Odds & Ends, Bits & Pieces

What was Ammamma doing during her break from career, apart from looking after us? She wrote. Her first was a booklet written for the Information & Public Relations Department of the Govt of Andhra Pradesh - on illiteracy. It was titled War on Illiteracy (Avidya pai Yuddham). She translated Hindi stories into Telugu. She also wrote stories under her own name and under the pseudonym called Avanti, simply because she liked the name Avanti. Unfortunately, she cannot remember the number of stories, titles and when they were published and this includes her earlier writings and the book on Chinese Women that she translated. She only remembers one title - Kodi Gattina Deepaalu (Dying out Lights). She did publish in Andhra Mahila, Andhra Prabha, Praja Vani and several other magazines. Given her penchant for organizing< i am disappointed that none of her articles, except Avidya Pai Yuddham are available.

She also continued her favourite letters to the Editor and used to encourage me to write letters as well. I remember on letter she made write to an American woman who created a used book bank for distribution in developing countries and she asked for interested parties to write to her in a letter in The Hindu. That way, I got a whole lot of books on fiction and chemistry and medicine, because that was how I indicated my preference. The Chemistry book was very interesting as it was written in the mode of popular science and it dealt with the making of aluminium and steel and I learnt all about chemical processes of metals. The book on medicine was a proper medical text book and I was fascinated with what ever I understood of the human body and I used to use myself as a study of all the things described in the book on anatomy. The rest of the books were lots of fun as I read many novels and was also introduced to the Bobbsey Twins series. Ammamma made me write to all Soviet magazines as well and I got a do it yourself aeroplane to assemble, in which I was partially successful as the instructions were in Russian. It wouldn't fly and I also cut myself assembling it. She also made me have an American pen pal. All I remember now is that I exchanged perhaps a couple of letters and found that airmail is pretty expensive and stopped later and that the boy's first name was Donald and that he wanted to know if there were elephants and bullock carts in my place!

Coming back to our home, the strangest coincidence is that, the house we moved into in Amrutnagar Colony, was the one vacated by Satish Babai's family! Satish Babai and Maapi, therefore, share a childhood house! I used to carry Maapi all the time, even taking her to my games. She soon became very friendly with a girl of her age called Seeta, who lived in the same colony and whose elder sister Indira, was a student of Ammamma in Narayanguda school. I used to like Indira, because she appeared so calm and soft spoken. She must not have been more than 16 or 17 years of age then and now I wonder why she used to always cover herself fully with her pallu and did not leave it the way we normally do. It is perhaps because she belonged to a conservative family. In fact, in that colony, I encountered all the facets of conservative families, because the colony was full of them. The good part was that I learnt to appreciate the aesthetic part of muggulu (daily patterns made near the threshold) and bommala koluvu (a 10 day festival where dolls and figurines are arranged in a cascading fashion and neighbours invited to see it). I found all other things quite restricting. I was actually shocked that Ammamma fell prey to this peer pressure and distributed sweets in the neighbourhood when I came of age. Chittattha was visiting that time and she went around with Ammamma distributing them. I was mortified - I was just 11. Anyway, I forgot about it and played my evening games normally with all boys and girls and ignored the frowns of some of the women. Fortunately, Ammamma & Tatayya did not restrict me.

When Maapi was a baby, we went up to the street to witness the motorcade of Damodaram Sanjeevaiah, the Chief Minister, for something I don't remember now. Tatayya was about to go to office and he waited alongwith us for the cavalcade to pass. Sanjeevaiah spotted Tatayya in the crowd and waved to him and then he noticed us. He asked through gestures whether these were his kids and Tatayya gestured back saying yes. Sanjeevaiah then asked if both were plusses or minuses and Tatayya laughed and said both were minuses. I was actually feeling quite important till then because my playmates were watching how familiar my Daddy was with the CM and it came all crashing down with this question. Tatayya assured me later that it is how society looks at such issues and it does not mean that he and Ammamma think of us that way. He told me that people place values differently. He then told me a lot of things about society and values. He also taught me never to address rich people as nobles (goppa vallu), but to call them affluent (dabbunna vallu). He said nobility is a different virtue and does not devolve on the basis of wealth or birth. Tatayya spent little time with us, as it was Ammamma who took care of everything and took us everywhere. During his entire life, Tatayya was only partially domesticated. This was a matter of fights also - but the fights in our house were more like children fighting and playing again as if nothing happened. However, whatever time Tatayya spent with Maapi and me, were great times as he used to talk to us like adults and have lots of discussions.

In the 1962 war of India and China, Tatayya was asked by Andhra Patrika to go to Tezpur as a Warfront Correspondent. There was excitement, fear and hectic preparations. His paper gave him money for warm clothes, with which he bought two close collar suits - these were a cross between safari suits and jodhpuri achkans. Ammamma and me learnt knitting (!) and knitted a pink (!) coloured half sweater for him. We naively assumed that these would be sufficient as, being Southies, we had no idea of the cold weather! Of course, internet or google did not exist! Fortunately for Tatayya, he did not have to brave it out in the cold, the ceasefire was called a day before he was to leave. His photo is already on top of the blog and the facts that appear on Wikipedia based on info given by Maapi and Ammamma to Amar (a journalist and an ardent fan of Tatayya), are given below:

T.V.Krishna, an erstwhile journalist from Andhra Pradesh was born on 1.7.1919 in Govada Tenali taluka, and brought up in Chinnapulivarru in the same taluka in Andhra Pradesh,India. Giving up Government service, T.V. Krishna joined as whole timer with the Communist Party of India. He was a freedom fighter and a journalistic writer.

Widely known as TVK, his career in Journalism began in 1947 when he joined Prajashakti. Papers he worked for were big and small. His ethics gave him a wide horizon. He worked in newspapers - Visalandhra, Deccan Herald, Indian Express, Andhra Prabha, Andhra Patrika, Eenadu.,Skyline, Evidence and Mahajana. News Agencies that he worked in were NAFEN, UNI, and NSS.T.V.Krishna edited and Published a fortnightly,"Events and Comments" during early 80's. TVK's book "The Difficult Decades", a collage of articles by him and his Journalistic friends was left incomplete with TVK's sudden demise on 30.1.1985. T.V.Krishna was 65 years old. This book was later brought out as a Souvenir in his memory by his wife, T.Savitri Devi with the help of journalistic friends and wellwishers.

T.V.Krishna was the Founder President of the Journalists' Cooperative Housing Society. The Press Club called the Desodharaka Bhavan and the first phase of Journalists' Colony saw the light during his tenure.

T.V.Krishna's name is referred to in the legal sphere as a case study T.V. Krishna v. Andhra Prabha [Pvt.] Ltd; while referring to the Companies Act 1956, Promotion and Formation of a Company. A simpleton, humane and with lots of values, TVK attracted a good number of well wishers. T.V.Krishna always thought about fellow workers first. His career is intermittent with being unemployed for considerable periods of time due to this very nature.

In an Inaugural speech at the function organised by DNF College of Journalism(promoted by Satish Babu) in 1995, the then Chief Minister, Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy remarked " There are very few journalists who keep their ideologies to a side and report news - News as News. Krishna is first amongst them." TVK's unbiased and factual reporting was appreciated by one and all. Many new entrants into the field of journalism were groomed by him and revere his guidance.