Gopichand’s Short Stories

University of California, Berkeley

Gopichand wrote ten novels, twelve plays and numerous essays, sketches and letters. Though his novels are successful and his essays thought-provoking, he is remembered chiefly for his short-stories. He wrote about a hundred short-stories.

He read the masters of this literary form and developed a theory of story-writing. While he recognized theme, plot, characters, time and place among the chief elements of a story, he argued that when any one of these elements assumed greater prominence than the others, the form of the story seems to be different. For instance, a story in which characterization is prominent could be called a sketch. ^l In some of his stories, we find a progression of thought rather than a conventional plot with suspense and climax.

Gopichand’s stories fall into four broad categories on the basis of themes: political, social, domestic and autobiographical. In the stories with political themes, he displays a full awareness of the ideologies and methods of many political parties. He has boldly pointed out the evils of politics by illustrating how some families are ruined and how their finer sensibilities are blunted. His concern for the welfare of the nation could be seen in most of these stories.

The conversion of a sensitive schoolboy (whose curiosity was suppressed by his domineering uncle) to communism is told in a discerning manner in “Peeditha Hridayam.” The reckless idealism ofmany politically-oriented people is vividly portrayed in “Pitrarjitham.” The rivalry of the political parties, all of which speak and act in the name of the people, is satirized in “Wamka.” The preoccupation of an entire family with politics in “Bassu Agindi–Bassu Poyindi,” makes it forget its elementary courtesy to a guest.

About twenty stories deal with social problems such as the relations between fathers and sons, the effects of poverty; the gross injustices of free hospitals, petty tyrannies, attachment to property, the evils of usury, the pitiable lives of the fallen people, the evils of begging, miserliness and fear of blackmail.

“Dharmasupatri” is the poignant story of Paparao who went to a ‘free’ hospital for an eye operation. The callousness and selfishness of the doctor cause him total blindness. The welfare of his child is much less important to miser Kotireddi than making money even in the midst of a devastating cyclone. The perverted sense of values of misers is penetratingly outlined in “Shara.”

The irrational fears of mother and son and their conduct in “Devudi Gudi” rouse all kinds of suspicions and rumours. They lack the courage to confess their dangerous predicament to the daughter-in-law and expose the blackmailing stranger. Poverty makes an old rikshaw-puller attempt the impossible task of carrying two persons who were too insensitive to realise the need and burden of the old man. The death of the rikshaw-puller at the end of his ordeal is movingly told in “Kalala Baruvu.”

The petty quarrels among neighbours are described rather realistically in three stories, In “Irugu-Porugu” and “Ata”, neighbours quarrel over a pumpkin and an almond tree. Petty jealousies and intolerance generate ill feeling. “Daridryam” is another reason for the frequent quarrels among neighbours. Even respectable people descend to very mean levels when they are egged on by their wives and children.

The character of upstarts in politics who form influential groups and control events is sketched in “Push   Ane            Chorava.”         The senselessness of communal fanaticism which consumes the idealism of a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl is narrated in a heart-rending manner in “Rendu Jivalu: Nindu Hridayalu.”      ­

“Patitulu” exposes the unforgivable treatment accorded by society to people born to prostitutes. Society frustrates the honest attempts of a girl to lead a respectable married life and makes her return home wronged and insulted. “Raktapu Marakalu.” describes the thievish attitude of many people who seek to profit at the expense of their neighbours bysecretly letting their cattle graze on other people’s fields at nights.

“Dharma Vaddi” is the painful story of the money-lender Surayya whose cruel methods of usury turn the entire village against him. The community which suffered at his hands perpetrates heinous crimes against his family even after he softened his attitude. “Matru Prema” is a Freudian analysis of the so-called maternal affection. It is a kind of jealousy which consumes the loving and the loved. Much of the unpleasantness and friction in our homes is caused by jealous mothers looking upon the daughters-in-law as thieves snatching their property (the son’s).

A son’s failure to visit a dying uncle is wrongly attributed by the father to his miserliness, though it was actually due to lack of money. The father appears to the son as a dwari who is incapable of growing up intellectually in “Dabbu.”

In “Bhuta Daya” the author exposes the inhuman methods such as deliberate blinding of children adopted by beggars to rouse the pity and thereby seek alms from others. The well-meaning charity of many people is sustaining a social evil which breeds more evils.

The domestic scene and its many frictions are ably described in a number of stories. The attractions and tensions between husband and wife, the prejudices and pitfalls of love marriages, the prudery of men, the double standards of morality for men and women, the endurance and self-sacrifice of women are some of the common subjects which we notice in his domestic stories.

“Bharyallone Undi” is one of the finest stories of Gopichand. Tayaramma is hated by her husband for being too fat. She discovers another girl who is driven away for being too slender. There are yet others who are deserted for all sorts of whimsical reasons. The age-old slavish mentality of women has tolerated this for long. Tayaramma resolves to ask her husband to grow fat like her and thus turn a new leaf in domestic life.

