Lalgudi is a popular town in Tamilnadu. The famous violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman and the amazing writer La.Sa.Ra ( Ramamirtham ) hail from this wonderful place which is the home to the famous temple of God Saptharishi and Goddess Perundhuru known as Srimathi. " Lalgudi Jayaraman had once been an guest editor for an issue of the Tamil weekly Kumudham.
Lalgudi is a popular town in Tamilnadu. The famous violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman and the amazing writer La.Sa.Ra ( Ramamirtham ) hail from this wonderful place which is the home to the famous temple of God Saptharishi and Goddess Perundhuru known as Srimathi. " Lalgudi Jayaraman had once been an guest editor for an issue of the Tamil weekly Kumudham.
While writing about Lalgudi, the violinist had stated that La.Sa.Ramamirtham ( La.Sa.Ra ) had added to the fame of Lalgudi. In fact my father and Jayaraman are cousins. It was a time when celebrities were invited to be guest editors for the magazine and my father had also edited the weekly on one occasion ", stated the ebullient La.Sa.Ra. Saptharishi.
La.Sa.Ra ( 1916 - 2007 ), the writer is well known in the Tamil speaking world. " My father was born to Srimathi and Saptharishi of Lalgudi. He was born after a long time to his parents. My grandmother Srimathi had promised Lord Ramanatha of Rameswaram that she will mop his residence ( temple ) with ghee, provided she is blessed with a child who will mop her home with his stools. I am now writing about my amazing father. He would always surprise me with his approach. Father had asked my grandfather (who had been a headmaster of a school in Ayyampettai), if the family possessed any property at Lalgudi. Interestingly, my grandfather took him to the entrance of the Saptharisheewarar temple and showed him the same. My father took a little bit of the soil and put it into his mouth after ensuring that none were observing him ", added Saptharishi who happens to be an author himself.
La.Sa.Ra.Saptharishi lives at Hosur. He had been with Ashok Leyland for nearly four decades. He is a author and has rendered 27 short stories between the years 1981 and 1983. His stories have been published by Amudhasurabhi, Kumudham, Savi, Idhayam Pesugiradhu, Ananda Vikatan and a number of other publications.
The first story was ' Pappa'. Saptharishi has watched nearly 7000 movies thus far and was happy to get quizzed on the subject. La.Sa.Ra, his wife Hymavathi, sons Saptharishi, Chandrashekhar and Srikanth are the 5 writers from the same family.
Saptharishi shared a few stories connected with his father and himself over a discussion in the company of C.K.Sivasubramaniam and Kandaswamy at their residence ' Sekkilar Nilayam ' in Vysial Street. Va.Srinivasan and Prakash of Siruvani added to the flavor of the get together. " Our hall was like the ' Pottramaraikulam ' and each one of us would be able to say what the other would have stated on a given situation. It was an open approach always. This can be best explained through this incident when my father was answering questions at a seminar on his works in Thanjavur.
On being queried why he was writing, my father stated that it was for himself. If that was the case, why publish the works, quipped a participant. My father gave a thought provoking answer. He told the audience that he used read his work and had got answers for a number of questions that he had asked himself. In fact his writings had helped him to seek answers for the questions that had come up later !
He wanted to know that if was the same with his readers and therefore had published his works." said the son of the author. The frank and outspoken La.Sa.Ra. Saptharishi narrated an unbelievable story connected with his father, " My father used to oblige his readers by accepting their love.
One day, the conductor of the bus 12B, Venkataraman by name wanted to do an eye check up for my father. My father agreed and his eyes were tested. The doctors had told him that he had to be operated upon immediately failing which he would lose his sight in both his eyes. Thanks to Venkataraman, the eyes were saved. We had not known him until then.
Years later, my colleague Venkatesh of Ashok Leyland had once done the Thiruvannamalai ' Girivalam ' on an Amavasya. It was a time when sanyasis used to go around the place. On seeing my colleague a sanyasi wanted to know the reason behind this for people normally went around on the full moon day ( Pournami). The sanyasi learnt that it was on the advice of Saptharishi. He queried whether it was writer La.Sa.Ra's son and on getting the confirmation, the sanyasi stated that he could not give up reading the works of La.Sa.Ra even after renouncing the world. This incident took me by surprise.
Time passed by and I was requested by BavaChelladurai and Shailaja of Vamsi Publications to put together 20 not so well known stories of my father and write a foreword for the same. My mother was to release the book and I had told them that the book will be received by a person of my choice. It was released by Sanyasi Venkataraman. My father's eyes had been saved by him while he managed the bus 12B nearly 40 years prior. I had just got hold of him that day and it was because of my colleague who had met him during the girivalam. Incidentally Venkataraman is the real name of Ramana Maharishi. "
Saptharishi shared a story connected with himself while sipping a hot cup of coffee. " Stories are woven around facts. They cannot be written on the basis of imagination unless it is science fiction. Basic truth is decorated with a story by the writer. Stories do influence people and I still remember the incident connected with a girl in Bengaluru.
One day a girl wanted to know if stories influence people. I told her that the readers could not be influenced. She disagreed and told me that one differentially abled child had begun to receive better attention from her mother after her mother read the story of a child who had been born with some issues. I asked her if it was the story ' Sippi ' and if the author was Saptharishi. She confirmed it and wanted to know how I could catch it spot on. I told her that I was the author Saptharishi. The girl had known me as Kannan for that was my name within my intimate circles." It was due to work of Hymavathi Ramamirtham ( wife of La. Sa. Ra ) that the dairy of the author came out as a book.
The icing on the cake was another incident that took place many years ago in Delhi. " I have already stated that a number of readers used to express their regard to my father in different ways One of them gave him some pudhina thuvayal ( mint chutney ). Once upon a time, a plump reader had invited him for lunch during a visit to Delhi. The house was accessed through a narrow stairway and the plump hostess had disappeared suddenly after serving him curd rice. She was yet to serve the pickle and was missing for a long time. My father and his friend got worried. Their hands had dried up since a lot of time had lapsed.
Finally, the lady came up the stairs huffing and puffing. She felt bad that she had made them wait for nearly half an hour. My father had written in one of his stories that ' narthangai pickle ' was eaten for the purpose of digesting the food consumed. However the 'narthangai' could not digest itself ! The lady had been reminded of that story while serving lunch and had taken the efforts to go four streets away in order to get a small helping of 'narthangai pickle' !!! The influence of literary works is quite difficult to measure, " added Saptharishi while enjoying the bajji and getti chutney.
The literary friends and readers of Coimbatore will continue to get fascinated by the stories and experiences of authors like La.Sa. Ramamirtham and his son La.Sa.Ra. Saptharishi.