Seetha and Ratna – daughters of the renowned Telugu writer late Palagummi Padmaraju -- were the cynosure of all eyes at the centenary celebrations of the writer organised at P.R. Government College where Padmaraju worked as chemistry lecturer for six years before entering the tinsel world. City-based Vijayakrishna Foundation, in association with CEDOW and Sri Vedagiri Communications, celebrated the centenary on the college premises.
Ms. Seetha is working with a television channel in Chennai while Ms. Ratna is into teaching profession in Vijayawada. The two proud daughters recollected their memories with their beloved father that helped literary lovers know about Padmaraju as a family man. “Whenever we took a city bus, my father’s wallet was subjected to pick-pocketing. It was a regular phenomenon. Instead of expressing anguish over it, my father used to think about the artistic way in which the thief did his job,” Ms. Ratna said adding her father knew the art of tailoring and used to stitch his dresses on his own. “He used to stitch secret pockets on all his shirts. Still, he lost many wallets to the pick-pockets,” she said with a smile.
“We have never seen him expressing anguish about anything or anyone. He opposed the common practice of dividing people into good and bad. He taught us values and the secret of being simple,” Ms. Ratna said in an emotional tone.
Favourite topic Referring to the short-stories of Padmaraju, Ms. Seetha said that death was the favourite topic for the writer who had woven several stories around it. “He has seen many deaths from his childhood. He lost his father at the age of nine and grandfather at the age of 12. Subsequently, he had seen several deaths and developed interest on the topic.
That is the reason why, death is the central theme in most of his stories,” she recalled. Principal of P.R. Government College M. Satyanarayana, founder of Vijayakrishna Foundation Aluri Vijayalakshmi, founder of Sri Vedagiri Communications Vedagiri Rambabu, writer Vadrevu Veeralakshmi Devi, president of Telugu Ratham Kompella Sarma and others spoke about the literary works of Padmaraju.