“Hindu Pativratyam” is a scathing attack on the self-deceptions of Hindu society where different members of the same family are estranged from one another. In “Gita Parayanam” a man who lacks courage and compassion to help the women who come to him in love is portrayed rather sarcastically.

“Sampenga Puvvu” shows how prudery and conventional morality have blunted the sensitivity of many people in the modern times. The double standard of morality which most people apply to men and women is gently attacked in “Bharya Bhartalu.” The pit-falls of love marriages, contracted hastily, are shown in “Atmagatam.”

Gopichand believed that Chalam’s writings endangered the peaceful running of many families because of the one-sided presentation in them of the evils and injustices to some women. He wanted to set the record straight in “Punassamagamam.” A forgiving and understanding husband welcomes his wife who had earlier eloped with a friend. Chalam’s heroines elope and end up in total destruction.

“Apadbandhavyam” is a fine story which depicts the psychology of a woman passenger on an airplane. Her instinctive fear of an aircrash makes her cultivate, rather hastily, the friendship of her neighbour. But when the plane weathers the storm and lands safely at its destination, she neglects him altogether and forgets the big promises she made him in those intimate but fearful moments.

“Amma” is a study in child psychology. A child of three accompanies his father on an overnight journey and demands him to sleep by his side and sing a lullaby as his mother used to. “Penu Bhutam” shows the complex psychology of a loving husband who becomes suspicious every time his wife conceived and who used to beat her in a devilish manner.

Gopichand’s knowledge of Freudian psychology is clearly revealed in “Pativrata Antarangikam.” A woman who was highly respected for her faithful devotion to her husband, faints On hearing of his death. She dreams of many Freudian symbols which are described rather crudely in the story.

Some stories of Gopichand may be labelled ‘Autobiographical.’ “Na Loni Vadu” describes the clash between the hero’s self-interest and the interests of suffering humanity. This clash occurred on the day the hero goes to the High Court to enrol as an advocate and to work for his family rather than for the entire mankind.

His experiences in the film industry gave him matter for a few stories. “Siggu” is Gopi’s first lesson in which he learns in a movie studio while working with an actress. “Nenu: Na Bhutam” is apparently a discussion between the author and the movie industry represented by the devil. He is of the view that films should be used for educating people, though he did not rule out the need for entertainment. But the devil insists that movies should be made only to entertain and the education has no place in them.

This dialogue is carried further to the content of a film script in “Na Talalo Peetam Vesina Bhutam.” The devil fights for mob attraction by suggesting comic scenes where they are irrelevant and inappropriate. These two stories underscore the fact that the author had to swim against the current when he worked in the movies. No wonder he left them in a short period of four years.

Gopichand’s characters are a cross section of people in the lower and middle class families in Andhra. They represent various walks of life. Character is revealed through dialogue and action rather than through description. While the characterization is convincing for the most part, some characters like Tayaramma, Kotireddi, Surayya and Paparao haunt us for quite sometime.

Some of the characters are evidently autobiographical. Gopi appears in five or six stories. But he is only a part of the writer. In “Wamka,” the inquisitiveness of the young writer may be seen. Gopichand stated that his father, an atheist and a rationalist, taught him to ask the question ‘Why?’ ² Gopi asks clever questions in this story. In “Dabbu” Gopi is a writer with an economic ideology like Gopichand himself. In “Siggu,” Gopi was shy in the presence of women. In ‘Hindu Pativratyam,” he is a neutral observer of the debate on the faithfulness of Hindu wives.

Gopichand is a very careful observer of people, their attitudes and mannerisms. He translated them faithfully in his stories. Paparao is a fine portrayal of an unsophisticated villager who was exploited by callous townsmen in “Dharmasupatri.” Kotireddi is an able representation of an unfeeling and unrepentant village miser. Sitamma in “Devudi Gudi” is quite typical of the women who poke their nose into other people’s affairs and circulate frightening rumours.

The small minds of some people who quarrel over trifles are depicted amusingly in “Irugu-porugu”, “Ata” and “Daridryam.” The psychology of neighbours, their petty jealousies and vanities are realistically depicted.

Tayaramma is one of the unforgettable characters of Gopichand. Her affection for her husband even when he hates her, overflows when she observes him struggling to cook, a job to which he was not accustomed. Every movement, word and action of Tayaramma is described minutely and humorously.

A large number of stories are located in the village. The author knew the importance of the village in the national life. He understood at first hand the strength and weakness of rural life and attempted to present a balanced picture of village life in Andhra.

Dr. B. Ramaraju observed that Gopichand depicted rural life in three ways. ³ The first is the description of the life of the villagers who migrated to towns for employment. These people still retained their rural connections and habits of thought. Paparao in “Kupasta Mandukyam” and the rikshaw-pullers in other stories could not earn an adequate living in the village where they had to depend on a whimsical monsoon for cultivating the land. On migration to the town, they were shocked by the gross selfishness and utter lack of fellow-feeling among the urban people.

