SIVARAJU SUBBALAKSHMI: WELL-KNOWN FICTION WRITER AND ARTIST.
Nidadavolu Malathi
***
Subbalakshmi, (her full given name is Venkata Subbalakshmi) was born on 17 September 1925 to her
parents Dronamraju Suryaprakasa Rao and Satyavati, in Rajahmundry, a town known for its rich cultural
and literary heritage. She is the second of three daughters and three brothers. She was married at the
age of twelve to a famous Telugu writer, Sivaraju Venkata Subbarao, who wrote under the pseudonym
Bucchibabu (1916-1967). They were married in 1937.
After Bucchibabu obtained his Bachelor’s degree, the couple moved to Madras, where he obtained his
Master’s degree. In Madras, the couple made friends with several esteemed writers, which contributed
immensely to the literary pursuits of Venkata Subbalakshmi (better known as Sivaraju Subbalakshmi).
She speaks fondly of the good times she has had with her husband until his untimely demise in 1967.
They adopted her brother’s son, also named after her husband, Venkata Subba Rao.
In August 2009, I went to Bangalore to attend a book release function, organized by the Sahitya
Akademi. At the time, I decided to meet with Subbalakshmi also. I called her and she was more than
happy to meet with us. I went with my brother and another young writer and my friend, V.B. Sowmya.
Subbalakshmi has a pleasant personality and charming demeanor. She welcomed us with a big smile,
made tea for us, showed us her room and her paintings. She said that Bapu, a highly acclaimed artist of
our times, is her nephew (her husband’s brother’s son).
Subbalakshmi started writing short stories in the mid-fifties.
I did not plan on an interview. Nevertheless, our conversation turned to her and her husband’s writings
because of her standing as a writer of repute. She spoke with self-assurance and conviction.
Subbalakshmi has an amazing memory. At the age of 84 (just turned 85 in last September), she was
able to tell us the themes for each one of her stories and their sources of inspiration. I was impressed.
She said her first story was kaapuram [Family life], in which she portrayed the struggles of a daughter-
in-law to maintain her individuality without disrupting the family values. The story ended with the family
recognizing her as a woman of character, the author said. She mentioned another story, odduku
cherina keratam [The wave that reached the shore], as one of her favorite stories. It is about a young
widow who was asked by her brother to raise his sons. The protagonist would accept the responsibility,
raise the children, take good care of their property, and at the end however, the children neglect her.
The point, the author says, is that the woman took care of her nephews as a duty, and with no
expectations, none whatsoever. According to the author, the message in the story is, for a woman, duty
to the family and sacrifice must come first.
Subbalakshmi’s first novel is Adrushta rekha [The lines of Destiny], published in 1964 by EMESCO
Books, a prestigious publisher.
Most of her stories reflect her steadfast beliefs and the traditional values she cherishes. They revolve
around the issues the middle class women face at home and in society, and their struggles, fears,
frustrations and their inability to extricate themselves from the tough situations they are stuck in, and
are forced to settle for a compromise, eventually.
She says the kitchen is an important place in the house, and the woman has an obligation, and must be
prepared to sacrifice her life to keep the family together; she should never leave home under any
circumstances. This should be so not only because of her obligation to the family but also because the
woman cannot survive alone in our society.
She said that, of the three novels she had written, she would consider teerpu [Judgment] as her best
work. Most of her works are out of print now. She had given away most of her books and art work,
whenever somebody had asked her for them, she said. Now, she has only one copy of some of her
works. I asked her son if they had any plans to reprint them. He said they were considering it.
After returning home, I went to the university library and found a few of her books. One of them is the
novel, neelam getu ayyagaru [The owner of a mansion with blue gate], which has received critical
acclaim. It illustrates a wealthy family who live in a big mansion with blue gate. The story is narrated from
the perspective of their maid, Ponni.
The author has done a marvelous job in capturing the perceptions of an illiterate working woman.
The character of the maid comes alive in this story. In the opening lines, the author establishes that
Ponnamma (Ponni) is a woman of unique character, comparable to a bunch of white roses. She is a
servant bold enough to claim that one half of the houses on the street are hers. By the time we finish
reading the novel, we will know that Ponni is not just a maid but “the little lamp” that stayed forever in the
heart of the owner of the mansion with blue gate.
The novel opens with the following lines:
The white rose in a cluster presents itself through the blue gate and makes the passersby stop for a
moment, at least. Far off, Ponnamma, who lives in a hut in the open fields, has been walking from place
to place, looking for work, along with her daughters. She says that one half of the houses on that street
is hers.
In the next paragraph, we are told that Ponni “would not tell the truth” about her past. Nevertheless, the
narrator continues to recount the episodes which landed Ponni in the present position. Probably, the
author was trying to draw a distinction between Ponni’s character and the narrator’s need to let the
readers know her past.
