This rhyme is about a papadam. Syriac wrote that a papadam is "a thin, light, paper-like, round stuff (like a wafer) made of wheat flour that is fried in oil, eaten with rice and curry in south India".

Notes

*Onomatopoeic expression
**Kidukide = Chattering - sound of the touching of upper teeth and lower teeth
***Eaten with the sound "kurumure"

Syriac wrote, "It is so difficult to translate this stuff as it is in the local dialect language. The material is quite traditional. It is rural and popular language."

*****
Here's my version (based on Syriac's translation above) with the onomatopoeic sounds in English:

Having laughed with the sound, "ha ha ha",
Jumped into the local pond,
Shivering, "chatter chatter chatter",
Jumped out,
Having wept "boo hoo hoo",
Jumped onto the village footpath
Having been pulverized, "Splat!"
Jumped into the mouth
Having eaten voraciously "chomp chomp chomp"
Jumped into the stomach
The Pappadam
Turned into sheer dust.

Comments

Malayalam is one of the official languages of India. It is predominately spoken in the southern state in India called Kerala.

The Malayalam text above is transliterated. If anyone can provide the text to this song in the Malayalam alphabet, please email me. Thanks! Mama Lisa

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Savitha Sabu for contributing this rhyme and thanks to Syriac for the English translation.

Image above by Mama Lisa based on a photo by Windell H. Oskay.

Nandi!