The memory is still fresh for Shanmukha Sunnapuralla. As a teen, at a library in his hometown Kadiri, he couldn’t identify writer/actor Girish Karnad’s photograph. A few years later, when he saw his parents, who were teachers, Srinivasulu Sunnapuraala and Yashoda Vajrala, enlarge photographs of poet Sankarambadi Sundarachari to show students, he wondered how many youngsters could identify Telugu poets and authors.
“Telugu textbooks do not have photographs of authors or poets. How will the next generation even identify them?” Shanmukha launched a Telugu literature kit, ‘Telugu Sahitimoorthulu — Mukachitraalu Repati Tharam Kosam’, to fill this gap.
Shanmukha Sunnapuralla
Remembering how Telugu novelist and Jnanpith awardee, Ravuri Bharadwaja was identified as Rabindranath Tagore thanks to his beard, Shanmukha says, “Telugu textbooks for high school students introduce authors but their photographs are missing. Writers are respected in other states and their photographs displayed in libraries. There are streets named after them. Telugu Language Day is observed on August 29 and we remember Gidugu Ramamoorthy's contribution to the language. Why can’t we celebrate Telugu and its writers every day?”
An MBA graduate, Shanmukha resigned from his Canara HSBC job to take up the task of compiling a kit comprising a Telugu calendar and biographies of 111 Telugu literary personalities. The kit features Telugu writers works from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “Through this compilation, we want to honour Telugu literary giants from different states who have contributed to Telugu and to promote its literature among the youth.”
More writings
Shanmukha draws inspiration from his parents who have been documenting Telugu writers and introducing them to school students. Among the writers in the kit are Potana, Oddiraju Sodarulu, Dasarathi Krishnamacharyulu, Dasarathi Rangacharyulu, Pakala Yashoda Reddy, Kaloji and S Natarajan, a Tamilian who wrote under a pen name ‘Sarada’.
Published by Harshita Publications, the kit includes basic biographical details of each writer — names of parents, death/ birth year, works and awards and photographs. The information has been sourced from the writers’ family, research scholars, newspaper articles and the internet. Sourcing information was tough observes Shanmukha. “In some cases, we did not even know if the any members of the author’s family were alive. We had to struggle to get even basic contact details.”
The efforts of the Sunnapuralla family seem to have paid off. Shamukha recently received a letter of appreciation from Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. “He appreciated this endeavour to unite Telugus from all over India and honour writers.”
Shanmukha hopes the kit will find a place in schools, colleges, universities and libraries.
Call: 81970 38180 for more details on this kit. The kit is available online for ₹3500.
