The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told

The tales found in this collection weave a rich tapestry of Telugu experiences. Illindala Saraswati Devi’s ‘Bad Times’ discusses the downturn in Muslim fortunes after the integration of the nizam’s state with the Indian union. Boya Jangaiah’s ‘The Eclipse’ chronicles the aching memories that besiege a Dalit poet when he makes a brief stop at his village. Bandi Narayanaswami’s ‘Water’ dramatizes the acute shortage of water in the Rayalaseema region and its exacerbation by political rivalries. Kavana Sarma’s ‘House Number’ gently mocks a self-proclaimed math genius and his attempts at memorizing a simple house number. A heartbreaking love story, Vempalli Gangadhar’s ‘Festival of Love’ is a romance imbued with the fragrance of jasmine fields.

Selected and deftly translated by Dasu Krishnamoorty and Tamraparni Dasu, these and the other stories in this collection offer a window into how the Telugu people see the world and their place in it.