Re: Weekend Thoughts! - Death of a monther Tongue

cjampala@dayton.net
Tue, 21 May 1996 18:01:21 -0400 (EDT)

On Mon, 20 May 1996, Bapa Rao wrote:

>...The Telugu expatriate literature, either in Telugu or
> in English, is yet to be written for the most part. (Yes, there is
> a fair amount of Indian expatriate literature, but there is none that
> I know which is Telugu-specific. How about whatshername (sorry, I
> can't recall the Telugu lady who has become quite
> a famous Indo-American writer) -- does she write about Telugu-Americans?

Are you referring to Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, the author of
'Arranged Marriage', a compilation of short stories? Her mother tongue is
not Telugu; she is married to a person of Telugu origin. Her mother
tongue is Bengali, and she grew up in Calcutta.

Dr. Divakaruni was at our U. a few weeks ago (she did her Masters
in English here at Wright State U. before going for a Ph.D. at UCLA
Berkeley), and read from her works (both poetry and prose). I found her short
stories to be a delight; her observations often right astute, her
characters memorable, and her imagery lyrical. Some of the stories take
place in Bengal, others here in the US; all but a couple of them have as
their protagonist an Indian-American female.

More about them later if there is enough interest.

Regards. --- V. Chowdary Jampala