HYDERABAD: Shyam Mohan loves Telangana and its people. And his travels across the hinterlands of the state across towns such as Peddapalli, Manchiryal, Siddipet, Medak, Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mahabubnagar etc only confirmed it.
His extensive travel brought him face to face with some unsung heroes of the State and that is what prompted him to write Janganamana Telangana, a ‘lifebook’ as he calls it, in Telugu.
When he presented his case studies of a project to BP Acharya, Director General of Dr. Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute of Telangana in Hyderabad, he suggested curating all these stories into a book which was released a month ago at the institute.
A former journalist, Shyammohan says that the book published by Rural Media shone a light on the extraordinary stories of these ordinary people and is definitely one that fills us with hope and courage. His photographer K Ramesh Babu and he toured these little towns and villages as part of their field visits and thus became a book which is a compilation of 38 stories.
Shyammohan starts his book with the story titled Corona pai Kommu Boora which is about how they use a musical instrument called Kommu Boora (which resembles the horn of a buffalo) to spread the word about sanitisation and the need to wear a mask to fight Covid-19. “It gave me goosebumps to watch how a young boy would blow the horn and citizens of this hamlet in East Telangana leave whatever they are doing to wash hands with soap and with salt water, if soap is not available. The horn is blown five times a day and it works as a siren in Girijan settlements across the village. No WhatsApp group or smart phone reminder can remind you about handwash so powerfully,” says the writer.
He personally loves this story and that of Dr Narendera’s story.
Dr Narendra commutes across 140 gudems to serve 20,000 adivasis and his service to them is incredible. “Rarely do such stories make it to the mainstream media. The need of the hour is for us to realise how we can all do so much with such little resources if we can be innovative. When inspiration is in short supplies, such stories fill us with hope and promise,” he says with a smile.