Book reading is an addiction

Book reading is an addiction, rather good one, asserts Alluri Gouri Lakshmi, a bureaucrat by profession and a writer and poet by passion. A quick glance at her production of volumes makes one wonder as to how she finds time to write despite her busy schedule as an officer working for Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, mother of two and grandmother of three.

She produced three novels, three short story compilations, two poetry volumes, one columns’ compilation. As is the wont of coastal Andhra, she is also fond of watching movies. “Reading books and watching movies go hand in hand,” she smiles.

Gouri Lakshmi recalls her childhood days when the grand old ladies at home took her to late night movies as if watching movies was also a part of life.

Reading her books makes one ponder over the harsh realities of life. Many of her protagonists are middle class working women, who least enjoy their financial status as working women. Some of the characters bemoan openly over the lack of financial freedom in spite of their earning capacity. 

The men take away the money in the name of investment and savings leaving very little with them for their personal use. Writing a series for a column in a Telugu magazine, she touches upon various facets of life—some are humorous while others reveal realities of life including value of friendship, love, human relations among others. She loves to write satirical columns for Telugu journals, periodicals and daily newspapers.

“Most of the satires that I have written so far are on current topics.” Born in a small village,Antarvedipalem situated on seashore of East Godavari district, Gouri Lakshmi did her schooling in Rajamahendravaram, Chennai, Visakhapatnam and West Godavari. Later, she completed her Intermediate and graduation in the degree college at Malikipuram.

Her daughter Kanti Rekha works for an IT Company in Chennai and son Chandra Varma is the deputy manager at Bengaluru International Airport. She rues that her children did not inherit her passion for either reading or writing. But, she is happy that her son-in-law and daughter-in-law are interested in literature and read books extensively.