> On Tue, 28 May 1996, V. Chowdary Jampala wrote:
> >
> > > 4. what is the real life name of beenaadEvi, the
> > > famous short story writer ?
> Not that Jampala gaaru needs my corroboration but.. yes, it is incorrect
> to say beenaa dEvi is bhaagavatula narasimhaaraavu. From an interview I
> read long time ago on beenaa dEvi, I thought the couple themselves felt
> THEY were 'beenaa dEvi'. In fact, in that interview (actually, it could
> be an essay on b.d.), they explain the reason they used a pseudonym. I
> believe, when they started writing, sri raavi Sastry was a major
> inspiration for them and they wanted to write in his style. At the same
> time, they were too diffident and wanted to hide behind a pen name just in
> case they attracted raavi Sastry's (they were acquaintaces) ridicule. But
> it wasn't long before raavi sastry found out and congratulated them. (I
> remember there was a debate on SCIT long time ago - back when I used to
> have a positive utility for SCIT - with several people claiming b.devi was
> female and an equal number claiming s/he was a male.)
>
Both the husband and the wife used the penname. The story I
remember is as follows. One day Sundaramma gaaru gave her husband a story
that she wrote. A couple of days later jaDji gaaru gave her a story that
he wrote. Both of them were fans of raaviSastri and were heavily
influenced by his style. At that point they decided to adopt the penname
beenaadEvi for many reasons: representative of both of them, a mild
degree of anonymity, protection of jaDjigaari govt. employee status etc.
Another apocryphal story I remember is that they sent three of
their first stories in the same envelope to the then fledgling (this is
in 1965) jyOti monthly. nanDoori raamamOhana raavu, the then
defacto editor of jyOti, was floored by the three stories and ran them
immediately in successive issues. beenadEvi became famous almost immediately.
> I don't know if the couple collaborated on every thing they wrote but my
> guess is at least the _bootu saametalu_ must have come from the
> judge-gaaru :-)
>
I believe that each of their works had a primary author, with the
other contributing a little. 'Hang me quick', serialized in Andhra Jyoti
weekly might have been more of a true collaboration.
I do not remember bootu saametalu, but I have to caution you
about jumping to conclusions about which half of beenaadEvi wrote what:
jaDjigaaru is supposed to have remarked once: 'aaDavaaLLu raasi unTaaru
anipincE kathalanee naavi, migataavannee aaviDavi'. :)
> Oh, by the way, I vaguely remember they lived in one of the coastal towns
> - kakinada or bandar - and not in guntur. am I wrong?
>
They are originally from Vizag district, I believe. The family
lived in Guntur from 1972-1980 for sure (and probably before and after
that period too). jaDjigaaru worked in several different areas during
that period including bandar, but would be home for the weekends
(children were all studying in Guntur. Their two daughters were my
classmates).
Regards. --- V. Chowdary Jampala