HUMILIATED SOLDIER

I spent for four months in Indian Army at Madras Engineer Group and Center in Bangalore and came out as a recruit after getting the number. I could not live a caged life bearing the hardship of the job. I am an escapist and hypocrite in this regard. I continued my studies and became eligible to get some job in the civilian society. My eldest brother served in the same for seventeen years and came out voluntarily minding the studies of his two sons. He worked as a security supervisor in the private agency taking care of the pipeline network of a big petroleum company owned by the government of India. It involves frequent visits to the risky points of underground petroleum transport. He has to remain awake and alert day and night. He bore with it for two years for the sake of the small salary it offered. One day he received a letter from the District Sainik Welfare Board. His name was sent to a private bank for consideration for the position of armed guard. He felt very happy. In two months, he received a call from the bank asking him to attend the selection procedure in Hyderabad. He reached me this happiest news in his life. I rushed to meet him in the hotel near Nampally railway station that Sunday morning when he came to face the test. He did well in all the rounds and confidently said that he is going to be selected. His dream came true within two months. I helped him a little in this process reaching him the information in time. He underwent a two-day training session in Hyderabad before being inducted into the bank for work as an armed guard. He was posted to the main branch of Boco Bank in Visakhapatnam. He is living there in a rented house with his family. Recently I went there to spend for sometime attending the editing work of my diaries to be published. My brother knows me well as a fighter against corruption at individual level. He strictly warned his wife not to tell me the truth. My sister-in-law loves me as a fellow with energy to question a wrongdoer and desire to appreciate a great person of any stand or state. She disclosed me the secret one day when my brother was at the bank. The bank union concerned took a bribe of fifty thousand rupees from each newly appointed armed guard at that bank to confirm their posting. My brother borrowed that money from a relative and kept aside visualizing future developments in the process of his getting job in the bank. He does not like to go against the system risking his job at hand. He says that he got a bit happy life now after his birth joining this bank. He can sleep happily now at night which he could not enjoy for many years as a soldier. He believes that India is a country of corruption and hypocrisy presenting itself as great to rich foreign lenders. He likes to accept that truth and live with it. He served to the nation for long and it is the gift he received for his work. He is happily doing that job now not considering the bribe as an issue at all. I sent a letter to the head office of the bank questioning the corruption prevalent in the system being run under their supervision. I remained anonymous because my brother gets badly disturbed if the issue becomes serious. My sister-in-law is a very sensitive creature. She failed tenth standard and lived like a parrot in a cage in the house before marriage. She cries if something happens to me in the fight because it is going to be a one-man show. My affection and concern for these two sensitive creatures stopped me from moving ahead. I felt humiliated after hearing this news from her. If a soldier is being victimized like this by the bank unions, what about ordinary people that never dare to question anybody superior to them? There was no response from the head office. There are no evidences to go ahead because the money was already handed over. Our courts of law live and die for evidences. My brother does not believe in reliability and honesty of the bureaucracy. He likes to go along with it silently. Silence and complacency are his guiding principles in life because he has wife and children. I am a bachelor presently and so a free and daring bird. He cannot be reckless like me! For that matter how many of you can be?

