Rights panel asked to protect rights of children to learn Telugu

HYDERABAD : The తెలుగు భాషోద్యమ సామఖ్య (Telugu Bhashodyama Samakhya) and తెలుగు భాషా చైతన్య సమితి (Telugu Bhasha Chaitanya Samithi) have jointly appealed to AP State Human Rights Commission chairperson B. Subhashan Reddy to protect the rights of children to learn in Telugu medium.

In a memorandum submitted to Justice Reddy here on Thursday, a delegation comprising the representatives of the two organisations said that the State had a responsibility to provide free and compulsory education to every child in the 6-14 age groups.

Article 350 A of the Constitution envisaged that the State or local authority had the responsibility to provide education to the children in their mother tongue. The delegation consisted of G.S. Varadachari, C. Dharma Rao and K. Nageswara Rao.

They recalled that it was universally accepted that mother tongue was the best and easiest tool of learning and the same had been endorsed by the UN convention.

Courtesy: AndhraCafe

Kuchipudi dancers in California set World Record

Dancers in Cupertino will be forever memorialized in a book that honors loud burps, long fingernails and large groups of breastfeeding mothers.

"We are in the history books," Anand Kuchibhotla said today, after his group, Silicon Andhra organized a dancing feat that earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Saturday, 380 కూచిపుడి("kuchipudi") dancers set a world record for being the largest group of Kuchipudi dancers performing continually for more than 5 minutes on a flat stage. They danced for 8 1/2 minutes.

Guinness adjudicator Danny Girton oversaw the event, and handed a certificate to Kuchibhotla, a 46-year-old Internet startup vice president who grew up with kuchipudi dancing in his home state of Andhra Pradesh and came up with the idea.

"When he announced that we met all the standards, 2,000 people in the audience gave a standing ovation. They were screaming and saying 'Wooooooooo.' It was unbelievable," Kuchibhotla said.

Pronounced Koo-chee-poo-dee, the dance is about 1,000 years old, born in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after a village by the same name. Dancers often represent Hindu gods, and act out stories for their audiences.

Dancers flew in from Russia, India, Singaore, Germany, England, Canada, and came from all over the United States. They flocked to Cupertino not only to set a world record but for the world's first international three-day kuchipudi convention, organized by Kuchibhotla's group, Silicon Andhra.

Kuchibhotla said that anyone is invited to try to beat the Cupertino dancing numbers, but he's warned, that he believes Guinness will have a new entry at the next Kuchipudi convention planned December 2010 in India.
"That's when we're going to break the new record we just set," he said.

Courtesy: Mercury News

Telugu India classical dance usa north america

అమెరికాలో 20 నుంచి కూచిపూడి నృత్యోత్సవాలు

రెడ్‌హిల్స్‌, జూన్‌ 18 : కూచిపూడి నృత్య చరిత్రలోనే ప్రప్రథమంగా అమెరికాలోని సిలికాన్‌ వ్యాలిలోని 'క్యూపర్టినో'లో అంతర్జాతీయ కూచిపూడి నృత్యోత్సవాలు నిర్వహిస్తున్నారు. సిలికాన్‌ ఆంధ్ర ఆధ్వర్యంలో మూడురోజుల పాటు జూన్‌ 20, 21, 22 తేదీల్లో నిర్వహిస్తున్న ఈ ఉత్సవాలకు సాంస్క­ృతిక శాఖ సౌజన్యాన్ని అందిస్తూ కళాకారుల ప్రయాణ నిమిత్తం 15 లక్షలు విడుదల చేసిందని సాంస్క­ృతిక శాఖ అధికారులు తెలిపారు.

ప్రపంచంలోని 20 దేశాల నుంచి సుమారు 1500 మంది నృత్య కళాకారులు ఈ సమ్మేళనంలో పాల్గొననున్నారు. మన రాష్ట్రం నుంచి డాక్టర్‌ శోభానాయుడు, కళాకృష్ణ, మంజు భార్గవి, డా.జొన్నల గడ్డ అనూరాధ, వేదంతం రామలింగ శాస్త్రి, స్వాతి సోమనాథ్‌, స్వప్న సుందరి, పి.రమాదేవి, ఆనంద శంకర్‌ జయంత్‌ , వేదాంతం సత్యనారాయణ శర్మ, ఉమారామారావు, మృణాళిని తదితరులు పాల్గొంటున్నారని సాంస్క­ృతిక శాఖ వారు తెలిపారు.

