The 100th birth anniversary of Srinivas Rayaprol (R.S. Marthandam) was celebrated on October 25, 2025, at the Secunderabad Club, a place that held special meaning for the poet. The event brought together family, poets, writers, scholars, and admirers of Rayaprol from across India and abroad. It was organised by the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust in collaboration with the Department of English, University of Hyderabad.

The evening also marked the presentation of the 17th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2025, awarded to Mubashira Patel, a 26-year-old postgraduate student of Sociology from Mumbai University.

Remembering Srinivas Rayaprol

The event opened with words of welcome from Prof. Aparna Rayaprol, youngest daughter of the poet and Professor of Sociology at the University of Hyderabad. She spoke about her father’s journey as an engineer and poet who believed in the value of both imagination and discipline.

Graziano Krätli, translator, editor, and Yale University librarian, joined via Zoom from the United States. As editor of Why Should I Write a Poem Now: The Letters of Srinivas Rayaprol and William Carlos Williams (1949–1958), he shared reflections on Rayaprol’s correspondence with the American poet William Carlos Williams and how it reflected a dialogue between two literary cultures.

Poet Sridala Swami read select poems by Rayaprol, offering a glimpse of his thoughtful and restrained lyricism.

Writer Pratap Reddy, an Indian-Canadian author, read from Rayaprol’s prose works, highlighting his distinctive voice and insight into human experience.

Presentation of the Prize

Poet and writer Sharmistha Mohanty, founder-editor of Almost Island, delivered the jury remarks and presented the Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2025 to Mubashira Patel.

In her remarks, Mohanty praised Mubashira’s writing for its sensitivity, emotional depth, and lyrical control. Mubashira, who began writing poetry at the age of eight, describes herself as “a literature aficionado, an amateur philosopher, and a newly published poet.” Her academic interests focus on marginal voices and cultural memory—concerns that also inform her poetry.

Following the award presentation, Mohanty read from her own recent works, including The Gods Came Afterwards and Extinctions.

Her reading created a quiet, reflective atmosphere that set the tone for Mubashira’s own poetry reading, which followed soon after.

Family and Friends Remember

Manorama Kanuri, second daughter of Srinivas Rayaprol, shared an engaging account of her father’s life titled “Rayaprol Srinivas Marthandam – From Birth to 1998.” She spoke about his early years in Hyderabad, his studies at Nizam College, Banaras Hindu University, and Stanford University, and his long career as an engineer, balancing his professional duties with his lifelong passion for writing poetry.

Further tributes came from S.P. Shorey (Chief Town Planner) and Lakshmi Pamarthy, who shared personal memories of R.S. Marthandam’s time with the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA, now HMDA).

A video message from Sri Balakrishna and his former colleagues added a moving note of remembrance, recalling the respect and affection Rayaprol inspired among his peers.

A Continuing Legacy

The Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize, instituted in 2009, recognises excellence in English poetry by poets aged 20–40 years. Jointly administered by the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust and the University of Hyderabad, the prize has been awarded to several notable poets including Aditi Machado, Hemant Mohapatra, Aishwarya Iyer, Debarshi Mitra, Pervin Saket, Syam Sudhakar, Nikita Deshpande, and Ajay Kumar.

The 2025 edition, coinciding with Rayaprol’s centenary, celebrated both the poet’s legacy and the emergence of new voices in Indian poetry. It reaffirmed the idea that literature is not only a record of memory but also a living conversation between generations.

Closing Reflections

The centenary event at Secunderabad Club was both intimate and memorable.

It combined poetry readings, family recollections, and scholarly reflections, reminding everyone of the diverse life and enduring influence of Srinivas Rayaprol—an engineer who wrote with precision and a poet who lived with purpose.

Through the readings and tributes, the gathering honoured a man whose work continues to inspire new writers to explore the possibilities of language, thought, and imagination.

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