Modi shares Tamil version of poem written at Mamallapuram

Continuing his outreach to Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday released the Tamil translation of the Hindi poem he penned during his visit to Mahabalipuram for the second informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 11-12, calling the language "beautiful" and having "nurtured a vibrant culture".

"Here is a Tamil translation of the poem I wrote while I was at the picturesque shores of Mamallapuram a few days ago," he tweeted, attaching a picture of the poem in Tamil.

The tweet, posted in the morning, quickly went viral, gathering 17,000 likes, almost 4,000 re-tweets and over 1,000 comments.

"Thank you!," Modi posted on a retweet by an user by the name of "In the Profile: Emperuman by Keshav", with the comment "simply outstanding poem by @narendramodi that he penned when he was in Mahabalipuram!!!"

To National award-winning producer G. Dhananjayan, who commented: "Amazing love of our Hon.@PMOIndia @narendramodi ji for #Tamil. We all must celebrate his love & support to our language. Thank you sir", the Prime Minister responded: "Glad to be expressing myself in the world's oldest language, which has nurtured a vibrant culture. The Tamil language is beautiful, the Tamil people are exceptional."

While sharing the poem on Twitter last Sunday, Modi wrote that he became so "engrossed" in a conversation with the ocean spread out before him while strolling on the beach that he could not prevent himself from jotting down on paper his vivid emotions about life and a salutation to the vast expanse of water.

This was not the first time that Modi revealed his poetic side. Author of more than 11 books on various topics, including the nation state, society, environment and even on advice to children sitting for examinations, he has also to his credit a collection of poetry in Gujarati with 67 poems, which have been translated and published in Hindi.

"In Mahabalipuram, strolling on the beach, I got lost while initiating a conversation with the ocean. This dialogue is my emotional world. I am sharing this with you," he had tweeted.

( With inputs from IANS )