Datla Chiranjeevi Raju

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ATM

Recently I flew off to New York to meet Shashi Tarur and console him on the issue of his recent failure to become the Secretary General of UNO. He is a well-known person in the circles of literature and intellect in many parts of the world. Such a genius needn’t worry on trivial things of this kind. It was a two-day official tour for me sponsored by the Government of India. One afternoon I was sitting in a beautiful park looking up into the naked sky. A beautiful girl came to me and said, “Sir, I am a research scholar of Asian studies. I like to know something from some Asian tourists that come to this city. I feel that you belong to a special category of people of India. A young person is looking into the sky keeping many attractions around implies that he is either a tasteless fellow or an intelligent guy. I voted for the second after thinking for a few seconds. Tell me something about ATM. I may use this information for my research”. I took her a bit away and ensured that nobody was able to look at us. We sat comfortably facing each other in a delightful close-up style. I told her, “I don’t mind being kissed by a damsel like you. I like your liberal culture and lifestyles a lot. In India not a single beautiful girl kissed me during the last 30 years and I consider it a great loss in my solitary life of creativity and romanticism. I appreciate your intelligence coexisting with noticeable wit and traceable insight. By ATM you mean Andhra Telangana Movement and you want my comment on this present burning issue in a state of India. Coincidentally and unfortunately I belong to the very state of Andhra Pradesh where this issue is burning continuously like a big candle in a small room. I am basically against any tendencies or movements that are centered on regionalism and separatism because I am an idealist and visionary with an element of creativity. I felt disturbed when Uttaranchal (soon to be known as Uththaraakhand), Chattishgarh and Jharkand were born as separate states from the wombs of their big mothers. I believe that beauty of appearance and character lies in unity and bigness. I lost love for many Indians after observing these narrow-minded ideologies and regional movements aimed at breaking India into many fragments. Learning undesirable lessons and deriving unhealthy wisdom from these past movements in India, K Chandra Sekhara Rao took up the age-old issue of Separate Telangana afresh. He is not as genuine and committed in his thought or fight for his goal as veteran Potti Sreeramulu had been 50 years ago. He desires to become the Chief Minister of the new state once his strong dream gets realized. He is a cent percent politician in body and spirit. Because he started that movement and participating in it actively, even other broadminded politicians, artists and ordinary people of this region began keenly observing and admiring him. He won the recent by-election in Karimnagar with a bumper majority. The success of a contestant in the present elections in India depends on masses and they would be influenced by the inspirational speeches and attractive activities of their leaders in the localities concerned. The same happened even in this case. Ordinary people of Telangana are more innocent and good-natured than those in Andhra region. I don’t like to blame them for these unhealthy political developments in our state. Our state loses the good image it has been maintaining for the last 50 years in our nation and the world as a big state if these fellows of separatism and magic win the race in course of time. When the other fellow keeps telling us “I hate you” in response to our repeated utterance of “I love you”, we too stop loving him and start hating him. I belong to Andhra region and so let me share my sincere feelings as a regional fellow because the testing situation demands it. My region is rich and beautiful in many ways. We can live very happily and comfortably without depending on Telangana for anything once the separation takes place for devil’s sake. I would go to Srikakulam to experience the beauty of innocent and ignorant masses; to Vizianagaram to learn lessons from the scholars and artists there; to Visakhapatnam to enjoy the richness of industrial development and natural beauty; to East Godavari to see the vast stretches of lush green rice fields, to West Godavari to learn the values of kindness and humility from the humble farmers and rich businessmen living there; to Krishna to plunge in the holy waters of the river and do the darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga on the Indra Keelaadhri Hill; to Ongole to salute the people of patriotism and idealism; to Guntur to admire the people of hospitality and high learning and lastly to Nellore to sleep in their front yards with a rich feeling of security and self-respect. Our region as a whole is second to none in quality or quantity. We have everything in our places and hearts a healthy body and creative mind can depend on and delight in. We showed our brothers and sisters in Telangana how to cook tasty food and how to cultivate their lands to become rich and live proudly. Hyderabad developed a lot during these 50 years in its special status of the capital city of the state. We don’t mind if they want to live separately leaving the twin cities as an independent region that belongs equally to the whole state. Otherwise they should give us net cash amounting to 50 billion rupees. We too remained backward for the last 50 years to a great extent only because major part of the funds meant for the overall development of the state were routed to the development and beautification activities in Hyderabad because it had been the capital of our state. These selfish fellows of Telangana started singing the song of separatism after ensuring that the Telugu film industry is firmly established in Hyderabad. We cannot imagine the picture of Hyderabad forgetting the extraordinary contribution made by liberal and rich people of my region for the last 40 years. Once they separate from us, they can sit on boulders and keep eating grapes day and night. If we are living together with them for all these years, it is not because we are poor in intelligence or natural resources but with affection and possessiveness for them who cannot live happily without our help and amity. The contribution from the people of Telangana to the world-famous Telugu film industry would not be more than 10% and one can check the present scene of the actors, actresses, technicians and artists to believe in this truth. We love the ordinary people of Telangana forever even if we find them in a separate state owing to our bad luck in future because they are not responsible for this regional movement or the results thereon. The selfish and snobbish political leaders that started this game recently should be blamed seriously if this separation takes place because they stand for venom and gloom that are going to spoil the lives of many innocent and ignorant people in this region and tarnish the image of great India with its genetic qualities of nationalism and unity in diversity. How can we stop them when they are so serious and hell-bent on arranging a beautiful graveyard for them for their future needs in their backyard itself? Let me see what the hell is going to happen! I mean what can I do more than this when absolutely narrow-minded and self-centered policymakers are making the rules of the game to pull the innocent and ignorant masses to play it helplessly?!” Her bright face turned dim by the time I shut my mouth. There was nobody around us. I kissed 20 times passionately in every corner of her face and told emotionally, “I could not find a better way other than this to appreciate you. There is no time with me to write something for you or feed you something in some hotel. I love your voice and beauty. I hope we meet sometime in future. I forget the faces of people very fast. Remember me and identify me if I ever come across you because I like it. Thank you for being such a cute creature in the nature of God”. Her name is Lucy Kay. Is that Ok for you!!!

