My Brother, My Guardian Angel

Sampengalu Sannajaajulu (Sampangi flowers and Jasmines)

By Avasarala Ramakrishna Rao

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The novel, sampengalu, sannajaajulu, originally published in 1965, is a heartwarming story about a woman's personal growth under the tutelage of her older brother and sister-in-law, a story of the terms of endearment in a Telugu home.

Professor K. Malavasini commented in her preface to the novel, "Among the writings that hold mirror to the recent mode of thinking in regard to women's education and work, Ramakrishna Rao's sampengalu, sannajajulu stands out as an important work. ... This novel helps immensely in rewriting our history with reference ot women's education. The book also helps to inspire confidence in readers."

In the 1960s decade, the women's education movement peaked and numerous novels depicted the issue from several angles. One of the peculiarities of this movement was there were men and women on both sides of the issue. So also in fiction. Several female writers have written short stories and novels on this topic. Among the male writers, Avasarala Ramakrishna Rao portrayed the issue with a flair of humor.

We Telugu people can find humor in the most unexpected instances. We tease each other, laugh at each other and at ourselves without reservation, and at the end of the day all this well. That's one aspect of the story. Second is the familial relationships. We see very little of the usual villians in this novel and more of the ordinary ups and downs we come across in our daily lives.

The story is narrated in first person by the protagonist, Manju (short for Manjula). We know the brother most of the time only as annayya. The only way we come to know his name as Prasada Rao happens to be when his friend or boss calls him by name. And the narrator refers to her husband as aayana, which roughly translates as 'my man'. His real name, Rammohan Rao, comes up only once in a conversation and that is at the end of the novel. One needs to pay very close attention or he will miss this piece of information!

As an aside, I might add that this points to the stylistics in Telugu fiction. In our culture, relational terminology is used as proper noun. Vadina is one more such term used with reference to her brother's wife, although the reader is introduced to her real name, Mangala, fairly early in the novel.

The novel opens with an argument between Manju's father and her brother about her education. Father is deadset against sending her to college; he is keen on getting her married and sending her away to her in-law's place. Annayya is equally adamant about sending her to college, and he succeeds.

Financially it is tough. For that reason, he goes against his principles and accepts dowry to pay for Manju's tuition fee. Little sister protests but to no avail. Annayya reminds her of a childhood story when they both made a promise to each other that they would take care of each other for life.

Dowry being the governing factor, he leaves the selection of the bride to his father and little sister. Manju and her father go to the prospective bride's home, and accept the proposal. Manju describes the bride to her brother playfully, "She's fair but has the eyes of a cat, and I think I noticed a thin line of hair on her upper lip. To tell you the truth, yours is gross compared to hers ..."

Annayya laughs until his eyes are filled with tears. Father chides her and tells him that the girl is "like a glowing lamp."

After the marriage, vadina comes to their house. She is raised with traditional values, and so follows her husband in his footsteps. Between the two, Manju has nothing to worry but her studies; she feels blessed. "We can put a value on anything in the world,; maybe we can measure everything but there is no unit of measurement to weigh the warmth of love," she says.

Within six months, father's photo is hung next to mother's on the wall.

Annayya obtains his B.Com. degree and gets a job in a bank. Manju has finished Intermediate (two-year, pre-degree course). Annayya arranges Manju's marriage with a young man. Regarding the groom, annayya's comment is, "Both his parents died of smallpox within two days of each other. His comment was 'they're so lucky. They did not enter this world together but went away together' but he would not shed a tear. They had a strip of land, and that was sold to settle the loan his father had taken. Again his comment was 'whoever had relied on land and had a good life?'. ... He buys the latest novel from the bookstore, hops on his scooter, and whiz around the streets. He is easygoing and makes us go easy on him. ... I think I'm lucky to find the backseat of his scooter is vacant."

Amidst plenty of teasing and laughter, Manju's marriage with Rammohan Rao has been arranged.

Unlike the usual fanfare, the ceremony was performed quietly in the presence of the god Satyanarayanswamy in Annavaram. Manju is a little upset about the dowry her husband has accepted. She learns that it was just a financial arrangement. Her father had set aside a sum for her marriage and annayya gave it to her husband to pay off his student loans; he, Rammohan Rao will settle the account by buying jewelry for Manju. Of all the wedding gifts she has received, the one that captured her heart is the book Bhagavatam. Annayya gave it to her, with a poem he wrote, emulating a poem from Bhagavatam. His poem roughly translates as:

Bhagavatham is the gift to be given

My beloved sister is the woman receiving it

Wedding is the occasion

I might as well give the book, what else?

Manju is touched by the tenderness in the poem.

