Now for my poetry. My first poem in Tamil was written in my 9th class in the high school in the year 1949-50. It was immediately published in the then well-known literary magazine “Vasantham” published from Coimbatore. The magazine enjoyed the patronage of the then influential industrialist and a leading public figure, Sir Shanmugham Chetty. He had the distinction of serving as India’s first Finance Minister.
The school I went to had a front-ranking poet then, the late P.Thooran who was my Head Master. So there was this inspiration. All through my years in and out of Tamil Nadu, I used to meet Thooran whenever I was in Chennai. He used to read out his latest poetry to me!
So, writing poetry for me had become a habit ever since my school days. At school I used to write a lot of poetry and some of them found publication in more than one magazine and newspapers.