In a twist to the controversy over writer Jayakanthan’s purported letter commending poet Vairamuthu for his short stories, G. Natarajan, a friend of the deceased writer, on Saturday said he had drafted the letter and that it only had Jayakanthan’s approval but was not written by him.
“The content is mine. If the wording sounded highly laudatory, I take responsibility because everyone knows Jayakanthan was extremely careful in his choice of words. I took some liberty with the content as it is in appreciation of a friend,” said Mr. Natarajan, known as ‘USSR’ Natarajan.
Mr. Natarajan, a friend of Mr. Vairamuthu, conceded that Jayakanthan was not in a position to sign the letter and that only a facsimile of the writer’s signature was used. “The idea was to cut out his signature while including it in a book of short stories now being serialised in Tamil magazine Kumudham ,” he told The Hindu .
Mr. Natarajan said he was a friend of Jayakanthan for 40 years and was taking care of him for the last eight years. “I used to read out the short stories and on a few occasions, gave him the magazine after underlining important passages. He appreciated them. When I informed Mr. Vairamuthu about Jayakanthan’s reaction, he was keen on getting a letter from him so that it could be included in the short story collection,” Mr. Natarajan said.
On the Facebook post of Deepa Lakshmi, daughter of Jayakanthan, questioning the letter’s authenticity, he said as she lived in another floor of the house she was not fully aware of the letter.
Meanwhile, Marabin mainthan Muthaiah, a friend of both Jayakanthan and Mr. Vairamuthu, said the controversy could have been avoided had it been clarified that letter was not written by the late writer but only had his approval.
