From Hampi to Harappa- Sahitya Akademi Award-Winning Telugu Autobiography

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From Hampi to Harappa written with impeccable honesty is one among the best ten Telugu autobiographies in the twentieth century. Ramachandra's humility, questioning of the self and the world, inner battle between the orthodox Vaishnava beliefs and modern education make this book remarkable. In nationalist struggle, he was lured by extremist ideas and found his own path again through grievous private trials. It is amazing that a great scholar in Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Prakrit and linguist had to experience hunger and had to travel across India to find a job to fill his belly in 30s and 40s. Many unbelievable incidents mark his life like his mentor Veturi Prabhakara Sastry experiencing ravenous hunger when the author survived on meager food, similarly his surviving on Ganga water for almost a month while waiting in Kanpur for a conman who promised business partnership. He undertook variegated jobs from that of a cataloguer in manuscript libraries, a worker in a hotel, to Havaldar clerk in the military before finally settling in a newspaper. He narrates these experiences poignantly blending them with cultural histories of innumerable places he lived in from Tanjavur in the South to Quetta in Baluchistan giving us glimpses of civilizations around Hampi to Harappa and insights into Modern India in Independence Movement.

Author Tirumala Ramachandra born in a Sri Vaishnava family to Janakamma and Seshacharyulu in 1913 in Raghavampalle dedicated his life to research and writing until he died at the age of 84. Awards he received are many including awards from Telugu Academy, Sahitya Akademi, and doctorate from Dr Ambedkar Open University, besides honours from national and international cultural associations. Among more than a dozen books he published in Telugu Nudi Nanudi about common expressions in Telugu, Hinduvula Pandagalu-Puttupoorvotharalu about origin and evolution of Hidndu festivals, Telugu Patricala Sahitya Seva about literary service of Telugu newspapers contribute immensely to the cultural history of Andhra Pradesh.

Hampi Nunchi Harappa Daaka is a unique autobiography of the journalist, linguist, scholar and writer Tirumala Ramachandra and spans more than a few centuries of Indian history as well. Being born in a border town of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh made him a bilingual from early childhood and made him go through specific Vaishnava conventions which reiterate that human beings are born to seek the path to Lord Vishnu. He lived with his father Sesha Acharyulu, mother Janakamma, Grandfather and uncles in early childhood in an extended family. They followed all Vaishnva traditions including celebration of festivals and orthodox conventions in daily life. The day he went to school was celebrated with family and village children. Soon after joining school amidst much fanfare, he gets fever scared by his teacher Eswarayya's severe punishments to children like beating with a switch, making them do sit-ups or hanging upside down from a rod. His fright and his mother's complaint to Grandfather, a revered figure in the village, stops all the cruel punishments to other children, making him a hero among children. But such loving care is not in his lot in his later schooling.

His asram life in private tuitions at scholarly but strict Sanskrit teachers' homes ends due to his longing for formal education. Though educational atmosphere was congenial, he resorts to mischief, influenced by a friend, insists on joining Sanskrit college in Tirupati and gets his way finally.

Despite initial trials, he improves fast in his studies and also comes under the influence of nationalist friends.

These events compose one third of my life. I am a little man! An ordinary man! It is true that there are strange and contradictory traits in me. In which person's life aren't these found? Is every individual shaped in the same mould? So life shall be variegated. Some of my friends saw strange rather than contradictory traits in my life, urged me to write my memoirs pleased by these. Some friends persuaded me. A friend, Jonnalagadda Lakshminarayana, Chief Manager of Bank of Baroda, Secunderabad branch stayed with me for a couple of days, questioned me about childhood experiences, made me recall, and asked me to record all these in detail on paper. Another friend Akkiraju Ramapathi Rao compelled me to write my life as sketches. It was serialized for 61 weeks in Andhra Prabha Weekly. My childhood friends and sensitive readers such as A.V. Desikacharyulu, Banagiri Srikrishnamacharyulu, Kolachalam Balakrishna, Polavaram Koteswara Rao read it every week and expressed appreciation. Brothers Sankaragallu Varadachar, and Kuntimaddi Bhaktha Vathsalam kept writing appreciative letters regularly. I need not even mention about women readers whose response was overwhelming. Whenever I attended a meeting, or a wedding they would throng me and shower praise. How can I show my gratitude to all of them except by offering a namasthe?

When I was a student in Sri Venkateswara Sanskrit College in Tirupati, I would record my routine in a diary. I would follow the principle that I must do one good deed every day. Before going to bed, I would write the day's activities and round it off with an axiom.