Nilgiris-based playwright Vithal Rajan on his love for the written word

Vithal Rajan (left) in Coimbatore
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

For someone who has seen so much of the world, Vithal Rajan’s enthusiasm for life remains unceasing. So much so that the octogenarian took to writing after a long career as peace mediator, academic and grassroots activist, with a keen eye for the many foibles that make up the human experience. A recent production of Wolfgang, a play that he wrote, received enthusiastic applause when it was staged at the ITC Welcomhotel in Coimbatore, with Rajan coming all the way from the Nilgiris to attend the performance. 

Organised by the Coimbatore Art and Theatrical Society, the production depicts the lives of eight women from diverse social backgrounds and explores themes like generational shifts, cultural contradictions, and class and religious prejudices — all laced with gentle humour. Humour is central to Rajan’s writing, which includes short stories and novels, most of them drawing from his own experiences working in the grassroots. 

“I think a lot of ideas can be conveyed through humour,” he says. “The tendency is to think that humour is rather trivial, and we take only books with a tragic story seriously. Actually, I think humour, as a medium, can convey a lot. For example, if you read PG Wodehouse, it’s very funny, and beautifully written. But the subtext of it is a critique of British class society.”

Even while expressing his delight at the play’s reception, he feels the need for a proper cultural space in the city. “I think Coimbatore is the kind of city that needs its own cultural space. It is a great industrial centre; there’s both money and talent here. I don’t think any other city in India is so blessed with successful industrialists. Establishing a cultural hub like the India International Centre in Delhi — bringing in theatre, music, art — could bring rich dividends and establish Coimbatore as more than just a manufacturing hub,” he explains.

On the subject of his writing, while the English language was Rajan’s first love, having grown up a single child surrounded by books, a vocation as a writer lay far into the future. “In those days, people would laugh if I said I wanted to be a writer. So I did various other things,” he recalls.

He chose a different path, graduating from McGill University in Canada and embarking on a career that would take him from Canada to Belfast, Ireland in the 1970s, as peace mediator. Upon his return to India, he took up several academic positions with the Administrative Staff College of India in Hyderabad, besides working with several other civil society organisations, founding the NGO Deccan Development Society and writing extensively on academic and other development-related issues. With advancing years, he realised he did not have the energy for grassroots work anymore, and that was when he decided to retire and take to writing. 

“There is a great lesson that I can share with many people: don’t give up. Because the moment I started writing, it all came out, came out like a spring out of the ground. I would say this to all: whatever you wish to do, start now, it doesn’t matter. You wanted to be a painter when you were a child? You want to learn music? Do that,” Rajan declares.

The success of Wolfgang has inspired him to consider staging the play in the Nilgiris as well. “I’ve spoken to the secretary of the Ooty Club, and if he agrees, we might take this forward,” he adds. At 88, Rajan continues to brim with ideas, drawing from his years working with NGOs and communities across India. “What I’ve come to realise is that many excellent ideas about the environment, economic development, or skills come from ordinary people. Degrees don’t matter; these are real, grounded ideas. But this has been ignored, and our administration still carries on the same administrative traditions taken by the East India Company, which is looking down on people. This is a destructive attitude, which hinders development and national growth. So, I’d like to write something about this,” he adds.