Sadanandam. His father's name is Shivayya. His mother's name is Kamalamma. The father's occupation was carpentry. In today's language, a Carpenter. Apart from the deceased children of the couple Shivayya and Kamalamma, the remaining ones were Sadanandam and Laxmi.

Shivayya married off Laxmi when she was just twelve years old. Sadanandam got married while he was studying in the eleventh grade. Sadanandam failed the twelfth grade. Narayana, who failed along with Sadanandam, managed to get a job as an N.M.R. (Nominal Muster Roll) worker in the electricity department. Buchanna joined the RTC (Road Transport Corporation). Ethirajam became a cinema operator at a cinema theater. Satyanarayana set up a tea stall on the roadside opposite the cinema theater. Sudhakar started working in a clothing shop! Rajanarayya joined a beedi manufacturing company!

Those who failed had no choice but to settle down in whatever work they could find. Not all those who passed the twelfth grade joined a degree course. Half of them got into some kind of work. Venkateshwar joined teacher training. Rajireddy took up agriculture. Laxmikanth got a job in the post office. Laxminarasayya in the military. About three people became coal mine workers in Singareni.

Among those who passed, only a few joined a degree course.

Sadanandam, who failed the twelfth grade, did not feel like writing the exams again. When Shivayya pleaded with someone he knew. He got a temporary job as an N.M.R. (Nominal Muster Roll) worker in S.R.S.P. S.R.S.P. means Sriram Sagar Project. Initially, its name was Pochampad Project.

After Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy became the Chief Minister in 1978, Its name was changed to Sriram Sagar Project. Nehru laid the foundation stone for this project. With those blessings, thousands of people got various kinds of jobs and work. Many became engineers. Many became supervisors. They became contractors.

Under the canal, some people lost their lands. Along the canal, some roads emerged. Palamuru labor increased. Lakhs of acres came into cultivation. In the villages along the length of the Godavari canal,
Grocery shops increased. General stores grew. The water scarcity of Metpally, Korutla, and Jagtial was resolved. They grew into business centers. The arrival of tractors began. Instead of Mangalore-tiled houses, people are building concrete slab (daba) houses. Vidyanagar, Krishnanagar, and Vaninagar grew.
Dharoor camp merged into Jagtial.

Lakes are filling up. Canals are flowing. Crops are yielding. One canal goes towards Dharmapuri, Peddapalli, Ramagundam. One canal goes towards Karimnagar, From Jagtial, crossing Karimnagar, passing Hanam Konda. The main canal extended all the way to Warangal. They named it the Kakatiya Canal. As soon as it crossed Karimnagar, they forgot the name Satavahana Empire. They kept the name Kakatiya Canal.

What does it matter how much water is in the lakes and canals? Crops yielded only to those who owned lands. What happened to those who did not own land?

Our water pot is our field. As much water as there is, that much wealth exists.

Sadanandam's qualifications are small. Sadanandam became a temporary laborer. That became Sadanandam's destiny. Sadanandam's life moved along just like the Sriram Sagar canal.

In people's hearts, the Godavari canal flowed as awareness. They said dilapidated lands and wasteland belong to us. They demanded that the lands seized by landlords must be returned. The awareness turned into Jagtial's victorious march (Jaitrayatra) as a flood of people.

Wherever the Godavari canal drenched, the land turned green. The village turned red. Villages became blood-stained with people's blood. Wildfire erupted in the green fields. Some landlords left the villages. Some youths left the villages and took the path to the Gulf. Some took the path to the forest. Very strange. If the canal comes, on one side there is development, On the other side, there are struggles, movements, and restrictions.

The Sriram Sagar Project canal offices are centered in Jagtial. Sadanandam was initially a work-charged employee. While his peers wrote the exam, he too cleared that single English paper and passed. He passed the twelfth grade compartmentally. The obstacle for promotions was removed. After a few years, Sadanandam became a Work Inspector. Sadanandam traveled on duty from Jagtial to Metpally, Korutla, Mallapur, and Ibrahimpatnam camps. Sadanandam's shadow falls along the entire length of the S.R.S.P. canal.

