Book of cartoonist, journalist and playwright T.S. Sridhar released

The book ‘No.1 Vellala Street’, a recollection of the early life of cartoonist, journalist and playwright T.S. Sridhar alias Bharaneedharan alias Marina, was released on Saturday.

While speaking at the event which doubled as centenary celebration of T.S. Sridhar, N. Ram, director of The Hindu Publishing Group said, Marina was one of the three creative identities of Sridhar. “[He used] his own name as a skilled cartoonist and illustrator for Ananda Vikatan; as an influential and acclaimed playwright, memoirist and writer of witty and humorous articles and books, he was Marina; as Bharaneedharan, he was a prolific chronicler of India’s religious and cultural heritage. It is unusual for someone to do possibly equally well in three fields over a lifetime,” he added.

Mr. Ram said, psychologist Howard Gardner talks about how childhood of a certain kind can be a cradle for creativity. “What Gardner says is, if during early life children have the opportunity to discover much about their world and to do so in a comfortable exploring way, they will accumulate invaluable capital of creativity. Marina’s No.1 Vellala Street, bears witness to the plausibility of Gardner’s thesis,” he added.

In Marina’s recollection, the doors of No.1 Vellala Street were always open to everybody, he said.

Maalan (V. Narayanan), senior journalist and writer, said, Sridhar encouraged young people, and had confidence in them. He noted that Sridhar was a remarkable editor, and he never used his position as a journalist for his personal gains. He was a good translator too, he added. 

T.S. Narayanaswamy, artist and nephew of Sridhar said, he never compromised on his principles or strong views and remained fiercely independent till the very end.

T.S. Tirumurti, former Permanent Representative of India to the U.N., said, Sridhar himself had translated the book Chinna Vayathinile into English, and he called it ‘No.1 Vellala Street’, after the address where he lived. 

“But somehow the script languished for years, forgotten, until his brother, T.S. Gopalakrishnan, salvaged the script for us. I can say with conviction that this book ranks on a par with some of the best, like Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer. It’s in Marina’s own unique voice,” he said. 

Renowned artist and illustrator Maniam Selvan, veteran theatre actor ‘Kala Nilayam’ Chandru, Keshav Venkatraghavan, eminent artist and cartoonist and Sudha Seshayyan, director, SASTRA, Chennai, were among those who spoke at the event. 

Two scenes from Marina’s famous ‘Thanikudithanam’ were also enacted on the occasion.