GOPICHAND’S
SHORT STORIES
E.
NAGESWARA RAO
Gopichand wrote ten
novels, twelve plays and numerous essays, sketches and letters. Though his
novels are successful and his essays thought-provoking, he is remembered
chiefly for his short-stories. He wrote about a hundred short-stories.
He
read the masters of this literary form and developed a theory of story-writing.
While he recognized theme, plot, characters, time and place among the chief
elements of a story, he argued that when any one of these elements assumed
greater prominence than the others, the form of the story seems to be
different. For instance, a story in which characterization is prominent could
be called a sketch. l In some of his
stories, we find a progression of thought rather than a conventional plot with
suspense and climax.
Gopichand’s stories fall
into four broad categories on the basis of themes: political, social, domestic and autobiographical. In the stories with
political themes, he displays a full awareness of the ideologies and methods of
many political parties. He has boldly pointed out the evils of politics by
illustrating how some families are ruined and how their finer sensibilities are
blunted. His concern for the welfare of the nation could be seen in most of
these stories.
The
conversion of a sensitive schoolboy (whose curiosity was suppressed by his
domineering uncle) to communism is told in a discerning manner in “Peeditha Hridayam.” The reckless
idealism of many politically-oriented people is vividly portrayed in “Pitrarjitham.” The rivalry of the political parties, all of
which speak and act in the name of the people, is satirized in “Wamka.” The preoccupation of an entire family with politics
in “Bassu Agindi–Bassu Poyindi,” makes it forget
its elementary courtesy to a guest.
About
twenty stories deal with social problems such as the relations between fathers
and sons, the effects of poverty; the gross injustices of free hospitals, petty
tyrannies, attachment to property, the evils of usury, the pitiable lives of
the fallen people, the evils of begging, miserliness and fear of blackmail.
“Dharmasupatri” is the poignant story of Paparao
who went to a ‘free’ hospital for an eye operation. The callousness and
selfishness of the doctor cause him total blindness. The welfare of his child
is much less important to miser Kotireddi than making
money even in the midst of a devastating cyclone. The perverted sense of values
of misers is penetratingly outlined in “Shara.”
The
irrational fears of mother and son and their conduct in “Devudi
Gudi” rouse all kinds of suspicions and rumours. They lack the courage to confess their dangerous
predicament to the daughter-in-law and expose the blackmailing stranger.
Poverty makes an old rikshaw-puller attempt the
impossible task of carrying two persons who were too insensitive to realise the need and burden of the old man. The death of
the rikshaw-puller at the end of his ordeal is
movingly told in “Kalala Baruvu.”
The
petty quarrels among neighbours are described rather
realistically in three stories, In “Irugu-Porugu” and
“Ata”, neighbours quarrel over a pumpkin and an
almond tree. Petty jealousies and intolerance generate ill feeling. “Daridryam” is another reason for the frequent quarrels
among neighbours. Even respectable people descend to
very mean levels when they are egged on by their wives and children.
The
character of upstarts in politics who form influential groups and control
events is sketched in “Push Ane Chorava.” The
senselessness of communal fanaticism which consumes the idealism of a Hindu boy
and a Muslim girl is narrated in a heart-rending manner in “Rendu Jivalu: Nindu
Hridayalu.”
“Patitulu” exposes the unforgivable treatment accorded by
society to people born to prostitutes. Society frustrates the honest attempts
of a girl to lead a respectable married life and makes her return
home wronged and insulted. “Raktapu Marakalu.” describes the thievish attitude
of many people who seek to profit at the expense of their neighbours
by secretly letting their cattle graze on other people’s fields at
nights.
“Dharma
Vaddi” is the painful story of the money-lender Surayya whose cruel methods of usury turn the entire
village against him. The community which suffered at his hands perpetrates heinous
crimes against his family even after he softened his attitude. “Matru Prema” is a Freudian
analysis of the so-called maternal affection. It is a kind of jealousy which
consumes the loving and the loved. Much of the unpleasantness and friction in
our homes is caused by jealous mothers looking upon the daughters-in-law as
thieves snatching their property (the son’s).
