Drenched by the Sun

DRENCHED BY THE SUN I, who prophesyby reading the stars and the wind,now think of that country - excerpt from poem ';Green Sun' Syam Sudhakar ';has an eye for the strange and the uncanny and a way of building translucent metaphors,' according to leading South Indian poet, K. Satchidanandan. Sudhakar's poetry draws on his cultural roots in Kerala as well as the splendor of its natural habitat. Palms, green paddy fields, mountain country, tropical downpours, the sun, the sea, shooting stars and even an enchantress all make their appearance. Sudhakar is an award-winning poet who writes in English and Malayalam. Born in 1983 at Vadanamkurussi village, he was educated in Thrissur and Chennai. He has been widely published and has performed readings at home and abroad, with poems translated into Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Manipuri, French and Danish. He has five collections to his credit, Earpam (Damp) and Avasanathe Kollimeen (The Last Meteor) in Malayalam, Drenched by the Sun in English, Slicing the Moon (a bilingual video) and Syam Sudhakar Kavithaikal (Poems of Syam Sudhakar) in Tamil, translated by Yuma Vasuki. After completing his Doctorate in English Literature at the University of Madras, Syam Sudhakar is currently based in Kerala, teaching and researching South Indian poetry.