Sacramento, California: Autobiography of Gollapudi Maruthi Rao released

An event named గొల్లపుడి గారితొ ఓ సరదా సాయంకాలం (Gollapudi Garitho O Sarada Sayankalam) (Eng: A pleasant evening with Gollapudi) hosted by a local India Restaurant at Sacramento carried out the release of autobiography of Gollapudi Maruthi Rao titled as అమ్మ కడుపు చల్లగ (Amma Kadupu Challaga) by the popular Cardiologist and resident of Sacramento Dr. Gopal Nemana.

The author is well known for fifty years of contribution with versatility in creative and performing arts.

Gollapudi has enormously contributed to the theatre and film industry. He is a recipient of many honorable awards for his works in Literature, Theatre, Film and Social fields. He started his acting career in 1982 and performed dynamic roles of villain, comedian and character artist. He is also well proficient in film stories and scripts.

Maruthi Rao had an interaction with audiences with his unique touch, sharing his experiences that spanned over five decades of association with Telugu domains.

Courtesy: IndiaGlitz

Kannada, Andhra leaders demand classical language status for Kannada and Telugu

New Delhi, July 19 (ANI): Several ministers and leaders of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh on Saturday strongly pitched for conferring the Classical Language status for Kannada and Telugu languages at a seminar here.

It was organized by the Karnataka Sangha, the Hampi-based Kannada University, the Kannada Development Authority, the Dravidian University in Kuppam and P.S. Telugu University, Hyderabad.

Inaugurating the seminar, former Karnataka Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily said: All languages cannot be classified as classical languages but those which deserve it, cannot be denied the status.

To qualify for being declared as classical, a language should be ancient, should have an independent tradition, and must have a large and rich body of ancient literature, he added.

Moily pointed out that Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam, and Kannada languages had similar ancestry. Tamil was accorded the status of a classical language in 2004 and the same status cannot be denied to Kannada and Telugu, he said.

Moily, who is himself a well-known author in Kannada, having translated the Ramayana, said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appointed a committee to examine the question of granting classical status to Kannada and Telugu. The Committee had met last month and would meet again in August.

Moily said that Kannada literature dated back to the pre-Christian period and the language had retained its identity even after being influenced by Sanskrit. Epic poems were inscribed on stones in Karnataka, he added.

Telugu, which was a twin Dravidian language, had a similar tradition and Moily wanted scholars from both states to coordinate their efforts to persuade the Government of India to grant classical language status for both Kannada and Telugu.

Karnatakas Minister of Higher Education, Aravinda Limbavali, who represents the Bharatiya Janata Party, said, We need not argue for the antiquity of these languages. The Bharatiya Janata Party in the State and the Congress in the Centre both national parties — will have to work together to get the classical status for the languages.

Mandali Buddha Prasad, a Minister in the Andhra Government, pointed out that Telugu and Kannada were sister languages. The Vijayanagara Kingdom of Krishnadevaraya included parts of present Karnataka and Andhra and both States should now coordinate efforts, he added. He said that it was a happy coincidence that Moily, who was a former Chief Minister of Karnataka, was in charge of party affairs for Andhra.

Ex-Vice Chancellor of Hyderabad University and the member of the expert committee Dr. Bh. Krishnamurthy highlighted the historical importance of Kannada and Telugu languages, which have a recorded history of 1500 to 2000 years.

He said, As far as academic arguments are concerned, we have enough evidence which prove the antiquity of these languages.

He also told reporters that the committee has already recommended that the languages be given their deserving status.

Vice Chancellor of the Dravidian University of Kuppam, Dr. G. Lakshminarayana said Telugu and Kannada were the senior most in the Dravidian family of languages. They rightfully deserved being given the status of classical languages.

Karnataka Sangha President Purushothama Bilimale said, The classical status would give international recognition to them and would also help getting Rs. 100 crore from the Center for the promotion of the languages. When we see that Tamil has been given the Classical language status and not the others, which are of same origin, then it hurts the sentiments of the people.

The seminar was also addressed by Mukyamantri Chandru, Chairman of the Kannada Development Authority, Prof. Krishnamurti, former Vice Chancellor of Hyderabad University, A.B. K. Prasad, Chairman of the Official language Commission, Hyderabad.

The seminar passed a resolution, signed by the participants, strongly urging the Union Government to declare Kannada and Telugu languages as classical languages immediately.

The resolution pointed out that there are Kannada and Telugu books on grammatical tradition, dictionaries, encyclopedias and books on science, agriculture and medicine. Both languages have written records dating from the First Millennium. (ANI)

Courtesy: ThaIndian

దక్షిణ భారత పక్షులు : Telugu edition of 'Birds of South India' released :

HYDERABAD: For the first time, a field guide book in Telugu on birds of South India, with illustrations and their local names, was released here on Saturday.

The Telugu translation of Birds of South India దక్షిణ భారత పక్షులు (Dakshina Bharatha Pakshulu) will be a useful handbook not only for the frontline staff of the Forest department to help in bird observations, but also to avid birdwatchers, who may not understand English or English names.

The book, published by the Bombay Natural History Society, was authored by Richard Grimmet and Tim Inskip and translated through the initiative of the Birdwatchers’ Society of Andhra Pradesh (BSAP). Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Hitesh Malhotra released the book.

India and Maldives

The book covers about 600 species of birds from Central and South India, including Maharashtra, Pondichery, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep and also of Maldives, said BSAP President Siraj Taher. He said the field guides were mostly in English and hence the effort to translate them into regional languages.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Delhi, July 19th : Seminar on Classical Status for Telugu and Kannada

New Delhi, July 16 (ANI): Delhi Karnataka Sangha is organizing a seminar on the Classical Status for Kannada and Telugu languages in the national capital on Saturday (July 19).