The second method is to take village life as the theme of the stories. “Mamakaram” is a notable example of this. An experienced peasant, Jogayya Mama, loved his land more than his wife and children. This true son of the soil died smelling a handful of his dear earth.

The third method is to depict non-human beings as human beings and make them tell their stories. These are styled soliloquies and this technique is rather new. A tummatree, a banyan tree and an ox tell their tales in this fashion. Both the trees are vital to the village economy and play an important role in the cultural life of the countryside. But urbanization and industrialization is changing all this. When the banyan tree was cut at the bidding of an arrogant Panchayat president, the tree bemoans man’s ingratitude. But it quickly grows again and creates new life. Some of these soliloquies are a devastating satire on the industrial civilization which has changed the attitudes of people to their surroundings.

Middle class life is also shown in many stories. The frictions and tensions, jealousies and self-deceptions, hopes and aspirations, attitudes and outlook and fears and anxieties of this class are abundant in stories like “Devudi Gudi,” “Irugu-Porugu,” “Patitulu” and “Sampenga Puvvu.” Gopichand does not attempt to portray those segments of society which he does not know intimately.

The language used is appropriate to the theme and setting of different stories. For the most part, the spoken dialect of the educated middle class people is used. Class dialects are used occasionally to suit the needs of some characters.

Dialogue is extensively used in some stories like “Sare Kanivvandi,” “Gita Parayanam,” “Wamka,” and “Matru Prema.” The story is told essentially through dialogue and discussion rather than through narrative and description.

Mr. Padmaraju has pointed out the rapid movement and condensation in Gopichand’s stories. ⁴ The beginning of “Kalala Baruvu” is an example of masterly compression of statement. In “Sampenga Puvvu” and “Patitulu” descriptions and dialogues seem to finish rather fast and the story moves quickly to the next phase.

Gopichand’s similes are strikingly modern. In almost every story, there are at least a few of these. Some examples: “When Tayaramma was slender, her husband stuck to her like a long plait.” ⁵ The slender girl whom Tayaramma meets at the bus station is like a “slice of halwa.” ⁶ In “Gita Parayanam” a lady walking across the sand was likened to a freight train with too many wagons. Radhakrishna Murti in “Pida Kala” rose on the rostrum like “a water column shooting up in a fountain in a public park.” ⁷

The author used satire and sarcasm freely. The soliloquies of the trees are already mentioned. “Kalala Baruvu” gives a fine specimen of his gentle satire: “It was the centre of Andhra. This means that the repairs to the road are few and the ditches many.” ⁸ “Venkatachalam Patra” is entirely written in the satirical vein. It is a scathing attack on the stereotyped characters and themes of Chalam which, Gopichand believed, contributed to moral laxity. The story concludes with a devastating comment: “In Venkatachalam’s world there is not even drinking water.” ⁹

A delicate sense of humour runs as an undercurrent in many stories. The description of the fat Tayaramma sitting in front of the oven and struggling to bend forward provokes laughter. The way in which Kotayya managed to get a movie ticket for a girl whom he wanted to impress and befriend, is very amusing. The quarrels over the pumpkin and the almond tree are both realistic and humorous. Babji’s (“Amma”) Singing a lullaby in the tram is extremely funny.

Gopichand’s style is lucid and easily understandable because he uses the spoken idiom of the people. It has the virtues of naturalness and effortlessness. He does not hesitate to use English and Hindi words which are easily understood and frequently used by Telugu speakers. Similarly, he does not attempt to replace common Telugu idioms with more elegant words.

The point of view varies from one story to another. In some stories the author tells the story in the third person. In “Dharma Vaddi” Surayya and in “Dharmasupatri” Paparao are chosen as his ‘sentient centres’ whom he follows throughout the action restricting the reader to the field of vision and range of knowledge of those characters. In “Patitulu”, the story is told in the first person by the protagonist. Soliloquy is used in eleven stories. The ‘I’ is used where the author is drawing upon his personal experiences.

Though Gopichand read and admired many western writers, he was not a blind imitator of any of them. His stories have a purpose. They are meant to educate and widen the outlook of the people. In his hands the Telugu short story became a means of education as well as entertainment. He wrote on a variety of themes. He had the courage to attack age-old traditions, to expose self-deceptions and to condemn tyrannies of every sort. There are few story-writers in Telugu who could write with equal facility on such a wide variety of themes. Gopichand ranks among the topmost shortstory writers in Telugu.
^l  “Chitta Jallu,” Gopichand Kathalu (1962), p. 14
² D. Ramalingam, “Pratibhavantudu,” Gopichand Smaraka Sanchika (1963), p. 57.
³ B. Ramaraju, “Gramina Jivitam,” Gopichand Smarak. Sanchika (1963), P. 178.   
⁴ P. Padmaraju, “Kathanika Rachana,” Gopichand Smaraka Sanchika (1963), p. 97.
⁵ Bharyallone Undi (1962), p.6.
⁶ Ibid., p. 9.
⁷ Gopichand Kathalu (1962) p. 26.
⁸ Ibid., p. 55.
⁹ Gitaparayanam(1962), p. 47.