Writer, journalist and freedom fighter Kalki Krishnamurthy’s most neglected novel but touted to be his favourite was Alai Osai. It was about the turbulent decades between 1934 and 1948 till Mahatma Gandhi died, seen through the eyes of ordinary people.
“He wrote it as a gut-wrenching tribute to the Mahatma. The novel moves from the villages of Tamil Nadu to the cities in the country and then smaller towns,” said playwright and his granddaughter Gowri Ramnarayan, who has translated Kalki’s biography by Sundha (M.R.M. Sundaram). The book, released recently, is titled Kalki Krishnamurthy: His Life and Times.
Speaking at a Zoom session titled “Writing with a Mission: Kalki Krishnamurthy” organised by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Chennai chapter, on Thursday, Ms. Ramnarayan said the substance of Kalki’s very famous novel Ponniyin Selvan was in a court scene where every subject in the kingdom wants prince Arul Mozhi Varman to become the king. But he refuses to sit on the throne, he makes this sacrifice for the sake of dharma and sathya (righteousness and truth). Kalki wanted this particular moment to be remembered by the readers, she said.
To a question as to who was his favourite authors, she said it was Subramania Bharathi. “When he was in school, he used to recite them as he walked to his school and back. He taught the songs to his friends. Kamban was someone he liked very much and so also the songs of Pattinathar and Ramalingaswamy. Apparently, he loved P.G. Wodehouse and Victor Hugo too,” she added.
