Smile and Ismail (was: Re: Hrudaya bhakshi)
V. Chowdary Jampala (cjampala@dayton.net)
Thu, 26 Sep 1996 09:24:47 -0400 (EDT)
On Thu, 26 Sep 1996, Ramakrishna S. Pillalamarri wrote:
> Off and on, I did see books authored by "smile", mostly at two places
> where I usually see most books in a single location: TANA vending
> stalls, and Kalasa pudi Srinivasa Rao's house. I haven't read this
> poet though.
>
> I didn't make the connection between the "smile" and the poet Ismail.
There are two Telugu writers named Ismail. One is a poet who writes
with the name Ismail, and the other is a short-story writer and poet and
writes by the name 'Smile'. Often, they are confused for each other.
The poet, who uses his own name, is referred to as cheTTu Ismail (the
refernce is to one of his more famous works), and is considered by many as
one of the finest poets of our time. Several anthologies of his poetry
have been published and he has many followers. I am sure Nyayapathi
Sreenivasa Rao will delight us with more about his work.
The other, referred to as 'khaaLee seesaalu' Ismail or Smile (the
reference is to his famous short story), is famous for his short stories and
abstract poetry. He is also one of the foremost exponents of 'Haiku' in
Telugu poetry. His total output is relatively small, but is of high
quality. His short story, 'khaaLee seesaalu', first published in late 60s
has a place among the best short stories written in Telugu. Late
Tripuraneni Sreenivas published an anthology of Smile's poetry - okha'DE'.
Smile was at last year's TANA Conference in Chicago, where his
short-story collection 'khaaLee seesaalu' was inaugurated. TANA
distributed that collection, but the supply is exhausted. A few additional
copies may be available from vEloori venkaTESwara raavu.
Regards. --- V. Chowdary Jampala