Gudipati Venkata Chalam

On May 18, 1894, Gudipati Venkata Chalam was born in India's Krishna district. His father was Kommuri Sambasivarao, and his mother was Venkata Subbamma. After his maternal grandpa adopted him and changed his last name from "Kommuri" to "Gudipati," he spent most of his childhood in Tenali. He dedicated himself to thoroughly studying Hindu epics and doctrinal teachings and being an ardent practitioner of Hindu rituals. The manner his father mistreated his mother had a lasting mark on his impressionable young mind. In addition, the way that his sister "Ammanni" (Venkata Ramanamma, Dulla) was forced into an arranged marriage caused him to pay particular attention to the challenges that women faced in society. Pithapuram Maharaja College welcomed Chalam in 1911. He was drawn to the teachings of Andhra Pradesh's Brahma Samaj founder and social reformer Raghupati Venkata Ratnam Naidu during the time. Chalam relocated to Chennai to pursue his bachelor's in arts.

He was previously married to Chitti Ranganayakamma before enrolling at the institution. He enrolled his wife for her education in a convent while he was living in Chennai, and he used to ride his bicycle to drop her off at school. Chalam started eating non-vegetarian cuisine and stopped wearing the holy thread (Yagnopaveetham) (Brahmins were strict vegetarians). He interacted with people from various castes, which enraged his family, especially his father-in-law, who forbade him from entering his home. Chalam's wife was only 13 at the time. When his mother-in-law passed away, Chalam and his companions were not permitted to attend the funeral at his father-in-home law's and were instead given food outside. Following stage performance and the completion of his education in Madras, Chalam accepted a position as an instructor in Kakinada and began taking part in Brahma Samaj activities. He first held a teaching position in Karimnagar before accepting a position at a teacher training college in Rajahmundry.

Later, he worked as a school inspector. Chalam wrote the following about his job on page 72 of his well-known book "Musings" (in Telugu) (5th Print, 2005). I am a stone, a government servant, a school inspector, and the cat to the helpless mice like teachers. Souris, the daughter of Chalam and a follower of Ramana Maharshi, runs an ashram in Bheemili, Visakhapatnam. He was regarded as one of the figures with the most significant impact on contemporary Telugu writing. Most of Chalam's writings dealt with women, particularly the physical and psychological challenges they faced in society. In his writings, Chalam expressed his views on how women should approach these issues.

His writing style was different, and as a result, he gained notoriety in the Telugu literary community. His contemporaries praised Chalam's works, and writers of the current generation are also increasingly influenced by them. Chalam's autobiography, Chalam, published in 1972, contains a wealth of information about his early years. In it, he vividly describes how his father beat him and how his mother, who continued to live with her parents in Tenali after getting married and having a child with her husband, who is from Valluripalem in Krishna district, had to endure a barrage of insults. Chalam boldly explains in the prologue of his autobiography why he decided to write it: Autobiographies irritate him.

By publishing an autobiography, he is confessing to himself and subtly informing everyone that he is an important person who has done many beautiful deeds for society and that if he does not tell the world about himself, the world will suffer much and will lose something by not knowing about him. For someone like him, who constantly questions, "Why was he born? Okay, so he was born, but why did he not pass away right away without defiling his surroundings? It is unacceptable to justify writing an autobiography and recounting his story publicly.