At her new home, her husband brings a huge supply of cosmetics and tells her that her job is to get dressed like a doll, go around with him sitting on the backseat of his scooter, eat in hotels and watch the movies. Annayya and vadina send her an entire supply of items from groceries to furniture as gift. Annayya also includes a note telling her to obtain her bachelor's degree. She can study at home, he says.

Five years pass by. Manju has obtained her bachelor's degree. She also has a daughter, Madhuri. Annayya and Vadina have three children.

Annayya tells her to continue her studies and obtain her master's degree from Benares University, which allows students to study at home and appear for the exam on campus in Benares. He suggests that her husband also should study, they can study together. Manju is not thrilled about the idea. If he believes in education so strongly, why is he not encouraging vadina to study. He makes light of it, "You know what happened once. She wrote a letter to me and the address in English on the envelope. The letter went to the dead letter office, where the experts spent days deciphering each letter. It took six months to deliver it to me."

Annayya and I laughed. Vadina laughed the most. She is laughing even whe she is the butt of ridicule. Is there a better education than having the ability to laugh at oneself? I thought an honorary doctorate should be conferred on her just for that. I said so too.

Manju returns home and discusses the subject with her husband. A brief argument follows and he agrees reluctantly. "Nowadays boys and girls meet in school, fall in love and get married. Here we are, first got married and then became classmates," Manju quips.

They go to Benares for the exam, leaving their daughter with annayya and vadina.

After the exams, Manju goes to annayya's place to pick up her daughter. She notices that Annayya is looking tired and their youngest child is suffering from liver complications. After a few days, Manju learns that the baby died. She goes to visit them. Annayya tells her she has passed the exam but not her husband. She returns home worried about her husband's reaction to the results. Kameswari, a distant cousin on her husband's side, visits them at the time. Kameswari's tittle-tattle and his failure in the exam cause Rammohan Rao to lose his temper.

Manju feels cornered. Rammohan Rao refuses to retake the exam, and suggests Manju also should discontinue her studies. Unable to find a viable solution, she writes a letter to annayya seeking his advice. At the same time, annayya shows up at her door with application forms for her final exam the following year. She inquires about his health and he makes light of it. Rammohan Rao agrees to Manju studying for the exam on the condition that she will not seek a job. He will not pursue his studies.

Amidst disagreements and minor arguments between husband and wife, Manju decides to go to Benares to take her final exam. Her husband refuses to go with her. Luckily, one of his friend's sister, Madhura, will be taking the exam in Benares. They travel together. Madhura introduces her friend Kesava Rao to Manju. Madhura and Kesava Rao spend too much time together and Manju, at the suggestion of another friend, intervenes and cuts short a tour Madhura and Kesava Rao were planning.

Manju has obtained her Master's degree. Vadina drops a small note begging Manju to visit them. Manju goes there, learns that annayya is seriously ill, lost his job and is deeply in debt. She sells her gold chain, and pays off the debt without their knowledge.

At home, her husband plays hot and cold. On one hand he is mortified by the gossips spread by his cousin Kameswari and on the other he genuinely cares for Manju and thus cannot leave her. Manju also is concerned about his bad habits - smoking, coffee and gambling. She talks to annayya about them, and he assures her that they are not all that bad.

Manju receives a letter from vadina thanking her for her help and informing her that annayya's health is improving. Manju tries to read between the lines and drops a note to another friend in their town asking to find out the truth.

Before she had a chance to tell her husband that she had sold her gold chain, she finds out that he had sold some of her jewelry to pay off the debts he had incurred. Nevertheless he is upset when she tells him about the sale of her chain. A bitter argument follows.

Brother's health is deteriorating. Once again, she leaves a note to her husband and rushes to annayya's bedside. Several incidents follow during which period Rammohan Rao changes his behavior, is sympathetic to annayya's condition and helps them by givign a little money. Eventually annayya dies. Manju and her husband bring vadina and the children to their home.

Manju sees an ad in the paper for a teaching position in a local women's college and considers applying for the job. She consults her husband. He does not take it very well. He even suggests divorce if she pursued it.

One more round of arguments follows. Vadina overhears their conversation and tells them that she will not stay there with them. Rammohan Rao realizes his mistake and also the strength of vadina' character. He and Manju beg vadina to stay with them.

That night Vadina goes away with her children leaving a note saying that she prefers to live her own life with her children in her own home. "Your brother has taught me that there is no greater soul than kuchela (the poverty-stricken friend of Lord Krishna). Knowing that, how could I consider myself a destitute? ... If I could teach my children that there are numerous ways to live one's life without holding out one's hand in front of another, I would consider it the highest fortune I could ask for. God is the provider even for those who had lost direction. How can I think that he will not provide for me, who has a clear sense of direction," she said in her note.

