Charukesi is the name of a beautiful ragam in Carnatic music, which is also the pseudonym of Viswanathan Subramanian, the well known bilingual writer, author, music/dance critic, translator and a columnist.
When I asked him why he chose `Charukesi` as his pen name,
he said,
`Initially I was writing in my original name, but my good
friend ‘Vadoolan’ said Viswanathan was a very common name and suggested this instead. I was not even aware then that it was a name
of a popular raga!`
He was also not aware
then that one day he would be asked to write music reviews! Though he had no formal training in music he picked
up the knowledge over a period of time.
` I used to attend 3 to 4 concerts of Carnatic and
Hindustani music every week. With the help of some reference books, I slowly
picked up the format and began writing reviews`.
This multi dimensional writer who has completed 60 years in writing had his first article published in the then
popular children`s magazine `Kannan` in their issue dated 15th April,1955, when he was just
17 years old . The favourable response
and the princely sum of Rs. 5/- he received for the one-page article besides
the encouragement he got from the editor `Aarvi`, motivated him to continue writing articles and
stories aimed at children. In the initial years he specialized in writing
humour-based articles on a variety of topics, which were published by Kannan,
and `Kalkandu`. Charukesi fondly remembers the encouragement
he received from the legendary Tamilvanan, editor of Kalkandu – a popular youth
centric weekly. Once when Charukesi had attended a meeting in
Salem at which Tamilvanan was the speaker, he found that after the meeting
Tamilvanan had to jump out of rear window in the hall to escape the over enthusiastic
youngsters who were trying to mob him!
A writer who was known for his humorous essays in Tamil,
Charukesi got his first short story published in `Kalki` weekly in March, 1960.
Kalki, particularly its editor K.Rajendran encouraged Charukesi to write on a
variety of subjects covering medicine, literature, painting, politics, theatre,
administration, industry, etc. Kalki’s
Industrial Supplement brought out the industrial and business growth of
Tamilnadu, every year . Charukesi
participated in Maadham Oru Maavattam
and Maadham Oru Nagaram features of Kalki and even did a serial on Top 10
collectors of TN. Looking at his
penchant for humour Rajendran also encouraged him to write political satires.
While contributing articles for Kalki, he continued to write short stories
which were published by Ananda Vikatan, Kalki, Dinamani Kadir, Amudhasurabi,
Kalaimagal, and Kumudham
When did the Tamil writer switch to writing in English as
well?
“ During my stint in Pfizer in Ahmedabad between 1965-70, I
had contributed a few articles for our company’s house magazine ‘Crucible’
which were well appreciated. That gave
me the confidence to write in English.
When I returned to Chennai, I tried my hand at writing for the Sunday Supplement
of The Hindu. Two of my articles got published. Later on editor of Week End Express S.
Viswanathan gave me an opportunity to review Tamil books in English. I was also encouraged to do interviews. Then a chance writing of a review of a
play in Town Talk column in Economic Times, prompted its editor K.S. Latha
offering me opportunities to write about the events or personalities of their
choice every week. I was also contacted
by The Hindu’s Friday Review Editor Ms. Geetha Venkatramanan to write not only music reviews but also on pother
topics. Another editor who encouraged
me was V. Ramnarayan of ‘SRUTI’.” So while I was continuing to write stories
and essays in Tamil, I was also noticed as a writer in English.
Charukesi`s reputation as an excellent translator of books started
with an assignment to translate Sudha
Murty`s three books from English to Tamil. This was followed by many others: the diplomat
R. Kannan’s voluminous book on CN Annadurai
which he found challenging
as original quotations in Tamil had to
be inserted in appropriate passages, from 112 books! Equally challenging was Sathyamurthi `s Letters
in two volumes. Gurcharan Das - `Difficulty
of Being Good`; Devdutt Patnaik’s ` Jaya (Mahabharata)`; Peter Gonsalves p- ‘Clothing For Liberation’ ; `Lost Years of the
RSS` by Sanjeev Kelkar; `When the Penny
Drops` by R. Gopalakrishnan; ‘As I See It’ by Kiran Bedi and few more self
improvement books for CBH Publications.
