An exposition on Mersalayitten

Mersalayitten, I, 2014
Album Artist: A R Rahman
Singers: Anirudh Ravichander, Neeti Mohan
Lyrics: Kabilan

If I have to nit pick, the pronunciation during the course of the song would beg it to be transliterated as merasalayitten. Since, that extra ‘a’ didn't hamper the beauty of the song, I’ll choose to overlook that. Duh! Grumpy me. Oh! And.. A word of caution here. I am just on a spree to record as many thoughts as possible here about this marvellous song/word/lyrics. So there won’t be any order or coherence. Not that it matters. Nor does any of my other posts do. But still, remember, you were cautioned.

Well, no body needs to understand the meaning of a song, to enjoy it. That said, it would be a great travesty to love this song, sans analysis though. So, as a native tamil speaker myself, I ventured in to researching the song’s titular word - mersalayitten. no marks for guessing it to be a madras slang. Though having used this word (context irrelevant here) a couple of times, I could fairly grasp that it might mean ‘scared’,’afraid’ at one end, to ‘surprised’,’bewildered’,’astonished’ at the other end. Assuming that I’s Vikram is straight and is not penning poems about the movie’s antagonist, we can safely conclude that mersalayitten here could only mean, surprised etceteras. Level 1 crossed. 

நிற்க. English இனி சிறிது தடுமாறும். So for the etymology alone..

சென்னைவாசிகள் எவ்வித காரண காரியமும் இல்லாமல், புதிதாக ஒரு வார்த்தைக்கு உயிர் கொடுத்திருப்பார்கள், (இருவர் 'பூ கொடியின் புன்னகை’ தாக்கம்). என்று நம்புவது எனக்கு சற்று சிரமம்.  மெர்ஸலாயிட்டேன் ஒரு வேளை யாரோ ஒரு ஆங்கிலோ-இந்தியன், அவனை நாய் துரத்துகையில்.. “நாயின் mercy-குள் ஆகிட்டேன்” - என்று புலம்பியதை, அருகில் இருந்தவன் இவ்வாறு அர்த்தம் கொண்டிருக்கலாம்.

அல்லது, "அவளை கண்டவுடன் 'மரச் சில்லு போல ஆகிவிட்டேன்' " என்று அவன் ஆனந்த களிப்படைந்ததை, அருகில் இருந்த டோமர் இவ்வாறு உள்வாங்கியிருக்கலாம். அதுவே பிற்காலத்தில், மெர்சலாகிட்டேன் என்று மருவியிருக்கலாம். எதுவாக இருப்பினும், நலமே. மேலும், இதனின் etymology பற்றி ஆராய்கையில், எவரும் பல் துலக்கி துப்பியதாக தெரியவில்லை. ஆகையால், இதற்குமேல் இதை குறித்து ஆராய, எனக்கும் மனதில்லை.

Now to the song as such. Composition, music - I can’t say anything about this. ARR. dot. However, I do have a small gripe. Purely subjective as it may be, Neeti’s soprano in the middle, just slows this number’s tempo. I know I know, one of my friends really loved that and tried choking me to death for bad mouthing it. Yet, விடுங்க. ARR has made a Gana bala out of Anirudh. I vaguely feel that it is a mockery on the current trend in Tamil Cinemas, which obligates a gana song or a tasmac inspired song, to appeal to the masses. May be his & shankar’s dignity levels couldn't stoop down to such levels, and they decided to use Anirudh’s voice over Kabilan’s lyrics. No offence meant. Really. 

Ça va, On to the lyrics, line by line. 

The first few lines set the context of the song, where he first sees his beloved, his angel or whatever he chooses to believe as, and he is stunned/bewildered/astonished. And he feels as if he is set on fire [not using kerosene], though he used to be as cool as tap water. [ Ah!! Dude, I can relate to that. ]  

தோசை கல்லு மேல வெள்ளை omelette-ah

ஒரு குட்டி நிலா, நெஞ்சுக்குள்ள குந்திக்கிட்டாளே

- contrasts the skin tone of his beloved, to either his skin tone or a background against which she rests. And, a simile for the moon, which rests against the black sky. Again, no doughnuts for guessing this. However, it is common knowledge that an omelette can be made only by breaking an egg on to the pan, after heating it. Thereby, implying he is hot for her. But alas, as the the sky can never own the moon, nor the pan could savour the omelette, he is left just to admire her. [Anirudh instinctively gives an extra stress on the ah after the omelette. Oh man! that makes it extra awesome. Pizza with extra cheese. ]

