Courteous greetings on the occasion of 110th birth anniversary of Telugu writer late Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao, also known as Ko Ku. KoKu was unparalleled in his understanding of Telugu life in the light of modern scientific, sociological and behavioural knowledge. In fact, modern Telugu literary order, beginning with the epoch-maker Gurajada, has achieved a great culmination in KoKu. He has imparted the scientific outlook to literature with profound understanding of nature, society and arts.
His rational and realistic observations illuminated all aspects of social life. He interpreted the issues in such varied fields as literature, art, economy, social sciences, physical and biological sciences, historical philosophy, psychology and contemporary politics. Relating scientific knowledge to the human and social issues is the keynote in KoKu’s writings.
With a ‘class’ outlook, KoKu dealt elaborately on the middle class predicament in his novels and stories. It was not merely for the sake of middle class life, but to convince the middle class on the inevitability of the working class struggles. Neither did he aim only to theorise or to postulate, but he inspired discussions on the Telugu revolutionary movements.
His novel Tara won the Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy award. KoKu was a great force in promoting the relevance of people’s literature, praja sahityam and the contemporary language, vaduka bhasha relevant to the present day life. He established the irrelevance of the old forms and the classical language to the contemporary world, just as it was absurd for the writers of the bygone ages to have dealt with our times. His remarkable idiom holds the mirror to life itself. He has always been in the forefront of progressive literary movements and continued to grow with the times.
