CHASO ALIAS CHAGANTI SOMAYAJULU

I met Chaganti  somayajulu who is popularly known as Chaso thrice. The first time was when Kalipatnam Ramarao, the doyen of Telugu Short Story , took me to Vizianagaram, way back in 1985, to show me the historic town , the citadel  of Telugu culture  which produced many heralds of modern Telugu literature and other fine arts like Gurajada Apparao and Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu . As it was the lunch time Chaso invited us to the lunch and so I joined him as Ramarao used to take meal only twice in the day and always skipped the lunch. It was a typical middle class Brahmin lunch, rice, Gongura, dhal, ghee, vegetables and curd. While we were eating Chaso was enquiring many things, not about literature, casually. After the lunch he enjoyed a cheroot and before he set out for a siesta, we took leave of him.

I met Chaso in Visalandhra Book Shop in the main bazaar road of Tirupati on an evening around 7 P. M. after a few years. By then Chaganti Sankar, Chaso’s son was the Commissioner of Tirupati municipality and Chaso came to Tirupati to spend some time with his son. He chatted for more than an hour there standing on the pavement before the book showcase of the shop and I, may be along with one or two friends, was more a listener at that time. He spoke about the books, publications, sales, and readership and so on.

The third meeting took place a few days afterwards in the veranda of the Municipal commissioner’s quarter when I called on him. There he initiated a discussion about a contemporary socio-political issue, soon landed me in a vehement argument and began to squabble about the same with equal fervor. After some time I realized that Chaso was really playing a game by transforming himself into a young person of my age so as to make himself a pal to me effortlessly.

In the first meeting he behaved like a typical householder, in the second he was more like an average reader and in the third he became a friend of my age group. That was the real Chaso who could play any role he chose as he had the knack of getting into the shoes of many characters and relate their stories from their point of view. He could transform himself into a farmer, clerk or even a washer woman and it was possible only because he could spontaneously get himself identified with the injured and the insulted. He never diverted his support of the underdog, the exploited. All the characters of his 40 odd stories deal with the people of the lower rung and whenever he portrayed an upper class rich man or a politician it was only to  expose him.

Born at Srikakulam as Kanukolanu Narahari Rao, he had his elementary education there itself. Then he had to move to Vizianagaram when he was adopted by Chaganti Thulasamma and consequentially changing his name into Chaganti Somayajulu. Following the tradition of the family, he got married at an early age of thirteen. Though his foster mother and his wife were out and out traditional, always engaged themselves with puja, madi , japam, fasting and so on ,  Chaso created a separate world for himself with books, atheism and Marxism.

Vizianagaram, during the early decades of the last century, heralded a Renaissance in Telugu culture and literature as it provided a congenial atmosphere to the local genius to flourish and develop.  The library of Vizianagaram Maharaja College used to subscribe such reputed journals  like Times Literary supplement, The Criterion (Ed. by T S Eliot), The Bookman, The Review, Saturday Review , London Mercury and The Punch. Having read those journals regularly, Chaso drew nearer to the leftist writers like W H Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender C .D. Lewis and Louis MacNeice.

The friendship with Ronanki  Appalaswami  was the other shaping influence on Chaso. Afterwards he made friendship with Srirangam  Srinivasarao and Srirangam Narayanababu   but both of them were then  romantics (There are many differences between English Romantic Period and Telugu Bavakavithyodyamam. But the word romantic is used for Bavakavi because we are used to it besides  the lack of another suitable term.)  The discussions that those four friends used to have throughout the nights in the house of Chaso resulted in Sri Sri’s Mahaprasthanam, Narayanababu’s Rudhirajyothi and Chaso’s stories.

Though Chaso began his writings with poetry he soon left it and got settled with the Short Story. He said, “For me life is more important. Literature should flourish in the life. It should criticize and comment the life. The short Story aims the same and so I developed an interest in it. But the story is called a lyric in prose. The writing of a short story is as difficult as writing a lyric.”

It is amusing to find that Chaso was also influenced by Gandhi. Taking a cue from Gandhi Chaso said, “I am also a representative of half-starved, half-naked dumb millions of India.”  Though he inherited lot of property he never led the life of a bourgeois.  He took up reading and writing as his vocation. People used to take him for an arrogant and harsh person but it was not difficult to discern the docile and affectionate nature in him once one could get nearer to him. His characters do have the same wit and humor of Girisam (of Kanyasulkam) and the narrator of his stories also has the same strength.

Chaso led the Progressive Writers Association from the forefront since its inception as a member in the beginning and then as its president.  In his presidential address on 12^th January 1974 at Ongole he stated, “Today the writer of our country need not commit to any of the leftist parties as they don’t have unity. They have forgotten the people and people’s needs. They are not supporting the class struggle. They join their hands with the capitalists to suppress the other group. There are corrupts in the leftists. It is high time to expose the Girisams of leftism.”

Chaso retained his strong bond with Tirupati till the end. He passed away when he was here. After a brief ailment he was taken to Chennai and there in the hospital he had his last breath. Many progressive writers expressed their desire to donate their bodies to the hospitals after the death as they don’t have faith in the rituals followed by but in vain. Chaso’s desire was fulfilled when his body was given to Ramachandra Medical College, Chennai and his eyes were donated to two blind men  for which his family members are to be complimented.

At one time Chaso avowed, “It’s me who introduced Marxism into the Short Story.” He was a Marxist through and through.

Chaso was born on 17^th January 2015, passed away on 2^nd January 1994 and this year is his birth centenary year. He secured a firm place in the annals of Telugu Literature as an important pioneer of Telugu short story.

                                              -MADHURANTHAKAM NARENDRA

 (The writer is a bilingual short story writer, novelist and poet, writing in both Telugu and English)