Re: Virtual Library on the Net

Ramakrishna S. Pillalamrri (pkrishna@ARL.MIL)
Wed, 11 Jun 1997 15:09:26 -0600 

>Just a very dumb question. Is paavani Saastri a scholar or writer or a poet
>or a critic? Or all of them or none of the above?

Veluri gAriki veyyELLAyushshu. aprayatnamgA, anuddESyamgA (is this a proper
usage for the word, in the meaning that I am intending for it here!),
anAyAsamgA, anAlOcitamgA, Ayana (pAvani SAstri gAri) qualification-la
nanninTinee Ekaruvu peTTESAru. The short answer is "all of the above".

I understand that he is a popular columnist in weekly magazines/newspapers,
an acknowledged literary critic, (humorous) writer, literary speaker on
TV/Radio, actor, a good poetry reader (a); that he has an MA. in English
Literature.(b)

        a) There are ways to read a poem, that impart (at least the
gestalt) the meaning of it, to even an uninitiated reader. VSN is known for
this, in his expositions on SRKV. I had the pleasure of sitting in on a
session of SRKV recital by Juvvadi Goutama Rao, who can recite whole
sections of it from memory. He is a good poetry "reader".

        There are ways of "reading" and "singing" poetry. These are two
schools of thought with proponents for each, and considerable disagreements
among them. I think VSN, JGR, and perhaps VPS are from the former.

        b) I think a person with an MA in English Literature is far more
qualified to speak about telugu literature, don't you think? We can
nowadays do research in telugu literature, completely in English

Having left the old country in 1970, I don't have personal knowledge of
VPS. The single time I went to their house, he was away. But among the
telusa members there may be a number of them who have heard about him, and
heard him on some forum or the other. I'll request them to post their
views, with the caveat that one should separate their subjective personal
views (as to whether or not they agree with what he says) from their
objective statement of him, vis-a-vis the above alleged qualifications of
his.

>To my knowledge, which I confess is very "meager" ( is varigonda subbarao
>gaaru >reading?) I thought he was only a printer and publisher of VSN's
>works (some >were very badly reprinted!).

"Bad Printing" and "Bad Reprinting" perhaps can be almost universally
applied to Telugu books. It reflects their popularity and salability.
(Remember the Bapu cartoon: "[telugu] pustakAlu konaDavEviTee!
Barbarious!") When I saw the recently issued books of VSN, it appeared that
a concerted effort was made to cram as much of the stuff into as few pages.
The "reasonable price" may have been, to some extent, the result of this
effort.

Another usual (mine) criticism of recent publications is the innumerable
typos therein; especially in the old classics. My copy of bhAgavatam is in
very fragile, disintegrating condition, and I have reluctantly decided to
get another copy, knowing full well that it would have several
appu-tacculu.

Ramakrishna