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The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told

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The twenty-one stories in the collection offer a window into how the Telugu people see the world and their place in it.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told spans almost a century of work by some of the finest writers of short fiction in the language. The storytellers included in the anthology range from literary masters such as Chalam, Kanuparthi Varalakshmamma, and Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao to contemporary writers like Mohammed Khadeer Babu, Jajula Gowri, and Vempalle Shareef.

The tales found in this collection weave a rich tapestry of Telugu experiences. Illindala Saraswati Devi’s ‘Bad Times’ discusses the downturn in Muslim fortunes after the integration of the nizam’s state with the Indian union. Boya Jangaiah’s ‘The Eclipse’ chronicles the aching memories that besiege a Dalit poet when he makes a brief stop at his village. Bandi Narayanaswami’s ‘Water’ dramatizes the acute shortage of water in the Rayalaseema region and its exacerbation by political rivalries. Kavana Sarma’s ‘House Number’ gently mocks a self-proclaimed math genius and his attempts at memorizing a simple house number. A heartbreaking love story, Vempalli Gangadhar’s ‘Festival of Love’ is a romance imbued with the fragrance of jasmine fields.

Selected and deftly translated by Dasu Krishnamoorty and Tamraparni Dasu, these and the other stories in this collection offer a window into how the Telugu people see the world and their place in it

200 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2022

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Tamraparni Das

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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for Kavita.
848 reviews463 followers
January 11, 2024
This was so brilliant! I am going to have trouble choosing my favourites from the list of 21 short stories, written by various Telugu authors. The stories cover a variety of topics and give an insight into the Telugu way of life, rich and poor, Hindu and Muslim, urban and rural. I must point out that Dasu Krishnamoorty and Tamraparni Das have taken pains to ensure that the short stories are indeed very short, and hence, very enjoyable. Not a single story is longer than 12 pages.

After the Urdu short stories, I felt these Telugu stories were delightful. Is North India under collective depression, or is it just a different style of literature that divides the country?

My favourites (choice made with difficulty) are:

Adventure by Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao: When the teenage Rajyalakshmi's family moves to a new house, she gets in the middle of a love affair between the older tenant and a man, leading to interesting results. It was an enjoyable and light-hearted tale.

Bad Times by Illindala Saraswati Devi: I loved this story about an aristocratic family of Hyderabad during Independence, when things were still in a flux. While the men sat and talked and made random decisions, the two daughters of the family take charge of their own destinies and disappear into the night in order to avoid being sold off by their brother. Brilliant, and I loved the spunk of these women.

House Number by Kavana Sarma: A man who thinks he is a mathematical genius forgets his house number and hilarious events ensue.

Predators by Syed Saleem: This is a heart-wrenching story of a young man who stole from dead bodies of suicide victims floating down the Krishna river. A corpse finally brings home the gravity of his sins to him.

A Mother's Debt by Mohammed Khadeer Babu: The saga of a poor Muslim family in which a young man dies and his mother is unable to perform the Islamic ritual of the gift of her milk to release him on his way. Who is to blame for this unfortunate turn of events?

The Truant by Dada Hayat: A young boy refuses to go to school and his mother lets him bunk class. By the end of the day, he is thoroughly bored and is looking forward to school again. Sweet story!

I totally loved all the stories, but I think the above were some of the best. I'll be getting on to Maharashtra next for some nice Marathi stories.
Profile Image for Krutika.
782 reviews310 followers
April 21, 2022
// The Greatest Telugu Short Stories Ever Told

Telugu language has always had a soft spot in my heart. While Kannada is my mother tongue, Telugu felt closer to me while I was growing up. I spent a major chunk of my life in Andhra Pradesh where I learnt Telugu first so in many ways it reminds me of home. So understandably, when Aleph released their Telugu short story collection, I was super excited. The fact that a father-daughter duo selected and translated these stories further cemented my desire to read it.

And I was not disappointed.

