Spreading Light organisation had paid a rich and unique tribute to Janaki Rani Turaga. A tribute that stretched across four weeks, each Saturdays session having a noted person speaking about her work. Its even more touching because Amma always said speak about my stories, write about my work and got irritated when the reviewers of her book wrote about how courageous and talented she was. Ramachary Komanduri spoke on the first Saturday, about her broadcasting achievements, the songs she had produced, the dances she had choreographed and the thousands of scripts she wrote. Kb Lakshmi Lakshmi KB spoke about her plays, especially radio plays she had written, a format Amma was very fond of. She is, in fact, the only authoress who penned so many plays. Vijayalakshmi Pothuri spoke about her stories, the short story anthology we had published last year and her style and her approach. Thanks to Jyothi garu and Dr Surya Prakash of Spreading Light. The last week, it was Sudhama Avrs turn. Sudhama garu, a very close friend of the family...and Ammas favourite spoke about her poetry. Sudhama garu said two things about Amma... one, that she was like the Aksharam she wrote...she is immortal. And that she is like a deepam...and spread light wherever she was placed in her life. Sudhama garu, thank you so much for the wonderful way you captured Ammas quintessence. He read out from an article Meeru-Mee abhimana Rachayitri Amma wrote for the Taruna magazine way back in 1971...a piece that was as wryly self-deprecating as it was disarmingly honest. Chetakani Nati...(An ineffective actress) is an anthology of poems we had published 28 years after they were written. The only time Amma wrote poetry was when my father passed away. Amma told us that Dr C Narayana Reddy had called her when one of those poems was published and said mee geyam chusanamma...and my she had replied geyam kaadu andi, adi gaayam. She refused to acknowledge that it was poetry but we dug them out and put them together when we celebrated 50 years of her literary life....sahiti swarnotsavam. Her first story was published when she was just 14. Yesterday, as a young college girl who was sitting next to me shed tears as Sudhama garu read out some of the poems, established it beyond doubt. They were not just gaayams, they were also geyams. Their poignancy resonates even today.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 17:30:25 +0000
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