Sadanandam's wife's name is Godavari. She got married to Sadanandam at the age of thirteen. She studied up to fifth grade in the village of Paidimadugu. After that, she rolls beedis as per her caste occupation. Kamalamma appreciated her for making good beedis and brought her as her daughter-in-law.

Sadanandam has two children. The son is the elder one. The son's name is Devendranath, and the daughter is Narmada.

Sadanandam's first job was in Jagtial. Devendranath was born at his maternal grandmother's house in Paidimadugu. The house they rented in Puranampet of Godavari belonged to old relatives. Therefore, they did not move from there. Narmada was born while he was working at the Korutla camp.

While he was working in Mallapur, Devendranath asked, "Father, bicycle." Sadanandam said, "In the next camp." While traveling back and forth to the Ibrahimpatnam camp, he finally bought a bicycle.

It was winter when Sadanandam was working at the Dharmapuri camp. Shivayya's asthma worsened. Thick fog. He could not breathe. Sadanandam made debts and brought medicines. But Shivayya passed away.

The generation of traditional caste occupation that continued for two thousand years had gone. For the funeral rites, a debt for the 13 days of expenses. Mother Kamalamma used to cry every day saying, "Son, take me along."

When Sadanandam was traveling to the Raikal camp, Devendranath was in Intermediate. He asked for a picnic on behalf of the college. He asked for an educational tour. He asked for Eamcet coaching. Clashes and arguments between Sadanandam and his son. Sadanandam did not touch food for two days. "It's fine father, I will study in the Jagtial government college itself," Devendranath said. Sadanandam did not let tears show in his eyes.

Sarangapur camp. Narmada was in tenth grade. She did not ask for the excursion. She knew the experience her elder brother went through. She stayed back at home telling a lie that she had a "fever." Sadanandam did not eat food that day too. When he was moving around the Buggaram camp. His younger sister Laxmi quarreled with her husband and came back with her two children. She came permanently. He became the sole big support for two families. Laxmi rolls beedis. Sadanandam's wife Godavari rolls beedis. While studying in high school itself, Narmada learned rolling beedis.

Laxmi, who left her husband, had hope in life. A hope to educate her children well. She thought just rolling these beedis would not be enough. She thought she must study somehow. "Brother, if I do a degree at Ambedkar Open University, it will be a support if I get a job too," Laxmi said. Sadanandam had to pay the fees. He had to buy books. Children are growing up. Two families are growing.

Crops are yielding very well with the Sriram Sagar canal waters.  Those who do not get canal water are planting mango orchards. With the canal water, Korutla's drinking water scarcity was resolved. People who used to live in those villages are also coming to Korutla to live. Metpally, Korutla, Raikal, Jagtial, and Dharmapuri regions Are flourishing with green crops.

Everyone forgot Nehru, who laid the foundation stone for the project. They are also gradually forgetting Shivayya. Sadanandam did not tell his sister about the debt he had made. Godavari knows that debts are piling up. Meanwhile, Sadanandam's mother Kamalamma passed away. Funeral rites, elder ceremonies. A few more debts. Even though Shivayya passed away long ago. A plot he bought outside the village remained. He did not sell it as long as mother was alive.

242 square yards. Two guntas. The village expanded. The price increased. Selling it brought a good amount of money. That is how everyone remembered Shivayya. Financial troubles were eased a bit.

Along with his wife Godavari, Sadanandam Bought a silk saree (Pattu Cheera) each for her and his sister Laxmi. "A silk saree now after all these years? Why, sir?" Saying so, Godavari pressed the saree to her heart. "Not for me, save it for Narmada's wedding," she cried. Sadanandam wiped her tears and said, "Only if you smile, Narmada's wedding will happen." Laxmi felt happy. Sadanandam did not keep quiet.

He bought a new bicycle for Devendranath, who actually needed a scooter. He paid the degree fee for Laxmi. "Go ahead and study," he said. Sadanandam's daughter Narmada's face was looking dull. He got gold earrings made for Narmada. He bought two tolas of gold specifically for her marriage. "I saved some for Narmada's wedding," he whispered to his wife Godavari. Hearing those words, Narmada could not sleep out of happiness that day.

