Dr R. M. V. Raghavendra Rao, an Associate Professor of English for over three decades, taught a variety of Literature and Language courses at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's New Science, Arts and Commerce P.G. Centre, Hyderabad, and at Asmara University, Ethiopia. He has extensively published over forty research papers in prestigious journals, Indian and American. Dr Rao is a popular bilingual poet in Telugu and English. His poems have been published in local and foreign journals. He received the 'Poet of the Year 2002 Award' of the ISP. He is the recipient of the 'Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry' from the ISP, Philadelphia, in August, 2004. In January, 2008, a collection of his English poems, Viewless Wings - An Anthology of Love, was released. Dr Rao is a popular public speaker in the areas of Literature, Culture and Spirituality. Currently he is engaged in translating the dialogues of children's animation movies into English.
7. Awakening
Man's routine vision is blind to his changing contours
In the mirror,
How can self-love detect any error?
Conceited demands on fame
Exhaust its delicate frame.
Soulless speeches of self-seekers
Sniff away the flame of fine values.
Should the flame of patriotism, put off by you,
Be sparked of each time by the invader only?
Is it only then when you wake up
To the call of your Bhagwad Gita
Hitherto heard, but not listened to,
That you become the awakened Arjuna!
8. In Blinkers
"We send our kids to the best school
It's a role model run on rule
Home-work, tests, and sports
And regular weekly reports,
Our kids have no time for anything,
Their world of tuitions is everything.
We celebrate their birthdays with fanfare,
And such events are very rare
Their future is already a heaven
With all that we bestow in our haven."
"This is the chorus of all parents
In keeping with prosperity's currents.
Don't we have our own minds and hearts,
Our aptitudes and aspirations not in their charts?
Breathing inside us is the vision of a tomorrow,
Please council our parents not to be narrow."