HYDERABAD: Telugu poets and thinkers seems to have adjusted to the new way of life in the era of Covid-19, as they are maintaining social distance yet continuing their activities with greater vigour.
For those missing the energy of physical literary meets, the buzzwords are WhatsApp Avadhanams and online seminars.
Avadhanams are literary performances, which date back to ancient times. They involve partial improvisation of poems using specific themes, metres or words.
The Sundarayya Vignana Kendram is conducting an online interactive seminar on Pettubadiki Corona ku vunna chuttarikam (the kinship between Coronavirus and capitalism) on April 27, Monday at 11 am. The venue is “https://virtual.patham.in/b/nav-dgf-par”. The speaker is Prof Purendra Prasad of the University of Hyderabad. The participants can join the seminar by clicking the venue link. The speaker can answer the questions online.
“This is a literary effort by the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram (SVK) in the lockdown era,” SVK secretary S Vinay Kumar said on Saturday. Meanwhile, several Telugu poets too are conducting Avadhanams through WhatsApp. Normally, conducting Avadhanams requires huge halls and people. As no transport is required for WhatsApp Avadhanams, it has become a daily routine for poets now.
Sankarabharanam, a WhatsApp group, is being maintained by a retired teacher from Warangal, Kandi Sankarayya. His forum is full of discussions on Telugu literature. On Saturday, Amudala Murali performed Asthavadhanam on a WhatsApp group and eight poets including Mailavarapu Murali Krishna participated as pruchhakulu (questioners) from Venkatagiri, Hyderabad, Warangal and other places. Chinta Ramakrishna Rao, Loka Jagannatha Sastry, A Bhanuprakash, Gangula Dharma Raju too conducted Avadhanams on WhatsApp recently.
Rhyming online
Several Telugu poets are conducting Avadhanams through WhatsApp. Normally, conducting Avadhanams requires huge halls, transport and people. As no transport is required for WhatsApp Avadhanams, it has become a daily routine for poets now who just log in.