I'm back from my India trip. Yes, it was short, it was hectic
and it was memorable !! Hope you also had fun-time on telusa
list during this time.
I started my trip with an unmatching amma cEti vanTa and concluded
it with an uncomparable thanks giving dinner. On the day I landed there
on Hyderabad it was great surprise to see what my mother had prepared
for me -- as though she read Dokka's poems, as though she had a telepathic
information about my expectations!
During my short stay in India, I couldn't speak much on telugu
language/literature except for the three hours that I spent with
Dr. Boodaraju Radhakrishna. I made him speak out his views on various
matters like comparison of telugu with other dravidian languages,
scholarship of chinnayya soori, telugu dialects and current work at
various universities towards the development of telugu languages. He
also spoke about the dictionaries that were never published and about
the people who stole the life-time works from other gullible people
and claimed the sole authorship of them and made name and money out
of it. He sounded a little frustrated about the whole state of affairs
but said he is proud that he has not yet become cynical..
On my return journey, I had a thanks giving dinner at a place where people
knew what a good thanks giving dinner for a telugu would be. Yes, on my way
back to Austin, I stopped by at Ramarao Kanneganti's place in New York and
satiated myself with a literary feast there.
At Rama's place I was served many of my favorite items that included
sweets of karuNaSrI poetry, hots of SrISrI's poetry, aphrodisiacs of
prabandhas, rare items like pre-nayyana telugu, post-jayadEva sanskrit
and also the diluted rasams of contemporary telugu literature. At one
point Rama's wife was serving me her comments on yanDamoori veerEndranaath,
but Rama knew that I would not like the bitter taste of it and quickly
replaced it with some more sweets from telugu poetry. I even got a taste
some exotic (unfamiliar) items like T.S.Eliot & Ogden Nash's poetry and
some English science fiction etc. I know I will have to acquire a taste
before being able to relish these items fully. All in all, it was a
sumptuous thanks-giving dinner that I have ever had.
Yes, I was busy throughout and was seen always moving around during this
short trip. As I was telling Aravinda, I can like such hectic activity.
The trip is eventful and memorable because it was short and hectic. Now,
I vividly remember every day and every hour of this trip.
By the way, thanks to all those who spoke about my ChandO-ware program
in my absence. More about this program in another mail.
Regards,
Suresh.