Out of all the languages, I think this particular book will remain my favourite for a while. 21 short stories written by eclectic writers, these were a real treat. The translation was spot-on, carrying the essence of the original writing. Most of the stories were moving, my favourite of them being the one where royalty crumbles to dust. Aleph gives you a chance to discover phenomenal writers through this book. I finished reading this in just two days, the stories both enriching and unputdownable.

I highly recommend this one. Now that I've read the Telugu stories, I can't wait for the Kannada book to be out.

I'd like to appreciate the translators for doing an incredible job.

Thank you for the copy @alephbookco ✨4.5 stars.
Profile Image for Sayantoni Das.
168 reviews1,571 followers
May 3, 2022
Is there's one literature that I don't remember reading, it's definitely Telugu. I'm not sure why I never ventured before (probably there weren't as many translations available mainstream, or obviously, I was living under a rock) but I'm so glad I finally caught up. Or at least, am beginning to.

Thanks to @alephbookcompany 's latest, The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told, I'm finally delving into a culture that has always intrigued me. The fact that these are all short stories aided to its expression even more. We get to read and experience from diverse perspectives, dissecting the very anatomy of this place and culture.

The stories are of people who are all the very same but different when closely looked at. The narration is impeccable and vivid, allowing the readers to dip not just toes but their entire lengths in these pool of words and soaking in the heritage and essence. Definitely recommend it to everyone.
Profile Image for Chitra Ahanthem.
395 reviews208 followers
July 4, 2022
The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told, Selected & Translated by Dasu Krishnamoorty and Tamraparani Dasu is a collection of 21 vibrant stories that are diverse in their range of themes, expression and setting. The introduction to the collection is wonderfully woven and points out clearly that the inclusion of the stories have been made keeping in mind the diversity of Telugu writing cutting across the homogeneity of demographic and geography.

There are stories on the politics of caste, about domestic lives centered around the challenge of stretching one's income, about human assumptions around other people, about a child's whim of wanting to skip school for a day and what eventually happens at the end of getting his way. Three stories around government employees struck me: one has a high level official realizing belatedly how everything revolving around him was due to the power vested in his designation and how retirement is going to strip it all away; another has a not so high level Government employee who has a good amount of money coming to him and how everyone in the family demands a part of it even as he has spent his entire life working so he could save some amount for a few things he has never been able to afford - a trip by train, some home appliances while yet another another story features a few government employees in the periphery on whose decision and action, rests the fate of a young boy who needs a caste certificate.

More than the situations in each story, what stands out are the many layers that emerge. 'Water' for instance has the theme of how people across the country today continue to run around to get some water to run their households but while at it, brings the politics of electoral rivalry and the ineffectiveness of the civic institutions, the failure of urban planning etc and it also has a male protagonist who you want to drum some sense as he vacillates between the lord of the house and feeling sorry for his wife as she runs around to get some water. This overlapping of themes being balanced out in the short run of each story is what makes this collection a very good read.

Read the full review at: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/tre...
Profile Image for Ashish Kumar.
263 reviews55 followers
May 14, 2022
“It is difficult to say whether the caprice in their eyes is the glint of the setting sun or the burden of the grace of their bosom.”

These stories are diverse, and short. At first I was surprised at the shortness of these stories. They barely take more than four to five pages and that could be intentional. To choose the shortest of fiction so that a collection that is trying to accumulate the best of Tamil stories would leave a major writer out. In this, there are twenty-one stories, all differing from one another not only in themes but in geography as well. The collection starts with the acclaimed Tamil writer Chalam’s The Madiga Girl which begins as a courtship story but very quickly descends into the evilness of humanity. Out of these, I enjoyed almost all of them. This could partly be attributed to the two weeks of time I took to finish a book of 200 pages. And I’ll say read one or two stories a day because it gives each story its time to settle in the reader’s mind. None of them will take more than twenty minutes which could easily fit within your commuting time or a lunch break.

