A K Ramanujan

Chicago Zen

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

CHICAGO ZEN
A.K. RAMANUJAN
(1929 – 1993)
Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham
Attipate Krishnaswami
Ramanujan
 Poet, scholar, Professor, philologist,
folklorist, translator and playwright
 Wrote in Kannada AND English
 Born in Mysore
 Family – amalgamation of religious
orthodoxy and intellectual
liberalism
 Father nurtured in him a love for
learning
Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham
• Though he started is higher education to pursue Science,
his father soon recognized his talent in English and shifted
his stream
• Majored in English

• 1959 - Fulbright Scholar at Indiana University

• PhD in Linguistics
• Love for dialects
and gave
prominence to
Indian dialects

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

 Life & works

• Worked as a lecturer of English

at Quilon and Belgaum
• 1962 - University of Chicago as an assistant
professor
• Harvard University, University of
Wisconsin, University of Michigan, University of
California at Berkeley, and Carleton College.
• University of Chicago, shaped the South Asian
Studies program

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

 Life & works

• Published volumes of poetry:

 1966 - The Strides
 1977 – Relations
 1986 – Sight
 1995 - The Collected Poems

• Excellent translator from Tamil and Kannada into

English

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

 Themes:

• His poetry used to criticise self and environment

• Tradition-modernity conflict
• Self-alienation
• Love and family
 Family is central to Ramanujan’s poetry as he
uses it both as theme and metaphor
• Contrapuntal vision - the experience of the native
milieu as well as of the foreign milieu

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part I
 " The underlying theme of
the poem is once again
the difficulty of coming to
terms with a new
environment."
 The poem starts abruptly
with a command to clean
the house.
 Especially the living room –
like they
are expecting guests
 With a warning not to
forget to name
the children, all of them
too
Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham
Part I
• Clean house – expecting a guest
• Need to create a good impression
 A nervousness is felt all around
 The words convey that anxiety as well
• A reminder that we shouldn’t forget
the names – names are the carriers of
one's identity; so not to forget your
roots, identity, culture
• Could the living room be suggestive of
ones expectations? Mind?

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part I
 When we find ourselves in a new
environment, we want to make
a good impression. It matters
how we are perceived
 We are in a new place let's keep
our mind open to new
things; but at the same time let's
not forget our roots
 Let's clear our mind to learn and
unlearn

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part II
 The section starts with a warning to
watch every step
 There may be new and strange
things that will make you
uncomfortable, disagreeable
 These sights may spring up on
you when least expected
 And when it does, you may try and
cope with it; your coping
mechanism may not laways be
logical

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part II
 As you wait in traffic, the orange
light may invoke memories and
images of a forest fire
 Fire that has spread far and wide;
enough to cover even the frothing
Himalayan river
 The 'frothing' talks of a tumultuous
river while the 'rapid and silent'
talks of a calmness
 It reflects the speakers unsettled
mind; trying to be calm outside
 But the images invoked in the
speaker unconsciously, tells a
different story
 Burning forest, frothing river;
yet he manages to keep a
calm exterior
• "Failure to be closely involved
with one's immediate
surroundings causes
distraction, raising mad
nostalgic fantasies, "a
frothing Himalayan river" in the
middle of a Chicago street"
Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham
Part II
As you are doing something as domestic as having dinner;
dinner that consists of Lobster; un-Indian

His mind wanders once again eastward; towards his

homeland

Towards the antipodes – exact opposites; the other side of

Britain, here the other side of Chicago

But despite the constant fading in and out, homesickness,

unhomely feeling, one had to pretend complete sanity

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part III
 The country that you miss and
long for cannot be reached by
plane; not even the fastest one
 "Nor by boat on jungle river"
 Not even hallucinogens that
you may consume behind the
temple
 Monkey temple – the temple
that u erected to feel like this
could become home; that
bringing a piece of home may
eventually do the trick?

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part III  You cannot launch yourself into India
like they do to the surface of the
moon; you cannot tight rope your way
or travel with a circus all the way there
 There is no way you can make your
way back now.
 You can’t, not even if you have a
passport; the cost of travel – can they
afford it?
 Even if they wanted to transmigrate =
to pass into a different body (usually
after death); that way you don’t need
a passport or money; yet even this is
not a hope they can nurture

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part III

 But the best way to recall and

remember and hold on to the past
is to talk about it to willing listeners
 Take the phone and speak to
members back home; speak to your
children & answer questions and
queries for them
 If there is no one to listen to you,
carry those memories in your heart
 Walls – emptiness brings
memories; nostalgic memories

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part IV
 Life is a roller coaster
 One must ride it; ups and
downs and all
 The first step is the most
difficult – first step into a
new world; new
experiences; a new
country; a new culture
 And the last step is
unknown and
unpredictable

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham

Part IV

 One is expected to keep calm and hold

everything together
 He is in a better place as far as the world
is concerned – better job; better life style
 No one sees the bleeding heart; the
unhomely heart; the uneasiness; the
discomfort; the fight and struggle to fit in
 Hence the Zen existence
 Chicago is his home; yet it will never be
home

Compiled by Ms. Neethu Mary Abraham