Revathy Gopal
Revathy Gopal passed on this week. Poet, writer - and brave, thoughtful, beautiful person. From “Picnic at the Zoo”:
Most of the cages are empty, now;This brings tears to my eyes.
once there were civet cats, panther and jaguar,
even a family of white tigers from the Sunderbans
that made a splash of light in the infernal dark;
a black bear and a binturong
I remember particularly,
because of its droll name.
They died or were moved
to kinder climes, perhaps.
But when the kangaroos (strange import!)
died, one by one,
the local paper said they
probably pined away…
More of her columns here.
Rama’s tribute here. Space Bar’s tribute here. Dilip’s post here.
Uma, I never knew how many blogger knew her until the day before yesterday. It seems such a pity that she had to go. I was at a poetry reading this evening, adn at the end, I read two of her poems from *Last Possibilities of Light*. Nobody knew who Revathy was, but they all responded to the poems. I wish she had been there to read to them herself.
Comment by Space Bar — March 9, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
I had only met her a few times and spoken to her on the phone off and on, but it’s hard to forget her warmth and humour… I didn’t know about her illness. I wish I had been able to visit her before the end.
Comment by Uma — March 10, 2007 @ 2:02 am
Revathy, you were in my life for such a short time - one weekend, where we all laughed, shopped for spices in Norwich and ate your delicious food in my garden on a magical evening. You will remain in my heart for ever. You are true jewel of a woman. I know we will meet again one day. Just wait for the fun when that happens Revathy. Unique, gracious Revathy, I won’t forget you.
Comment by hilary — March 12, 2007 @ 7:08 pm