As Ponni is about to open the gate to enter, the owner’s dog “jumps on her, tears her sari, and pulls the
skin apart from the bones.” Just then, a car comes. A hefty man with fair complexion and dressed in
white clothes gets out of the car and offers money to her. Ponni refuses to accept his money. The man,
being kind and generous, tells the driver to take her to the doctor. He adds, “If she dies, the sin will visit
up on us.” That is insightful.
After she has recovered from her wounds, he hires her as a maid in the mansion. They decide to go to
the Nilgiri hills for health reasons, and he and his wife invite Ponni to go with them. In course of time,
each starts telling his or her story to her. Ponni becomes the confidante for the entire family—the
owner, his wife, the son and the daughter-in-law. She listens to all their stories. In turn, they all show
concern for her wellbeing. When the owner attempts to make a move on her, she cleverly escapes,
saying, “You are a like the Lord Rama [man of integrity] himself”.
The owner in his final days reflects on his life; he realizes that Ponni has been not just a maid but a
mentor to him. He has seen several servants in his life but there is none like Ponni.
Despite the commendation this novel has received, Subbalakshmi considers another novel of hers,
teerpu [Judgment] as her best work. It was serialized in a monthly magazine, taruna.
I asked her what instigates a writer to write?
Subbalakshmi said: “For those who can be happy with whatever they have, the desire to possess
something or other is low. Yet, their hearts pine for something about them to be recognized as special
… that her husband should recognize her individuality …”.
About her stories, a famous writer, Jalasutram Rukmininatha Sastry said, “I like your stories better than
that novel [of her husband],” she said.
I asked her what that novel was and she replied with a hearty laugh, “By then, chivaraku migiledi (by
Bucchibabu) was already published.”
“Since the topic has come up, I do have a question. What do you think of the novel?” I asked her.
“He wanted to write about a particular character and he did a wonderful job. Some people comment that
he had not done justice to all the characters. But Bucchibabu wanted to portray the character of the
protagonist. And he just did that. His portrayal of the people living on the shores of the River Godavari
is beautiful,” she said.
“Was he planning to write a sequel?” Sowmya asked.
“He wrote what he wanted to write. He wanted to write about the internal conflict of Dayanidhi, the
protagonist and that is what he did,’” Subbalakshmi said. I understood it as Bucchibabu was not
planning to write a sequel.
Then, she added, “I stopped writing descriptions in my stories fearing that people would comment that I
am imitating Bucchibabu garu.”
Another famous poet and university professor, Pingali Lakshmikantam paid a charming tribute in his
preface to one of her anthologies, entitled asirvachanam [Blessings] to her stories. He commented that
Subbalakshmi’s stories came from the heart, and that, she wrote from a perspective that only women
could understand and portray. Regarding her style, Lakshmikantam stated, “Nowadays, it is hard to
distinguish between the stories written by male and female writers. The specialty in the stories by
Subbalakshmi is that, we would feel that only women can write like this. A man, however talented he is,
can describe the woman’s nature—only his perception—as he sees through his masculine eyes. It is no
surprise that when a woman describes the nature of another woman, the description will be far from
exaggeration and closer to truth. We can say the objective of these stories is to hold mirror to the
human nature filled with jealousies, intolerance and narrow selfishness, and make our world a better
place.” He finished his “Blessings” hoping that she would write better stories than her husband.
Subbalakshmi credits her inspiration and success to her husband. She says in her elegiac preface to
her anthology, Sivaraju Subbalakshmi Kathalu, addressing her husband, “You wrote a story and I wrote
one. You painted and I painted.”
In the preface, she also recalled the times when they both sat on the shores of the River Godavari and
he asked, “What do you think of the ending for this story or that story”, and the satisfaction that he
cared enough to ask for her opinion.
The entire preface reads like a stroll down the memory lane. It has given me the feeling that she lost
herself in her memories and the preface became another piece of creative writing.
Subbalakshmi continues to write fiction when she finds something interesting in the news but does not
send them out for publication. She is also writing her autobiography. “This is not just a dry, factual
account of where we lived when but my experiences and memories,” she said. She showed us about 12
handwritten pages.
I asked her if she would fair copy her stories before sending to the magazines.
“No, I just write as it comes. Too lazy to rewrite,” she laughed. It brought back memories to me—back in
the fifties and sixties, that was the way we all had written stories. At the time, there were no computers,
no editing and no cut and paste facilities.
Subbalakshmi has mentioned a few stories as her favorite. Yet, the one story that fascinated me is
aadavaalla pettelo prayaanam [Traveling in a ladies’ compartment]. This story brought to the fore her
personality as I saw her during our meeting August 2009. As stated earlier, she is full of zest and humor,
which is noticeable in this story. Therefore, I translated it for you. I hope you’ll enjoy the story as much
as I did.
Publications of Sivaraju Subbalakshmi:
Novels:
Adrushta rekha
Neelam getu ayyagaru
Teerpu
Anthologies of short stories:
Kavyasundari katha
Odduku cherina keratam.
Manovyadhiki mandundi
Magatajeevi chivari chuupu
(March 3, 2010).