8 JUNE 2014

IV BOOK MARK GLIMPSES GOOD LIFE LEISURE DIFFERENT STROKES KALEIDOSCOPE

T
he Telugu Writers Association
of Hosur (Krishnagiri district,
Tamil Nadu) has been publish-
ing annual anthologies of poems of the
local Telugu writers. However, circula-
tion of the books has been confined to
their inner circles. Their efforts to re-
tain their Telugu heritage gained mo-
mentum when Sa Vem Ramesh went
to Hosur and continued the Telugu lit-
eracy programme as a full-time mem-
ber of Teluguvani. Though his
popular book, Pralayakaaveri Kathalu
was published in 2005, the writers of
Hosur thought of publishing an anthol-
ogy of their stories only in 2010.
They have been raging a relentless
agitation ever since the formation of
Andhra Pradesh in 1956 demanding to
be identified as Telugu people. They
have been appealing to bring the cul-
tural map of Telugu people to the fore-
front and denounce the undue
importance given to the political map.
Though Hosur is annexed to Tamil
Nadu and it is only 45 km from Ben-
galuru, the capital of Karnataka, the
people of that place left no stone un-
turned to retain their mother tongue
and their ancestral Telugu culture. By
means of stringent, determined and in-
exorable agitations they could retain
more than 400 Telugu schools in
around 1000 villages nearby. The Tel-
ugu Writers Union they had formed
long ago had been conducting poets
meets, essay writing and elocution
competitions regularly for the last few
decades. However intensive their agi-
tation may be, it did not reach their Tel-
ugu fraternity.
That literature is the powerful
breaker of the barriers is proved when
the Telugu writers of the Krishnagiri
district published Ernugupoolu, a col-
lection of stories of 11 writers in 2010.
Though all the stories of Er-
nugupoolu are simple and autobio-
graphical, they spread the fragrance of
the land strikingly. The lively idiom and
the dialect they used is simply enchant-
ing and the entire Telugu fraternity
came under its sway. Dr N Vasanths
Thellakokkerla Thekkem, Ama-
ranaaraa Basavarajus Chitukku
Parukku Chenikkayalu and Kem Mu-
niraju and Gounolla Suresh Reddys
Jathagaallu, Kathagaallu were pub-
lished one after the other. The encour-
agement they received from the journal
Nadusthunna Charithra was unparal-
leled. Iruladoddi Kathalu,
written by the doyen of
Hosur Telugu writers,
Nandyaala Narayana
Reddy , which was seri-
alised in Nadusthunna
Charithra asserted the im-
portance of the Telugu liter-
ature flourishing outside
Andhra Pradesh.
All these writers are the
true children of the land.
Most of them had just primary educa-
tion and there are farmers; elementary
school teachers, housewives and a few
do odd jobs. They do not know the in-
tricacies of writing and they do not
even know that fiction has to be added
to fact to make it a work of art very
much like amalgamating copper to the
gold for making it viable to forge an or-
nament. But their writings have the vi-
tality and the charm of alluvial
deposits and gold ore.
All these writers are innocent about
their skills. They are not aware that their
stories have provided an impeccable al-
ternative to the socio-cultural history of
their place. They recorded every nuance
of their milieu as meticulously and au-
thentically as introducing their family
members to the readers. They cata-
logued all the types of crops, fruits,
trees, fish, dresses, eatables and what
not. They have done easily and effort-
lessly what the so called anthropolo-
gists and sociologists struggle to
accomplish.
On May 21, four books
were released in the meeting
hall of Telugu Samithi in
Hosur. Taking a cue from
Pralayakaaveri Kathalu,
Agaram Vasanths Vendi
Moyillu presents a compre-
hensive picture of the life of
the peasants of Hosur
through a series of reminis-
cences. Poyyigadda
Kathalu by Ramakkagaari Suma, a 20-
year-old girl are stories of Dalits. Dr
Rayadurgam Vijayalakshmis reviews
of the books of the writers outside
Andhra Pradesh are compiled as
Porugu Telugu Bathukulu. The last
one Mothukupoolavaana, a sequel to
Ernoogupoolu, contains 19 stories
among which Nandyala Narayana
Reddys Thelugu Thaavu has a special
significance as it reflects the transfor-
mation that took place in the last five
years - A Telugu ghost which wants to
perch on a tree is driven away by ghosts
of many trees in the name of Tamil,
Kannada, English, Andhra Pradesh
and Telengana. It finally finds its
abode on a tree near Hosur.