Out of these twenty two stories, some of my favorites are The Night After by Varalakshmamma, Bad Times by Illindala Saraswati Devi and Yaatra by Turaga Janaki Rani. On the whole, a very solid collection
Profile Image for Neelanjali । booksmakemewhole.
129 reviews100 followers
June 16, 2022
Every language is rich in it's own unique way, replete with stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. The stories that have been alive for more than a century find their way to a reader's mind and heart through translations.

This wonderful series called 'The Greatest Stories Ever Told' by @alephbookco in almost every Indian language is such a beautiful way to pay homage to the brilliance of our country's rich literature.

This book is a translation of the most famous Telugu stories that cover the work of writers spanning almost a century. These stories are carefully selected and meticulously translated by the two authors. These stories offer the Telugu perspective of life and a peek into their interesting culture.

The stories included in this book are by literary masters like Chalam, Vempalle Shareef, Jajula Gowri and many more. With themes ranging from Love to religion, from nature to politics, these tales are simple yet thought-provoking!
Profile Image for Amulya.
27 reviews6 followers
January 9, 2026
Such a great collection. Getting into it, I was a little skeptical about how diverse the stories might be. I had picked up this book based on how much I loved the other book in this collection - Greatest Urdu stories.
But unlike that book, I had greater expectations here, simply because of my familiarity with the language and the land. I need not have fretted though. The choice of the writers and the stories themselves was inspiring.

Most of the stories had a touch of melancholy to them - my favourite kind. I even appreciated the choice to not editorialise some of the problematic parts/stories as well. Sitting with that discomfort felt as important as having a plurality of perspectives.

In the middle of the book, though, some of the translations started to appear very literal. The veil of fiction pierced through and I found myself repeatedly trying to guess the original Telugu word/phrase. (Pretty sure that ‘soup’ in ‘The ideal man’ is pulusu)
Nevertheless, I’m viewing this positively — it’s motivating an uninitiated Telugu reader such as myself to take up reading the original works.

In general, I see the value of this book in not just the stories themselves but also what they do at the meta level — who & which of their works do you include, and how do you translate them. The 22nd story is the implicit one of the anthology itself.

I also loved the cover - the beautiful painted prints of red chillies :)

🌶️
Profile Image for Asha Seth.
Author 3 books349 followers
May 6, 2022
Some of the best short stories I've read in a long time. I just hope nothing's lost in translation. Special mention to the cover though. Oh, what a delight!

My favorite tales -
-The Night After
-A Mother's Debt
-Eclipse
-Exiled
-Morning Star

Select stories from some of the choicest writers of the language. With a closer look at life, certain cultural nuances were captured elegantly. The collection is rich with quotes that leave you introspecting about life and its many facets. Sweet, clever, engaging, moving, nostalgic, and totally worth the time, these stories are. Some stories I wished were longer and only my greed takes away the last star. As a lover of short-stories, I tell you this - if you love the genre and need a light read, this is the book for you. Might even finish reading it in a sitting!
Profile Image for Md Akhlaq.
387 reviews14 followers
March 28, 2022
the Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told

@alephbookco

Short stories have been the most prominent and expressive form of literature in India. By exploring short stories from various regional literary and cultural traditions, the course highlights the role of literature in reflecting and shaping social contexts. It also focuses on Indian writing in English and vernacular literature in translation. It covers literary themes such as tradition vs. modernity, partition, caste, gender, and other social issues.

The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told is the third book from the greatest stories anthology series. This beautiful book contains work by some of the finest writers of short fiction in Telugu. The storytellers included in the anthology range from literary masters such as Chalam, Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao to contemporary writers like Mohammed Khadeer Babu, Jajula Gowri, Vempalle Shareef, and powerful women writers like Kanuparthi Varalakshmamma, Illindala Saraswati Devi, Turaga Janaki Rani, and Achanta Sarada Devi.

The stories in this one are so diverse and very resonating to the society at large. Some of them are on the lighter side as well. Through this author, I've discovered some great authors and Chalam is the most fascinating one of them. He is a popular Telugu feminist writer. His writings are often regarded as controversial, but his impact on the people is phenomenal. He stepped into the lives of people through his writing and disturbed their thoughts, philosophies, and even their lives in some cases. His writing is uncompromisingly direct and honest, especially in revealing unpalatable facts.

