Interview with Volga

Kanaka Prasad (prasad@grove.ufl.EDU)
Fri, 19 Jul 1996 08:49:00 -0400

Volga (Mrs. Lalitha Kumari Popuri), a feminist writer and activist from
Andhra Pradesh, India is currently visiting USA. She has been very active
in feminism, both as an activist and writer, for the past fifteen years.
She is currently active in her capacity as the president of Asmita Resource
Center for Women in Hyderabad. Her and her colleagues' writings galvanized
the telugu literary scene towards an open, ongoing recognition and
discussion of women's issues from a feminst point of viwe. Several writers
in Andhra Pradesh have committed their writing to the cause of feminism.
Volga (and her colleagues), in her own words, 'work and write for the
political empowerment of women'.
I had an opportunity to interact with Volga when she visited the
University of Florida at Gainesville last week as my guest. Contrary to
what stereotypes about feminists and about her writing may portray, Volga is
a friendly, soft-spoken lady with a deep committment to her cause. She is
clear and very insightful in her observations, and disciplined in action.
Her approach to (feminist) action is without any romantic notions of
personal sacrifice or immediate, dramatic change. She speaks about the
oppression of women and their agony in concrete terms, citing countless
examples of dowry burnings, rape, dometsic violence and abuse. Her mission,
she said, is not only to redress such abuses but, more importantly a
conciousness raising to remove the causes of such wrongs. Following is a
part of the interview (translated from telugu) with Volga, recorded when she
was in Gainesville between 8th-16th July, 1996. Some of the questions are
related to literature, while the others are about her workand experiences.
I'm posting it in parts, to avoid a very long post:

K: Please tell us about yourself. What prompted you to move towards feminism?

V: To tell you about myself.., right from my childhood I wanted a lively
relationship with the society around me. I must change. And also must play
a role in changing the society around me. I took an active part in many
social and political movements, to cause a change towards the society I
visualized, particularly with the leftist student, literary and political
movements. During this involvment, I analyzed my experiences and questioned
myself about my role as a woman in this work and also in the society. This
questioning brought about a fundamental change in myself and made me move
towards women's movement. Soon, I became an active part of it. As I
thought about women's role, I learned more about gender and patriarchy.
Changing the society doesn't mean a change in the economic and class
relations alone; one must address the diversity marked by different genders,
races and castes and several other such differences. As I began to focus on
this complexity, I felt it has an important role to play in women's
movement. I believe that the work I'm doing in women's movement will
contribute towards a growth in the society and in myself.

K: What are your observations on contemporary telugu literature? How would
you like for it to change?

V: Present scene is not too bad. There is no denying about the pop,
commercial literature on one side; however, we're also seeing works that
reflect the social life in a serious manner. Feminist and Dalit literary
works in telugu today are much better than similar works in other Indian
languages, both in quality and quantity. However, we are lagging behind in
criticism. There is a dearth of good criticism, one that is helpful to
both readers and writers. Publishing books is another problem the writers
are facing. There is no proper distribution network. Forming groups such
as Writers Co-ops can fill this gap and take literature more into the public
life.

to be contd.