deadly and un-deadly ... [Amaraavati kathalu]
Rama Kanneganti (rama@lekha.org)
Fri, 21 Nov 1997 10:19:07 -0500
It all reminds of something my brother said about a dead neighbor and
his non-dead wife:
chacchi pOyaaDu kaabaTTi batiki pOyaadu. batikunTE aaviDatO chaavalEka
chacchi unDevaaDu.
makki-to-makki mistranslation: Because he is dead, he is alive. If he
were alive he would have been dead to keep himself alive with her.
Another gem I attribute to a friend vEdaantam sai kennedy (a name, no
doubt can only a Telugu can have): In kakinada in those days the
adjective of fashion was "puli" -- "aa pustakam pulilaa undi guroo!"
or "aa guruDu puli guroo". The hight of such usage was in an MGM movie
"aa simham puli laa undi guroo"!!
Coming to the amaraavati kathalu, how do people compare them to
goutamee gaathalu?
I am quite partial to AK (amaraavati kathalu)--mainly because I roamed
the very roads he was talking about. I have been to narukuLLa paaDu
and back. I have ... Well, I have been there and the stories carry
that value.
As per literary value, "I have seen the moment of my greatness
flicker // I have seen the eternal footman hold my coat and
snicker". Sometimes, what are called the greatest of Telugu works look
like pretensious sentimental junk. At times they excersize great power
over me, remind me that I am a telugu, teach me humility. It is the
curse being born a telugu.
That is a strong statement: the curse. Yes -- otherwise logical,
thinking mind refuses to function when it comes to telugu issues. We
sit though mind numbing garbage only because they remind us of a
smell, a smile, a face, a place, a story that is long buried in the
cranium. We are the slaves of our memories.
We all know that -- we all know that when a poet says "aandhramaa,
bhaagya saandramaa", he is being a bhtraaju. Yet, we forgive him, we
fail to hold it to the test of truth. When we sing "dESa bhaashalandu
telugu lessa", we don't even get a nagging doubt.
Strange as it may seem, we find poetry even in the mundane words of
the language. The odd jumble of words trigger associations. Heck, we
even look for and find poetry in dubbed songs.
Yes, it is a curse. There is no escape. Even if you could alter your
history, there is no guarantee that you will not land into something
equal (curse of being a Tamil, English, German) or worse (having no
curse)!
--rama