When guns bleed ink

COONOOR: The year was 1999, Kargil valley was under the grip of gunshot wounds and plumes of uncertainty. One would fear that the valour of the soldiers to hold on to life would be buried under the blood-soaked snow. What helped one jawan, Dr Peruka Raju, negate the perils of war was his childhood habit of fighting crises with a weapon mightier than the sword. The officer, currently posted as the Junior Commissioned Officer at Madras Regimental Centre (MRC) at Wellington in The Nilgiris, rose to fame by converting his experiences into books.

The 45-year-old soldier-turned officer hails from a small village in Narasingapoor in Telangana. His father Anandham, who worked as a daily wage worker in agricultural fields, died early. Raju then had to sustain life with the daily earnings of his mother Bhoolakshmi, who also had to take care of his brother and sister. “I was then admitted to a government hostel providing free food and accommodation. Given the extreme poverty in my house, this helped me get food and clothes. I did my early education in a government school in my village. I shifted to a nearby government school in Chandurthi for classes 6 to 10,” he said.

It was during this period that he set foot into the field of literature. “In the initial days, poverty was the central theme, and the desire of the poor to break this cruel barrier. Later, my subjects spread to a vast canvas – culture, tradition, rural life and how society can play a role in eradicating poverty,” he said.“My first poem was published in 1987 for a student edition of a Telugu newspaper. My first short story was in Class 11, six years later. Many of my creative works have been published in school and college magazines,” he said.

Completing his schooling, guided by his artistic fervour, Raju travelled to Sircilla town, where he studied in a government junior college. Further, with the help of philanthropists, he went to SRR Government Arts & Science College in Karimnagar to pursue B.Com. From there he took a leap of faith, joining the Indian Army in Secunderabad.“My first book of poems, ‘Raj Mata’, was published in 1996. A philanthropist Kurra Srinivas sponsored my first book. Dr Nakimela Bhaskar (Govt Junior College) and Dr G Lakhman Rao (SRR Govt College) also encouraged me to write it. All the remaining 12 books were published after I joined the Army,” he mentioned.

Reviving the memories of his army life, Raju said apart from being posted in the URI sector during the Kargil war, looking after the security of two former presidents—Prathibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee—at Rashtrapati Bhavan was a highlight in his 26-year-long military career. With a bunch of army personnel standing behind Raju, he excelled in three categories of writing: poems, short stories and translating English and Hindi books into Telugu, bagging many awards.

Coinciding with the formation day of Telangana, the Chairman of Telangana Legislative Council Gutha Sukhender Reddy released the 13th book of Dr Peruka Raju titled ‘Avva’, which is an anthology of 15 short stories in which the obstacles in poverty for a family are explored. He also bagged ‘Telangana Animuthyam 2022’ and a lifetime achievement award by the Telangana legislative council this year.“For the latest award, the Commandant of MRC, Brigadier SK Yadav, extended his appreciation. In the past, the army had given me monetary incentives as a token of love,” he recalled.

On a mission to spread the love he received and to impart education to a younger version of himself, Raju started an NGO ‘My Gift’ 21 years ago. “We have installed new benches and desks for Classes 6 to 10 in the government school of my village and instituted a cash prize of 5,000 to the student who secures first rank in Class 10 exam. Many have secured good jobs from our educational stipends,” he said. 

From the sub-zero temperatures of J&K to the sandy dunes of Rajasthan, the odour of pages in Raju’s book of life emanates endurance. As time grows, the jawan-turned officer perhaps would smile at what Stephen King said once, “You can have my gun, but you’ll take my book when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of the binding.”