RANJANI Telugu Sahithi Samithi

Transcription

1 RANJANI Telugu Sahithi Samithi శ ర వ ణ ప ద బ జ స వ క తమ తర చ చ రక లమ గ భ వ ల క త ర జన ఆ వ గ ద వ క ర ప చ ఆశ స స లత! అక షరద ప వ ల గ చ... అజ ఞ న త మ ర త లగ చ! "Don t curse the darkness around you, light a lamp however small it may be." This traditional proverb passed through the thoughts of a few employees in the office of the Accountant General working in Hyderabad way back in 1961, when they were witnessing drastic changes in Telugu literary arena. As a result, a writers' conference was held within a span of few weeks and a decision was taken to form a new literary society in the name of "Ranjani". The small light that was lit half-a-century ago has now become a torch-bearer. Ranjani, which literally means the ecstasy, has been doing it for more than fifty years. It has not only entertained the officers, employees of the offices of the Accountants General in Hyderabad through its programs, but also created awareness amongst IA&AD officers about Telugu which is often referred to as the Italian of the East. It also emotionally inspired thousands of poets, writers and lovers of literature through its activities; enhanced the quality of discussions about literary trends by its conferences; enlarged the platform of writers and poets within the office; enforced the standards of quality throughout the activities taken up in conducting competitions or declaring the awards or presenting them to the befitting awardees. Ranjani has a library consisting of voluminous book treasure for the voracious readers. It is not only a book publishing house, but a trend setter for other publishers to emulate. It s not only an event manager entertaining the literary programs in the offices, but a metal detector for good and bad literature, an entrance of literary giants into the ocean of Telugu literature. It is not an exaggeration but a fact that was admitted openly by many a literary giant on the platforms. Ranjani was the first and foremost institute that recognized them, inspired their thoughts, ignited their hunger to good literature. The list of legendary personalities, who daissed Ranjani programs runs into pages. Dr. Sachidananda Routroy (Odiya), Jayakanthan (Tamil), Hareendranath Chatopadhyay (Bengali and English), Harbhajan Singh (Punjabi), Devavratdas (Assami) to name a few eminent personalities from other languages. This shows that Ranjani has crossed the borders of languages proving that language has no boundaries, though being a Telugu literary organization, which shows the nation first attitude. And when it comes to Telugu, there is no eminent Telugu literary personality, to whichever movement he or she belongs, who did not dais the Ranjani and was not enthralled by its canvas of activities. The recipients of Jnana Peeth, Kendra Sahitya academy awards, Vice-Chancellors, professors, readers, musicians, bards, stage and film actors, directors, cartoonists, novelists, astrologers, vedic researchers, critics, socialists and many more

