Pallipattu Nagaraju, a young Telugu teacher at a remote school in Chittoor district, has been selected for the Kendra Sahitya Akademi’s Yuva Puraskar award for his anthology titled Yaalai Poodsindhi (Time Is Up) — a compilation of 52 thought-provoking poems that examine contemporary socioeconomic issues.
“Through my poems, I want to send across a message that the time has come not only to raise pertinent questions on contemporary issues but also to rise to the occasion in addressing them,” Mr. Nagaraju says in a conversation with The Hindu. A major theme of his poetry is the indifference of society towards pressing issues and the widening gap between the haves and have-nots.
Hailing from Rajagopalapuram in Satyavedu constituency of Tirupati district, Mr. Nagaraju is working as a Telugu teacher at 64 Pedderu Zilla Parishad High School in Santhipuram mandal of Chittoor district. He is pursuing his Ph.D. at Sri Venkateswara University on the poetry of Thullimalli Wilson Sudhakar.
“I began writing poetry as a school boy. It was my grandmother who helped nurture the art of storytelling in me by telling me bedtime stories from the great epics,” says Mr. Nagaraju, who writes extensively on poverty, oppression of the working classes and caste discrimination.
His protagonists are from the lowest rungs of the economic ladder — a fisherwoman, a cobbler, a sanitation worker — who he terms as productive communities. “The British left us long ago, and we are celebrating 75 glorious years of Independence. However, issues of the past still haunt us. Society hardly pays heed to these woes,” he laments.
Local dialect
Written in chaste Chittoor dialect, the anthology is hailed for reflecting the thoughts of the masses in their own accent. “The local dialect actually helped me establish a connect with the masses. My work is about soiled lives, dug out from the local soil. I believe the award is in recognition of the content as well as the accent,” he explains.
Thrilled at the Governor tweeting about his award, Mr. Nagaraju keenly awaits further intimation from the Akademi on the award presentation.