A
son’s failure to visit a dying uncle is wrongly attributed by the father to his
miserliness, though it was actually due to lack of money. The father appears to
the son as a dwari who is incapable of growing up
intellectually in “Dabbu.”
In
“Bhuta Daya” the author
exposes the inhuman methods such as deliberate blinding of children adopted by
beggars to rouse the pity and thereby seek alms from others. The well-meaning
charity of many people is sustaining a social evil which breeds more evils.
The
domestic scene and its many frictions are ably described in a number of
stories. The attractions and tensions between husband and wife, the prejudices
and pitfalls of love marriages, the prudery of men, the double standards of
morality for men and women, the endurance and self-sacrifice of women are some
of the common subjects which we notice in his domestic stories.
“Bharyallone Undi” is one of the
finest stories of Gopichand. Tayaramma
is hated by her husband for being too fat. She discovers another girl who is
driven away for being too slender. There are yet others who
are deserted for all sorts of whimsical reasons. The age-old slavish mentality
of women has tolerated this for long. Tayaramma
resolves to ask her husband to grow fat like her and thus turn a new leaf in
domestic life.
“Hindu Pativratyam” is a scathing attack on the self-deceptions of Hindu society where different members of the same family are estranged from one another. In “Gita Parayanam” a man who lacks courage and compassion to help the women who come to him in love is portrayed rather sarcastically.
“Sampenga Puvvu” shows how prudery
and conventional morality have blunted the sensitivity of many people in the
modern times. The double standard of morality which most people apply to men
and women is gently attacked in “Bharya Bhartalu.” The pit-falls of love marriages, contracted
hastily, are shown in “Atmagatam.”
Gopichand believed that Chalam’s writings endangered the peaceful running of many families because of the one-sided presentation in them of the evils and injustices to some women. He wanted to set the record straight in “Punassamagamam.” A forgiving and understanding husband welcomes his wife who had earlier eloped with a friend. Chalam’s heroines elope and end up in total destruction.
“Apadbandhavyam” is a fine story which depicts the psychology of a woman passenger on an airplane. Her instinctive fear of an aircrash makes her cultivate, rather hastily, the friendship of her neighbour. But when the plane weathers the storm and lands safely at its destination, she neglects him altogether and forgets the big promises she made him in those intimate but fearful moments.
“Amma” is a study in child psychology. A child of three
accompanies his father on an overnight journey and demands him to sleep by his
side and sing a lullaby as his mother used to. “Penu Bhutam” shows the complex psychology of a loving husband who
becomes suspicious every time his wife conceived and who used to beat her in a
devilish manner.
Gopichand’s knowledge of
Freudian psychology is clearly revealed in “Pativrata
Antarangikam.” A woman who
was highly respected for her faithful devotion to her husband, faints On
hearing of his death. She dreams of many Freudian symbols which are described
rather crudely in the story.
Some
stories of Gopichand may be labelled
‘Autobiographical.’ “Na Loni Vadu”
describes the clash between the hero’s self-interest and the interests of
suffering humanity. This clash occurred on the day the hero goes to the High
Court to enrol as an advocate and to work for his
family rather than for the entire mankind.
His
experiences in the film industry gave him matter for a few stories. “Siggu” is Gopi’s first lesson in
which he learns in a movie studio while working with an actress. “Nenu: Na Bhutam” is apparently a
discussion between the author and the movie industry represented by the devil.
He is of the view that films should be used for educating people, though he did
not rule out the need for entertainment. But the devil insists that movies
should be made only to entertain and the education has no place in them.
This
dialogue is carried further to the content of a film script in “Na Talalo Peetam Vesina
Bhutam.” The devil fights for mob attraction by
suggesting comic scenes where they are irrelevant and inappropriate. These two
stories underscore the fact that the author had to swim against the current
when he worked in the movies. No wonder he left them in a short period of four
years.
