If I were to visualize a Genius,
it would only represent the image of Sujatha, the versatile Tamil writer, the great learned person who introduced sci-fi
to tamil readers. Tamil koorum
nallulugam is still reading and appreciating the very many short stories,
novels, poems, plays, screenplays for movies, articles on popular science and
other non-fiction articles, that he left behind for the Tamil readers. His Q & A on Science questions in
magazines like Junior Vikatan enlightened the readers making them understand the
greatness of Science and more.
Srirangam Rangarajan, born at
Thiruvallikkeni [Triplicane] penned under the pseudonym Sujatha writing volumes
of stories, Stage dramas and slim volume of poems too in a career than spanned more
than four decades. An engineer by profession, he was proficient in the language
of technology. By profession, he was involved in the usage of Electronic Voting
Machines [EVM] used for the first time at Parur and thus in way changed the
way, Indian electorate voted. He also
immortalized Ganesh-Vasanth - an imaginary advocate pair serving as the main
characters in most of his detective stories. Ganesh is a level-headed, senior
advocate and Vasanth is his junior advocate who could flirt too. It was a very sad day when he passed away on
27th Feb 2008.
Remember a very interesting
story written by him, in Kumudam Deepavali Special [if my memory is right!]
titled ‘Raani thalai kizh’ [under the head of Queen] ~ read the footnote too on
the title…
As a critic when he wrote about
Cinema, he used to comment that the storyline could easily be written on the
backside of a postal stamp ~ meaning that story is a one or two liner !! This was a story about a stamp………. typically occurring
at Srirangam, the place where Sujatha grew.. the place which provided ideal
background for many of his stories.
It was a story with an ailing
person not so well taken care of ~ in an ancestral home in the mada veethis of
Thiruvarangam. His last days pass by
with not any of his lineage attending to him. It is a big palatial house and the person lays
in dead bed expecting the expected to happen……… those around want the property
to bequeathed in their favour. … his senses are slowly getting down and on a
day with some people around, he mumbles ‘raani thalai kizh’.
His kith and kin have a strong
sense that he has earned well and has hidden the treasure somewhere ~ they
sieve the house, every nook and corner, but could not locate the hidden
treasure, nor have any sense of what the wealth, the richness could be… they search and search again under the cot and
other places, trying to decipher that the treasure could be under the head of ‘raani’
~ what was that Raani and where was it could not be deciphered.
The man passes away ~ the
relatives search thoroughly all his belonging……. Nothing much could be found…..
then with frustration, they start throwing all the man had left behind to the
dust bin…… the Corporation lorry comes collects and loads them with all the
other waste of the city……
The story concludes with realization
dawning that it was not ‘under the head of Raani’ ~ but ‘Raani upside down’…. Yes
the old man had in his possession, a stamp of Victoria Queen which erroneously
was printed ‘upside down’…… the stamp collectors World over had been keen to
buy the same for hundreds of pounds and thus was worth in lakhs…….. the man in
his dying moments had perhaps tried to indicate that…. Which those interested
in inheriting his wealth were not aware of…..
The concluding lines were ‘the
stamp [the one that had Queen Victoria
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar .
21st Jan 2013.
PS :
In Tamil, the title was ‘Raani thalai kizh’ - litetrally translated would mean ‘under the
head of Queen, if one were to read as Raani thalai kizh’; if one were to read
thalai and kizh together i.e., ‘rani thalaikizh ~ it would mean Queen upside
down’……
####################################
Now read this newsitem in Daily Mail…
The
topsy-turvy stamp expected to fetch £70,000: Printing mistake turned Queen Victoria
• 159 year-old misprinted stamp highly
sought after by collectors
• One of the first multi-coloured stamps
of its time and only 25 exist
By
Daily Mail Reporter – published on 20 Jan 2013.
A
rare 159-year-old stamp that has an image of the head of Queen Victoria Calcutta
The
mistake went unnoticed and dozens of the stamps were sold in India , which was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire at the time. Because of the misprint, the stamp is highly
sought-after because it is rarer than stamps with the image the right way up. Only
about 20 or 30 of the stamps remain in existence today and the one that is to
be auctioned is said to be completely free of faults or blemishes. It was in
the collection of renowned US
Auctioneers
Spink of London has put an estimate of between 50,000 to 70,000 pounds. David Parsons, a stamp specialist at Spink's,
said: 'This is an incredibly rare stamp, with about 25 known examples in the
world. 'There was an accident during the printing process which meant the
Queen's head was upside down. 'Collectors of stamps love inverted stamps
because they are so startling. 'Queen Victoria 's head appeared on stamps in India
The
stamp will be auctioned off at Spink's of London Victoria
The
auction takes place on January 23.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265579/The-topsy-turvy-70-000-stamp-Extremely-rare-item-Queen-Victorias-head-printed-upside-hammer.html
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