Verses gush forth from death row

"How can this life be sweet when I am counting my days? Does the rope waiting for my neck know the past, the present and the future?" The couplet is among the 46 poems brought out as an anthology of his emotions by a condemned prisoner awaiting the hangman at the Salem central jail in Tamil Nadu.

Sentenced to death in a murder case, V. Radhakrishnan, has already spent about 10 years in the Payalamkottai jail down south before being shifted to the Salem prison about five months ago.

His clemency petition was turned down by the then Governor of Tamil Nadu, Fatheema Beevi, about three years ago but the die-hard optimist hopes to find mercy in President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

The anthology of his poems titled Sirai Muthukkal 3450 (Pearls from Prison 3450 his convict number). He has written on various national and international issues including a condemnation of bin Laden for the September 11 terror attack on New York and another equally angry with President George Bush for starting the Iraq war, on the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, on hunger and poverty and so on.

The next edition, now getting readied, will have poems on Abdul Kalam and the Kumbakonam school fire that killed more than 80 children.

"We have priced the book at Rs55 and Radhakrishnan has pledged the entire proceeds to the cause of destitute children," says publisher Jose Antony, whose only ambition in life as of now is "to see my friend, a very good man, get Presidential pardon and released."

He had sent copies of the mercy petitions to not just Abdul Kalam but a number of dignitaries across the world, including President Bill Clinton, the Pope, the United Nations and all the central ministers, Antony said.

Several top Tamil writers have praised Radhakrishnan's anthology and wish-ed success with the mercy petition. In a preface to the book, the DMK president M. Karunanidhi, himself a well-known litterateur, said he was moved to tears reading some of those poems.

Veteran BJP leader Jana Krishnamurthy. in his foreward, said, "It is astonishing that from the heart of a man awaiting the gallows, so much poetic outpouring could come forth. His poems prompt us to pray, let not his body hang by the rope; let this lyrical mind flourish."

Radhakrishan was the third accused in a case of murder that took place within the Nagercoil court premises 10 years ago. A notorious rowdy called Ayyavoo was killed when he attended the court in connection with one of the many cases in which he was an accused.

He had allegedly slaughtered the entire cattle owned by Radhakrishnan's friend Selvam and also threatened the lady in the house he would soon make her a widow, according to Antony.

Radhakrishnan, then waiting for orders to join the armed forces, decided to help Selvam along with another friend. The murder in the court premises lead to the conviction of all three and they were sentenced to death. While Radhakrishanan is in the Salem jail, his two friends are awaiting the gallows at other prisons in Tamil Nadu.

Apart from writing poetry, Radhakrishnan is busy learning computers in jail and teaching the inmates, according to Antony.

"I gave up my job in the Gulf to come here four years ago to campaign for his release. I am struggling myself for funds but I will not give up. I am getting the second edition of the anthology ready and hopefully, it will move President Abdul Kalam," Antony said.

- The Asian Age