Sujatha Rangarajan - Anita: A Trophy wife

westland publications ltd

ANITA: A TROPHY WIFE

Sujatha (19352008) was one of the most popular authors in Tamil literature and his literary career spanned more than four decades. Widely-read and knowledgeable, his versatility and exhaustive range were his unique selling points.

Writing in simple and lucid Tamil, Sujatha made a tremendous impact with his contemporary and racy writing, and his radical and original ideas. His experiments with different genres, and the dramatic narration of ordinary, everyday events won him his audience and many accolades. His works stood out at a time when Tamil writing was dominated by social and family dramas and historical novels. His identification with the masses, and his depiction of their way of talking, behaviour, mindset, dialect and slang, helped make him popular across multiple demographic segments.

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Meera Ravishankar is a lawyer, an educationist, a language and communication trainer in addition to being a writer and translator. Meera loves taking on challenges, and is happy to straddle many worlds, be it writing text books for school children, training corporates, developing content or doing translations.

Meera has done bilingual translations both from Tamil to English and English to Tamil. Her notable translations into Tamil are Chetan Bhagats Two States, Revolution 2020, Five Point Someone and Rujuta Diwekars Dont Lose Out, Work Out!

An ardent fan of Sujata and his writings, Meera is grateful for the opportunity to introduce Sujatha to a larger audience.

westland publications ltd

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First published in Tamil in 1971

First published in English by westland publications ltd in association with Mysticswrite 2017

Copyright Sujatha 2017

Translation copyright Meera Ravishankar 2017

978-93-86224-92-7

All rights reserved

Typeset in Chaparral Pro by SRYA, New Delhi

The author asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the publishers.

SUJATHA: Writer nonpareil

SUJATHA (19352008) was the pseudonym of the Tamil author S. Rangarajan. He was one of the most popular authors in Tamil literature and his Tamil literary career spanned more than four decades. Widely read and knowledgeable, he presented his knowledge in simple and lucid Tamil. Most of his writing was intended for the commercial media, but never did he compromise on the quality of his work.

He worked in many fields, was a bibliophile and hence was inspired to write in a whole range of genres and on a number of subjects. As an engineer with BEL, he invented the voting machine. He also worked in an airline. His versatility and exhaustive range are his unique selling points. Actor Kamal Hassan once commented that for the biggest love of his life, Tamil writing, Sujatha baptized it with his lady loves name (Sujatha was his wifes name).

Sujathas writing style was his biggest contribution to the Tamil language. It was full of energy, innovative, minimalistic and often mischievous. His columns for Tamil weeklies such as Ananda Vikadan, Kumudam and Kalki were widely read and won him numerous fans across all age groups. He drew thousands of youngsters to Tamil literature with his lucid and engaging style. Among his famous writings was a column in Kanaiyazhi (Kadaisi Pakkam), which was known for its brutal frankness and rapier-sharp comments. In fact, for this column, he wrote in his original name and even criticized his own works penned in the name of Sujatha!

His style is also acclaimed as natural, incidental and never contrived. Despite his vast vocabulary he is known for his sharp writing, never waxing eloquent and significantly, never attempting an overkill. He did not exaggerate events or emotions, remained rooted to reality but at the same time never trivialized. His humour was often self-deprecating. He also visualized the scene and painted the picture vividly for the audience. He believed that, just as in films where twenty lines of meandering writing can be condensed into a single frame, ones writing style needed to be tight and gripping.

He was the first to write science fiction in Tamil. He made science easy and accessible to the layman. He even compiled a list of Tamil-equivalent words for computer terminology.

He began writing in 1962 and never stoppedmaking an impact with his trendy and racy writing, his radical and original ideas, experimenting in different genres and creating a dramatic narration of ordinary, everyday events which won him his audience and many accolades. His works stood out at a time when Tamil writing was dominated by social and family dramas and historical novels. His identification with the masses, and his uncanny adoption of their way of talking, behaviour, mindset, dialect and slang, helped make him popular across multiple demographic segments.

Often accused of being overly influenced by Western ideas, he once clarified that they were recreated to fit into the Tamil arena. Many tried to follow his inimitable style only to fail because his writing was subtle and never explicit and loud. He made Tamil engaging and colloquiala great flow, at times hilarious and often brilliantnever boring! His choice of vocabulary was not only apt but picture perfect; his technique, descriptions, emotions and edge-of the seat, thriller-inspired, flashy narrative style are well known. He also had a penchant for depicting the absurdities of life.

Sujathas strength was that he wrote of things that he knew. He often used contexts and settings that he knew in real-life in his novels and they would invariably revolve around the following locales: Srirangam, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Delhi. He was a clever storyteller: characters and environment are brought to life with brilliant observation, and then penetrated deeply with sharp satire.

Most people who met him in person emerged dazed by his warmth, his hospitality, his willingness to learn and exceptional humility. He used to jocularly comment: Never visit your favourite writer; for the scales may fall from your eyes! But he was an exception to this.

Among his favourite writers was P. G. Wodehouse, who died while typing a word on his typewriter; Sujatha said he would also like to write until his last breath, which he did!

One of his pet phrases was: It isnt kamba sootram; meaning, nothing is rocket science. He had the supreme ability to break concepts into byte-sized inputs and also make them interesting and relatable! One could say he enhanced the readers quality of reading and walked companionably along with them in their journey of exploration and intellectual discovery.

Among others, Sujatha immortalized the characters of GaneshVasanthan imaginary advocate pair serving as the main characters in most of his detective stories. Ganesh is a level-headed, senior advocate and Vasanth is his flirtatious junior. The GaneshVasanth pair was probably based on James Hadley Chases characters, Vic Malloy and his sidekick. Vasanth is a character through whom he documented the changes that he observed happening around him. Vasanth keeps changing his car, the style, the lingo, and his women!