Courtesy: AndhraJyothy

International Kuchipudi Convention 2008 Cupertino Bay Area America USA Telugu Andhra Classical Dance

Panel studying classical language status for Telugu, Kannada

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) A committee of experts is examining whether to grant Telugu and Kannada the status of classical languages. Tourism Minister Ambika Soni conveyed this to visiting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy here Thursday. During the half-hour meeting, Reddy urged Soni, who is also the culture minister, to grant classical language status to Telugu.

Soni said an experts committee is examining the issue of granting Telugu and Kannada classical languages status.

She said the majority of experts has formed a view and efforts are being made to arrive at a consensus on the issue.

She expressed the hope that the committee would reach a decision on the subject shortly and said it would be forwarded it to the government, according to an official statement issued here.

Courtesy: Thaindian

Three National Awards for Telugu Cinema

The 54th National Film Awards ceremony, the nation's most prestigious awards, was held on June 10, 2008, in New Delhi. Tollywood had a prominent presence with three Telugu movies bagging awards.

The Telugu movie Hope received the award for Best Feature Film on social issues. The Telugu film industry, famed for larger-than-life movies has come up with the Telugu animation film, Kittu that bagged the Best Animation Film Award. The award for Best Feature Film in Telugu went to Kamli.

The members of three juries for Feature and Non Feature Films, namely Buddhadeb Dasgupta, K. Bikram Singh and Ms. Madhu Jain selected the recipients of the 54th National Film Awards by submitting their recommendations to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, P.R. Dasmunsi.

Courtesy: OneIndia

6వ అమెరికా తెలుగు సాహితి సదస్సు

YOU ARE INVITED

You are invited to participate in the 6th America Telugu Sahithi Sadassu (Telugu Symposium of America), the popular national forum for Telugu writers, scholars, critics, literary enthusiasts and all those who love Telugu language & culture in North America. The Symposium is organized by Vanguri Foundation of America (a non-profit organization dedicated to promote Telugu language and creative writing since 1994), well known Telugu web magazine www.koumudi.net, SiliconAndhra and several Telugu literary enthusiasts from Bay area. The previous such Symposiums were held in Atlanta (1998), Chicago (2000), Detroit (2002), New Jesey (2004) and Houston (2006).

The legendary Telugu writer & film actor Sri Gollapudi Maruthi Rao is the Chief Guest of 6th America Telugu Sahithi Sadassu. Smt. Balabhadrapathruni Ramani (well known author of novels, short story, movie scripts and TV serials, on her first visit to USA) will deliver the Inaugural address. Sri Satyam Mandapati (Austin, TX) respected writer and literary stalwart of North America will deliver the Keynote Address. The autobiography of Sri Gollapudi Maruthi Rao, recent publications of "Kalaprapoorna" Dr. A. Anasuya Devi (well known folk & light music singer), and special publications of VFA including the 10th volume of the internationally acclaimed America Telugu Kathanika series will be released.

Smt. Attaluri Vijaya Lakshmi (Famous writer of plays, novels & poetry), Dr. R.Anantha Padmanabha Rao (Director of Bhakti channel of TTD, Tirupathi) and others are distinguished participants and special invitees.

Special attractions include participation by several writers in Sweeya Rachana Pathanam, friendly literary contests (organized by Savithri Machiraju) on writing classical poetry (Ataveladi, Tetagiti etc), "anthakshari" type program of reciting classical poetry, and a workshop on how to write a creative short story. Additional attractions are a special Youth Forum for second generation Telugu students from all over USA, a "Thank you" event for all those who supported establishment of Telugu Studies at University of California, Berkeley (Organized by Dr. Vemuri Venkateswara Rao), and Book Exhibition

The two day event is divided into several interesting sessions to review the development of Telugu literature in India and in North America. The topics include Sampradaya Sahityam, Contemporary trends, Telugu literature in North America (Diaspora), Teaching of Telugu language in USA, developments in computer technology related to Telugu fonts & Telugu e-mail.

Please visit www.koumudi.net for complete details.

