Bhadrachalam : Have you ever visited this place..?

 #B For Bhadrachalam

Bhadrachalam is a pilgrim town where Lord Rama's temple is renowned for some hundreds of years. After bifurcation, this temple town has become a part of Telangana state. But most of the people think that it's part and parcel of East Godavari district of Andhra pradesh. Very interesting thing is this town has close proximity with Chattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra pradesh ( Andhra's border is less than half a kilometer). Devotees used to come here from many south and north indian states. Every devotee should see Parnasala also, it's a sacred place with the anecdotes of Lord Rama and Ma Seetha lived here sometime.

( This is how temple town be decorated at the time of Sri Rama Navami, usually celebrated in the month of April every year) 

Temple at Bhadrachalam has a long history but let's have it brief. In 16th century, Lord Rama's devotee and then revenue officer Kancharla Gopanna spent a lot of government money to build the temple. On that reason, he imprisoned by Tahen sha, a muslim ruler of erstwhile Hyderabad state. Anyhow at last the money was refunded to the ruler by Lord Rama by coming in a guise of human being. From that day, Kancharla Gopanna turned calling as Bhakta Ramadasu. He composed many keertanas while he was in the jail. Those keertanas are regarded as most precious jewels in Carnatic classical music. Every year Sri Rama Navami festival is  celebrated with pomp and fervor and devotees be attended in thousands from other states also. 

(River Godavari in the monsoon season)

At present, all weekends are busy with incoming devotees. Godavari river is the big asset for this town. Devotees take dip in it. Floods in 1986 and 1993 were horrendous and with Polavaram project completion, there could be some more water added at the banks of Godavari, this is a swaying comment all over, nobody knows the reality. If you want to visit the place, number of buses available from Hyderabad or Rail route is there up to Kothagudem, 45 km away to Bhadrachalam. From there buses are available.

----- Murthy Kvvs

Note : This post is a part of the BlogchatterA2Z challenge 2023 

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Author who inspired me in our college days

#A For Author 

Whatever we read in our college days will have special place in our life. That books play a vital role in one's future and in fact the influence will spread all along our existence on this earth. I wish to recall my olden days on the occasion of this BlogchatterA2Z writing opportunity and it's my humble start to vent out my inner urge to write about a rare kind of Author Dr. S. Sanjiv Dev. He was a writer, poet, painter, Art critic and moreover a passionate traveler and of course he has many other great qualities.

(Dr. S. Sanjiv Dev's villa in Tummapudi village and his self portrayal )

He was the author from whom I got inspiration in the matter of Traveling and enjoying the nature in its own way. When I was studying in our town's library , one particular book attracted me from the almirah and it's title was "Thegina jnaapakaalu" (A Telugu book) and author's name was seen as Dr. S. Sanjiv Dev. You must remember, it all happened during 1984-87, my degree college days. Devoured that bulky book and excited a lot after having gone through it.

Content of the book was writer's traveling experiences. He portrayed his vagabond sort of travels into the Himalayan mountains, forests and most of the North Indian states. In fact, he didn't take any permission from his father or relatives. Already his mother was expired by the time, so care free life. In his journeys and with meeting varied people Dev learned many languages like Bengali, Urdu, English, French so on.

He met Russian painter Rorik Nikoloi and stayed in Himalayan countryside to try his hand in Painting. Also met Rabindranath Tagore and other prominent people. All his experiences had been written in a beautiful Telugu prose and it remained as a significant travelogue in Telugu literature. Of course he penned many other books like Rasarekhalu, Smrutibimbaalu, Deepthidhaara etc.,

After reading the book, I had written a letter to take permission to meet him. He invited me happily. I met him at Tummapudi , a village in Guntur district. We have had discussed many things and it was an unforgettable experience in my life. With his inspiration, I started my travel spree and it's in force as of now. Roamed across many states and I have not satisfied with it. More and more in future, till the last breath, this wanderlust continues. By the way, he prefaced my maiden work of poems. 

----- Murthy Kvvs

Note : This post is a part of the BlogchatterA2Z challenge 2023

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One daily habit to change and more

 One daily habit I want to change is seeing my Whatsapp updates many times in a day. Almost it has become unchangeable on my part because if I didn't see it for a couple of hours, I would feel losing something valuable in my life. Or abruptly and unconsciously my hands keep fumbling for the handset to hit the button of Whatsapp icon to check what fresh messages have arrived for me. I tried many times, to get over the habit.