He had also translated two books for Sri Ramakrishna Math last year –
‘Ancient Indian Greats’ and `Swamiji & Netaji`. Among the eight notable books he translated from Tamil to English are Guru
Bhakti; Guru & the Disciple; Pathway Prasad’s biography ‘A Leaf In the
Stream’; Gem Granites Veeramani’s
biography; the biographies of Justice
Karpagavinayagam and industrialist Palani G. Periasamy .
Charukesi`s published
books include -Three collections of
short stories for children – `Kakitha Padagu, Natpu Valarga and Oru Kilai
Paravaigal. Two collections of
humorous short stories – Thummalukku Kai
Koduppom Irumalukku Kural Koduppom & Oru Nayamaana Kadhal; a serious
short story collection titled ‘Nagai’. This is being translated into English by C.G. Rishikesh and is being
released at a function to be held on 16th April in Chennai. His recent book of collection of articles in
different Deepavali Malars and other special issues titled Mammootty Mudhal Manmohan Singh Varai was released last month in
Malaysia by Kalaignan Pathippakam, Chennai
Among the books published by Vikatan
Publications, his book on Kanchi Mahaswami based on actual
experiences by his devotees is in its sixth edition. His travelogue ‘Cheena Anubhavangal’ was
serialized in Kalki and then was brought out as a book.
Apart from the prizes he won for his stories in Kalki,
Kumudam and Kanaiazhi he highly values the `The Best Translator Award` he got
from Kalaimagal magazine- instituted by Ka Sri Sri family. Ka Sri Sri himself
was an outstanding translator who had translated into Tamil all the works of
the famous Marathi writer V.S.Khandekar. `Ilakkia Veedhi ` honoured him with best
review award of the year for his review of the novel Tharayil Irangum Vimanangal` by Indumathi.
Among the unforgettable experiences he encountered in life
as a writer he recalls his visit to UP along with photographer Yoga to do a
feature on the elections in 1984 for Kalki magazine. On the way to Delhi, when the train stopped
at Bhopal station, Yoga felt a burning sensation in his eyes. They also found a
lot of passengers getting into the train with bandaged eyes. When he learnt first- hand about the Bhopal
Gas tragedy from the affected people, he did a special story for Kalki
magazine.
Once when he was interviewing E.M.S. Namboodiripad, the well
known Marxist leader, he heard an
interesting anecdote about him. EMS was
known to stammer while speaking, When
somebody asked EMS whether he always stammered he quipped, ` No, I only stammer
whenever I speak`.
Charukesi also remembers the humility of Manmohan Singh whom
he had gone to interview in 1991for Kalki , when he had just become the Finance
Minister. Not only did MS profusely
apologise for a missed appointment the previous day but also walked with him up
to the door to see him off, after completing the interview.
Born in a big family, Charukesi was the second son in the
family. After his schooling in Salem he got a D.Com from the Indian Merchants
Chamber. He joined Pfizer Ltd, the multinational pharmaceutical company as a
general assistant in 1960 in Chennai and retired as the Officer-in- charge of
the Chennai Depot of the same company in 1998. All through his working career
he continued to write as a hobby. He became a full time writer after his
retirement. A prolific writer he
continues to pound away on his PC, both in English & Tamil, for at least 4 to
6 hours every day churning out interesting articles/stories.
Currently Charukesi contributes a weekly column in Dinamani,
apart from writing for Hindu, Kalki, Mangayar Malar, Amudhasurabi and Madras
Musings. He is also the Managing Trustee of the Devan Endowments which honoured
two eminent writers/artists every year till 2013, besides organising Devan Memorial
lectures in association with Madras Book Club. An active committee member of
the Natyarangam of Narada Gana Sabha for several years he was recently elected
to the executive committee of the Narada Gana Sabha.
Charukesi`s looks are deceptive. A humble and a serious man in person his sense
of humour in his writings is palpable. He also packs a lot of energy in his
thin, lean frame. A prolific writer, he has written over 8000 articles and a
couple of hundred short stories in the last six decades.
A septuagenarian ( he is 78), he lives
with his siblings in his own modest apartment in Abhiramapuram while continuing to write more than a dozen articles/stories
every month . ‘Walking keeps me healthy’
says Charukesi. He loves travel, Hindi
film music and reading books.
Edited version of this article appeared in Madras Musings issue dt.
April, 1 -15,2016
.
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