Saaral - MIT Students magazine
One of the enthusiastic activities I took part in during the first two years of my college days was being an editor in the editorial team of Saaral - our students magazine. Senior Mugunthraj of 46th batch Instrumentation was instrumental in bringing out the magazine. It was priced at Rs. 2 per copy and was partially funded by Athenaeum.
Initially I was contributing some poems and stories, but I joined the editorial team later. I covered a talk show organised by the Rotaract Club of Anna University, and I was very much appreciated for that. Leading medical practitioners such as Dr. Rudran, psychiatrist and Dr. Mathrubhootham, participated in it and it was a very entertaining session. My report on the talk show also brought me to the attention of our former Dean, Dr. A. Mathiazagan, who always encouraged me to develop my writing skills. I used to interact with him a lot to get poems from him for the magazine, and it was he who introduced me to the great Kahlil Gibran's poems. In one issue, he had translated KG's poems beautifully into Tamil and this led me to explore this territory further and now I am a big fan of KG too.
I also published my first short story in Saaral. It explored the fine distinction between love and infatuation. (Those days, many of my stories were about love and infatuation, as easily understandable!!!) The story contained some dialogues that I considered pretty revolutionary at that age and maturity. Especially the heroine of the story, when the hero came and expressed his love (infatuation) for her, would speak very much like a typical heroine in a K Balachandar film.
We introduced a crossword contest in Tamil in every issue, and I developed the crosswords for a few issues. It was a very interesting experience. Even sitting for proof reading and lay-out work at the printer's house was a very satisfactory experience.
It would not be wrong to say that Saaral allowed to me quench the journalist's thirst that was burning inside me, even when I chose to pursue engineering studies.
(Posted on 04-Apr-2004)
Initially I was contributing some poems and stories, but I joined the editorial team later. I covered a talk show organised by the Rotaract Club of Anna University, and I was very much appreciated for that. Leading medical practitioners such as Dr. Rudran, psychiatrist and Dr. Mathrubhootham, participated in it and it was a very entertaining session. My report on the talk show also brought me to the attention of our former Dean, Dr. A. Mathiazagan, who always encouraged me to develop my writing skills. I used to interact with him a lot to get poems from him for the magazine, and it was he who introduced me to the great Kahlil Gibran's poems. In one issue, he had translated KG's poems beautifully into Tamil and this led me to explore this territory further and now I am a big fan of KG too.
I also published my first short story in Saaral. It explored the fine distinction between love and infatuation. (Those days, many of my stories were about love and infatuation, as easily understandable!!!) The story contained some dialogues that I considered pretty revolutionary at that age and maturity. Especially the heroine of the story, when the hero came and expressed his love (infatuation) for her, would speak very much like a typical heroine in a K Balachandar film.
We introduced a crossword contest in Tamil in every issue, and I developed the crosswords for a few issues. It was a very interesting experience. Even sitting for proof reading and lay-out work at the printer's house was a very satisfactory experience.
It would not be wrong to say that Saaral allowed to me quench the journalist's thirst that was burning inside me, even when I chose to pursue engineering studies.
(Posted on 04-Apr-2004)
1 Comments:
At 1:26 PM,
Unknown said…
This is Anbu s/o Dr A Mathialagan.
I have read couple of articles about my father. It was really nice to see this.
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