Sujatha, aka Rangarajan, one of the prolific and great writers of Tamil and my all time favorite passed away yesterday night. He was 72. A path breaker in all senses, he had a great influence in the Tamil literary (both modern and traditional) scene for over four decades. A Engineer by profession, he had the rare combination of being proficient in Tamil (literary, contemporary, modern) as well as in Technology. Widely read and knowledgeable, he presented all his knowledge in simple Tamil and inspired a whole generation.
He came as whiff of fresh air in the times when the Tamil writing was dominated by Social/family dramas or historical novels. His unique style of writing with the uncanny adoption and identification with the masses - their way of talking, behavior, mindset and the slang included in his writings made him immensely popular cutting across the segments.
His contribution to the popularization of technology is immense - starting with his Silicon Chip writing in Dinamani Kadhir and Yen, Yedharku, Eppadi in Junior vikatan - he seemed to have time for anything and everything. At one point of time his writing alone sold most of the Tamil weeklies and Journals - he was writing in Vikatan, Kumudham, Kungumam, Kalki and Dhinamani Kadhir almost simultaneously. Later he contributed as script/screenplay writer in several Tamil movies. His notable movies include Vikram, Thiruda Thiruda, Boys and Sivaji. Most of his early novels/stories are made as movies - notable include Priya, Gaytri, Karaiyellam Senbagapoo...
Versatile and gifted he will be mostly remembered for variety of novels, stories, essays he contributed. He introduced Haiku poetry to the Tamil audience. Brought up in Srirangam, Trichy and who spent most of the later part of life in Bangalore he described both the places vividly in his various writings. Among his popular novels are Pirivom Sandhipom (not related to the recent movie on the same name), Rathham ore niram, Kolaiyudhir Kaalam among others.
Last but not least, he immortalized the Ganesh-Vasanth - the imaginary advocate pair being the main characters in most of his detective, semi-detective stories. Ganesh being a level-headed, senior advocate with Vasanth being his flirtatious Junior advocate made a fascinating reading in most of the contemporary situations his novels dealt with.
In his later days he restricted his writing to essays such as Katradhum-Petradhum which again was a hit with audience. He was more into reading in his later days especially on the old rare Tamil writings as well as the latest developments on IT and computing. Not to forget the fact that in his younger days he was involved in the design of the Electronic Voting Machine used in the Indian Elections. Surely a man of versatility and knowledge.
A compulsive smoker (Wills Filter) and a two-time-Heart-attack survived person he was not afraid of death - he was neither philosophical about it - he lived the life to its full - enjoying himself and contributing to the society in terms of sharing his knowledge. May be he could have lived a decade or more for his numerous fans .....
One of his touching writings I remember is about the early (infant) death of his younger sister and a still-born daughter - he dedicated one of his writings to them - the only time he was sentimental in any of his writings. I can still recollect the exact words - மரித்த என் தங்கைக்கும் மலராது மறைந்த என் மகளுக்கும் இதை சமர்பிக்கிறேன் - May his soul rest in peace in joining them.
[ps - posted some of the contents from the above to the Wikipedia Sujatha page - very few people (in fact it is just two ;-) who have read (both) though that I copied the content from wikipedia, I have to convince them it is not so and its the other way around ..so in case you read wikipedia and also this and feel that some of the contents are same, dont think I plagiarised the content - the contents are same becuase the author is same]