2 graced various activities. Ranjani proudly remembers the visit of the then first lady of India Smt.V.V. Giri. Programs such as Literary conferences, discussions, symposia, poetry recitation, poetry and story competitions across the State, quiz programs, dramas, training camps, All India Radio programs, speeches on legendary personalities, speeches on astrology,... the list of its activities is far and too large. The grand gala programme which Ranjani presented on 1000 years of Telugu literature in Ravindra Bharathi during its 33 rd Anniversary was covered extensively by Doordarshan for 3 minutes in its English and Hindi News bulletins. Competitions & Awards It is not a small achievement for any organization with part time honorary workers and freelance activities for nearly fifty years. Equally tough is to maintain the standards of competitions for decades together and sustain the culture of healthy competition. In this regard, the journey of Ranjani has been strengthening vigorously with every passing year. Ranjani constituted a free-verse competition award Ranjani-Kundurthi Award in 1984 in memory of father of free verse poetry, Sri Kundurthi Anjaneyulu. This yearly competition receives thousands of free verse poems every year from every nook corner of the country and abroad as well. To filter them and declare awards is in fact a Herculean task, but Ranjani does this with ease, the values to which it was committed and standards it has set for these competitions. If any story-teller or poet achieves Ranjani Award, they feel very proud and privileged. For statistical purpose more than 200 poets proudly claim to be recipients of Ranjani's credits. Ranjani also conducts story competitions in the name of Ranjani - Nandivada Bhima Rao Kathanikala Poteelu with the assistance of erstwhile Accountant General Sri Nandivada Bhima Rao. Ranjani also conducts story competitions in the name of Ranjani - Rayaprolu Ramakrishnaiah Smaraka Kathanikala Poteelu. Both these are well received by the short story writers in and outside Andhra Pradesh. For an organization which values Value of literature and tradition, Ranjani has commenced competitions in traditional poetry of Telugu with the assistance and cooperation of another erstwhile Accountant General A.Satyavardhana from 2008 onwards in the name of all time legend and the first Gnanpeeth Awardee in Telugu Sri Viswanatha Sathyanarayana Ranjani-Viswanatha Padyakavitha Poteelu. Ranjani's job does not end with conducting the competitions and declaring awards. Ranjani ensures that the awarded poems and stories go to print media and reach the larger communities of the society. And not just that, it also ensures that these poems and stories are published in a book form for every two to three years. It has also made ties up with Government of Andhra Pradesh's journal "Andhra Pradesh", Andhra Prabha, Navya, Malleteega, Netinijam, Eevaram Janavartha, Aasha and many others. The Ranjani-Kundurthi award poems were published into volumes till now. 1. Gonthulu Chigirchayi ( ), Kavithalu ( ), 3. Gamanam ( ), 4. Aakanksha ( ), 5. Kiranam ( ), 6. Spruha ( ), 7. Oka nulivecchani Sparsha ( ), 8. Vendi Velugulu.

3 The award winning stories were also in the same first being published in the monthly and fortnightly journals of reputation and then being brought out as special volumes. Katha Ranjani, Manchi Katha, Nacchina Katha are such volumes consisting of different flowers of fragrance. Manchikatha, Amma became so popular that the copies are not available even with the publishers now. Similarly, the prize achieving stories of latest years have been brought out as Bahumathi Katha. Financial assistance to the writers in the AG s Office for publication of their books has been initiated in the year Ranjani is publishing half-yearly magazine regularly during the festival seasons as Ranjani-Ugadi Sanchika and Ranjani-Dasara, Deepavali Sanchika. The magazine is styled in multi-colour and decorated with flowery short stories, essays, lyrics, poems, drawings, cartoons, jokes, blessings, tributes, etc. giving heart and eye-feast to the readers. Ranjani was established on September 22, 1961 under the Chairmanship of Sri Isukapalli Dakshinamurthy. The present Executive Body consists of the following members: President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer Joint Secretary Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary Sri Cheekolu Sundariah Sri Nandyala Muralikrishna Sri Mattigunta Venkata Ramana Sri Kumpati Adiseshu Smt. Nandiraju Padmalatha Jayaram Sri Viswanatha Somayaji Sri MK Panta Executive Committee Members:- Co-opted Members:- Sri Garikapati Chandrasekhar Sri Putrevu Srinivasa Rao Sri Vangipuram Padmanabhan Sri PLN Rao Sri P Rajanarasimha Rao Sri Mullapudi Bhaskara Sarma Smt. R Usharani Sri Ravipati Ramakrishna Sri GVK Sarma Garlands to Maa Saraswathi (Publishings) Though an organization run by employees of IA & AD, who can not give more than a couple of hours in a day, publishings of Ranjani have been an issue of envy to the major publishing houses in the market. The difference between those commercial publishers and Ranjani is theirs is business, ours is service to raise and protect the quality control level of Telugu language.

