Chennai: When Ravi Ranganathan spent his days working hard in a leading bank as a senior officer, little did he know that he would be spending his time writing fiction post retirement. Today, the resident of Saligramam had published two books to his name.
His poems are featured regularly in many anthologies and they are well received. In a recent anthology on “Madras Muse, Myriad Views” released in connection with Madras week, he wrote an article about Vadapalani and a poem titled “Chennai Chimes”.
From college days, Ravi has been into writing. He was in fact a part of the editorial team in his college’s magazine. Ravi credits his father for his love for writing. “He was my first inspiration and I remember him reading and writing often,” recalls Ravi. While pursuing his college degree, Ravi spent his time reading loads of books.
Speaking about his method of writing, Ravi says he finds inspiration anywhere. “I keep jotting down my ideas on a paper,” he says. He even pens them down on bus or train tickets while commuting throughout the city. “Ideas come to me from various places,” he says.
He says he finds most of his spark is when he reads a good book. “Recently when I was reading a poem it inspired me to write about nature,” he says. Ravi reveals that he enjoys to pen about nature, life and the human mind. “Even when you read some small article on newspaper, it makes me expand it into a fictional story,” he says.
Ravi extensively uses Facebook to posts some of his poems. It became a hit among his FB friends and eventually it fell into the hands of a publisher who was interested to publish his book. “I was very lucky that they recognised my skill,” smiles Ravi. Thus, eventually his two books, “Lyrics of Life” and “Blade of Green Grass” for published.
Ravi signs off the conversation sharing tips to budding writers. “The more you read, the more you write,” he says. “You should read as much as possible to learn and improve your craft.” His third poetry book, “Of Cloudless Climes” will be released soon. Ravi can be reached at [email protected] or 95660 04605.