For Viswanathan Subramaniam, a man fascinated by the voices of Peri Como, Jim Reeves, Nat King Cole that he avidly followed on Radio Ceylon, with no interest whatsoever in Carnatic music, being given a pen name Charukesi, based on a raga was probably a forerunner of the direction his life was to take. From writing short stories and features to reviewing Carnatic music concerts, this energetic 78-year young man has just crossed a milestone, completing 60 years of his writing career.
A deep quest to spread his wings and explore and experience the world beyond the small town of Salem where he grew up, young Viswanathan moved to Madras. A job with Faizer & Co after a few small jobs initially, gave him financial security, allowing him to pursue his other passion, which was writing. Armed with the pen name given by his friend Vagoolan, Charukesi began his writing stint with an article for a children’s fortnightly Kannan published by the Kalaimagal group followed by another for Kalkandu magazine. He soon became a regular contributor of short stories and humorous articles to almost all major tamil magazines such as Ananda Vikatan , Kalki , Kumudam , and Dinamani Kadir .
A turning point came when he met the editor of Kalki , Ki.Rajendran, after winning a prize for a humorous short story, ‘Ulaga Maamiyargale Onru Serungal.’ The encouragement that he got from Rajendran to write features and interviews led to his transition from the world of fiction to the arena of hardcore reality. Interviewing people ranging from politicians to film stars, artists to aam admi, beaurocrats to businessman gave him deep insight into understanding human nature. He fondly recalls some special interviews with people such as R.K. Lakshman, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Maharajapuram Santhanam.
All this was not an easy task. It entailed extensive homework and Charukesi happily burnt midnight oil. He was meticulous in getting his information and facts right, transferring his thoughts into words, and maintain the various deadlines of the publications. A noteworthy quality in him is the ability to learn new things, be it attaining proficiency in English or learning the nuances of Carnatic music. It is this enthusiasm that led to his being roped in as an executive committee member of Natyarangam, dance wing of Narada Gana Sabha.
Charukesi has travelled widely across all districts of Tamil Nadu for the ‘Madham oru mavattam’ series for Kalki , visited Singapore, Malaysia and other countries. He has interviewed Prime Ministers ,Chief Ministers, writers, celluloid personalities, musicians and dancers in his long tenure. He has translated many books from English and other languages to Tamil and vice versa and has won prizes for his stories, reviews and translations .
How would Charukesi sum up his career? A simple man of few words, he has only this to say: “Writing got me a lot of friends and I have not lost a single one of them all these years.’’