Gopichand’s characters are
a cross section of people in the lower and middle class families in Andhra.
They represent various walks of life. Character is revealed through dialogue and
action rather than through description. While the characterization is
convincing for the most part, some characters like Tayaramma,
Kotireddi, Surayya and Paparao haunt us for quite sometime.
Some
of the characters are evidently autobiographical. Gopi
appears in five or six stories. But he is only a part of the writer. In “Wamka,” the inquisitiveness of the young writer may be
seen. Gopichand stated that his father, an atheist
and a rationalist, taught him to ask the question ‘Why?’ 2 Gopi asks clever questions in this story. In “Dabbu” Gopi is a writer with an
economic ideology like Gopichand himself. In “Siggu,” Gopi was shy in the
presence of women. In ‘Hindu Pativratyam,” he is a
neutral observer of the debate on the faithfulness of Hindu wives.
Gopichand is a very
careful observer of people, their attitudes and mannerisms. He translated them
faithfully in his stories. Paparao is a fine
portrayal of an unsophisticated villager who was exploited by callous townsmen
in “Dharmasupatri.” Kotireddi
is an able representation of an unfeeling and unrepentant village miser. Sitamma in “Devudi Gudi” is quite typical of the women who poke their nose
into other people’s affairs and circulate frightening rumours.
The
small minds of some people who quarrel over trifles are depicted amusingly in “Irugu-porugu”, “Ata” and “Daridryam.”
The psychology of neighbours, their petty jealousies
and vanities are realistically depicted.
Tayaramma is one of the
unforgettable characters of Gopichand. Her affection for her husband even when he hates her, overflows
when she observes him struggling to cook, a job to which he was not accustomed.
Every movement, word and action of Tayaramma is
described minutely and humorously.
A
large number of stories are located in the village. The author knew the
importance of the village in the national life. He understood at first hand the
strength and weakness of rural life and attempted to present a balanced picture
of village life in Andhra.
Dr.
B. Ramaraju observed that Gopichand
depicted rural life in three ways. 3 The first is the description of
the life of the villagers who migrated to towns for employment. These people
still retained their rural connections and habits of thought. Paparao in “Kupasta Mandukyam” and the rikshaw-pullers
in other stories could not earn an adequate living in the village where they
had to depend on a whimsical monsoon for cultivating the land. On migration to
the town, they were shocked by the gross selfishness and utter lack of
fellow-feeling among the urban people.
The
second method is to take village life as the theme of the stories. “Mamakaram” is a notable example of this. An experienced
peasant, Jogayya Mama, loved his land more than his
wife and children. This true son of the soil died smelling a handful of his
dear earth.
The
third method is to depict non-human beings as human beings and make them tell
their stories. These are styled soliloquies and this technique is rather new. A
tumma tree, a banyan tree and an ox
tell their tales in this fashion. Both the trees are vital to the village
economy and play an important role in the cultural life of the countryside. But
urbanization and industrialization is changing all this. When the banyan tree
was cut at the bidding of an arrogant Panchayat president,
the tree bemoans man’s ingratitude. But it quickly grows again and creates new
life. Some of these soliloquies are a devastating satire on the industrial
civilization which has changed the attitudes of people to their surroundings.
Middle
class life is also shown in many stories. The frictions and tensions,
jealousies and self-deceptions, hopes and aspirations, attitudes and outlook
and fears and anxieties of this class are abundant in stories like “Devudi Gudi,” “Irugu-Porugu,” “Patitulu” and “Sampenga Puvvu.” Gopichand does not attempt to portray those segments of
society which he does not know intimately.
The
language used is appropriate to the theme and setting of different stories. For
the most part, the spoken dialect of the educated middle class people is used.
Class dialects are used occasionally to suit the needs of some characters.
