'Poetry Workshop' (was: raata)
V. Chowdary Jampala (cjampala@quark.dayton.net)
Tue, 11 Nov 1997 22:02:56 -0500 (EST)
On Mon, 3 Nov 1997, Ramarao Kanneganti wrote:
> naa aksharaalu
> vennelalO aadukonE andmaina aaDapillalu.
>
> Thus spake a poet, who often shunned labels and categorization. I
> myself have never seen his hand writing; I am not sure if it looked as
> beautiful as it read.
raama's Taipu reminded me of a recently published book that
contains the 'raata'lu of many of our men of letters. The book is
'poyiTree vark`shaap', edited by Dr. ETukoori prasaad. The spine of the
book proudly proclaims, "Sataadhika telugu kavula cEtiraatala
kavitaasankalanam 1862-1962". (Published June 1993, SreeSree smaaraka
samstha, abhyudaya rachayitala sangham, Hyderabad; distributed by
Visaalandhra Publishers, Bank Street, Hyderabad, 500002; price: Rs.100).
The book, about 480 pages long, contains the poems of 113 Telugu
poets, from gurazaaDa (born in 1862) to yaakoob (born in 1962). The pages
on the left hand side contain the poem in the poet's own hand (often a
working draft with corrections, modifications, additions etc) and the
signature of the poet. The right side pages contain the same poem in its
finished version in word processed type, a photograph (or a line
drawing portrait) of the poet, the year of that poet's birth (and death
when applicable), and address if available. Most of the major poets of
this era, from many genres and generations, are here in this book. The
selections do not necessarily represent the best works of these poets
(understandable in that the main focus of the book is to preserve and
present a sample of the handwriting of these poets) though many of the
selections are first rate. Some (not many) major poets like kavikonDala do
not appear here, but this, apparently was not for lack of trying.
There are many different raatalu here; as different as the ages
that produced them; as different as the emotions that influended them; as
different as the ideas and the ideals that propelled them. But, each of
these works was more than the letters on a piece of paper regardless of
whether they looked well ordered or scrawled carelessly.
This was a labour of love of the editor, Sri ETukoori prasaad, who
should be appreciated. We Telugus, of course, have the glorious record
that a lovingly produced collector's edition of this era's mahaakavi's
magnum opus, published in his handwriting's facimile with his own voice
recording, couldn't sell 500 copies, fully sixteen years of its
publication (you want to know more about this? drop me a note). In such an
encouraging atmosphere, it is a miracle that a book like this gets
produced and published.
Regards -- V. Chowdary Jampala
PS: I almost forgot. The poet that raama referred to is in the
book to, though with a different piece. And how did his 'aksharaalu'
appear? Depends on whether you look at them before reading the words or
after.