Manjula comments at the end that she and her husband are like sampangi flowers, which are colorful (bright orange) and spread strong aroma, a metaphor for their zest for life. And she compares annayya and vadina to sannajaaji flowers ( a variety of jasmine), which are white in color (soft and tender) and with a delicate aroma, representing strength of character and fortitude. In that sense, the story appears to be not just about women's education but also about strength of character.

Apart from gender politics, in Andhra homes in the sixties, there were families where brothers, fathers and husbands supported women's education. Ramakrishna Rao depicts that part of our social history in this novel. Additionally, he showcases interpersonal relationships between brothers and sisters, and husbands and wives.

There are a couple of instances where the value and purpose of education, the way it is taught in schools now, are called into question. Vadina expresses her disappointment that she failed to comprehend the gravity of her husband's illness because she was not educated. Manju comments sadly that vadina did not know the education given in schools does not really help understand life's harsh realities such as health.

As an aside, I must add that several other novels especially by women writers have illustrated the problems surrounding women's education in this era in greater detail.

Manju could obtain her master's degree because her brother encouraged it. His reason to encourage his sister to obtain educational qualifications and not his wife lies in their mentalities. "Your vadina is different. She can be happy raising children and running the household. Our brains are wired differently. We have to find a way to keep them busy," he says.

His belief in women's status is reflected in the way he has treated his wife. He takes meticulous care not to burden her with problems like his own health. She never understood the seriousness of his deteriorating health until it is too late.

Both annayya and vadina indulge Manju. And later her husband does the same. However, the love between annayya and vadina is unconditional as opposed to the love between Manju and her husband, which is strewn with disagreeements and occasional flare ups. Rammohan Rao has expectations which required Manju not to excel him in any respect. He is man enough to admit it openly though. Whatever his emotions are, they are laid on the table. The change in his character during the course of events is noteworthy. At the beginning he was a carefree individual who would not shed a tear for his deceased parents, later deadset against Manju obtaining higher education, and at the end was kindly disposed toward vadina.

Brother-sister relationship between Prasada Rao and Manju is ideal in contrast to the relationship between Rammohan Rao and Kameswari. We may make a small allowance for the fact that Kameswari was not a sibling but a cousin once removed. And Rammohan Rao was not thrilled to have her as his house-guest. He was happy when she has left. Nevertheless she was the only relative he had on his parents' side, and for that reason, he would put up with her transgressions and her eccentric spending habits which landed him deep in debt.

Marital status - The conjugal relationship between annayya and vadina was portrayed as ideal where husband was the decision-maker and wife was a partner, supportive of all his actions. Manju and Rammohan Rao had a slightly different relationship. Rammohan Rao's own insecurities played a role in the rift that was emerging off and on. Manju's upbringing had its share in that. Her brother had encouraged her to speak her mind, and that did not help her in keeping an amicable relationship in her marriage. Rammohan Rao was candid, would speak his mind but could not deal with his insecurities in action. His cousin Kameswari was a contributory factor in his failings.

A third couple, Sarala and Narayana, who were living across the street from Manju provide yet another angle of marital bliss in Telugu homes. Narayana was an abusive husband and Sarala played her role as an understanding wife. Manju and Rammohan Rao took it upon themselves to mediate and bring Narayana to his senses. Narayana's justification for his actions is typical. His boss was abusive at work and so he took it out on his wife in turn, and of course would apologize at the end.

Second major issue is the gender-based inequalities in qualifications. If a wife's educational qualifications are higher than the husband's, how does the husband handle it? In this story, Rammohan Rao was depicted as an unusual character. Unlike many others under the same circumstances, he was strong enough to admit his weaknesses. He would like to be an understanding husband, but was not strong enough to handle it emotionally. He was torn between the public ridicule he might face and his love for his wife. His wife understood his problem but was not willing to let go of her ambitions. She was even prepared to break her promise not to go to work. She had made a strong case for the need to take up the job. Fortunately, vadina solved it in her own way before a major disaster occurred in Manju's life.

At the outset, Manju says her life has been without trials and tribulations, thanks to her brother and sister-in-law. The truth is she does not feel the severity of the blow because annayya and vadina have made it easier for her with their unconditional support.

Ramakrishna Rao's style is fascinating. He comes across as a wordsmith with his play upon words as well as his play with words. This novel will not lend itself to speed-reading. His sense of humor pervades the narration. At times there is the danger of reader taking serious discussions rather lightly. I wonder if that undercuts the gravity of the issue of women's education in general.

Nevertheless, I must admit that Ramakrishna Rao has taken an important and forceful topic and made it a pleasurable experience for those who love the beauty of Telugu language.

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(Nidadavolu Malathi. January 2006)