I think that it is not an exaggeration.
The irony of the nature of a man is that
he cannot recognise the value of any-
thing until he loses it.
Telugu people have been the victims
of many political upheavals since the
formation of Andhra Pradesh as a lin-
guistic state, which proved to be a men-
ace to more than half of the Telugu
people who live outside Andhra
Pradesh.
It is inevitable to divide the country
into states for the convenience of gov-
ernance. But the political barriers
shouldnt intrude into the cultural
stance of the people. It is high time to
realise that we are all Telugu irrespec-
tive of political divisions into countries
and states in which we live. Now we
have to take a pledge to progress for-
ward by respecting the political, socio-
logical and cultural values of each
other.
(The writer is a bilingual short story
writer, novelist and poet, who writes in
Telugu and English)
UPENDRANADH CHORAGUDI
D
r Sanjeev Dev, a man of multiple talents was essen-
tially an observer of life, a deep philosopher who used
various mediums of expression. For him beauty is in
celebration of life in its all forms be it through poetry, essay,
literary criticism, fine arts like painting or sculpture, music,
dance etc. He understood the relationship between the creativ-
ity and its appreciation as an or-
ganic link and ensured that such a
relationship flourishes for the ben-
efit of the both. And he attempted
to be that link through his writings,
observations, explorations and
friendships.
Synthesising life of a person who
has demonstrated such varied
forms of expression of love and
beauty is a humongous task. Rav-
ela Sambasiva Rao has done an ad-
mirable job in editing and
compiling inspiring writings of
Sanjeev Dev. Added to it is the
thought provoking foreword by
Vadrevu Chinaveerabhadrudu who
brings out in a comparative per-
spective the philosophical under-
pinnings of his life.
His legacy is difficult for anyone
to carry forward and such has been
his impression on Telugu cultural
landscape that it may take many
years for us to see such versatile per-
sonality. He has been a cultural nomad, a soul which thrived
on connecting with people. His letters and forewords that he
has written demonstrate his people-centric life. For a person
who has formal schooling only up to grade 7, he demonstrated
the fact that education and schooling are two different things.
His quest for knowledge led him to seek real education
through interaction with people, places, beauty and cultural
landscape of India. At a young age, he travelled across the
country, learned about people, cultures, languages and arts.
Sharing of learning, observations and perceptions, views and
commentaries formed part of his life. He has been a commu-
nicator par excellence and used all available medium to share
his thoughts by writing in magazines and newspaper columns
his experiences, musings, travelogues etc. Through his writ-
ings, he sought people, charmed them and they remained his
life-long companions and fellow travelers. His abode at
Tummapudi remained a centre of attraction for writers, artists
and art critics.
Having experienced the Great War and the Second World
War, political liberation of the country, and cycles of ups and
downs in life, his writings demonstrate a sensitivity and
empathy for the emancipation of the masses. We
do not get to know about his political
views, but his engagements with the
society demonstrate his liberal
and progressive views that
created significant impact
on writers and poets of
that period.
It appears that his lec-
tures, his writings all
bore the hallmark of lib-
eralism and
a sense of
universalism,
t r a ns c e ndi ng
boundaries. So was
his sphere of influence,
which treaded the bound-
aries of Telugu lands.
This is a commend-
able effort by the edi-
tors to synthesise the
essence of all his
writings in a vol-
ume of this kind
which perhaps is a
best tribute possible
for Dr Sanjeev Dev
as he practiced cre-
ative synthesis of all
forms of art. The
icing on the cake is
the beautiful por-
trait sketch reflect-
ing Dr Sanjeev Dev,
an embodiment of
peace and tranquility.
Hopefully there would be efforts
to translate his autobiographical
writings, travelogues, musings and es-
says into English in order to introduce this
extraordinary personality to wider audiences.
MOVING NOTES
Madhurantakam
Narendra
ONE LANGUAGE
MANY STATES
The demand for a cultural map of Telugu people by
the estranged Telugus of Hosur in Tamil Nadu
gains all the more significance in the wake
of bifurcation
REVIEW
Sanjeev Dev
Jeevana Raagam
is an interesting
compilation of
Dr Sanjeev Devs
(19191999)
writings by
Ravela Sambasiva
Rao that
introduces the
legend to the
present
generation
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Bahar Dutt
Harper Collins
`299
Green wars: Dispatches from a Vanishing World
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The Life Song