Dialogue
is extensively used in some stories like “Sare Kanivvandi,” “Gita Parayanam,” “Wamka,” and “Matru Prema.” The story is told
essentially through dialogue and discussion rather than through narrative and
description.
Mr.
Padmaraju has pointed out the rapid movement and condensation
in Gopichand’s stories.
4 The beginning of “Kalala
Baruvu” is an example of masterly compression of
statement. In “Sampenga Puvvu”
and “Patitulu” descriptions and dialogues seem to
finish rather fast and the story moves quickly to the next phase.
Gopichand’s similes are strikingly
modern. In almost every story, there are at least a few of these. Some
examples: “When Tayaramma was slender, her husband
stuck to her like a long plait.” 5
The slender girl whom Tayaramma meets at the bus
station is like a “slice of halwa.”
6 In “Gita Parayanam” a lady walking across the sand was likened to a
freight train with too many wagons. Radhakrishna Murti in “Pida Kala” rose on the rostrum like “a water column shooting up
in a fountain in a public park.” 7
The
author used satire and sarcasm freely. The soliloquies of the trees are already
mentioned. “Kalala Baruvu”
gives a fine specimen of his gentle satire: “It was the centre
of Andhra. This means that the repairs to the road are few and the ditches
many.” 8 “Venkatachalam
Patra” is entirely written in the satirical vein. It
is a scathing attack on the stereotyped characters and themes of
Chalam which, Gopichand
believed, contributed to moral laxity. The story concludes with a devastating
comment: “In Venkatachalam’s world there is not even
drinking water.” 9
A
delicate sense of humour runs as an undercurrent in
many stories. The description of the fat Tayaramma
sitting in front of the oven and struggling to bend forward provokes laughter.
The way in which Kotayya managed to get a movie
ticket for a girl whom he wanted to impress and befriend, is very amusing. The
quarrels over the pumpkin and the almond tree are both realistic and
humorous. Babji’s (“Amma”) Singing a lullaby in the tram is extremely funny.
Gopichand’s style is lucid
and easily understandable because he uses the spoken idiom of the people. It
has the virtues of naturalness and effortlessness. He does not hesitate to use
English and Hindi words which are easily understood and frequently used by
Telugu speakers. Similarly, he does not attempt to replace common Telugu idioms
with more elegant words.
The
point of view varies from one story to another. In some stories the author
tells the story in the third person. In “Dharma Vaddi”
Surayya and in “Dharmasupatri”
Paparao are chosen as his ‘sentient centres’ whom he follows throughout the action restricting
the reader to the field of vision and range of knowledge of those characters.
In “Patitulu”, the story is told in the first person
by the protagonist. Soliloquy is used in eleven stories. The ‘I’ is used where
the author is drawing upon his personal experiences.
Though
Gopichand read and admired many western writers, he
was not a blind imitator of any of them. His stories have a purpose. They are
meant to educate and widen the outlook of the people. In his hands the Telugu
short story became a means of education as well as entertainment. He wrote on a
variety of themes. He had the courage to attack age-old traditions, to expose
self-deceptions and to condemn tyrannies of every sort. There are few
story-writers in Telugu who could write with equal facility on such a wide variety
of themes. Gopichand ranks among the topmost shortstory writers in Telugu.
l “Chitta
Jallu,” Gopichand
Kathalu (1962), p. 14
2
D. Ramalingam, “Pratibhavantudu,”
Gopichand Smaraka
Sanchika (1963), p. 57.
3 B.
Ramaraju, “Gramina Jivitam,” Gopichand Smarak. Sanchika (1963),
P. 178.
4 P.
Padmaraju, “Kathanika Rachana,” Gopichand Smaraka Sanchika (1963), p.
97.
5
Bharyallone
Undi (1962), p.6.
6 Ibid.,
p. 9.
7 Gopichand
Kathalu (1962) p. 26.
8 Ibid.,
p. 55.
9 Gitaparayanam (1962), p. 47.