YOU ARE REQUESTED

We sincerely request your generous financial support to conduct this only Telugu Symposium of its kind in North America. Registration fee & donation are tax-deductible (Tax ID # 76-0444238). Please make checks payable to Vanguri Foundation of America, Inc and mail to the address shown on left or register & donate online at www.tickets2events.com

Contact Information

For Registration, Donation and participation in the programs

Chitten Raju Vanguri

Phone: 832 594 9054

E-mail: rvanguri@wt.net

Organizing Volunteers

Dr. Vemuri Venkateswara Rao (vemurione@yahoo.com)

Kiran Prabha (rao_pathuri@yahoo.com, 925.548.7431)

Anand Kuchibhotla, 408 718 0040, anand@kuchibhotla.com

Kumar Kalagara (kumar.kalagara@gmail.com,

916.337. 0914)

Raghu Malladi (rmalladi@rationalit.com, 510.823.3197)

Rao Tallapragada (rao@infoyogi.com, 408 375 7853)

Mruthyunjayudu Thatipamala 408 386 2909, mj_thatipamala@yahoo.com

Dr. Pemmaraju Venugopala Rao (phspvr@physics.emory.edu

404 727 4297)

A modern spark in Telugu literature

C Mrunalini

Every literature, especially Indian regional ones, have a few works that are their pride. For the Telugu people, a few of these are the transcreation of వ్యాస మహాభారత (Vyasa Mahabharata) by the three eminent poets, నన్నయ్య (Nannaya), తిక్కన్న(Tikkana) and ఎర్రన్న (Errana). (the Kavitraya); then the Bhagavatham of Potana, which has left its mark on the region since it was written in the 15th century. In the 18th century there was Vemana who is remembered with pride for being the first satirist and social critic. In the modern age, the work that continues to be talked about and even retold in many forms is కన్యశుల్కం (Kanyasulkam) (first published in 1897, the present edition published in 1909) by Gurazada Appa Rao.

Kanyasulkam is a play on the evils that plagued the society during the Reformation Age of modern Indian history. The play, which has more than 50 characters, is heralded as the one work that brought modernism to Telugu literature in all its nuances — in subject, form, language, intention and thought processes. It is considered the best play ever written in Telugu.

However, the question that needs to be asked is where the play stands when compared to other works of the time. This is probably what bothered eminent scholar U A Narasimha Murthy of Vizianangaram (the hometown of Gurazada and also the town where the story of the play is situated). That is why he recently came out with an extraordinary account of Kanyasulkam.

Narasimha Murthy also speaks of the various influences on Gurazada that made him the master playwright that he was. Thus, Shakespeare, Moliere, and Ibsen are discussed as the major influences on Gurazada — something that was probably true for most regional literature of that time.

Where this book makes a mark is in its analysis of Kanyasulkam in the light of the first drama in other Indian languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Assamese, and Oriya. This is where the scholar reminds us of the need for comparative study of Indian literatures and this work (722 pages) is a classic example of how a comparative study can be done between Indian literatures.

The book, titled Kanyasulkam and 19th Century Indian Plays, is truly comparative because it is not judgmental. It takes into account the cultural, political and literary environment of the times in all regions of India. Quite obviously this scholar has received both inspiration and information from the great English, Bengali and comparative scholar Sisir Kumar Das, whose History of Indian Literature is a wonderful resource text.

The beauty of Murthy’s analysis is that he is totally objective in his approach. Though a great admirer of Gurazada and his play Kanyasulkam (which Telugu person isn’t?), he is totally unemotional in dealing with the subject. Murthy agrees that child marriages, selling of girls, problems of child widows, and the nautch girl question were all common subjects of late 19th and early 20th century writings. He reminds us that it was not Gurazada who brought in the colloquial language to literature in modern India as many admirers claimed but that this happened earlier in other Indian languages.

However, he also points out that Kanyasulkam is not only the lengthiest drama (226 pages) but also a play that deals with all the problems at the same time, while the other languages deal with one or two at a time. Again, the beauty of this play lies in all these problems being displayed with great dramatic skill, aesthetic sense and linguistic beauty, and not in a preaching tone.

Murthy also notes that among the South Indian languages, Gurazada’s Kanyasulkam is the first to portray the plight of women with such sensitivity and depth. Kanyasulkam has been discussed so often among Telugu literary critics that one more book would normally give a sense of déjà vu. However, this volume is a rare contribution not only to Telugu but also to Indian literature in general.

C Mrunalini is a well-known writer of short stories, a translator and a critic

mrunalini8@gmail.com

Courtesy: NewIndPress