Down memory lane
Thursday, 18.02.2010, 10:07am (GMT+5.5)
INCIDENTS OF happy days never fade away, and when a veteran journalist like ‘Kalki’ Rajendran walks down memory lane, the result is a treasure of spicy and fascinating anecdotes. In this collection, he reminisces about the ‘golden era’ when he was witness to significant events and throws light on some interesting dimensions of personalities such as T.K.C., Rajaji, T. Sadasivam and M.S. Subbulakshmi, apart from his own father, ‘Kalki’ Krishnamurthy.
It is amazing that Kalki did not keep the synopsis of his mammoth historical novel ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ — all that he had are some marginal remarks in a book of Chola history which he used for reference. His sense of humour, particularly the aspect that he could enjoy a joke at his own expense, comes across in the episode where ‘Somaas’ (who was on the staff of ‘Kalki’, the magazine) mimicked him.
The legendary M.S.’s characteristic simplicity; Lata Mangeshkar listening to M.S. in a recording studio; Vasanth Desai composing the tune for the Sage of Kanchi’s lyric of the song she sang in the United Nations; Rajaji’s love and affection for Kalki’s children; and the serious and lighter sides of Sadasivam — all these are told in a gripping manner.
‘Kalki’ Rajendran; Vanathi Pathippagam, 23 Deenadayalu Street, T. Nagar, Chennai-600017. Rs. 100.
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