Hyderabad, April 11: Ideology and imagination are happily blended in the work of Vara Vara Rao and he is not the rigid political poet he is made out to be, observed fellow litterateur K Siva Reddy Saturday.
Addressing a gathering after the release of “Captive Imagination — Letters From Prison’’, a translation from the writings of the Virasam founder-member, Siva Reddy said Vara Vara had distilled the people’s experiences, and his own, in the depiction of political and social life.
The poet might be rigid in his political line, but none can deny his lyricism — as in his descriptions of the jasmine and the dove in jail.
Siva Reddy also complimented the translation for capturing the nuances and rhythms of the original.
On Vara Vara Rao’s spell in prison, Siva Reddy noted: “One could imprison him but not his dreams’’.
Responding to the felicitation, Vara Vara Rao remarked that some people ask him how a sensitive person like him could follow the political line he did.
“My reply is that it is my sensitivity that determines my convictions,’’ the revolutionary poet said, adding: “If all humans behave as such, there would be no problem in society. But some persons are not behaving like human beings.’’ The way to a humane world, he stressed, was aboltion of private property which would spell an end to greed.
Civil libertarian KG Kannabiran released the book, published by Penguin India.
Kaloji’s foreword to the Telugu original has been replaced by that of Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Akshara Books organised the function, which was presided over by MT Khan.
–Agencies–