I Missed His Book, But I Read His Name
Though authors are a dreadful clan
To be avoided if you can,
I'd like to meet the Indian,
M. Anantanarayanan.
I picture him as short and tan.
We'd meet, perhaps, in Hindustan.
I'd say, with admirable elan ,
"Ah, Anantanarayanan --
I've heard of you. The Times once ran
A notice on your novel, an
Unusual tale of God and Man."
And Anantanarayanan
Would seat me on a lush divan
And read his name -- that sumptuous span
Of 'a's and 'n's more lovely than
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan" --
Aloud to me all day. I plan
Henceforth to be an ardent fan
of Anantanarayanan --
M. Anantanarayanan.
Commentary
Somebody told me that John Updike had written a poem on the name Ananthanarayanan; simply because he liked the sound of it. (I found this on google: I hope it has been correctly transcribed). It’s quite amusing and well constructed (if you can overlook the fact that his pronunciation of Anantanarayanan rhymes with fan rather than fun), with an appropriately comedic rhyme scheme. It’s given me a new appreciation of south Indian names :). I don’t know anything about the real Anantanarayanan, but you can buy his book1 on Amazon.com.
— Ashvin
Minstrels Links
Coleridge’s poem “Kubla Khan”: poem #30
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“The Silver Pilgrimage,” by M. Anantanarayanan. 160 pages. Criterion. $3.95. ↩
Show 2 commentsHide comments
From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Ashvin Kurian George · 28 April 2002
I just got an email from the Madhavan, the son of M.Anantanarayanan, who apparently tracked me down from the minstrels page, and says the following about his father and the poem:
M. Anantanarayanan died in 1981. He
had been High Court judge and Chief Justice in Chennai, (Madras) till 1969. I am one of his five children. Now 68, I am a retired diplomat, living in Mysore.
and, in another email, continues:
John Updike wrote this poem in 1962 or
thereabouts and it is published in his
“Telegraph Poles” and in his Selected Verse. Yes, my father knew about the poem, because I think it was published in “Time magazine” and somebody brought it to his notice. He was amused and told me of a clerihew on his name by a friend of his in Cambridge in 1928! “
ah.. the strange things that happen on the internet.
Ashvin
A Thyagaraja · 25 December 2003
Dear Mr George,
I read your comment on the internet just now.
You might be interested to learn that I am the last (3rd) son of Mr M Anantanarayanan. I am called “Anantanarayanan Thyagaraja” (I was named after the great Carnatic musician of Thanjavur, where I was born). I am a theoretical physicist and have lived and worked in the UK for the last 28 years. While I was studying in the US for my PhD, my supervisor at CalTech, Prof. P.A. Lagerstrom used to introduce me to his friends saying, “this young man has 11 a’s in his name!” To spare my friends such linguistic contortions, I have always been called “Chippy”, a name given to me by my mother since childhood.
Cheers,
Chippy
(A Thyagaraja)