4 The aim of literature is seeking immense ecstasy and profound pleasure. By reading books this can be achieved. As Francis Bacon says..some books are to be swallowed The books published by Ranjani have great values to be tasted, swallowed, chewed and digested. The following are some of the milestones in the history of Ranjani: Ranjani did what big academic institutes should have done. It reviewed the literary trends during the last century with the help of forty writers in its Rajata Ranjani. This Souvenir was released on the occasion of Silver jubilee functions of Ranjani. Ranjani took up translation of poetry into big league, when everybody else was looking down at translations. It has brought out Viswakavitha (poetry of the universe) with more than 200 translated free verse poems from 19 Indian languages and 40 foreign languages. Ranjani has commenced a new culture of bringing out issue based poetry compilations. It has unleashed the trend with Amma (mother), an anthology of 118 free verse poems on mother by 105 poets / poetesses. This book was released as a tribute to mother India on the Golden jubilee celebrations of Independence. It continued the trend with Maavooru (my native place), another compilation of 160 heart-beatings by 137 poets on their native places. It is truly said that India lives in villages and Indian literature lives on the lips of the villagers. Ranjani took up the project of review and research of the village literature and succeeded through Janapada Sahityam - Maanavathaa drikpatham (Folk lore - Humane perception). Cinema has been the most powerful media during the last century apart from press. Ranjani took up the job of registering the impact of the movies on people. Cinema Chooddam Randi (Come, let s watch cinema) was a compilation of 54 essays on the 75 years of legacy of telugu film industry. Though marching ahead in time with newer trends and modern outlook, Ranjani never failed to value traditions. As a mark of respect to the legendary personalities in Telugu literature it has unravelled several journals. The following are a few to quote: Ranjani - Sri Sri (A souvenir on the era maker of Telugu literature, Sri Sri) A special issue on Panuganti Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, a great essayist and critic A book on two great writers of their time - Chalam & Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao Nivali - A compilation on the father of free verse poetry in Telugu Kundurthi Anjaneyulu Seshendra Sikharam - A souvenir on the personality and poetry of literary legend Gunturu Seshendra Sarma Katha Yajnam (A compilation on the reviews of the most popular story of Telugu literature Yajnam by Kalipatnam Rama Rao) Paatala Poodota Veturi (paying tribute to the most prolific cine-lyricist in the Telugu Cinema World late Veturi Sundararamamurthy)

5 Apart from the above it has also brought two compilations of stories, one with the famous personalities in Telugu literature (Katharanjani) and one with the Telugu writers of IA&AD (Nacchchina Katha) Vendi Velugulu (silver lights) is another anthology of Ranjani-Kundurthi award winning free-verse poetry consisting of 25 different dazzling dynamites released on the occasion of Silver Jubilee celebrations. With all the above, Ranjani has long back grown beyond just a literary house in a government office to the status of a movement to sustain good literature & language, an organization with commitment of values, responsibility towards society, an academician recording trends of Telugu literature, an igniter for young voices, a must read publisher, a platform for entertainment and education. In its march Ranjani embraced all the isms of literature, registered and recorded them through its works. This would help the future generations. It possesses cordial relations with Telugu University, Telugu Sahitya Academy, Department of cultural affairs and several other cultural organizations. This great journey of half a century could not have been possible without the enormous help and continuous assistance of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India who is the Chief Patron and the other Patrons the Principal Accountants General, other IA&AS officers, many writers of IA&AD who raised to the celebrity status through various media and the truly devoted organisers, members, and well-wishers with their support and best wishes. Ranjani inaugurated its year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations on 26 th and 27 th September, 2012 by the Principal Accountants General Sri G N Sunder Raja, Sri KR Sriram, Smt. Vani Sriram, Dr. Sadu Israel and Dr. KV Ramanachary and Smt. P Madhavi and Smt. Hema Munivenkatappa, Sr. Dy. Accountants General. Swarnaranjani comprising 73 short stories was brought out as part of the inaugural function. It has been dedicated to Sri Gurajada Appa Rao on the eve of completion of 150 years of birth anniversary celebrations. May the star of Ranjani glow and grow In the sphere of literature more and more!