The anthologies contain stories of love. “Festival of Love' by Vempalli Gangadhar is written in rhythmic lingo, which brings to life the pageantry of the local festival of Molakala Punnami.

Overall very affluent and alive literature. Recommended.

#thegreatesttelugustoriesevertold #readwithak #teluguliterature
Profile Image for Srishti.
352 reviews3 followers
May 4, 2022

'On the eve of his retirement, deputy collector Rajeswara Rao moved heaven and earth to win a two-year extension he even dyed his hair and filled the gaps in his teeth with partial dentures. Nothing worked. Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, the government sent orders asking him to lay down office at the end of that month and receive his monthly pension thereafter.' Taken from Kanuparthi Varalakshmamma's short story titled The Night After, this extract is a small reflection of the magical realism of sundry emotions reflected in the twenty one stories compiled in the book. With its vibrant cultural heritage, the Telegu community has bestowed a treasure trove of prose, poetry and verse to Indian literature. The vein of change that runs perpetually in these stories gives a voice to the subaltern communities and feminist writers; the case in point is seen in The Curtain by Vempalle Shareef, where an old woman mocks and jeers at the male centric custom of purdah when her son reprimands her repeatedly for not draping a shawl, and keeping his daughter behind a closed curtain so that she doesn't run astray.

Some of my favourites from the lot are– Chalam's 'The Madiga Girl', the very first story in the collection, that tells the story of man who falls in love at first sight with a young woman in his wife's village; as it turns out, the woman sells her body for making the ends meet and his dreams shatter when he gets to know this & Chaduvula Babu's 'Eye-opener' which is an old man's journey from becoming a new father to being asked to go to an old-age home.

Peppered with drama, dialogue and good humour this collection of Telegu short stories is certainly the greatest!
Profile Image for Chittajit Mitra.
289 reviews29 followers
May 6, 2022
I have been reading translated books for quite some time now, and even though I have read some translated Telugu books but still the quantity has been much lower than books coming from other Indian languages. So, naturally I was very excited when I came to know that Aleph Publication has come out with a collection of Telugu short stories and hence, I got hold of it.

Selected and translated by Dasu Krishnamoorty and Tamraparni Dasu, these 21 stories go into the different lives of people and brings us to them. Each story is different in its own way and gives us an insight about the diversity with which Telugu writers write. While Bandi Narayanswami takes us to a family living with water scarcity and how politics is built up around that issue, then there is Chalam who tells us the story of a poor woman trying to survive by indulging in sex work. The diverse collection in this book is something to surely look out for. The fact that these stories have been able to move readers irrespective of their geographical areas should tell us how well it has been translated and edited apart from the obvious that the kind of splendid literature that exists in our Indian languages need to be translated more and more. This is surely one of my best reads in recent times.
342 reviews3 followers
April 4, 2022
Short stories are always easy to read and more than that they express more with less words. These stories reflect Authors amazing work in which by using limited words, they make story more powerful. When I got chance to read this book, I was excited not only because its anthology but also these stories shares the tradition and culture of Telugu regional.

In this book, author has shared amazing work by some of the finest Telugu writers. This book which is anthology covers stories by Chalam, Kanuparthi Varalakshmamma, and Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao to contemporary writers like Mohammed Khadeer Babu, Jajula Gowri, and Vempalle Shareef.

The stories are thought provoking with most of the stories resonate with society. There are many stories which I liked but being a romance genre lover, I particularly enjoyed reading a heartbreaking love story, Vempalli Gangadhar’s ‘Festival of Love’ is a romance imbued with the fragrance of jasmine fields. The narration is smooth with language which is easy to understand. By reading this book, I came to know more about the Telugu culture, traditions and the way people see the world.

