For 64-year-old R. Chandrasekaran, Thuglak is more than just a magazine. It has been part and parcel of his life since its launch in 1970, epitomising his admiration for its creator Cho Ramaswamy.
Stacked up on the shelf of his home at Karnambut, a little over 11 km from the district headquarters, are the complete collection of Cho’s Tamil magazine Thuglak . Some of the old issues have been carefully hand-bound for better preservation.
Mr. Chandrasekaran’s admiration for the renowned political satirist goes back to nearly half a century when he turned up for his all his dramas without fail. As a schoolboy in Mylapore, Chennai, he started to watch the popular dramas of Cho, including the political satire Mohamed Bin Thuglak .
“I have watched all the dramas of Cho. In fact, I have watched Mohamed Bin Thuglak for at least 15 to 20 times. His plays are special because it reflected the political scenario of the time, and is in fact, relevant even to the present day,” he said.
What drew him to Thuglak was Cho’s “honesty” in writing. He began reading Thuglak when it was launched in 1970, and with every issue, his admiration for Cho and his writing only grew. He started to collect every issue of the magazine.
In fact, his admiration for Cho earned him the moniker “Cho Se” (Sekar being his name) among family and friends.
Among all issues of the magazine, the one dated July 15, 1975 is close to his heart. “It was the time of emergency in India, and the first page of the magazine was in black. In the editorial, a letter from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi was published, while it also carried a review of movie starring MGR, ‘Sarvadhikari’. This was cleverly done at the time of press censorship,” he recalled.
Each time the price of the magazine was increased, Cho reasoned it to the readers with a sense of humour.
This retired manager of a private company, who has met Cho a few times, considers his collection a treasure.
“The subjects of his writing reflect the current social and political scenario. For me, there is no journalist like Cho in the country. Nobody can match his political satire,” he pointed out.
