THE FICTIONAL WORLD OF AN AESTHETE

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“Those green mountain peaks, having quested for the white cloud which covered the blue sky like a grandeurs veil and then exhausted and caved down into a valley, were like nakedly sleeping lonely maidens. The forest all around was like the undressed hair reflecting tragedy. Like the intertwined tresses the trunks of awkward trees and  broken trunks… the scars on the black stones made of rain water…   the diffused shadows of the clouds between the peaks that remind one of  the illusion of desire that unfurls before the eyes  opened from darkness  … the road that gets disappeared after meandering like the tears that flow between the breasts…and the half  dried rivulet…as if stooping the heads  and looking down at their feet having got abashed of their beauty… down, further down…down and downer… that scene drooping down to the nether world and that experience is the valley of Araku…”

Thus begins the story Arakuloyalo Koolina sikharam (The peak that got shattered in the valley of Araku). If you ask me to name the most beautiful story I have ever read I will name that story immediately without hesitation and the most beautiful part of that story is there right in the opening which is quoted above. It ranks as one of the very few beautiful word pictures of literature and the image that that passage creates in the mind of a reader proves that a painter, however great he may be, is inferior to a writer.

The word beauty is used many times hitherto as that is the only word that suits to Buchibabu, a short story writer who has no parallel in a method of writing that he specialized. Dedicating his Himajwala to him Vaddera Chandidas accuses the Telugu literary world for not being congenial to a supreme artist like Buchibabu. True , yet Buchibabu was not given the accolades he richly deserves but he will definitely get it one day as it is not easy to neglect the merit for a long time. Unfortunately Buchibabu wrote in a less popular language like Telugu. But what is a loss to the outer world is a gain to Telugu and Telugu alone has a unique writer like Buchibabu.

Many critics consider Chivaraku migiledi, the novel as Buchibabu’s magnum opus but it is arguably in his stories, nearly 80 in number that his true genius gets unfurled. All his stories satisfy his own maxim that a short story should be like a mini epic (Khanda Kavyam). He was not so interested in the brevity of a story but focused his attention more on the effect of it. Chekov observed that if there was a reference to a gun hung to a wall in a story it should fire by the end of that. Denying Chekov Buchibabu argues that a single reference to a gun while describing the house of a police officer or a hunter gives authenticity to the story though it wouldn’t be mentioned afterwards. He pointed out that a story is not a brief synopsis or a journalistic report but a work of art. Unlike Chekov whose stories were dealt with the outer world Buchibabu’s stories give importance to the both, internal and outer worlds of the people. He said that Chekov’s stories didn’t give importance to the beginning and the ending of a story where as he wanted them to be conspicuous in his stories. He tells that Chekov asked his readers to look at the balloon wafting in the sky without showing the thread that is tied to it and the boy who holds its thread. Chekov’s story is like a scar made by a wave on the sand. But Buchibabu wants to make his story a wave behind which the roaring of the sea is clearly audible.

Intellect, creativity and industry are the characteristic features of the literary genius of Buchibabu. He was a well read man. He wrote many essays on the western masters of literature and philosophers. His book on Shakespeare reflects his erudite scholarship. He pointed out that the critics considered only two or three stories of Maugham as great though he wrote hundreds of stories as he lacks imaginary power, poetic temperament and respect for the life.  He observed that a writer should have a bit of innocence besides respect for the life and complete integrity. According to him, D H Lawrence didn’t have that respect for life but Sarath had it in plenty. He said, “The writer meets out injustice at a time in the society, lands in trouble and gets disturbed. If he has respect for life he shouldn’t hate the things which are responsible for his misery. If he is poor he shouldn’t hate the rich. The superstations and social evils are to be destroyed. But the people responsible for that are to be loved and respected. A writer should have that sympathy for them. If he lacks it his inner consciousness wouldn’t have room for the outer things and persons.”

Buchibabu is an aesthete par excellence. Most of his stories except very few like Kalachakram Nilachipoyindi and Naa Gaajumeda deal with man woman relationships. But he gives more importance to the pure love that almost borders on platonic love. He pointed out that a writer should never hesitate to say what he experienced and understood. He knew that the discussion of the ethical values is the sole aim of literature. 

Buchibabu is an adept in the art of using the first person narrative.  The narrator, the’ I’ of his narratives endears the reader effortlessly as he has no airs about him and has tremendous respect for the reader.  Buchibabu‘s narrator is not the writer but he retains the culture and character of his creator. He comments, explains and leads the reader amicably and amiably to the ending of the story.

Buchibabu’s fictional world is full of unforgettable characters. Varma, the chief engineer whose ego was shattered by a ruffian, Chidambaram,  and a gipsy called Moona (Arakuloyalo Koolina sikharam), Kumudam who leaves an indelible influence on the narrator irrespective of the fragile intimacy she had with him(Nannu gurinchi katha raayavoo), Suguna who plays with the lives of two men (Nirantharathrayam), Bhaskaram who never flouts the ethics in spite of his unexplainable  love for the wife of a friend (Pogaleni Nippu), the artist who becomes a victim of jealousy and misunderstanding(Elloralo Ekanthaseva and Ajantha), Mukundam whose prattling never gets a halting (Kalachakram Nilachipoyindi)… and this list is endless. Buchibabu’s fictional world may be different from the real world as it is indifferent to the economical and political issues which dog the man from times immemorial. But it is a world that purges off the frivolities and barbarity of the man and purifies his soul. Reading his work is itself a kind of catharsis, the purification of the mind and soul. Buchibabu’s work transforms a man into a cultured and civilized being. What more do we expect from literature?

Buchibabu was born on 14th June 1916 and so today marks the beginning of his centenary. During the short span of 51 years he produced amazing work, both in quality and quantity. He wrote more than 80 stories, a novel, a dozen plays, an autobiography, a book on Shakespeare and nearly 50 essays. But a comprehensive and perceptive analysis of his work has not yet attempted. Now the intelligentsia of Telugu literature has the responsibility of filling up that vast gap and to pay a real homage to one of its greatest sons in a befitting way. Until he is translated and introduced to the outer world, the world literature remains lackluster.

                                                      -MADHURANTHAKAM NARENDRA

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

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