Chennai: Ninety is not the age to sit back and merely ruminate on past happenings – at least not for C Subramaniam, a resident of Alwarpet. Beginning in 2002, he has so far published 12 books.
And the amount of work he does to produce these books would put a youngster to shame. The 12 gems that Subramaniam has produced so far are: Thuthi Malargal, Muruganin Prabhavam, Murugan Paamalai Thiruppugazh, Thiruvengadathu Innamuthan,Thiruvengadathu Innamuthan Nithya Parayana Thuthi Malar, Sri Saambha Parameswara Pooja Vidhanam, Annaiyin Arulaatchi, Kadamba Thotthra Malai, Thuthi Amudham, Thuthi Madhuram, Thuthi Malargal and Vinayagarin Varalaru – Muruganin Nithya Parayana Thoguppu.
Speaking about his father, Mahadevan says, “My father worked in Indian Overseas Bank and has been a religious person. He and my mother had vigrahams (idols) in the house and every day they would perform poojas to them. On occasions like Pournami, Visakam and Sashti and on Tuesdays and Fridays, it would extend up to three hours. My mother passed away in 2001and the next year, my father released his first book titled ‘Thuthi Malargal‘, which is a compilation of many ashtothrams, slokas and namavalis like Ganapathy Sthotram, Devi Mahatmiyam, Kamadhenu Stothram, Mangala Chandika Stothram and many others. The book was dedicated to my mother.”
“My father printed the books out of his own money and gave the books free to people. Whenever guests come to the house, he would give it to them and the book was well-received. From then on, he began writing many books and continues to give it away free,” said Mahadevan.
Subramaniam reads many books on religion and compiles information from everything and begins writing his books. Explaining about his books, his son says, “For example, if he writes about one particular deity, all the slokas, namavalis, related to the deity will be there in the book. Every year, from 2003, he has been publishing at least one book.”
Speaking about his writing style, Mahadevan says, “The first step is a collection of relevant information from multiple sources, which takes three to four months. He then starts writing the book with the information available. The notes are then grouped as required for the book and given to the proofreader. Someone from the house does it for him. After suitable corrections, the book is then given for printing. The draft is once again checked and after iterations with the publisher on content, which takes another month, the book is finally sent for printing. Usually, 100 copies are printed which will be distributed among people close to him.”
About the challenges, before the book gets printed, Mahadevan says, “Once, the copy my father gave for printing was misplaced by a publisher resulting in recreating the content which was taken from different sources. Also, most of the people do not know the Tamil he uses and they will commit a lot of mistakes while typing before it is published. But this is a big motivation for others and whatever one does, they must do it with a lot of passion and dedication. That is the learning that we can imbibe from my father and he is an inspiration for me as well,” he says.
Subramaniam is currently working on Saivam, Vainavam Kshetrangal for his next book. Subramaniam is a resident of Venus Colony, Alwarpet.
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