Unfortunately all my efforts have proved futile so far. But I definitely change this habit someday. Of course, I can not say when it happens. Recently one of my subtle attitudes seems to be given some positive result. Do you know what's that..? I am intentionally leaving my mobile phone at home when I am going outside, say, almost some hours keeping myself out of whatsapp and which gave me confidence that I would pull off with the die hard habit.

Too much of e-book reading on the mobile is also not good for our eye health. This is my personnel experience. Anyhow, step by step I am heading for my goal of minimal mobile watch time. Especially Whatsapp updates always on its prime. Most of the messages via whatsapp are not so important for my life and no potential loss as well.

And A Habit to be proud of is news paper reading. Everyday I check two news papers to ascertain different facts. These days, almost every news paper supports it's own political agenda. In our Telugu states, no paper is there without having such affliation. Eenadu keeps batting for Telugu desam party while Sakshi daily for YSRCP. So is with English dailies too. Our discretion is always should be there what to trust or not.

Note : Written for # One daily habit you want to change and another you are proud of or Write a poem inspired by nature # Blogchatter Blog Hop.

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Samantha Ruth Prabhu - The Sizzling star Gears up for New Flicks

 Samantha Ruth Prabhu, gearing up for her latest flicks, got bruised on the sets of the web series, Citadel, while shooting for real action sequences. Taking it to instagram stories, the star showcased a picture of wounded hands and blood stains. Perks of action, she cited so. Battling with an autoimmune condition myositis, Samantha is not missing a chance to share inspirational videos with her fans. She shared recently a glimpse of her boxing session. In that, she was practising  boxing moves with action director Yannick Ben.She was also taking part in another film Shaakuntalam. This will hit the theaters on 14 April. In fact, which was to be released in the month of February but postponed due to unknown reasons.

This picture will be in Telugu,Hindi,Tamil languages and ace director Gunasekhar is also co producer. The film caption goes like The love that was forgotten, An unforgettable tale of love that remains. April 14 is requested to mark in the calendar as which is slated to get released. Legendary poet Kalidasa composed the epic Shaakuntalam kavyam in Sankrit and which is the base of this film. Almost every ardent book lover knows the romance of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala and the tragedy took place by the curse of sage of Durvasa. Apart from the film, Samantha will be seen in a romantic film KUSHI opposite Vijay Devarakonda. 

Fate, a jackbooted enemy For Vani Jayaram

 

Every music lover stunned and shocked hearing the tragic death of Smt.Vani Jayaram. She needs no introduction as a sweet youthful voiced singer and sang in many languages, be it film songs or private albums, her name is as popular as any celebrity belonged to the movie field, without having any doubt. The 72 year old singer died in her downtown Chennai apartment like an unknown and non descript person. She was alone and there was no one to say what really happened inside. She laid down with injuries on the body. The Police said there was no foul play in her death and cctv footage too supported it. Let's hope it was happened so.

In the old age, living lonely, is indeed a tough part of life. Especially in India with no kind attitude towards childless woman is sometimes a soft target for money minded relatives. Who knows, anything can happen, however great the person to the outside world. Vani Jayaram blessed with a unique voice that is very difficult to compare with any other singer. National awards, State level awards and titles like Padma bhushan came to her and she deserved all of them. She could perhaps be a well known singer who was hit by inside politics of Bollywood and later in the south too. However she managed to sing almost 10000 songs for her credit.

Many people are not aware that she worked in the State bank of India. After working in Chennai, Mumbai and other places, switched to the full fledged profession of  singer with the support of her husband and created history despite of many odds. Bole re pappy hara song in Hindi and Ennenno janmala bandham song in Telugu and many many sweet numbers like that to reckon. How many songs can we talk about..? There are innumerable gems. She left a rich legacy behind. And she lives forever through it.

The Room on the Roof (A Review)

  A few days back, finished reading Ruskin Bond's novella The Room in the Roof. it has been in my bucket list for a couple of years and at last fulfilled my wish. What made me to read it, well, perhaps a book penned by Ruskin Bond, a writer needless to be introduced for adults and children alike. Before it, I was fortunate to read his short stories, where it's learnt that , most of his childhood and adolescence described in this novella. His simple and sweet style of writing is always intrigued to flip through the pages. He was seventeen when he had penned it.