Datla Chiranjeevi Raju

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COSTLY COMPANY

It was 7:30 p.m. on September 8, 2001. Professor Gurbaksh Singh Hall in the HCU was already full with the students of M.A.English. I was one of the senior students giving “Welcome Party” to our juniors. Girls were shining with their attractive dresses and the boys were silently admiring their considerable beauty. Eating and cultural programs of small size were over. The ultimate dance program would start within a few minutes. Nihari had just entered the hall in her gorgeous attire along with her brother. Boys could not dare look at her because the brilliance of beauty and the command of sensitivity dancing in her cute face were simply killing them internally. I ventured to look at her and started eating her with my thirsty eyes of admiration. As the dance event was started, she joined it. My eyes stopped blinking because a goddess of exceptional beauty was rocking the show with her absorbing dance movements in jeans and T-shirt (she changed her dress before the dance program). I thanked God for allowing me to see such an angel of beauty on the evening hours of one of my birthdays. Her younger brother, who is my close friend and classmate, was also dancing crazily. I remembered Prabu Deva, the famous South Indian Choreographer. The program was over around 4:00 a.m. and we moved to our respective abodes of rest. I could not forget her. I felt like making her love me and marry me. I could become her friend within one month with my best efforts investing my creativity and intelligence. I started going to their house in the city. I was enjoying her closeness and fondness for me. I spent about 5,000 rupees to express my sense of love for her when I considered one rupee 100 rupees based on my personal financial status then. Offered her special homemade sweets, gifted her electronic gadgets, interviewed her using a Walkman, photographed her for 72 times in her apartment in her spectacular dresses and endearing poses. She wore a nightie during one shooting event without my suggestion or request only to please me because I previously told her that I like to see a beautiful girl in a nightie. Slowly I understood that she was trying to establish herself in the Telugu film industry. I ran after her, admired her, aspired to marry her and there was no much initiative from her side. I realized this well on 8th September 2002, when I went to her abode with two tins of homemade sweets made by my maternal aunt. She did not talk with me even for one minute that morning clearly knowing that I came down from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad only to see her. I removed myself from the testing net of her friendship and admiration within a few weeks that followed. I sent back all her photos, interview cassettes and other things that make me love her if they remain with me. We remained aliens for the last four years. She acted in some Telugu and Tamil films. Presently she is acting in Telugu serials and other programs. Her principal goal is to become a famous heroine. Unfortunately she did not get good chances so far to prove her talent as an artist and I regret it. I felt guilty and stopped my communication with her brother also who is very intelligent and good-natured. I am a mad admirer of dance being performed by any damsel of beauty. She worships many Hindu gods and goddesses every morning for about one hour or so. Her mother left her government job to help her daughter in realizing her dream. My serious admiration and passive attachment with her went on only for one year. It started on my birthday and it ended on my following birthday. My parents, brothers, some of my relatives and friends know about this episode of realistic admiration in my life. I touched her only twice with my right hand; once to adjust the end of her jeans pant when she was in a flat position in the sofa for the photo and secondly shaking my right hand with hers as a gesture of friendship upon her request. I allotted her the position of goddess in my life because she too loved me and spent some time for me. Recently I got a very rich friend. He earns 60 lakhs a year. One day I told him about my admiration for Nihari. He said, “I can make her dance nakedly before you if you can spend 25,000 rupees per night. The broker takes part of it and the rest is hers. This is her present rate in the beautiful flesh industry. She would have been your sweetheart once but not now. Anybody with enough money and passionate desire for the delight of arresting flesh can taste her now. She earns extra income this way. A number of impressive celebrities are on offer. Earn enough money or fame and then explore the scene. Exceptional beauties queue up around your house. Female beauty is a commodity. Idiotic and stupid blokes like you name it admiration and start running after girls with the intention of marriage. She loves your money and social status and not your bloody admiration serial and marriage proposal. Come out from your age-old beliefs and assessment about the modern girls. When there is energy in your body and lust in your spirit, use them to explore the depths of pleasures of female company, and when you become old, forget to attract them honestly. By now could you understand what your sweet Nihari stands for?!! Don’t ever talk such nonsense and rubbish with me because I hate nuts and simpletons being my close friends”. I did not stop being his friend because he explained me a reality he is very familiar with and thus made me a bit clever, not cruel or bad. Still I love my Nihari. Poor girl, she cannot do anything other than conforming to the industry expectations to become famous as a heroine one day. If I ever get a chance to meet her, I would rest my head on her feet and say sadly, “I love you”. I would certainly cry when saying these words with her because my goddess of beauty, whom I admired madly for one year, has become a public property now. She is accessible and enjoyable by everybody that has bundles of money or fame in some field. There are tens of female artists in some localities of the twin cities being ready to sleep with any rich fellow just for money or a chance in the films; struggle for existence or ambition for fame, we can call. The only difference is that my sweetheart is a rich commodity because her rate is a bit high. Don’t you guys and girls think that it is going to be a costly company?!!