வானவில்லு நீ, பின்னி மில்லு நான்

என்ன ஏழு colour லுங்கி ஆக மடிச்சுப்புட்டாளே

- Again, it is drilling the illustration in the initial lines, little deeper. How a rainbow and a 7-colour pyjama can never equal in beauty or exclusivity, though the colours may just seem to be the same. He feels so low and common before her. He is charmed, basically. 

மாட்டு கொம்பு மேல, 

பட்டாம்பூச்சி போல 

- 3rd time. But this time it is cruel. Though a butterfly can land on the bull’s horns, it neither benefits the cow nor the butterfly. The relationship is not symbiotic. Though the bull may feel privileged that the most beautiful butterfly has decided to descend on it’s horns - the horns that are meant for defending it’s precious life and is an ornament of attraction for its potential mate, it remains remorsefully immaterial to the butterfly. The butterfly is seeking honey, and as soon as it realises that the horns don't ooze honey, it is going to fly off. Apparently, the bull seems to have realised this. 

நான்  மெராசலாயிட்டேன்  - him & her

The similes and illustrations seem to depress him more and more, as he realises that he never, practically, has a chance with her. As he keeps singing, he seems to be comforted by the female voice. Though I vociferously loathe this part, I guess, it betokens him a ray of hope by hinting that she too is surprised/astonished/bewildered…

A little off topic here.. Most of the programming languages I have encountered, follow a structure. That is, when you are translating your logic in to code, you’d need loops of instructions and you’ll have to open and close the loops, in a nested manner. I do feel that the song follows this construct. When the first stanza seems to spiral in to his hopelessness, the second stanza slowly seems to save him out of his misery. Though not in entirety, but partially by offering him a solace that it may happen, sooner or later and he just has to hang on. 

தேங்கா பத்த போல் வெள்ள பல்லால

ஒரு மாங்கா பத்த போல என்ன மென்னு தின்னாளே 

- this is in retort to the cruel 3rd simile in the first stanza. Coconuts, as you know, are available all through the year. Mangoes, on the other hand, are seasonal. He feels, that he can offer her, his life, though the love may be seasonal and short lived. He feels that, though the butterfly may land on a different flower or horn later, the purpose or meaning of his life as a bull, is the span between her landing and leaving on his horns. 

மாஞ்சா கண்ணால அறுத்து புட்டாளே

நான் Current-u கம்பி காத்தாடியா மாட்டிக்கிட்டேனே

- Ahem! manja threads are made of glass and other obnoxious substances. She is cold hearted as glass, and true, there are some obscenities in her. Like the dark spots in the moon. [more on this follows]

This is in response to the 2nd simile - rainbow. Actually there are 8 colours in the rainbow, as I recently learned from an adorable friend. It seems there is a line of black, between each colour, and our human eye gracefully chooses to ignore it. My guess is, it is too enthralled by the rainbow’s beauty, to notice the black stripes. He feels, that though she might relieve him of all other human contacts (the hands that fly the kite), and will restrict his only contact to a false hope of life (live wire) for the rest of his life, he will still choose to fly along. Round and around the live wire, as close as possible to embrace it. 

நீ வெண்ணிலா மூட்ட 

இவன் வண்ணாரப்பேட்டை

- he is totally in to her now, and consciously chooses to believe that though there are dark spots in the moon, he will again and again cleanse himself to love her. Vannarapettai is a place in chennai and is formed by joining 2 words - vannara & pettai. Pettai means place, and the former refers to the launderers. He feels, that she is like a slice of moon, and how many ever faults or sinister intents she could find in her, he will always resort to cleanse himself. 

Offering himself as pure as possible to her, as and when she demands, throwing a blind eye to her inconsistencies. And when that season of love is over, and she decides to leave, he will gladly consider it to be the end of his life. என்னால் சிலாஹிக்க முடிந்தது இவ்வளவே.

And that’s it. Looping it for the 314th time… Fin.