Contents Page No.

1. Attachment (Mamakaram) 13
2. Introspection (Atmagatam) 21
3. Rivalry (Spardha) 31
4. Obedient Husband (Bharyaloludu) 35
5. Fear (Bhayam) 36
6. Bus Halted - Left (Bus Aaagindi – Poindi) 38
7. Impoverishment (Daridrayam) 43
8. All in Wives (Bharyallone Undi) 48
9. Ego (Aham) 57
10. Neighborhood (Irugu Porugu) 58
11. The Most Harassed Heart (Peeditha Hridayam) 65
12. Human Life (Manava Jeevitham) 71
13. Self-Done (Swayamkrutam) 72
14. The Retired Ox (Arru Kadigina Eddu) 78
15. Mother (Amma) 84
16. It Could Happen Like This (Ila Jarigenu) 87
17. Me – My Character (Nenu Na Patra) 92
18. Babul Tree (Thumma Chettu) 93
19. The Lamp of Hope (Asajyoti) 98
20. Hindu Chastity (Hindu Pativratyam) 108
21. Suicide (Atmahatya) 112
22. Sinful Society (Papisti Sangham) 117
23. Maidservant (Pani Pilla) 118
24. Elders’ Sayings (Peddala Suddulu) 122
25. Money! Money! Money! (Dabbu! Dabbu! Dabbu!) 123
26. Fallen Women (Patitalu) 127
27. Ancestral Property (Pitrarjitam) 139
28. Sympathy (Sanubhuti) 144
29. Fathers, Sons (Thandrulu, Kodukulu) 145
30. Wife and Husband (Bharya Bhartalu) 165
 Introduction

Tripuraneni Gopichand (1910-62) was a very significant creative writer

in Telugu. The popularity and influence of his writings is quite far and
wide among the Telugu speaking people.

Though a prolific writer, Gopichand was not carried away by the

ruling fashion of story telling, nor did he mechanically repeat himself.
On the other hand, his story telling took wings, traversing from
villages—farmers, agricultural laborers—to urban middle-class; from
communism, rationalism, realism, to naturalism. Most of his stories
show with an unsparing realism how the finite man is quite often pitted
against heavy nerve-racking odds. His stories are a quest for truth, not
power: there is no violence. They present a wide tapestry of human
action.

He never entertained the fancy of verbal pyrotechniques. His stories

are all about the complexities of ordinary people’s lives narrated with
clinical precision, that too, in ordinary language. Some of them depict
the agony, anguish, and conflict of the modern and educated middle-
class women caught between patriarchy and tradition on the one hand,
and individuality, self-expression and independence on the other.
Suffice it to say, his short stories run quite “tight and nervy as the top
string of a violin.”

Gopichand’s stories invoke ‘multitudes’— each new reading

generates a fresh understanding about humanism and rationalism and
yet there remains some certain creative element unexhausted. He
writes pithy dialogues leaving much unsaid for the reader to visualize.
Yet, they make a powerful impact on the reader.

Reading his stories is sure to lead to enlargement of the boundaries

of understanding human behavior, man’s expectations, limitations
thereof, conflicts (both inter and intra), coping or not coping with life’s
scaffold, idealism, bravery, temerity, reticence, and whatnot—in short,
every nuance of human life and its endeavors.

A reader of his stories, indeed, experiences a sense of discovering

himself. The inexhaustible insights they offer, the fragrance of their
originality, their world view invariably leave an indelible mark on the
reader. They do not, of course, provide ready-made answers to the
problems that man faces today. But certainly they contribute to a
profound understanding of the age in which we live.
 His stories—told stirringly well—make us aware of our private fears,
apprehensions, insecurities, joys and hopes. The ideas behind the story
enable a reader to visualize the paradigms of essential human nature
and discover the relevance of an idea and the precise significance of
every human emotion to better appreciate the human predicament.
They simply propel us out of our passivity and inertia into action—
action, of course, solely guided by reason.

This book is a collection of selected short stories of Gopichand. By

and large all the stories articulate the inherent heterogeneity of
existence, and are obsessed with reality. It is hoped that the selection
offers a fair representation of his extensive canvas. After all, an
anthology is always a reflection of the editor’s choice and always
vulnerable to accusations of lack of ‘representativity’. True, another
editor might have chosen differently. But the stories included in this
collection have to be looked at positively, for they have been chosen
with an eye on the underlying statement of each story rather than their
readability. In my view, they offer a balanced and objective
representation of Gopichand’s literary genius.

For more information about the book, log on to: www.cpbrownacademy.org