Ace Tamil writer Ki Rajanarayanan passes away

CHENNAI: Popular Tamil writer, short story teller and novelist Ki Rajanarayanan passed away late on Monday night. A school drop out, he was 98.
Ki Ra, as he was popularly known in the Tamil literary circles, won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1991 for his acclaimed ‘Gopallapuratthu Makkal’ novel. Ki Ra was a master of Karisal Kaattu Kadhaigal, for narrating the folklore and stories from the arid lands of southern Tamil Nadu, especially the Kovilpatti region.
Ki Ra, the pioneer of the literary genre ‘Karisal Illakkiyam’ (the literature of the dry lands) and a master folklorist, once famously said, “I went to school only to take shelter from rain. Even then, I kept gazing at the rain”. ‘Gopalla Gramam’ preceded ‘Gopallapuratthu Makkal’. Actor Kamal Haasan, who imbibed the habit of promoting Tamil literary works while on his weekend Big Boss show last year, had recommended Ki Ra’s ‘Gopallapuratthu Makkal’ for people as a must read.
Naturally, Ki Ra’s focus was to record rural lives, complete with their stark realities. He had published over 30 books. In fact, five of his books were released at the Chennai Book Fair in 2017. “Ki Ra used literature as a tool to immortalize the life and times of the karisal kaadu and extended it to the future generations,” poet Tamizhachi Thangapandian, the present DMK MP from South Chennai, told the gathering then.
Veteran Communist leader R Nallakannu had recalled that Ki Ra’s short story ‘Kadhavu’ (Door) led to a political movement in the 1960s. In the same year (2017), DMK’s K S Radhakrishnan had expressed his anguish over the delay in awarding the ‘Jnanpith Award’ to Ki Ra. His aspiration had remained unfulfilled.
“The tall storyteller of the Tamil community in our times, Ki Rajanarayanan has bid farewell. He will live henceforth in his stories,” tweeted journalist Samas, soon after the news of Ki Ra’s passing away became public.