TELUGU
Poignant stories
AMBIKA ANANTH
CHEDU PHALAM — Jeevan Kadhalu: Jeevan; Pratibha Prachuranalu, 4-1-19, Rotary Nagar, Khammam-507002. Rs.80.
THE AUTHOR has penned these stories with a keen eye, a responding heart and a sharp pen, and portrayed them with remarkable sensitivity. It is like a reader taking a tour into a labyrinth of complex problems not like a distant observer but like an insider, like a participant understanding the dynamics of problems affecting humanity. There is a special emphasis on the oppressed sections of society, people torn between opposing pulls and pressures. The human predicaments shown in the stories are too morbid at times but that is the exasperating truth. “This is the righteous indignation of a writer at the evils existing in this world,” is the opinion expressed in the foreword summing up well the quality of the book.
The stories “Jeevachhavaalu”, “Chedu Phalam”, and “Platform Batukulu” are told with sympathy, empathy and incisive insight. How the economically poor are treated as socially subordinate, how their lives are never stable or fortunate, (thanks to the stratified social set-up), how in spite of constituting an indispensable part of it they are treated in the most heinous way, is narrated with delicate poignancy. How globalisation and privatisation has taken a hold on the human psyche is dealt with as a powerful satirical narrative in “Ma-ya-jaalam”. “Rakthaksharaalu” and “Potethhina Jana Sandram” are two brilliantly told sad stories, filled with stark reality. The thematic concern of all the stories seems to be the onslaught of globalisation and the concomitant socio-economic problems.
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