The day-long programme will be organised in association with the Kannada University Hampi, Dravidian University Kupppam, Potti Shriramula Telugu University Hyderabad and Kannada Development Authority Bangalore.

Former chief minister of Karnataka and senior Congress leader, M. Veerappa Moily and State minister for Higher Education, Aravinda Nimbavali are scheduled to attend the seminar to be held at R.K.Puram in South Delhi. The need for the seminar was felt after observing that linguistic identity in India was passing through a crisis period. Speech communities were seeking more space in the language politics of the country.

Languages, which are not included in the eighth schedule of the constitution of India, are putting forward their case for inclusion in the list.

Languages like Kannada and Telugu have stood the test of time. They were languages of the people in the first millennium and continued to be the media of expression in the new world.

However, due to political reasons, the Government of India could not declare these ancient languages as classical languages. he criteria prescribed to declare a particular language as 'the Classical Language' is that a language should be of great antiquity and should have its early texts dating back at least 1,000 years.

The language should also have a body of ancient literature and texts considered a valuable heritage. Its literary tradition should be original and not borrowed from another speech or community.

Besides, its literature must be distinct from modern etcetera are all holds good for a few other languages like Kannada and Telugu.

Other distinguished participants in the seminar will include chairman of the Kannada Development Authority in Bangalore, Mukhyamantri Chandru, State minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mandali Buddhaprasad, Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh official Language Commission A.B.K. Prasad and internationally recognized linguist Prof. Bh. Krishnamurty. They will present their views at the inaugural session.

Prof. D. Javare Gowda, former Vice Chancellor of the Mysore University, Dr. P.S. Subramaniam, Professor of Linguistics in Bangalore, Dr. S. Shettar noted Historian, Dr. Hampa Nagarajaiah, the Linguist and Researcher, Dr. Pradhan Gurudatt, the Chairman of Karnataka Translation Academy, Bangalore and Prof. H.S. Shivaprakash of the Jawaharlal Nehru University will be leading the panel discussion in the post lunch session.

Dr. Manjulata, Vice Chancellor of the P.S. Telugu University, Hyderabad will Chair the session. (ANI)

Courtesy: NewsTrackIndia

Changing fashions in Telugu literature

C Mrunalini

Literature is a highly creative and intellectual process. However, does it also have a leaning towards “fashion”? Does it also succumb to something called “the in-thing to do” at a certain period or age?

Litterateurs may not like to admit it, but it is often true that literary production does take into consideration the mood, temper and taste of the age. I am not just referring to the “popular” literature. This tendency is true of any literature. Just as literature has its “dos” it also has its “don’ts” where content and form are concerned.

Given this situation, it is not surprising that certain genres of writing simply seem to vanish, leaving a vacuum in the literary arena. The one genre that is slowly becoming an endangered literary species in Telugu is the “psychological novel”.

There was a time in Telugu (from the late forties to the early sixties of 20th century) when every writer tried his (or her) hand at this genre. Freud and Adler being favourites of the novelists, all sorts of human behaviour were touched upon. Looking into the minds of people with great sympathy and understanding, and trying to find causes for the disorder of a human mind had become the passion of the Telugu novelist.

This passion resulted in quite a few masterpieces — అసమ్ర్థుని జీవయాత్ర (Asamarthuni Jeevayatra) (T Gopichand), అల్ప జీవి (Alpa Jeevi) (Rachakonda Viswanatha Sastry), చివరకు మిగిలేది (Chivaraku Migiledi) (Buchibabu), కీలుబొమ్మలు (Keelubommalu) (G V Krishna Rao), ఆత్మ బలి (Aatma Bali) (Sripada Subrahmanya Sastry), ఒకే రక్తం (Oke Raktham), ఒకే మనుషులు (Oke Manushulu) (Kommuri Venugopala Rao), హిమజ్వాల (Himajwala) (Vaddera Chandidas) and సరద (Sarada) (C Anandaramam) to name a few. However, by the 1980s, this genre slowly started disappearing from the main stage, leaving it to a very few writers such as Kasibhatla Venugopal (who is still faithful to it) to keep it alive.

The immediate reason for this drift is the emergence of extremely strong, idealistic and absolutely essential literary movements, which stemmed out of inequalities and marginalisation in all spheres of life. The feminist, dalit and regional movements in Telugu literature brought about a social realism that left no scope for the writer to dwell on the mind of an individual.

Movements celebrate the voice of masses, the anguish of groups, the sentiments of victims and collective behaviour instead of the thought processes of one human being. When there is a strong argument for a social and cultural cause, experimental writing (which is what psychological novels are generally referred as) naturally takes a back seat. It is now no longer the “in-thing” to write a psychological novel; a novel that looks into the deep layers of the human mind as against the root causes of a whole social and cultural system may not be really welcome.

However, somewhere, at some point of time, even amid the collective protests of victimised groups, one needs to look deeply and carefully into one’s own self, to understand the truth of life. Maybe when creativity shakes away the shackles of “literary correctness”, the psychological novel will emerge again.

C Mrunalini is a well-known writer of short stories, a translator and a critic
mrunalini8@gmail.com

Courtesy: NewIndPress

Classical Status

July 7: Telugu and Kannada may soon get classical language status. Union culture minister Ambika Soni on Monday said that a meeting of the experts committee for granting classical language status to Telugu and Kannada has been convened to meeting on August 8. Once the report is submitted to her, Ms Soni will forward it to the ministry of home affairs. This was revealed by Ms Soni when KPCC president M. Mallikarjuna Kharge, the head of the Karnataka Congress delegation, called on her.

During their meeting here, both leaders discussed matters related to granting classical language status to Kannada. Mr Kharge urged that the Centre should expedite the matter.

Courtesy: Howrah