This 184 page book portrays an adolescent's life. He was a son of British couple arrived in India during the colonial ruling but unfortunately remained almost orphan due to lack of parental care and love. Protagonist Rusty was sent to Mr. Harrison , a British national , living in Dehra opened many new avenues and  Sometimes Harrison's harsh discipline was not to endure. So he escaped from him and with the help of local friends like Somi had got a tutor job for a Kapoor's family. As a tutor of English, he was given small room on the roof.

In his journey of life, many exotic experiences encountered and his destiny determined as a writer at last. Dehradun, Mussori and surrounding hill places where the story conceived beautifully. Accounts of all those places showcased the life and ambience of lower Himalayas. This is just like any other romantic story but the difference is here with our hero , a British offshoot. The reader would understand how a part of claustrophobic European life had gone in the colonial era. An enchanting view of Indian life too was portrayed. A whole new generation of readers will also be enjoyed it. 

--- Murthy Kvvs

My Translated book released

 December month (2022) made me gone into a new era. Translation work is not new for me and I already translated Mario Puzo's The God Father, Ernest Heminway's The Old man and the sea, D.H.lawrence's The Virgin and the Gypsy apart from couple of other books. This time some beautiful Oriya stories penned by Sri Gourahari Das have been translated by me into Telugu language. Without having a real taste experienced, translation would become a sour work in all aspects. A true reader could feel the difference with it and a rendering with love into destined language is something to relish, trust me, rarely we will get that opportunity. That's why most of translations remained unread unto the last page.

After going through Sri Gourahari Das, I have had a strong desire to translate them into Telugu. Reasons are to be disclosed at the moment. First of all, all the characters in the stories are taken from the lives that we keep seeing in our surroundings and at the same time the reader would grasp the cultural landscape from the descriptions. All the 13 stories came out in a book form under the title of "Gourhari Das Kathalu" in Telugu. And in the last month, December -2022, this book was released in the town of Berhampur (Orissa) with the attendance of both Telugu and Oriya literary dignitaries.

( With renowned Oriya Story teller Sri Gourahari Das)

Here there are some pics regarding this event. Hope you all like it and one more thing. This is just a small account as there were many things to say from the talks of attended writers and other dignitaries. Both Oriya and Telugu media outlets gave reasonable coverage for the event. Many copies reached to the readers in the meeting and there was still requisition for more copies to have. Berhampur , though it's an Oriyan town, has good size of Telugu population. So we can see how confluence of both cultures would go hand in hand here. A beautiful sight indeed. 

--- Murthy Kvvs

Adipurush movie teaser

Really surprised seeing Adipurush movie teaser. Have come to senses after reading it's all about Ramayana story only. As an Indian, happened to have seen many versions of the epic, of course in several Indian languages. But this time, trust me getting stunned about this version. Totally complete new Avatars whatever the characters you look at. Lord Rama, Lord Hanuman, Ravaana and army of Lord Rama. What a new look  the great creative director imagined about each of Ramayana characters.

First take Lord Rama, he was entirely looking like a Roman king with that leather armour and arrows and bows. You can't  imagine the original character and Lord Rama even remotely come to our mind, though that character is well known in every household of India. That creation of VFX and animation work is so ugly and it doesn't deserve any appreciation. In every sense, they wanted to create some other king instead of Lord Rama. Meditation scene in water is so artificial.

Take Hanuman ji character, it's even worse than Lord Rama's creation. It's just like cartoon picture. Unlike other conventional imagination of every mind of India, this character seemed to be big monkey with human face, that too lacking moustache and with beard in a comic sense of some Islamic mulla. It's perhaps been done with some evil thoughts inside. Definitely a sacrilege act in every respect. Wanted to know what animation company has done this great work.

Coming to Raavana character, much worse to say. Saif seemed like a weired ghost with ten comedy faces and his dress and get up not at all compactable to that character. It gave a feeling of watching some cranky comic picture. We already have seen the result of Kochadaiyan film in Tamil. A disgraceful attempt of Ramayana has made by Om Rout. Surely an insulting act to Sage Valmiki and saint poet Tulasi Das. Deepika Chikhilia, epic tv serial fame, also condemned the teaser of Adipurush as a non Ramayana story.    

