The first ever Kusumanjali Sahitya Samman given by the New Delhi-based Kusumanjali Foundation, headed by noted Hindi writer Kusum Ansal and her industrialist-husband Sushil Ansal, was given to writers Ushakiran Khan (Hindi) and Vittal Rao (Tamil) on August 1, 2012, at India International Centre, New Delhi, by the president of the ICCR and MP, Dr. Karan Singh. The award consists of a prize money of Rs.2,50,000, a citation and a statuette.
“There is a need for preserving India’s unique literary heritage and creative works. The best literary writings in different Indian languages need to be identified and their authors recognised, felicitated and awarded. The institution of Kusumanjali Sahitya Samman by Kusumanjali Foundation is an important contribution in this field,” says Dr. Karan Singh.
The selected work may be in any genre including biography, drama, fiction and poetry, published during the past five years preceding the current year. While one award will be given every year for the Hindi work, the literature from other Indian languages mentioned in Schedule VIII of the Constitution will be divided into four regions and the second award given to a work from one region each year. In addition to the work’s merit, the author’s contribution to literature in that language will be given due consideration while evaluating the nomination.
“The selection process was tough,” says Sa. Kandasamy, author and chairman of the Selection Board for Tamil. Ms. Sivasankari and Prof. Rama Gurunathan were the other members.
“First, the advisory committee read the books and short listed eight out of 82 proposals. Mr. Indiran, Dr. R. Natarajan and Mr. Ravi Subramanian were the members of the committee, along with ex-officio member Dr. H.K. Kaul, and it met at IIT-Chennai first.
“The final selection of Vittal Rao’s book, ‘Vaazhvin Sila Unnadhangal,’ was unanimous. Doesn’t it show the quality of the work?,” asks Sa. Kandasamy.
Although a trained radiographer who initially served at the Government Stanley Hospital, Vittal Rao moved to BSNL and retired as Chief Telephone Supervisor in 2002 and is now settled in Bangalore.
Prolific writer
A prolific writer, Rao has five collections of short stories, 10 novels and over eight non-fiction works that include books on films, artists and paintings.
Vittal Rao won Ilakkiya Chintanai award for his novel, ‘Vanna Mugangal,’ and got the Tamil Nadu Tamil Development Department’s prize for ‘Tamil Cinemavin Parimaanangal.’
His ‘Thamizhaga Kottaigal’ (Forts of Tamil Nadu) fetched him the best researched book award from Tiruppur Tamil Sangam, besides numerous awards from various bodies for his portraits and oil paintings.
Vittal Rao has won the Kusumanjali Sahitya Samman for his unique presentation from articles, magazines and books that he bought from old book vendors such as Mudaliar’s shop, Naicker’s Kadai and Sangameswara Iyer’s shop in Chennai’s Moore Market, Azhwar’s open-air shop in Luz, Mylapore, Mount Road Karim Bai and many other outlets. When Vittal Rao went to pay his dues to Karim Bai, his son informed the writer about his death. Rao’s poignant narration of this scene reveals that the writer was not just a valued customer but had also touched their lives in some way. His search for Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai’s ‘Sarva Samaya Samarasa Keerthanai’ published in 1887 finally ends when a new ‘Kattu’ arrives at Iyer’s old bookshop.
Hailing from Hosur and having studied in Salem, Vittal Rao talks about Natesa Achari’s old book shop in Salem, where he finds a book with a lot of markings. Those markings were by Rao’s father. On a visit to Salem, Rao wants to buy the book from Achari, but the latter refuses to part with it, as he was preserving it as a token of his affection for Rao’s father. “Don’t take it away, my dear Thambi,” pleads Achari.
There is another episode of suspense: Rao’s wife had sold the two special Nehru Issues of the Illustrated Weekly of India along with old newspapers and his anxious search to retrieve them ended in Naidu’s Library at Nanganallur. He is willing to pay for the magazines, but Naidu refuses to accept the money!
Touching incident
Another anecdote is about Gopal, who used to bind the volumes of Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times . When Gopal has a stroke and is in bed, Rao meets him in his Mandaveli slum clearance board flat. Later, he is devastated by the news of Gopal’s death. Thus, there are several clearly-etched characters in this biography and the bond of friendship between him and the unlettered book sellers makes the incidents moving. Though this book is called an autobiography, it is refreshingly different as nowhere does Rao mention his family or other details, but goes on to narrate his unquenchable thirst in finding old English magazines and books, from Abbas and R.K. Narayan to caricature artist Frank Reynolds, Jr. and illustrator Louis S. Glanzman.
A galaxy of English writers such as Stanley Wolpret (‘Nine Hours to Rama’), Adrian Conan Doyle, William Saroyan and Mark Twain also figures in this book. Vittal Rao wonders why Mark Twain left ‘Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians’ unfinished. According to him it is still a mystery.
He talks about the serials in Life and Saturday Evening Post , while giving credit to Carlo Bavagnoli, who provided colour photographs for the serial, ‘The Whispers of Pompeii’. Vittal Rao has not only reproduced the elegy on Marilyn Munroe written by playwright and poet Norman Rosten when she died, but also mentions that the actress helped his 14-year-old daughter Patricia with $5, 000 for her studies.
Vittal Rao talks about Salim Ali, Satyajit Ray, Guru Dutt, Bhimsen Joshi and Balamurali as his interests range from authors, artists and poets to actors and singers. Rao’s quest for old books and periodicals is the pivotal point in this unusual autobiography. No wonder the jury unanimously decided to award the author with the coveted Samman. It will take another twenty years for the wheel to come full circle, when another Tamil writer gets this award!