Datla Chiranjeevi Raju

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UNRELIABLE FRIEND

The first person I liked after joining the University of Hyderabad in 2000 was Kuracha Srinivasa Rao. He belongs to a village very near to ours and perhaps this regional feeling made me find him more friendly and interesting than others available. In course of time we became very close friends. He was studying M.Sc. Physics and I M.A. English. He was very popular in the campus. Nobody calls him with his real name but Bhayya. He was a bright student when studying in Kakinada and his lecturers considered him genius and hard-working. He neglected his studies being much involved in his busy life of friendship and popularity on the campus. He stayed back one more year in the campus to complete his studies for this reason. He talks with everybody with a smiling face and addresses many with a sense of affection and warmth. Thus he could earn and retain many friends and well-wishers without much investment. He encouraged me to become the Mess Secretary of our hostel (Men’s Hostel ‘A’) and I could carry out that duty happily with the assurance of dependence that I have a good friend to support me in times of heavy stress or unexpected problems. He was later elected Cultural Secretary and did some interesting things to show his love for the students on the campus. He is presently working as a junior lecturer in physics at Sri Chaitanya Junior College near Nizampet Road. He is earning about 25,000 rupees a month. He also provides tuition to two rich students at their homes. He bought a two-wheeler recently and planning to buy a pre-owned car after sending it to his father back at his village. He is trying to present himself attractively to the party of the bride because he is intending to marry very soon. He never keeps his cellular phone with him perhaps to escape from the nuisance of frequent calls from every Tom and Dick who talk this and that which he may not like for some reasons. I recently informed him that I too bought a mobile phone. He rarely calls anybody taking the initiative perhaps because he thinks that all his friends are good fellows and they know how to conduct themselves well in the society. Yesterday morning my artist friend Veeranjaneyulu told me that Bhayya would stay at his abode for the whole day and night. I met him about five months ago and so desired to spend with him all the time. His affectionate words and his cute look make me rejuvenating and I wanted to delight in it. I freshened up myself very fast and rushed to the rented portion of my friend in Jubilee Hills. Bhayya did not come at all and there was no information from him regarding why he did or could not come. I spent my time happily talking with my friend and browsing the Internet on his computer. I felt irritated with the unreliable behavior of Bhayya. I love him very much and so eagerly waited to see him but he did not turn up. I know about this most apparent demerit of his personality for the last four years and he proved that he did not change his lifestyle even to this day. Nothing serious or unexpected occurred owing to his failure to come to see us as promised but both of us got very disappointed at his casual behavior. A single distracting trait in us can make many of our dear ones disheartened and severely hurt at times. In this case, he is our dear friend and so we don’t mind believing in his unreliable promises because we don’t like to hurt him banning him forever from our friendship as a disciplinary action against him for his reckless behavior toward us on many occasions. Imagine the stress and strain supposed to be borne by his spouse after marriage if he continues the same kind of behavior even with her. Then she remains a lifelong victim because she cannot leave him considering it a felony on his part. It is not difficult to refine ourselves time to time. We should identify our drawbacks and overcome them to earn new friends and retain our old well-wishers. Reliability is a very fascinating trait of a person and everybody should self-tune oneself toward practicing this virtue in most of the possible occasions and situations. Otherwise many continue considering one a silly bloke without much consideration or botheration about the interests or pains of others being generated and perpetuated because of him or her. We need to learn about virtues and practice them in our personal and professional lives to remain dependable and trustworthy in our familiar circles. When we fail to do this, one day we get badly victimized by the same vice in us, which tortured many. Does anybody like to face such plight? Be alert.

