Kozhikode: The recent murder of 19-year-old SFI leader Abhimanyu on the campus of Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, was condemned across party lines. Noted people from the literary circles in Kerala too had reacted, though poetically, on the untimely demise of a college student from a poor family. A poem 'Abhimanyu' written by Sharafunnisa, the wife of Kozhikode District Congress Committee president T Siddique, has now gone viral on social media, soon after it was launched on YouTube. It has touched the hearts of many for its simple lyrics.
This is not the first time, that the young poet from Chovva, Kannur, is reacting to an issue poetically. She had penned a poem, titled 'Njan Shuhaib', against the brutal killing of Youth Congress leader SP Shuhaib, 29.
The poem was widely discussed in the political circles too. “My husband, who visited the mortuary after the killing of Shuhaib, was deeply disturbed. He described, how brutally, a youngster was finished off by his opponents. Abhimanyu is also not different. Both were young and had just started their lives. There is no difference in death; whether one belongs to one party or another is insignificant,” says the poet.
The poem on Abhimanyu was recited by one Rakesh and background score was done by Faisal Mohanned. Soon after it was launched on Monday, the video has spread fast through WhatsApp messages.
Sharafunnisa has three anthologies of poems to her credit – 'Nilavu Nananja Kaalam', 'Karutha Nagaram' and 'The Pain of Love'. Late author Kamala Surayya, aka Madhavikutty, wrote the foreword to the first and Sugathakumari wrote foreword to the second. The English part of her third anthology, which is bilingual, is translated by Malayalam poet TP Rajeevan.
Sharafunnisa, a winner of the Kamala Surayya Award and former member of Bala Sahithya Institute, is planning to launch her poems in video format, with recitals by eminent singers.
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