1968 was also the year during which aadivaaram (Sunday), himsa
(violence), and 'No Room' were published. 'No room' is another
multilayered long story: the story of a young lower class couple
that wanted to have a night of privacy in a hotel room, the story of
a poor hotel worker who becomes the object of the fury that can be
released from pent-up frustrations. Another indelible story,
that seeks to explain and enlighten at the same time.
1969 saw snEham (the friendship), a story about two friends,
one rich and the other that came to him for a favor. The same year,
'aarti' (the thirst), a 60 page long story, was published.
This story, with a rural back-drop, has as it protagonists,
a recently wed couple, whose union is thwarted because of
the differences among the families, their customs, and their
poverty. Again, another story with multiple layers and textures.
One of kaaraa's stories that haunted me for a long
time, was bhayam (the fear), published in 1970. It is the
story of satyam, a man who is not only not afraid of snakes,
but hates them with a passion. One day, a neighboring
woman discovers a cobra in her kitchen and asks Satyam to
help kill it. Kaaraa wrote the struggle between satyam and
the snake so vividly, it plays like a movie in front of your
eyes. To this day, I can still see the small kitchen, the
cobra with its hood coiled and hissing at satyam who is
trying to get in the right position to strike it, the
nervous woman twittering in the background, and the woman's
son anxiously hovering around. Can he write! And to know
that the story has a lot more to it than just this
description!
1971 saw Saanti (the peace) about a 24 hour period
before the deadline for a strike in a factory. The District
officials are trying to mediate between the labor and the
owners, so that there would be no disturbance of peace in
the city. The story raises several questions about the
labor-employer relations. More importantly it asks several
questions about what peace really means.
1971 also the publication of 'chaavu' (the death), a 56
page long story, about the death of an old woman at a
migrant labor camp. The last rites need to be finished
before they can return to work the next morning. However,
the scarce firewood is not available to burn the body.
Burying the body without burning is against custom. How to
resolve this is the central theme. Like the other stories,
there is more to this than meets the eye in first place.
The last real short story by kaaraa was published in
1971. jeevadhaara (the flow of life) deals with the daily
struggle of the teeming masses for getting enough water for
the daily needs. This story was selected to be the lead
story for an anthology of Indian short stories translated
into Russian in 1980s. Enough said.
In 1972, virasam published 'kuTra' (the conspiracy) by
kaaraa. Anybody interested in understanding why the
'Nehruvian idealism' did not result in prosperity for the
country should read this. Though described as a short story,
kuTra is really a political pamphlet about how vested
interests derailed the planning process in the name of mixed
economy.
After kuTra, kaaraa stopped writing. Even in his heyday, he
has not written prolifically. He said that in his early days he
would write a lot, but would not send them for publication
as he wasn't happy with what he wrote. In later days, he
wrote about one or two stories a year. As you can see from
above, he wrote very actively in late 1960s. That was also
the period of great turmoil in AP. If I recall right, kaaraa
was a member of the executive committee of the viplava
rachayitala sangham.
In the last 15 years, kaaraa was active in publishing short
story anthologies of other writers. He was in US in 1993, as a guest of
the 9th TANA Conference - World Telugu Convention in New York (Dr.
kalaSapooDi Sreenivaasa raavu and yerramilli padmaavathi of the literary
committee were instrumental in bringing him here). Last year, kaaraa's
70th birth anniversary was celebrated by his fans around AP. At that
time, he hinted that he may start writing again. I am eagerly waiting for
his new writings, as are his many fans.
Regards. --- V. Chowdary Jampala
PS: Though I devoted a lot of space to the second half of
his writing career, some of the pre-1955 kaaraa stories (like
abhimaanaalu, raagamayi, keertikaamuDu etc) are great
stories by themselves. In the velcEru's commentary quoted by
Sri vEloori in an earlier post, abhimaanaalu was discussed
at as much length as yaJnam was.