Datla Chiranjeevi Raju

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUS TRAVEL IN HYDERABAD

Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation is shortly known as APSRTC. It is an autonomous body with adequate freedom to decide its policies with necessary support and guidance from the government time to time. It connects almost every part of the state with its rural and urban network of daily bus services. 113Y and 113E route buses are run in Hyderabad as city buses. The prior plies between Uppal and Yousufguda Check Post and the latter between ESI and Uppal. I had to take either one of these two buses to go to my office in Panjagutta. I traveled in these two route buses for about two years as a commuter and I had very bad experience with them. Our office starts by 9:00 a.m. and ends by 5:00 p.m. I used to take this bus by 6:45 a.m. itself every morning to get a seat for me and travel comfortably to the place of work. In the return journey it was almost like hell coming back to our abode struggling to stand among the pressing crowd in the bus. I was compelled to change my lifestyle just to have a happy journey. Thus every day I went to the office remained a sad experience to me because I would miss a free bus if I don’t reach the bus stop by the scheduled time by me. I stopped traveling in those buses after quitting that job. Even today I find these two route buses very crowded. One can see the hell of journey in these buses between 7:30 a.m and 10:30 a.m and 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. even today. It is an endless daily serial I can say. I was infuriated by these bad experiences in my life for months together and so thought of doing something. First I made out my points of concern. The problem is “There is much rush in this route during a few specified hours in the morning and evening because a number of students and employees travel in these buses to their destinations”. The simple solution to this problem is “More number of buses should be run in this route during the peak hours at least”. There is no scarcity of bus manufacturing units in India. They are ready to supply hundreds of buses within months if the orders are given quite in advance specifying the features of the vehicles and where they need to be used. I seriously wrote a letter to Kalajito Saivinu, a retired Supreme Court judge living in Hyderabad. I received a reply from him within a week. It read, “I am also a helpless victim of this system in our nation. Hundreds of commuters are daily facing hell to travel in these buses. The suffering and strain felt by girls and working women is anyhow there. Many accidents and deaths took place during the last ten years due to this unhealthy public transport system. I don’t think that you can resolve this issue filing a case on APSRTC or the state government in any court in India because millions of serious cases are also sleeping in these abodes of justice delivery. I know the menace of judiciary in India as a judge. I once asked my friend why the higher officials and policy-makers associated with this corporation are not doing anything in this regard to provide the passengers with a delightful journey on a daily basis. I was shocked to know the truth. He told me that highly impotent men and women would be appointed as the chief executives of this setup. Those that fail to enjoy their sex life at home or outside owing to their permanent internal problems can never take good decisions for refining any system under their supervision. Resultantly they sit in the AC rooms watching films of filth and licking the skins of the paid service providers. They never see the reality standing in a few bus stops in the twin cities for a few days. People without enthusiasm to do something good for the society are a waste burden on our earth. Unfortunately 75% of the persons heading the government units are old in body and sick in mind. Some dynamic youth with love for the common and burning fire in the belly to reform the system should come into these core areas of daily public suffering. I don’t think that I can see such happy times in our nation before I die. Remember me for once if you ever see such a happy trend of governance and administration in any part of our nation. I felt very happy after reading your letter. I liked the fire in your thoughts and the kindness and idealism in your love for the common people. Continue seeing everything from a broader perspective to remain dynamic in personality and universal in outlook toward the humanity at large. May God bless you!” After reading his letter I understood that one should learn to live in the hell when everybody else is doing the same without a collective spirit. One cannot change a system remaining awake when all are sleeping around him being affected by the chronic diseases of complacence and self-centeredness.

