Former Mayor and Chairman of Visakhapatnam Public Library Society D.V. Subba Rao has hoped that a way out will be found to convert epochal Telugu writer Gurajada Appa Rao’s house into a national monument.
At a local release of the commemorative stamp and first day cover of the writer here on Sunday, he said the abodes of Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw and Voltaire were turned into memorials by the respective countries.
The one line that became a part of every day use and left its mark was “damn it, kadha addam tirigindi,” from Kanyasulkam of Gurajada, he recalled.
Former Rector of Andhra University A. Prasanna Kumar who unveiled a replica of the stamp, quoting Gurajada, said the credit for recording the legacy of spoken Telugu belonged to the collection of the Surveyor General of India during the British rule and orientalist Col. Colin Mackenzie. Gurajada expressed his ambition to do his first work in spoken dialect. In another seemingly prophetic vein, he also declared that modern women would rewrite history.
The stamp and first cover released in September were obtained by doctor B.S.R Murthy of Chaitanya Bharathi, Gajapathinagaram. The programme was organised as a part of the National Library Week of VPL.
Former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University V. Balamohan Das, who received the stamp and the first day cover, said Gurajada was a social reformer and his inspiring ideas found echo in his writings.
One of his books was translated into Russian and he could present a few photocopy pages to Dr. Murthy with whom he stayed together in Moscow in 2010.
Writer L.R. Swamy presided. Dr. Murthy, Rama Teertha, Jagaddhatri, Maturi Srinivas and Chief Librarian Krishna Reddy participated.