Sadanandam did not expect Bhumayya to cheat him like this. It was true that his son met with an accident. Money was urgently needed. Sadanandam melted. He thought danger and pain are the same for anyone. He withdrew half of his savings and gave it to him. The money promised to be returned next month did not come even after six months. Godavari pleaded, "Please don't, sir." He did not listen. Sadanandam felt he made a mistake.

Blow after blow for Sadanandam. A monthly chit of 2,000. For 20 months. He lifted it in the 19th month. 40,000 was due. The chit manager gave 20,000 and said, "Brother, the remaining next month." That next month did not come even after 8 months. He said, "Everything is a loss."

Some hustle for promotions in the office. Sadanandam tried very hard for promotion. He found a connection. Sadanandam thought life would settle with that. Bribes for higher officers. Whatever salary comes in a year and a half, that much is the bribe.

"If we pour everything on their graves, how will we survive for a year?" Godavari said. Whatever he received was spent, along with Sadanandam's savings. Godavari said, "Please don't, sir. Let's live with integrity." But it is a post where one sits majestically in the office chair. Thinking that many hardships would be resolved, he took the risk. The chair came. But in the night's sleep, dreams came as if the bribe-giving hands were smelling. He felt ashamed to look at Godavari's face. Within two years, life eased up a bit from the debts.

Sister Laxmi's children are growing up. One salary had to be adjusted for two families. It came to be known that the brother-in-law had unofficially married again. In today's language, cohabitation. Live-in. It is not known whether sister Laxmi knows about it or not. Sadanandam did not want to say it with his own mouth.

Laxmi searched for a job in a private school. Since the father passed away, the elder brother is a big support like a father, right? Moreover, the sister also gets a share in the property earned by the father, right? Sadanandam did not like to make the sister speak those words from her mouth. He looked after the children like a maternal uncle without letting them feel any deficit. He never discriminated against by buying for his own children and not buying for his sister's children. He considered all four as his own children. Godavari also treated her sister-in-law with respect.

Devendranath, looking at the accounts of debts written occasionally in Sadanandam's diary and his  hardships... Thought, "Father, so many responsibilities, hardships... how did you manage to pull through?"

While at the Jagtial camp, Devendranath completed his degree. Initially, a small job in a private company. Later he did PG. He joined as a part-time lecturer. He changed into a contract lecturer in a government college. A hope that someday a permanent job will come. When he placed his first salary, earned while working in the private company, in his father's hands... he wanted to see the eyes of his mother and father. Sadanandam did not touch the money. He kissed his son's hand.

"My son has become an earner." One burden lessened. One income increased. Devendranath did not understand whether those were tears of joy in their eyes... or tears remembering past hardships...

After six months

"Father, from now on, I will bring the monthly groceries myself!" Devendranath said. "Father! Mother! If you need anything, please bring it on credit. I have opened an account at my friend's shop, you can get it from there," he said. With those words, their eyes shone with happiness. Sadanandam felt as much relief as getting retired from his job. From now on, Sadanandam wanted to save his salary for his daughter's wedding.

Narmada, saying she did not want to get married right then, joined MBA in Hyderabad. He could not find the words to deny her. Devendranath bought a second-hand scooter.

Sadanandam's sister Laxmi is a maternal aunt to Devendranath, right? Laxmi's son Shyamsundar said, "Brother! Buy me a bicycle! The day after tomorrow is my birthday." True, he too is growing up. A bicycle needs to be bought. How much conflict took place when he, as a child, asked his father to buy a bicycle!

Devendar asked for a bicycle. Father said no. "You don't even know how to buy a bicycle. Incapable people. Why did you give birth to me?" Devendranath had said. Mother, who was working, ran over and slapped his cheeks. "Don't say a word to your father. Why do you need education! Go and stay somewhere else!" she shouted. After that, mother cried. "Be quiet! When all his friends are riding bicycles, he asked. His asking is not wrong. It is our fault that we are unable to buy it," Father said.

