweet little cry to let the world know that it exists. Birds don’t have the persuasive power of rhetoric; nor do they erect epitaphs and statues; nor do they create masterpieces to make their presence felt. Rather, they have a simpler, and more natural way of getting things done. Living in harmony with nature, birds articulate the simplicity of existence through simple deeds like chirping or dropping a feather. Evidently, these are actions natural to a bird.

Dropping a mere feather implies the simplicity with which a bird can prove that it was there in a particular place at a certain point in time. It is also an affirmation that the bird once existed. The bird affirms its past existence by dropping a feather which comes naturally to all birds. There is neither sophistication nor monotonous artificiality in what the bird does.

The first three stanzas of the poem has the bird as the speaker, articulating its simple life-philosophy in the first person singular. A sweet chirp is all that the bird needs to proclaim to the world of its existence in the present. The bird affirms its presence in the past merely reminding us of the feather it once dropped. The bird asserts its immortality, its future existence, through its progeny – it leaves behind the warmth of hatching young ones to assure its immortality in time.

The fourth and final stanza of the poem witnesses a change in the speaker. Evidently, the bird isn’t speaking anymore; apparently it is the poet who takes over, to drive home the message of the poem. Nonchalantly, the poet asks whether birds have a better way to articulate the simplicity of life. The rhetorical question obviously demands an answer in the negative, for, the simplicity and spontaneity of avian life is simply unattainable for mankind. However, the poem also points to the need for emulating the birds on how to simplify things, enjoy life as it comes and find purpose and meaning in the very act of living.

Apparently a simple tale regarding the evolution of the life of a bird, “How Simple!” is a poem that yields to multiple readings. Elements of art and romance become vivid and tangible on closer reading. Literally, the poem is about the romance, mating, brooding and perpetuation of the species of birds. The sweet cry becomes the mating call, the dropped feather signifies the act of mating and the warmth of brooding implies having offspring.

Art here concerns itself with the simple and the beautiful. Art is about being creative and being beautiful. There is art in the way the bird announces its existence – it is simple, creative and beautiful. Whether it be the sweet chirp or dropping the feather or even brooding, each is an act of creativity and simplicity. The poet seems to suggest that the simple and the creative contribute enormously to the harmony of the natural world.

The poem looks at a sweet little cry, a dropped feather and the warmth of brooding as different levels of creativity expressed during different phases of life. Creativity requires spontaneity and simplicity, both of which birds have in abundance. At times all that creativity requires is a clear mind, dynamic and staying in the present. At other times, creativity can be all about nostalgia and remembrance of things past. Giving birth to offspring is perhaps the finest and the original form of creativity.

Again, “How Simple!” can be read as an ecological piece. Ostensibly a very simple poem on the life philosophy of a bird, the poem reverberates with ecological implications too viable to be ignored. The poem contrasts the complexity and artificiality of human life with the simplicity and spontaneity of avian life. In his quest for dominance over the Earth, man blindly exploits nature, adversely upsetting ecological balance. He abuses natural resources, polluting and exhausting everything without ever considering the impact his deeds shall have on future generations. Birds on the other hand go about their business quietly, without ever unsettling the balance of the natural environment they live in. Living in harmony with nature, birds express the simplicity of existence through simple deeds like chirping or dropping a feather. Evidently, these are actions natural to a bird. There is neither sophistication nor monotonous artificiality in what the bird does. Man has got a lot to learn from birds.