A Word From Me – 8 Happy and prosperous New Year to Thulika readers! As some of you may have noticed, I have not been uploading new articles as frequently as I used to. Part of the reason is I am unable to find stories that fall within my policies of selection. Not that there are no stories; my access to the available stories is severely limited. Secondly, Telugu Thulika, which I started a year back to post my Telugu stories and articles, has turned out to be a remarkable experience for me. The blog has given me an opportunity to connect with today’s Telugu-speaking youth and reconnect with the older generation. Both the groups are responding to the literary styles and the scene of my time and that is very gratifying to me. Thus I found myself spending more time on Telugu Thulika. Nevertheless, I am aware that the readership for this site is growing significantly.  Also, this site is gaining reputation in the academic circles as a worthy source for information on modern Telugu literature. That is flattering to me, considering the modest start of this site, www.thulika.net in June 2001. Therefore, I do intend to keep this site alive and running the best I could as always. I will be posting articles important and interesting to you all. I am pleased to begin the year 2009 with a story by a well respected pioneer in women’s movement in the first half of the twentieth century, Kanuparthi Varalakshmamma. I hope you will enjoy the article in this issue on Kanuparthi Varalakshmamma garu Some of you may remember another story, The Charm of a Cherished story, by her. In the story, The Goddess in a Cottage, the author depicts the sad crumbling state of home-based vocations in the wake of industrialization in the forties. On a different note, last year I removed links to some of the stories after publishing them in book form. However, recently I came to a different conclusion. Personally, I have accessed so many books on the Internet, I feel obligated to extend the same honor to our readers, that is, the ability to access my translations on the Internet. Therefore, I fixed the links or re- posted the stories. A couple of stories may still be missing. As soon as I find or retype them, I will post them. Best wishes, Malathi Nidadavolu January 1, 2009.