Datla Chiranjeevi Raju

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARRIAGE BUREAU

I belong to Kshatriya caste and my parents are considerably particular about the point of caste when it comes to marriage. We can be friendly with anybody that belongs to any caste but we should marry only those girls that belong to our caste. This is the belief and practice prevalent in the state of Andhra Pradesh. I started hating the point of caste as my outlook toward the world was getting polished. One day I saw an interesting matrimonial ad in a local daily. The girl is very beautiful, well-educated and above all she belongs to our Kshatriya community. My parents, brothers and relatives feel very happy if I marry some girl of our caste. I immediately called up and knew that it was a marriage bureau in Hyderabad that posted the ad of that bride in that newspaper that Sunday. They told me to come down to their office to know more details about the bride. I understood that I became a victim to them because I don’t like going to marriage bureaus in search of a bride for me and yet I went to their office that evening itself. I gave them two of my color photos and paid them 1200 rupees to become a paid member. They won’t show me the photo of the girl I desired to see unless I become a member in their setup. Eventually they showed me the photo of the girl and I liked her beauty and educational level compared to other brides available with their marriage bureau. They told me that the family of the girl has a property worth 1 crore rupees and they belong to Bhimavaram town in West Godavari district. Upon my request, they informed them about my interest in their daughter. After one week, when I called them up to know what happened, they told me that the parents of the girl were in the process of winning an NRI boy for their daughter and it means that mine is a waiting list. It is money and the status of the bridegroom that is important for them and not caste only. Then my monthly salary was 8,000 rupees and working in a small press in Hyderabad. They did not find me attractive. There was no any further communication from them. Perhaps they could marry their daughter with that NRI. There were one or two calls only from the marriage bureau during the two years that followed. They informed me to come down to their office and have a look at the recent photos of the brides from our community. I went there once and did not find many photos of the girls. I did not like them because they were not that beautiful. Marrying an exceptionally beautiful girl is my mission and so I don’t compromise on this point at all. If I ever marry an ordinary girl, it is virtually like a death to me and still I live because I should not commit suicide. I developed aversion and dislike for marriage bureaus and their useless activities after this personal experience in my life. Only 5% success rate would be there. Many think that somebody gave his or her photos and profile in some marriage bureau means they have a bad character or they are ugly or they are old. They came there as a last resort to find somebody and marry at the earliest. This is not true in all the cases. Many go to marriage bureaus to choose one from many options. When our circle of friends and relatives is very little, there is nothing wrong in going to a marriage bureau. One should keep trying every channel available to find a right partner. Marriage bureaus unite a bride and a bridegroom in a commercial manner. I took much time to understand that marriage bureau is a wrong place for me. I like to marry somebody on my personal choice and for that I need to follow some ways I consider good. I have bad experience even in the case of my close friend who consulted a few marriage bureaus for finding a girl to marry. Both of us are idealists and we should not go to such places to find our dream girls. We should be known to many girls through our efforts and then only somebody can like us and decide to marry us liking our professor or personality. This is the right spirit of universal love. I am thus waiting to find my angel of beauty. There are thousands in India. Can’t I win one?

Datla Chiranjeevi Raju

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------