My journey as a writer

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?