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VENKATA RATNAM TELIKICHERLA |
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Venkataratnam Telikicherla, the fourth son of Telikicherla Suryanarayana Sastry was born on the 18th November 1900. He had his education, along with his brothers, under the patronage of the Zamindars of Urlam, Parlakimidi and Vizianagaram and graduated in Arts. His outlook was molded by two factors: the liberal and reformist teachings of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, manifested in Brahmo Samaj movement and the thinking of reformists like Veeresalingam on the social front, and Gidugu Venkata Rama Murthy pantulu, his teacher and a staunch advocate of 'VYAVAHARIKA BHASHA UDYAMAM', a movement to replace the rigid, incomprehensible literary styles of the centuries old poets with the style of Telugu as it is spoken contemporarily. These two influences molded his life. Venkataratnam started his career in the Pithapuram Rajah’s College at Kakinada and moved to the Andhra Christian College, Guntur as the sole Lecturer in the department of Oriental Languages. The department expanded considerably with time, but he remained its Head till he retired in 1957. In the college, he was the president of the Dramatic Association and took an active part in promoting theatre arts in the college. There is an interesting anecdote. It was planned to enact a play titled DONGATAKAM written by Viswanatha Kavi Raju and a notice was put up inviting interested students to enroll for participation. For one particular role no suitable candidate could be found. One morning while passing through the corridor Venkataratnam saw a boy standing there and he thought that he may be suitable for that role. He asked the student to see him in the staff room, and suggested to him that he should take part in the drama. The student was very nervous and pleaded to be left alone. But having been so impressed by his voice and his way of talking, Venkataratnam prevailed on him to act in the drama and it proved a great success. That student acted the same role in the same drama a number of times later and he went on to become a good stage actor. He joined N.T.RAMA RAO in stage performances and became a very reputed cine actor. He later acknowledged publicly in a function held in A.C.College that but for that persistence by Venkataratnam he would not have been in the cine field. His name is Mr. Kongara Jaggaiah. Venkataratnam took an active role in the literary movement by founding the Navya Sahitya Parishat as its Secretary, carrying out the mandate of his teacher, G.V.Rama Murthy pantulu garu. Every year, till 1949, annual conferences were held at different places, providing a forum for poets, novelists and story writers to discuss the evolving trends in Telugu literature and to render their own works for discussion. His house used to be visited by these literary giants including Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Nori Narasimha Sastry, Rayaprolu Subba Rao, Adivi Bapiraju, Mokkapati Narasimha Sastri, Devulapalli Krishna Sastry, and a large number of others. The list would read as a veritable who is who of contemporary Telugu literature. Some of them used to spend a day or two and some weeks together at his home. In the college also he was active in promoting the interests of college teachers. He was the founder secretary of the Affiliated College Teachers Association and led several delegations to the State Government to get to the teaching community better service conditions including pay scales and allowances and revision the retirement age from 55 to 60. Venkataratnam married Ranganayaki in 1928. Ranganayaki was the only issue to her father, Mr. Y.V.Subba Rao of Rajahmundry, who retired as a Grade I Tahsildar in 1916. Ranganayaki studied B.A and L.T (a degree in teaching) and was serving as District Inspectress of schools with jurisdiction over Godavari district (including the East and West Godavari districts). She was a widow. Widow remarriage was rare in those days. The marriage was solemnized according to Brahmo rites by an eminent personality, Sir Raghupati Venkataratnam Nayudu garu, who served as the vice-chancellor of University of Madras. The venue was the Rajyalakshmi Gardens belonging to Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu garu, a staunch advocate of widow remarriages..... What a coincidence? He had a son, Venkata Subba Rao, in 1936. Soon after giving birth Ranganayaki passed away. He married a second time, in 1939, Indira, lady he chose from the orphanage of Pithapuram Raja in Kakinada. She had no children. Though Venkataratnam's outlook was influenced by Brahmo Samaj, and though he subscribed to the reformist content of Brahmo Samaj, in his real life he was not dogmatic and he practiced all the rituals of orthodox Brahmins and continued idol worship traditionally ordained. Venkataratnam died in 1969, at the age of 69, from a freak accident, with a fracture of the neck of the femur, suffered when he was pushed down by a flock of buffaloes right in front of his door step in Rajahmundry. He lived a full and satisfying life. A life in which he realized his ambitions and a life he lived as a reformist. |
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