By then, every month for grandfather Shivayya, debts were piling up because they couldn't pay the medicine bills. Father did not eat that night.

Now Shyam asked him. Devendranath thought that unless one becomes a father, one will not understand the struggles faced by their own father. Shyam’s mother must have sent him to ask.
Devendranath somehow bought and gave him the bicycle. Sadanandam felt very happy. He remembered the conflict on the day he was asked to buy a bicycle for his son. Sadanandam thought that the situation was not as miserable as it was back then.

Mother Godavari said that Devendranath needs to get married. Yes, he must be married, said Sadanandam. "Father agreed to this one thing immediately," Devendranath thought to himself.

The mother's internal thought was that it would be good to marry off Narmada first. "I don't want marriage right now," Narmada said. "I will marry only after getting a job," she said. Sadanandam and Godavari looked for a good match. Devendranath's marriage was done. Godavari felt delighted looking at her daughter-in-law, Tanuja, who was working as a part-time lecturer.

Within three months, their family split up. They shifted their base to Karimnagar. Sadanandam's health was not good. Godavari's health was also just average. He wanted to marry off his daughter while he was still in good health. Narmada postponed it, saying she would marry only after getting a good job.

Sadanandam retired. The pension money, this and that combined, came in a good amount. They wanted to perform Narmada's wedding. "I will not marry," Narmada said. The argument escalated.

"Grandfather Shivayya got married when he was thirteen. Grandmother was nine years old then. When mother got married to you, mother was thirteen years old. Brother got married at 25. So what? I will not marry," Narmada rebelled.

"I will buy a flat in Karimnagar. I will give her share during her wedding," Devendranath said, trying to secure his own future under the guise of an investment. If he gives it, it's one kind of trouble. If he doesn't give it, it's another kind of trouble. "Let him take it," Godavari said ultimately, hoping it would at least keep her son close.

Devendranath built a grand house in Karimnagar. Sadanandam and Godavari felt delighted seeing that house, oblivious to the emotional distance it would create. Devendranath's couple bought new clothes for the parents, maternal aunt Laxmi, her children, and Narmada. They touched their feet and took their blessings. But after that, consumed by his new life and urban standard, Devendranath gradually stopped coming to Jagtial, detaching himself from the family's burdens.

Sadanandam is getting pension every month. Narmada is earning enough in Hyderabad for her own expenses. Laxmi is working as a lecturer in a private college. Two people remained in the house. Sadanandam and Godavari. Occasionally, Narmada calls. Devendranath doesn't even do that.

"I will go to Delhi for I.A.S. coaching," Narmada said. "Good. Go Narru," they said. Narmada asked for money. Sadanandam said, "I don't have it." "Give me my wedding money, your pension money," Narmada questioned him aggressively. "He took everything for his new house. Go and ask your brother," Sadanandam said. "I should get half the money. Did you ask me before giving it all to him? You ask him and give it to me," Narmada argued.

Sadanandam got chest pain. Godavari called Devendranath. "I am paying heavy bank loan installments for this house. It is difficult for us even to survive right now," he replied coldly, shielding himself behind financial excuses. Godavari felt deep grief. Godavari did not tell Sadanandam that their son spoke so callously.

"Alright! Perform my wedding. I will not go to Delhi," Narmada said. A heavy stone fell on Sadanandam's heart. On the third day, Sadanandam collapsed suddenly. They said it was a cardiac arrest.

Devendranath came along with his wife Tanuja. Laxmi cried a lot. There was no need to describe Godavari's condition. Sadanandam's funeral rites were completed. Sadanandam's sister Laxmi looked after everything.

An oil lamp is burning in front of Sadanandam's photo on the old chair in the house. People are leaving one by one after completing their condolences. The post-funeral rituals are over. Narmada stopped them when they went to remove mother's glass bangles and bindi (bottu).

That old house transformed into a vast ocean of silence. In that house which overflowed with life all these years with father's breath, his cough, and his walk, now only emptiness is prevailing. The old easy chair where father used to sit on the veranda is lying empty. Right next to it, the walking stick used by father leans against the wall, standing alone. Even the wind blowing through the neem tree in front of the house Is groaning as if it is carrying some deep grief. That kitchen where the stove is not lit, the walls looking blankly at directions... Everything froze, carrying the truth that Sadanandam is no more.

