Illustration of the Malayalam poem - “Renuke”
A four page accordion fold leaflet
Renuke is a Malayalam poem in which the poet describes the journey of his love through metaphors in nature.
The inner side with visuals for different verses of the poem.
The first page visualises the verses in the beginning of the poem.
He calls them the two leaves on a branch of a kadamb tree which break break during the rain and fall off in different spots. A river that diverges into two tributaries, the momentary colours of the sunset sky and the evanescent grandeur of a rainbow.
In the second page the following verses are illustrated where the poet wonders what to give to her as a souvenir of their love and decides to give her the word: remember. He requests her to pause and acknowledge him, if ever they stumble into each other in a crowd and ask each other’s well-being through mere glances if not words.
As the poem progresses the poet goes on. He now realises that love is magnificent but an illusion; an illusion that can fall apart any moment like the shattering of glass. It is the castle of glass.
Towards the end the tone of the poem changes with the passing of time.
Many dusks came and dawns came and love became anger then pain. Eventually it became the nothingness that they saw in the other as they stood in front of each other, figureless figures speaking in silences.
Back side of the leaflet when opened.
It is inspired from the verse in the poem where the separated lovers are compared to two leaves on the Kadamb tree, once joined but now broken and fallen in different spots due to the rain and winds. When the leaflet is close the leaves are joined but when it is opened they separate to spell out the title of the poem - Renuke.
