Dolls' Wedding and other Stories

 

Do you know any prose writer who is tellingly good at his art, whose characters and plots are unsurpassed in their appeal and are universal, but who is little known outside his domain and whose works have been given the royal snub when it comes to translation and distribution of work?

 

Chaganti Somayajulu alias Chaso is one! This Telegu genious was born in Srikakulam, in northern coastal Andhra, in 1951. Living in the colurful vicinity of great artists and laureates of Vizianagaram, Chaso showed his mettle right from his early childhood. Though his attempts at verse could be rated at best anything between good and average, his prose style and the depth he rendered in his characters in seemingly ordinary situations of everyday life, was outstanding. 

 

His peers proudly remember his literary expertise and his voracious thirst for and understanding of it, that started showing even in his school days. Once when one of his teachers was discussing a Telegu translation of Carlyle's essay, he promptly disapproved of the poor interpretation, and later when provoked by the teacher, explained the original text in English with profound clarity and insight.

 

What separates him from the rest of writers is his own indifference to his work. Chaso is known for tearing of most of his writings for "not having liked them" and as much for making no or little efforts to run after image creation or compilation of his prose.

 

Publishers, it seems, too have treated him much in the same fashion. Barring a few examples, there has not been any major attempt to showcase his works to a larger audience. Despite the fact that Chaso has often been rated as or at least related to great writers as Anton Chekov. In this context, it is indeed thoughtful of Penguin Books to translate best of his works (translation done from telegu to English by Velchuru Narayana Rao and David Shulman) and come out with this gripping read called Dolls' Wedding and other Stories.

 

Among others, "Why would I lose it, Dad?" and "Violin" are very emotional rendering of trials and tribulations of human life and its wants, and the conflict between the two. Dolls' Wedding, on the other hand, gives us a deatailed account of pre-puberty marriages that was common practice in south in those days. It is also a touching account of the hapless and insecured position of so many young girls who were widowed at young age, and hence, were left to the harsh tests of destiny for the rest of their lives. But it is not that Chaso only focused on weak and debilitated condition of women. In "Got to go to Eluru" in fact, he presents to his readers rather bold example of a woman, certainly much ahead of her times.

 

Both Velchuru Narayana Rao and David Shulman have done relatively good work in translating his works into English with accuracy, and without losing the ethnic essence. It is definitely going to be a read full of sobs, tears, wonder, passion, and rage. And that exactly defines the varied nature of Chaso's stories.