Sujatha - a tribute
Sujatha, the Tamil writer, passed away last week. It was known that he was not keeping great health ; he had written about his cardiac surgeries a few
years ago. But it was still a shock to me because I did not expect that someone who was so young at heart would die so soon. 73 was
not a grand old age for someone like him.
Rangarajan, the writer, assumed the pseudonym Sujatha when he started writing in 1962. He wrote in Tamil. Thousands of Tamil people
have read his works and many more certainly have heard about him. It is very difficult to grasp the personality of someone like Sujatha.
The term "writer" is just a convenient, imperfect way to encapsulate the genius that existed inside his thin physical frame.
The first time that I heard about him was in 1990 when my uncle asked me to read a short-story written by him in Kalki. The O.Henry kind of
twist baffled me then. That was just the beginning of a long, intervallic, continual literary encounter with the master. A lot of these
encounters were the articles that he wrote in Tamil weekly magazines. The man could write just about anything. He was an engineer and
retired as Director from Bharat Electronics Limited. Now the superset of his scientific education and proficiency in Tamil would
still not capture Sujatha's personality, even in a nutshell.
Sujatha's genius spanned a range of subjects where he could delve and explain at the level of an expert but in the terms that a lay man would use.
I have read articles that he had written on philisophy, psychology, computers, neuro-science (!), cardiology,
nephrology, ancient Tamil poetry, modern Tamil poetry, Srilankan Tamil poetry, metaphysics, Relativity, electronics...
The man was a genius, someone who I could not envy, admire or comprehend. I could only just read, observe and come to terms with the fact that such
"creations" do exist...just like the Grand Canyon or the Himalayas...you don't question them, you just wallow in their grandeur and forget yourself.
Sujatha wrote hundreds of novels, stories, poems, Haiku, articles, articles and articles...just anything under the sun. His humor was subtle, an
acquired taste.
And then ofcourse his involvement in movies ; he was there in filmdom from the mid-seventies until the latest Rajinikanth flick Sivaji. He worked
with Shankar for the movie Robot even in death-bed.
His contributions towards the spreading of Alwars' divine ancient Tamil verses are legendary. He had memorized all the 4000 songs of the Alwars.
In "translating" ancient Tamil poetry to modern Tamil but in retaining the grammatical rules in toto, Sujatha left a new trail for everyone to follow.
A great man who will be greatly missed, we can only be grateful that someone like him ever existed.
years ago. But it was still a shock to me because I did not expect that someone who was so young at heart would die so soon. 73 was
not a grand old age for someone like him.
Rangarajan, the writer, assumed the pseudonym Sujatha when he started writing in 1962. He wrote in Tamil. Thousands of Tamil people
have read his works and many more certainly have heard about him. It is very difficult to grasp the personality of someone like Sujatha.
The term "writer" is just a convenient, imperfect way to encapsulate the genius that existed inside his thin physical frame.
The first time that I heard about him was in 1990 when my uncle asked me to read a short-story written by him in Kalki. The O.Henry kind of
twist baffled me then. That was just the beginning of a long, intervallic, continual literary encounter with the master. A lot of these
encounters were the articles that he wrote in Tamil weekly magazines. The man could write just about anything. He was an engineer and
retired as Director from Bharat Electronics Limited. Now the superset of his scientific education and proficiency in Tamil would
still not capture Sujatha's personality, even in a nutshell.
Sujatha's genius spanned a range of subjects where he could delve and explain at the level of an expert but in the terms that a lay man would use.
I have read articles that he had written on philisophy, psychology, computers, neuro-science (!), cardiology,
nephrology, ancient Tamil poetry, modern Tamil poetry, Srilankan Tamil poetry, metaphysics, Relativity, electronics...
The man was a genius, someone who I could not envy, admire or comprehend. I could only just read, observe and come to terms with the fact that such
"creations" do exist...just like the Grand Canyon or the Himalayas...you don't question them, you just wallow in their grandeur and forget yourself.
Sujatha wrote hundreds of novels, stories, poems, Haiku, articles, articles and articles...just anything under the sun. His humor was subtle, an
acquired taste.
And then ofcourse his involvement in movies ; he was there in filmdom from the mid-seventies until the latest Rajinikanth flick Sivaji. He worked
with Shankar for the movie Robot even in death-bed.
His contributions towards the spreading of Alwars' divine ancient Tamil verses are legendary. He had memorized all the 4000 songs of the Alwars.
In "translating" ancient Tamil poetry to modern Tamil but in retaining the grammatical rules in toto, Sujatha left a new trail for everyone to follow.
A great man who will be greatly missed, we can only be grateful that someone like him ever existed.