These stories are Selected and deftly translated by Dasu Krishnamoorty and Tamraparni Dasu.
Profile Image for Debabrata Mishra.
1,673 reviews45 followers
April 28, 2022
👉𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊:-
📚ⓉⒾⓉⓁⒺ:- The Greatest Telugu Stories Ever Told
🖋️ⒶⓊⓉⒽⓄⓇ:- Dasu Krishnamoorty
🗞️ⓅⓊⒷⓁⒾⓈⒽⒺⓇ:- Aleph Publication
🔤ⓁⒶⓃⒼⓊⒶⒼⒺ:- English
📖ⒻⓄⓇⓂⒶⓉ:- Paperback
👉𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒:-
This book is a compilation of 21 short stories which were actually written in Telugu language & those are translated to English & compiled in the book for the ease of readers.
.
This is a beautiful initiative by the publication House to translate best stories of each language & submerged them to form one book & everyone can enjoy them.
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These stories are raw crisp & nicely showcased the culture the fashion the lifestyle of people.
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All these stories covering a large number of themes but these themes are not only thought provoking but these are somehow connects to our contemporary life that makes the book more lively to read.
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From all of these stories, the ones which I like the most are, "Kanuparthi Varalakshmamma"(The night after), " Turaga Janaki Rani" (Yaatra), "Boya Jangaiah" (Eclipse), " Addepalli Prabhu"(An Ideal Man), "Jajula Gowri"(Signature) & "Vempalli Gangadhar (Festival of Love".
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To enjoy all these landmark stories grab the book & give it a try.
👉𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒 :-
🙂 The cover of the book is simple & minimal with a maximum effect.
🙂 Writing style of the book is quite classy & gives a soothing reading experience.
🙂 Language used in the book is nice which authors just elegantly translated the original stories with their own way in a crisp manner.
🙂 All the characters in each stories are beautifully portrayed in the book without any sort of manipulation. Authors just kept everything simple & as it is with little bit of their flavour.
🙂 Both the authors did a remarkable job to make it possible for everyone to enjoy the legendary short stories in telugu languages.
🙂 They translated the book but never ruined the real emotions of the book. They just transferred the emotions from one language to another language which deserves a big round of applause.
🙂 Pace of the book is moderate but completely worth reading. You never going to feel it's length once you started reading it.
𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑:-🌟🌟🌟🌟
Profile Image for Enakshi J..
Author 8 books53 followers
April 24, 2022
Aleph Book Company’s collection of various Greatest Stories is one I was after because I had heard and read so much about it. Finally, I got my hands on the Telegu Stories which comprise 21 stories covering the themes of love, exploitation by society, loss, grief and nostalgia. With a simple yet strong plot, most of these stories are going to make you retrospect and walk down memory lane in an attempt to empathize with the characters.
Read the complete review here: https://www.aliveshadow.com/category-...
Profile Image for Aditya Kane.
20 reviews3 followers
September 21, 2023
There are 21 short stories translated from Telugu to English. The short stories are wide ranging and so are the authors. Some stories really stood out of their pathos and some for their mirth. In general as a non-Telugu speaking person, it allowed me to know more about the culture of Telugu speaking states.

I really liked The Eclipse, House Number and Festival of Love. Bad Times show a very interesting arc of the Nizam state in disarray.
74 reviews6 followers
July 23, 2025
This is a wonderfully curated collection. I've been living in Hyderabad for close to 5 years now and wanted a flavour of local literature despite not knowing a word of Telugu. So I had to buy this book when I saw it and was hooked from the start, the quality of translation is also very good. I look forward to reading other compilations by Aleph Book Company.
Profile Image for Ramya.
72 reviews3 followers
April 22, 2022
Breezed thru. Some of the stories felt like something that happened in my neighborhood and some felt like the stories my nanaamma used to narrate to us. All the stories have a slight twist in the end that leave you thinking. A good read over all.
Profile Image for Ashim.
92 reviews2 followers
July 6, 2022
Another good collection of stories. New culture, new stories, new perspectives but some similar situations. Feel more connected to the pain and struggles in small towns, as well as the little joys. Highly recommend this series of books of different cultures.
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