Mother Godavari is sitting in a corner, looking into the void and crying uncontrollably, shedding floods of tears. In her eyes, more than the grief of losing her husband. The anxiety about the happiness they failed to offer him while he was alive is appearing more prominent. Narmada is shedding silent tears without comforting her mother. Some unknown restlessness in Devendranath's mind, the feeling that he committed a mistake is gnawing at him from the inside.

Every object in that house made him feel as if it was questioning him. Feeling unbearable suffocation,
as if to escape from that atmosphere, Devendranath walked quickly into the inner room. With a desperate longing to immerse himself in father's memories, he opened father's old trunk lying in the corner there. In it, he found an old diary written by father. Devendranath started reading it.

The sentences written by father at one place in it:

"Today Devendar called me an incapable person because I did not buy him a bicycle. What he said might be true. Why this life when I cannot even buy what the children ask for? I couldn't sleep all night. Somehow, I must make a debt and buy him a bicycle next week. Godavari, forgive me."

"The S.R.S.P. canal extended up to Hanamkonda and Bhimaram. So many villages are flourishing with green fields. Only his life has come to a standstill. Many became contractors because of the canal. They became millionaires through business. The government treasury flowed like the Godavari canals. Farmers became rich. Landless laborers took the path of movement. He could do nothing among all this.
Thousands of people keep going to the Gulf. What did this development give to them? It is not known where the comrades (Annalu) in the forest are. It is not known what happened to them. Is he alive just to witness all these?" Devendranath thought to himself that this is the story told by the comrades.

Devendranath turned the pages of the diary. At one place, his gaze stopped.

"I did not expect that he would cheat me this much. Along with the pension money, he took away all the money and gold that was saved up for Narmada's wedding. Godavari tried to stop me, telling me not to give it. Because of this, Godavari did not touch food for two days."

As soon as he read those sentences, Devendranath's heart almost stopped. Remembering the harsh words he had spoken during his childhood, tears welled up in his eyes. The silent text in the diary acted as a mirror to his selfishness. The realization hit him like a tidal wave—he had built his majestic mansion on the ruins of his father's lifelong savings and his sister's future, while comfortably hiding behind bank installment excuses.

Pressing the diary to his chest, Devendranath cried out loudly, broken by intense remorse. Then, his mother Godavari came close to him.

"What is the use of crying now, son... None of us correctly read father's hardships and love while he was alive. What is the use of reading that diary now?" Godavari said.

Whenever people came and said, "A brother like a father is gone," Laxmi would wipe away her tears. The mourning days in the house were completed.

Narmada held her mother's hands. A new resolve entered Narmada. "Come on, mother... we will go to Hyderabad. Father left his pension for you and went, and I am here to support you," saying so, she set out taking her mother along.

Devendranath stood alone in that old house, filled with deep remorse. After six months, driven by severe repentance, Devendranath leveraged his newly built house to secure a top-up loan against the property. He took the entire sum—equivalent to his father's pension money and Narmada's wedding fund—and deposited it into a fixed account under Narmada's name.

"Father, it is late. But I have given it back," saying so with a heavy but relieved heart, he bowed to the photograph with a garland.

"Sadanandam. Father's name is Shivayya. Sadanandam's life has ended... But his untold story, in the form of that diary, wWill keep gnawing at Devendranath's mind for a lifetime. Godavari is now in Hyderabad with Narmada. Godavari's eyes, like canals – without drying up, keep flowing for everyone.

The Godavari canal changed its name from Pochampadu to Sriram Sagar. One canal merged into the Manair Dam. From there, its name changed to Kakatiya Canal. Whatever the name may be, the Godavari canal keeps flowing.

Life is also just like that. Shivayya's son Sadanandam. Sadanandam's sister Laxmi. Laxmi's son Shyamsundar. Sadanandam's son Devendranath.

The name changes. Life continues just like that, for generations!"