Though my
reputation as a writer in English is only 12 years old, my interest in writing
goes back to my school days when I was a Tamil fanatic. My school in Bombay had Tamil as a medium of instruction until the 8th standard. .An active student
member of Bombay Tamil Sangam, I was an avid reader of all the popular Tamil
weeklies and books by well-known authors of the time. I was bursting with
creative energy. I started channelizing the energy into writing in Tamil. I wrote
short stories and plays in Tamil. Not only did I act in plays written by me but
one of my plays was even staged by
students of another college. I was also actively involved with some friends in
running a manuscript magazine called `Kalai ( ART). When the school management
did not encourage extracurricular activities like plays I along with a few friends started `Manavar Kalai Arangam (
Students Cultural association) with the motto `To encourage ourselves`. Those
were heady days.
All
this was behind me when I took up the demanding advertising career and the next
43 years were spent in building a reputation as a Rural Marketing specialist. A city boy becoming a Rural Marketing Guru!.
This gave me opportunities to write
about my profession and my experiences in helping clients build their
brands in rural India in English. Many business magazines carried my articles. Simultaneously I also got involved in contributing articles
and editing the magazines of the several voluntary associations in which I was
active. I edited `Tenor` the quarterly magazine of the Madras West Round Table
No.10 for three years winning the `Krish Chitale trophy` for the Best Club
magazine award from Round Table India one year. I was the editor of
`Fellowship`, a quarterly magazine of the 41 Clubs of India which is the
Association of ex-Tablers, for six terms. Another challenging job was as the editor of `Rural
Marketing Journal` the quarterly magazine of the Rural Marketing Association of
India( RMAI) which I initiated as the Founder president of RMAI and brought it out for four consecutive years as its editor. Another
toughest assignment I took on was to bring out the Golden Jubilee commemoration
volume of the Advertising Club, Madras, as the Chairman of the Golden Jubilee
celebrations committee. My good friend Krishna, a senior member of the
club helped me in my hunt for historical materials and together we
wrote most of the articles in the volume. Though I had the advantage of my
creative and production executives helping me in producing the magazines I was
totally responsible for the contents in every issue.
I
wrote a lot during my long career as an adman and as an active member of
several voluntary organisations, honing
my skills as a writer all the time. So, when I decided to write my autobiography, a childhood
dream, it was not difficult. It had to be in English as I had completely lost
touch with writing in Tamil for over four decades, though I continued to read
popular Tamil weeklies.
I
started writing my autobiography the day after I retired as the CMD of my own
advertising agency at the age of 65- without any diary, notes or records -
purely depending on my memory. I found that every time I sat down to write, the
events and characters would float in front of me like a film. Going down memory
lane was not only fun but also therapeutic.
The
success of my autobiography in English published in 2009 paved the way for my
taking up writing as a serious hobby post retirement. At this juncture I must
record my sincere gratitude to late Mr.S.Muthiah, a veteran journalist for his
role as a mentor, constantly encouraging me to write and guiding me all the
time. Many of my articles on a variety of topics were published in the Eves
Touch magazine and Madras Musings which were edited by Mr.Muthiah. .A few of my
articles also started appearing in all the leading English dailies published
from Chennai. One of my dreams of becoming a regular columnist became a reality
when Adyar Times, a popular community weekly in Chennai started featuring my
column `Rajan`s Random Reflections `once a fortnight. Later my good friend (late) Charukesi , the veteran bilingual
writer encouraged me to write fiction. I wrote short stories. I even wrote a
novel which was published last year. Another veteran journalist and an old
classmate of mine from my college days, S.R.Madhu has also been helping me to
improve my writings with his candid comments. I quote from a letter he wrote
about my writings.
“I have read scores
of Rajan's articles. He's no wordsmith, he sometimes needs editing, but he
appeals to a wide spectrum of readers because of four qualities (a) a genuine interest in people. (b) a flair
for story-telling (c) a keen and observant eye (d)a simple and straight forward
approach -- no frills, no pomp, no philosophy, no lecturing,
no bla-bla”
I am very conscious
that I am neither a scholar nor an intellectual. My memory is poor. I cannot
quote from our scriptures, mythology or literature. I am no good at long
descriptions of places and things. My vocabulary is limited. Yet if have managed to appeal to my
readers, I believe it is because
of my simple language , spoken straight from the heart.
In my long stint as
a writer I always wrote the first drafts
by hand. Since I could not decipher my own handwriting, it was my ever
efficient secretary Srividya, who would type
the drafts as she could decipher 90% of my writing correctly. I would then
start correcting and revising the typed drafts until I was satisfied with the
output. Even after I retired I continued to send the scanned copies of my manuscripts to her which she would transcribe and send me. It was a great help.
In the last couple of years I have learnt
to key in my articles/stories directly on the computer. Saving a lot of time.
As
a person who believes in the policy of `Early to Bed, early to rise` I find
that I am at my creative best during the morning hours between 4.30 am and
6.00am, considered as the Brahmamuhurtham
by our elders.
Very
early in my evolution as a writer /author I had decided that I will try to
cover all genres of writing.. So far my published books cover six genres: autobiography,
rural marketing (an industry), essays, history of an association, short stories
and a novel.
As
the seventh genre of writing, I chose a
translation job because of my comfort level with both English and Tamil.
Besides I also had the lessons I learnt from
Charukesi, who had translated my autobiography into Tamil. I am grateful
to Dr.J.Bhaskaran, a practicing dermatologist and rising star in the world of
Tamil literature, for giving me permission to translate selected short stories
from his first collection `Thedal` which has been published with the title `The
Search and other stories`
Though the
initial response to my translation job is encouraging, I am not sure I would
like to continue with this genre of writing. I always like to challenge myself
with new projects which keep my adrenalin flowing and make my life interesting.
Poetry does not interest me and I am too far removed from plays to write one.
What else? Any suggestions from my readers?
