With apologies to Edmund Spenser (with an `s' as in Robert Parker's Spenser) --
Sweet River, run softly till I end my song,So many cities, civilizations flourished on the shores of rivers. The river, source of water, conveyer of commerce and in ancient times, a Goddess. Curious, indeed, is all our rivers are goddesses, not Gods. Certainly the life giving, life sustaining qualities must have made those rivers into Goddesses.
Sweet River, run softly, for I speak not loud or long
Godavari, or Gauthami, sustained life and gave birth to the language Telugu. Well, the language was there before, but it is in the hands of Nannaya it attained respectability. It was the Court of Raja raja Narendra the language got its first grammar.
Raja MahendraVaram it self has interesting history. The aging king, his betrayed wife, the loyal prince, the incestuous desire, the intrigue, treachery and human tragedy, all this in the history of the city. With all these reasons, who wouldn't go there?
Well, we couldn't go there. We wanted to go to Kakinada and Kakinada won out, not because of any profound reasons, but we had a place to stay, and friends and a cousin to visit.
On the way to Kakinada, we stopped at Mangayyamma gaari house, Maganti vaari veedhi, Peddapuram. Giri was studying in Peddapuram at that time, and we wanted to see his friends. Sad to say that I haven't seen much of Peddapuram. It was years later, that I got a letter from Giri quoting a poem of a friend titled peddaapuramlO soorya dEvaalayam. In that letter Giri wrote :
Evi tallee niruDu kurisina hima samoohamulu?[Translation: Where are the snows of yesteryears? Where are the flowers of yesterday?]. It is not merely about Peddapuram that Giri was writing, but about the youth spent there and the growing up and moving on. I remember that night after dinner [Mangayymma gaaru supplied the curries], I sat on the stairs of the house and listened to Giri talk about what the youth is most fascinated about, love of some unknown girl.
Evi tallee ninna virisina viri pareemaLamulu?
The next morning we went to Kakinada. Here, I am at a loss. I suppose I cannot completely describe any city. It is easy to catch the soul of the village, may be on the river bank, or on the village pond, or in the evenings when the people come home carrying fodder for the cattle. It is a simple soothing song, easily understood, and enjoyed.
On the other hand, the city is like a symphony. Not actually one, but several, going on at a time. It takes expertise to pick out the song and enjoying it. The varied, diverse people city offers is quite confusing to a village person.
Our choice was made easy, for I had friends in the Engg and Med colleges. I had a cousin too, whom I wanted to visit later by myself. First, we went to the Engg college. Some of my classmates from Tadikonda were studying there. We went to the library and narendra (?) hostel and a coffee hotel, all in quick succession, a blur. I remember that there were mango trees in the campus. I was told that the fruits are auctioned off every year.
After a lunch at a friend's place, we went into the city on bicycles. I will not attempt to describe the places in city because I am sure I will make mistakes about it, and there are far too many people who remember Kakinada much better than I do. I remember the bridge where we all went singing our school song (our school had a school song navvula puvvula kila kila laaDE ...) and saw the statue of Alluri Sita Rama Raju. And, I went to PR college and later to a brimming pond. That night we ate at a friend's place. These five people stayed in a house and they had a maami who cooks for them.
The next morning, I went to the medical college friends. I went to this guy [Sridhar], and after four years, the first question he asks me is "Ramarao, what is dadaism?" (We used to compete in the poetry writing competition). He took me to the medical college and Giri decided to go back to Peddapuram.
After sending off Giri, I went to my cousin's place. It was still early in the morning and Radha out making the "muggu". I went with my hand bag and introduced my self. She was seeing me after six years and she was probably unprepared for an individual with a hand bag.
Her energetic husband and my cousin Murali (as an aside, see how these names match? Since then I have known three Radha and Murali couples!) is well prepared for my visit. He has made several plans for me. Most of them include food as the central theme. He told me the stories of the local families, that put a gun to your head if you don't eat to their satisfaction. His circle included one such family.
In the rest of my trip, the most memorable (!) thing I saw was meat eating goats and cows. Yes sir, you didn't read it wrong. In the fish market, these poor vegetarian animals eat the fish (and prawn) heads.
Idyllic was my stay, but I had to leave. As it was, my semester was going full swing back at IIT. When Murali took me to drop off at the Railway station, the queue was so big that we decided to catch the train at Samarla kota. Murali took me on his motor bike and it stopped on the way, and Murali put me in a car and sent me to Samarala kota. It was an adventurous ending to an eventful trip. And, in the train, I met several of the Engg. students going back because of a strike, and I entertained with math puzzles.
I did not know at that time that one of the houses I visited in Kakinada was my future father-in-law's. The next time I went to Kakinada was with my future bride, and we got married there.
I suppose the sweet river runs softly even if I spoke long. Nevertheless, I shall stop here.
-- rama