2nd Amerika Telugu Sahiti Sadassu - a brief summary

               By Nasy Sankagiri

After really brief welcome remarks from Veluri, things
got underway. Prof. Velceru could not attend due to
health reasons, so that was a disappointment. However,
the opening panel proved fascinating enough, featuring
Prof. Malayavasini (Andhra U), Prof. Jyothi (Kakatiya
U) and Smt. Sivalakshmi (DD, Hyd). Malayavasini gaaru
spoke on "Neglected heroines in our classics",
concentrating especially on Urmila's story. Her
lecture, punctuated by melodious singing, traced how
telugu women tried to undo the injustice meted out to
Sita in their folk songs. I have tried to retell this
story in English - please check
http://www.sulekha.com/philosophy/messages/9249.html
Jyothi gaaru spoke on "telamgana women's folk songs
from a feminist perspective". Though she did not sing,
she also quoted a lot of songs to underline her
points. Using well constructed arguments, she showed
the systemically oppressive treatment of childless
women, mothers of girl children et al. One example
"biDDala ganna talli neella kaMTa bOte amavAsa
ceekaTlu A bAvi lOna, koDukula ganna talli neella
kaMTa bOte punnami vennela kAyu A bAvi lOna". She also
contrasted the songs of typically middle class
background with those of the working class. Very
informative and enlightening lecture. Sivalakshmi
gaaru talked about SriSri's play "1+1=1". She made
some excellent points about SriSri's views on war,
peace, technology, and his hope for the future of
humanity. 

In the second session, Sree Visvanatha Acyutadeva
Rayalu gaaru spoke on "Sahitee svaroopam". He took the
alaMkAra principle "svasthAna vEsha bhAshAnumatayA
rasaha" and explained the nuances of how rasa is
produced by the capable poet with three well chosen
examples from rAmAyaNa kalpavRkshaM, manucaritra and
Amukta mAlyada. Sreemati Bhamidi Kamala Devi gaaru
from Tanuku spoke on Bhadracala Ramadas and his
saMkeertanalu. Her melodious rendering of several
keertanalu were very enjoyable. However, I guess in
the heat of the moment, she wrongly attributed the
kRti "brocEvArevarurA" to tyAgarAju - that claim
rightfully belongs to Mysore Vasudevacari. Anyway,
that is nitpicking. 

After a fairly decent lunch, Sreemati Damaraju Lakshmi
gaaru started the session with a paper on "telugulO
EkAMkika". She gave some hilarious examples of
cilakamarti vAri prahasanAlu. She was introducing
Viswanatha Kaviraju who apparently defined the Telugu
EkAMkika, but she ran out of time. Sree Vinnakota
Ravisankar, a poet well-known in Andhra as well as to
racchabadna readers presented an interestng paper on
"kavitveekaraNa". He cited some of the tools modern
poets use to sculpt impressive poetry from the various
subjects with multiple examples from tilak, ismayil,
kRshNaSAstri, SivAreDDi, jayaprabha, et al. Having
been a little afraid of poetry all my life, I found
this piece immensely useful in my beginner's attempts
to enjoy poetry. 

The next two sessions of the day were dedicated to
American Telugu writers reading from their works.
Heard poems and stories read by both veterans and
budding writers. It is aunique pleasure to hear the
writers recite their works. In general, story writers
suffered because of the ten minute time limitation.
Most of them had no idea how long it would take to
read their story. There were many entertaining and
interesting works and one has to wait for the
symposium proceedings to appear to get them in full
form, I guess. Hint, hint Veluri gaaru, are you
listening? :-) I'd like to comment about a few
performances - it was a pelasure to hear Suprabha
gaaru read her poems. In the early days, I was one of
the vocal critics of her style of writing poems.
However, listening to her recite them, one gets a
sense of her sincerity and commitment to her craft.
Suprabha gaaru, it was good to see you and hear you. A
young voice I liked very much belongs to Padma Latha
gaaru from Atlanta. I learnt that she is a lurker on
telusa and I take this opportunity invite her to come
out and start posting. Last but definitely not the
least, Ravi Sankar read two poems, written about his
then infant daughter, which he posted here on telusa a
while ago. I also enjoyed the poem by Sree GVRK Sarma
gaaru and the condensed stories of Cittenraju gaaru
and Palana gaaru. I too presented a poem and a short
story which were well-received.

Thanks to the hospitality of Sreemati Santi Veluri,
most of the attendees gathered at the Veluris' home
that evening and enjoyed succulent dinner and
excellent conversation. Veluri gaaru had to drive us
out with a stick at midnight:-)

Next day started off with a very thought provoking and
inspiring speech from Prof. Pemmaraju Venugopala Ravu
gaaru. It was a wake-up call to all the expatriate
Telugu writers, especially those in America. He
outlined very methodically the duties and the
challenges ahead and how we need to go about
addressing them. Machiraju Savithri gaaru presented
another thought provoking analysis on "the treatment
of non-Indian characters in telugu fiction". She
started with Baristar Parvateesam and traced some
examples up to current American Telugu writing. She
pointed out that these characterizations seem to come
from little or no understanding of the characters or
the background culture. This essay is a must for every
telugu story writer trying to write about life in
America. I just want to say here that all the
presentations in the sessions were thought provoking -
too much provoking thoughts going on that morning, if
you ask me.:-) 

Palana gaaru talked about "bhAsha - caitanyaM -
bhavishyat". He used well placed arguments to
articulate the immediate needs in University level
research and the steps need to be taken for the
preservation and healthy being of Telugu language.
Jampala Chowdary gaaru followed with a critical review
of the Telugu short story in the US. He honestly
pointed out the limitations facing the editors of
magazines and gave useful suggestions about improving
the quality of the stories. Chi. Srinivas Paranamdi
spoke about " Telugu - perspective of the youth ". He
raised some pointed questions to the elders as well as
to his own generation and concluded by saying that the
generations have to come together and work together if
Telugu is to continue in this country. Srinivas was
followed by Sreemati Sreekala Vinnakota who spoke
about the technics useful in teaching second
languages. She drew on her experience as English
teacher in Andhra and suggested that some of those
technics can be used to teach telugu to children here.
Veluri gaaru followed with closing remarks.

The official meeting ended here. However, an informal
discussion followed on topics such as Telugu Chair,
Teaching Telugu, future of this sadassu, etc. Some
people dispersed after lunch, but about half of us
remained for more informal discussions. 

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. When I
left, my feelings were like one who had eaten a very
delicious dinner and wants to eat more! I guess it
could have been better, things could have been
communicated better, times could have been adjusted
better, etc. etc. At the end of the day, what remains
is the fact that it was a successful event. Kudos to
Veluri gaaru, S.V. Rama rao gaaru and Sonty
Saradapurna gaaru. There were  many Chicagoans who
helped with the organization and thanks to them too. I
wish to thank a group of very special people - the
audience. They were a minority, they were not
presenting works, releasing books or receiving prizes!
Still, they came, from near and far, just for the love
the language, just to enjoy. To you all, a big thank
you!

Regards,
Nasy