Tamil journalist and humourist Ja Ra Sundaresan dies aged 87

He had authored over 1,000 short stories, two dozen novels and worked for ‘Kumudam’

Ja Ra Sundaresan in 2015

Senior Tamil journalist and humourist Ja Ra Sundaresan died at a private hospital on Thursday night. He was 87. He is survived by his wife and three sons.

Born in Jalakantapuram of Salem district in September 1930, Mr. Sundaresan, who had assumed the pseudonym of Bhakkiyam Ramasami, joined Tamil weekly, Kumudam , as a member of the editorial desk in 1953 and worked for the journal as assistant editor and deputy editor till 1990.

Charukesi, Tamil writer and journalist, says Mr. Sundaresan had worked in

Kalkandu , another Tamil journal, for a few years before joining

Kumudam .

A prolific writer, Mr. Sundaresan had authored over 1,000 short stories and two dozen novels. He wrote under several pen names. His main fictional characters were “Appusami” and “Seetha patti.”

He was considered to be part of a “trio” who had written replies under the popular column, “Arasu Pathilgal,” of the weekly, the other two being S.A. P. Annamalai and Ra.Ki. Rangarajan. But, Mr. Charukesi says that on a few occasions, all replies were penned only by Annamalai, who was the founder-editor of the weekly.

Mr. Sundaresan’s commentary on the Bhaghavad Gita was written in such a way that ordinary people should be able to follow the scripture. His other novel

Poongaatru , dealt with a veena maestro and he was helped by his relative, flautist N. Ramani, for writing this work, points out Mr. Charukesi.

In his later years, he ran a website, www.appusami.com and he had a large number of followers on his Facebook account, says his third son, S. Yogeshwaran.