Sixty-nine-year-old V. Gangadharan Mankurissi, a former accountant with the Food Corporation of India, believes that one’s creativity blooms with superannuation. The number of books he published after his retirement from service seems to validate his theory.
The COVID-19 outbreak necessitated a long stay at home and took his creative zest to another level. Whereas he had published six books between 2012 and 2019, Mr. Gangadharan brought out 16 works during the period.
Among the books published are 11 anthologies of Malayalam poems, four Malayalam ‘khandakavyas’ (shorter form of a narrative poem with an epic style), and a numerical analysis text.
The poems he wrote were replete with imagery from the Mahabharata. Some of his works are named Vatika, Navadhalam, Agrasanam, Sravanikam, Agrathambulam, Agrapeetom, Kalharam, Uddarsham, Athiganthi, Pradeepakam, Darsakam and Gayathram. His deep knowledge in the epic Mahabharata has found a natural vent through his poems.
A knack for figures
The book titled ‘Numerical Analysis’ stands apart, underscoring his passion for mathematics. Mr. Gangadharan claims to offer a special theory on natural numbers emphasising the unique properties of the numbers one and nine. “I loved mathematics because I had such a wonderful teacher at Government Victoria College. But it was my daily pre-dawn strolls that opened my mind to the unique properties of the numbers,” he said.
The book, according to him, can take a mathematics aficionado to newer levels of enrichment. “Anyone with a fascination for numbers will love it,” he said.
An Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWA) degree-holder, Mr. Gangadharan said he was forced to publish his books under his own banner, V.G. Publishers, when the State’s top publishers displayed a cavalier attitude to him.
He said he had been getting positive response to his books. “Reading habit is generally on the decline. However, serious readers appreciate books that give them something new,” he said.