Memoirs of a Guisha, a book of many shades

 My recent tryst with a Japanese based novel proved worth reading. And solved many of my doubts regarding Guisha system. The entertaining women of Japan society has many shades but all those were unique in nature. They can't be said as outright prostitutes. But they have their own freedom in choosing customers. You would ask me what the novel is here I am going to talk about. The title of the novel is "Memoirs of a Guisha. And it's author is Arthur Golden. I picked it up without expecting anything. But it has become one of the finest novels I have ever read.  Let's explore the story in nutshell.

Sayori and Satsu are village girls, born in a fisherman family. In fact, Sayori, this name has given her in Guisha home. Their family was so poor to give the best medicine to the bed ridden mother. Father was also hopeless with his meagre income and he's also suffering from old age problems. This was the second marriage for him after the death of first wife. Watching all this situation, a local business man Tanaka Ichiro sent the two kids to the guisha home in Kyoto. Satsu, the older girl was sent to a prostitute home since she has no finer qualities to become a guisha.

Sayori remained at the Guisha home. She was very beautiful with charming eyes and good manners. The head of the Guisha home, sent Sayori to the school where the lessons for the future guisha were taught. their syllabus included instrumental music, Japanese poetry, acting skills and of course do's and don'ts of a guisha. They also keep participating in theater shows. Their daily routine no way less than a disciplined student in any good school. Mostly taught fine arts sort of education by experienced Guisha. Experienced Guishas play very important role in grooming the budding ones. Here Our Sayori was only 9 years old. She was assigned household work like sweeping and going to bazar to get needed commodities.

As she approached sixteen years of age, Guisha home head prepared the process to enhance Sayori into Guishahood. How that process be like and what kind of things a young Guisha was to go through, all these are very interesting. One must read in the novel only. Naturally, in every business, there are rivals to overcome and it's not exceptional. How she surpassed all these and became successful is something key point in this novel. It sets in the backdrop of second world war, so naturally described how war did havoc in Japan.

--- Murthy Kvvs

"One thousand days in a refrigerator" a story collection

Here is a translation work of  'One Thousand Days in a Refrigerator', a collection of  14 fascinating stories,written by Manoj kumar Panda. All these were Oriya in origin and got translated into English by Dr.Snehaprava Das.I would like to write a few lines about it since the quality of translation intrigued me to do so.In terms of aesthetic appeal,artistic charm,readability and mirroring indigenous culture and nativity,this is one of the best books I have ever read.

All these stories address different kinds of life experiences.Let me present you the blurb. In 'Kanishka' story,a 12 year girl who turned out to be a baby sitter for a mentally crippled boy was described and her relationship with him in different facets showed the inner blocks of the human being.And another story 'Testimony of God' replicate the shadows of magical realism. Premashila, a brick-kiln worker was making her way to the native place in Odisha with her four year dead son. She was afraid of robbing her hard earned two thousand rupees in case she confronted the railway police. Because she got such experience earlier. On the pretext of suspicious death, she was submitted to the court and her money was stolen by vulture like people. In this context,God existed as a witness and the rest is to read.

'Fragment' is another story with an unexpected twist as the rape victim went to the family of the   predator to find out how his wife was living and feeling about. She also met jail ridden rapist and observed his mental trauma. With all backflips, she came to a conclusion which would make the reader flabbergasted. And the flagship story 'One thousand days in a refrigerator' is all about a poignant ending of a loving wife. She was in coma for hundreds of days and it leads to the decision of  cutting the life giving accessories off. The story was being told from the side of her husband and the memories they both have elaborated in a heart wrenching way.

And there were ten stories cloistered and let's go for them next time. English can be a very good instrument in Indian scenario to showcase the  ongoing trends in vernacular languages. And the qualitative translations like these do not drop down out of the blue. A skilled translator is no way inferior to the original text author. In fact, with using equivalent and balancing words in sentences, translator has to be walked on the rope. As the translator Dr.Snehaprava Das puts it as "a translated text is obviously not meant to be a complete transformation of the original,but is a semantically, pragmatically and dynamically equivalent one because a translation is confronted with the range of interpretabilities of   a given text...".!

The book is available with www.speakingtigerbooks.com

-------Murthy Kvvs