Maa babu - Viswanatha

Viswanatha Satyanarayana is not an ordinary writer.
I hold him next to God, if there is any....
Otherwise he is god.....
Such an erudtion is not possible in a normal human being.

I read his novel 'Maa Babu' recently.
I am stuck the way he picked up a non Brahmin low class boy as the protagonist.
The way he imagined the story is mind blowing.

I remeber I cried after raeding Subbanna, a short novel of masti Venkatesha Iyengar.
I felt the same after redaing Ma a Babu.
A man can be good. But to be so good like people in theses two novels si impossible.

I wanted to translate novel for the benefit of non Telugu readers.
People do not react well to proposals these days.

Here is just a page from the novel.
Read it and decide what the total novel sounds like.

My sleep broke sometime in the night. Sheep were grazing in the field next. Shepherds dog was sleeping at my feet. Shepherd himself was asleep on the other side of the flock with his kambal around him. That was a dark night. Apart bleating of sheep now and then there was not much noise around. I could not sleep anymore. I started contemplating about my situation.

But for the shepherd, I would have died today! Why did that man take so much pity on me? It is common that people are kind towards others. But then why is it my brother’s uncle so cut up with me? May not be all of them but people are naturally kind hearted. They are naïve too. Shepherds are too very naïve. Not just that, but a large part of the kindness, the shepherd showed towards me was because our Babu’s name. That great man has helped, god knows to how many like this. I am one among them. This shepherd is another. Because of giving a big measure of paddy and a cloth to cover self with, this shepherd is unable to forget the gesture of our Babu. Would I forget the help our Babu rendered me by keeping me in his home for two or three years and treating me as the elder son handing over all the responsibilities? Would not forgetting amount to a virtue? What more could I do? No food to eat. No shelter to keep the head protected. I cannot avoid getting back early tomorrow morning. Wherever should I go? Could I narrate my tale to this shepherd? A man eking out life with ten sheep, what favor could he do  to me?  Could I tell him? No use telling. God is there above for everything.

Our Babu used to recite one poem. “God who arranges food for the frog in the stone, why would he abstain from doing the same to humans?” it meant. He is there above. I could give flesh from my body for the support our Babu gave me! Whom should I give now? He died and is there in the heaven. “Take care of children” he cautioned while dying. I deserted those kids and came away. That uncle would not allow me to be there. What else could I do apart coming away? What about the kids? There is enough agriculture. Four thousand cash is there. There is no need of my service to them. Their uncle is there to look after the matters. I am wandering like a bird sans direction. I don’t have father or mother. If I want to go to my uncle’s home, to my luck, he is also dead and gone. Going to my aunt’s house is a thing of dreams. I want to do something to pay back to our Babu.