Selective Amnesia

A problem that needs solving immediately

Before we go to res-gestae, news about the first Chennai Photo Workshop will follow soon.

Now, to the nub, the subject even. The problem that needs an immediate solution.

Is Tenali Ramalinga an Andhraite or Madrasi?
Nope, that is not my question. Not in a million years will I ever wake up to a problem of such magnitude. Never in eternity will I ever, ever realise the importance of Tenali Ramalinga’s pedigree and ancestry and ethnicity. I am muchly grateful to Reach Out Hyderabad, Mrs. Srilekha and Mr. Vijay Beerwal for opening my eyes and my soul to such a grave transgression.

Hyderabad: What is the actual name of the famous poet Tenali Ramalinga of The Vijayanagara Empire. Is he Tenali Ramalinga or Tenali Raman? You are bound to get this doubt, if you have ever watched the promos of the 26 episode series of half-hour duration of the serial titled ‘The Adventure of Tenali Raman’, which is produced by Trivandrum based Toonz Animation Studios. The programme according to promos on the channel has been on air on Cartoon Network, the nation’s foremost children’s channel from June 14.

No body seem to have noticed this fax pass until recently. But Mrs. Srilekha, a housewife at Saroornagar surprised to watch the promo recently and got confused herself. Though she was doubly sure Tenali Ramalinga who was knows as Vikatakavi belonged to a place called Tenali in Andhra Pradesh and that he struck as his surname. Later she found that every Telugu speaking person is proud of him. And she wondered how the famous television network belonged to Turner Entertainment Networks could distort or cut short his name and changed to Raman, which can be a Tamilian or Malayali name.

I call for a nation wide strike to protest this injustice to Andhra pride, and demand the resignation of the Information and Broadcast minister, the Censor board and a judicial probe into the Toonz Animation company’s nefarious activities. The government should do something about this soon.