SRI SRI
I am seriously wondering if SRI SRI needs an introduction!!
But I certainly do and hence, I would like to start this introduction I know that there are thousands of his fans who know much more than me
Before you get annoyed, I am stopping here...
LETS TALK ABOUT SRI SRI...
Mahakavi Sri Sri as he is populary know in the Telugu Literary world is the Pen name for Srirangam Srinivasa Rao. He thoughtfully took the "Sri" from his first and last names to come up with Sri Sri. The man who went on to say that this ERA was his (as far as Telugu Literature was concerned), proved every bit of those words and indeed gave a new look to the modern Telugu Language.
Here is what K.V.Ramana Reddy had to say about Sri Sri:
Sri Sri was by no means a unique phenomenon but a rare, highly gifted product of his times, especially the hungry thirties. Having retained some amount of romanticist legacy both in diction and neo-classicist a'la Viswanatha, he very soon discovered his own mighty poetic expression. In a way contemporaneous with the Communist movement, its birth and growth, he also became the leading light among lesser poets such as Pendyala Lokanatham, Garimella Satyanarayana and Settipalli Venkataratnam. Soon he could attain full floated and unbounded expression.
Without least hesitation, Sri Sri can be mentioned as a master of poetic diction. Not only that, we could even see him revealing in skillful sound patterns conveying powerful and meaningful slices of life as lived by the poor and the wretched. His knowledge of versification is deep which is marked by rhythm rhymings recalling Swinburne whose "Songs Before Sun-Rise" impressed him early in life.
Though conversant with all modern trends such as Dadaism, Surrealism, Expressionism and Existensialism, his inclination towards Surrealism is more pronounced. But these were only passing phases which failed to strike root in the soil of Telugu literature. But these trends enfranchised Telugu literature by familiarising the Telugu reading public with glimpses of the western culture. No doubt it was degenerate in nature but relevant to the western context.
Sri Sri is an acknowledged and splendid alchemist who created superb and marvellous originals in Telugu; absorbing Easter and Western poetic influences. In this context mention should be made of Nazrul Islam, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya in Bengall Gurazada to a great extent, Kavikondala and also Sistla to some extent in Telugu; Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Paul Eluard, Emile Verhaeren Louis Aragon in France; Mayakovsky in Russia; James Joyce, Dylan Thomas and E.A Poe in English. Hence it is but natural that Sri Sri's poetry possesses universal essence.
Sri sri himself admitted that in those times his knowledge of Marxism was not significant. But owing to suffering in and around himself he could acquire an understanding of it. He also developed an emotional attachement towards communism. Hence he could render its message into the most inspiring poetry e.g. 'I OWE'. He was deeply influenced by the Spanish civil war in his soul though he did not explicitly put into poem. it is evident that Sri Sri did not stop hating general Franco, the arch enemy of Communism until the last breath of his life. Having presaged the advent of World War II, he longed for the world of peace, plenty and Universal brotherhood not of Utopian but of proletarian or Marxist.
Sri Sri always stood by the cause of fighting masses not only in India but also of Ireland, Poland, Czech, China, Southern Africa, Zulus, and Hottentots. Probably no other Indian poet either before or after Sri Sri is marked by such a unique and universally valid poetry of the highest and most powerful variety.
Though trained up in the school of Romanticism he altogether opened new vistas as early as 1933. Trenchant in a tone, militant in mood, buoyant in spirit he was neither a lotus-eater nor a day-dreamer but a down to earth realist tinged with revolutionary romanticism.
In 1937 and 1940 he dealt only with general themes without stressing here and now. But in 1950s and afterwards he rid himself of adolescent nationalist illusions as well as the wishy-washy tearful and weak-kneed progressivism. Hence Sri Sri's view point in his own words is "realist- internationalist" but not "nationalist-idealist". His modest claim that there were only "Progressivism" in Mahaprasthanam with an iota of "revolutionism", it was the latter which marked him out for Par excellence.
More so after 1967 i.e., from Khadgasristhi his message as well as music were meant for mankind in its onward march to the fulfilmetn of its historic destiny.
THIS WAS by KVR in Kavali, on Feb 10th 1983.
I do not intend to write all about Sri Sri in this introduction, as you will find lot of reading material in the pages to come. I have split the whole website into different categories for convenience. And the related materials should be ideally found in the respective links.
for many people the first thing that comes to their mind when they hear of Sri Sri is his magnum opus - Mahaprasthanam. The day Sri Sri died, Raavi Sashtri said that, "modern Telugu literature is what it is today, mainly due to Sri Sri". He opined that not many telugu people would have read the book "Das Kapital" written by Karl Marks, but the effect of this book on many andhra people was clearly influenced by Mahaprasthanam written by Sri Sri.
SRI SRI said:
 Translated
this means "dates and documents are not what makes the whole history"!
His words, lets see his calendar...
Events
|
Year
|
Date
of Birth |
Jan
2nd 1910
|
Year his
mother died |
1911
|
Learned
to read and write Telugu |
1915
|
Started
his High School |
1920
|
Year his
step mother died |
1924
|
Passed his
10th grade (SSLC) |
1925
|
Married
to Venkataramanamma (first marriage) |
1925
|
Completed
his intermediate |
1928
|
Suffered
typhoid fever |
1930
|
Completed
his Under graduation (BA Zoology - from Madras Christian College) |
1931
|
AVS college
- demonstrator |
1935
|
Sub Editor
in Madras Andhra Prabha |
1938
|
Employment
in All India Radio (AIR) - New Delhi |
1942
|
Lab Assistant
in Military - Lucknow |
1943
|
Year his
father died |
1945
|
Employed
in Nizam Nawab Reform Secretriate |
1946
|
Employed
in Anandha Vani |
1946-49
|
Settled
in Madras - Royapettah |
1947
|
Adopted
girl child |
1949
|
Foreign
visits to Russia, London and Paris |
1954
|
Rumor of
mental illness |
1955
|
Second marriage
to U.Saroja |
1956
|
First Born!
- Girl Child |
1959
|
Second Born
- Girl Child |
1961
|
Third Born
- Boy Child (yours truly!!) |
1964
|
Fourth Born
- Girl child |
1966
|
Foreign
visit to Russia |
1967
|
60th birth
anniversary - Visakhapatnam |
1970
|
Publishing
of KVR's book on Sri Sri's literature |
1975
|
Arrested
during World Telugu Association meeting |
1975
|
Foreign
visit to China |
1976
|
Rajalakshmi
Foundation Award |
1979
|
70th birth
anniversary in Kakinada |
1980
|
Foreign
Visit to London |
1980
|
Foreign
visit to USA with wife |
1981
|
Expired
on |
Jun
15th 1983
|
|