Avasarala Ramakrishna Rao was a

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

short story writer. His works include Sampengalu-Sannajajulu i.e., Michelia Champaca and Jasmine flowers), Ketu-Dupliketu (i.e., The mischievous and his duplicate), Pekamukkalu (i.e., The playing cards) and Astipanjaram i.e., The skeleton), Rasavadgita, a pun on

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu texts, Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the Hindu epic, epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Ind ...

), Kadilinche katha (i.e., A moving story).

Early life

Ramakrishna was born in Tuni in

East Godavari East Godavari is a district in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh, India. Its district headquarters is at Rajamahendravaram. Geography This district is surrounded by: * North East: Alluri Sitharama Raju district * North West: Eluru d ...

district. He worked as a

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

teacher there before he did M.A. in English. He had a Ph.D. on

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

from

Andhra University Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. It is graded as an A++ institution by NAAC receiving a score of 3.74 on a scale of 4. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Mah ...

Literary career

Ramakrishna began his literary career at the age of 17. He authored more than 600

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, 15

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s and 4

children's novels Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

. He was known for his wit and humor. Apart from his short stories, he wrote a number of one-act plays, songs and poems for

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

and literary magazines, essays on mathematics and science. Avasarala's feature 'Mathe-me-tricks' (మేథ-में-Tricks i.e., tricks to solve Mathematical problems easily) was carried regularly in the children's magazine, Bala Jyothi ( i.e., Light for kids), with a silver jubilee run. This feature posed interesting logical, analytical or mathematical problems every month and the readers would send their answers to win the prize. At the time of his death, he was writing a column called 'Angrezi-Made-Easy' (i.e., English made easy) for a leading Telugu daily. He contributed regularly to book reviews and a feature called Sebhashitaalu (, a pun on Subhashitalu) in the Telugu edition of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

''. According to him, his most satisfying work is Pekamukkalu, a compilation of the short stories published in various magazines over the past 52 years.

Personality

He described himself in the following four lines. In teaching? Non-stop fun! In writing? Evergreen pun! Even at seventy-one I enjoy being two-in-one! Although he taught English, his writings were in

. His writings reflected his critical views of society and he chose harsh words to describe it according to himself. He was an atheist and wanted people to move from 'foolish faith to pragmatism'. His favorite writers were Ranganayakamma and Volga, both Telugu female writers.

Awards

He won the Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy award for his anthology of short stories Ardhamunna Kadhalu ( i.e., Stories with a meaning) in 1969. He was the recipient of "Best Writer in Humour" award of Sri Potti Sriramulutu Telugu University in 1994 and Delhi Telugu Academy's Ugadi Puraskar in 2000. He was felicitated by the Andhra Sanskriti Sangham, Chandigarh in 2000.

Death

He underwent a bypass surgery at NIMS, after which he developed complications leading to death. As he wished, his body was donated to the Osmania Medical College for research. He is survived by wife and son.

References