Eminent writer 'Sujatha' dead

Chennai, Feb 27 (UNI) Eminent Tamil Writer Sujatha passed away today at the Apollo Hospitals here after brief illness.

He was 72. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

Sujatha, whose real name was S Rangarajan, was born in Triplicane in Chennai on May three, 1935 but spent his childhood in Srirangam near Tiruchirapalli under the care of his paternal grandmother owing to his father's frequent transfers in his government job.

Mr Rangarajan attended Srirangam Boys High School. He did his Bachelors Degree in Physics in St Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli where he was the classmate of President Abdul Kalam.

Later on, he did his engineering in electronics at the Madras Institute of Technology.

Sujatha's forte was science fiction writing. He had also written many film scripts notable among which was Kamal Hassan's Vikram.

His writing interests were largely inspired by the short stories and serials published in popular Tamil magazines and literary magazines.

After his Engineering degree, he joined the Central Government in Delhi.After 14 years in government service, he joined Bharat Electronics at Bangalore.

In Bharat Electronics, he rose to the post of General Manager.

After retirement, he settled down in Chennai.

Sujatha received an award from the India's National Council for Science and Technology in 1993 for making science accessible to the public through popular media.

He also received the VASWIK Award for Electronic Voting Machine and Kalaimamani Award from the Tamil Nadu Government.

He is the writer of over 100 novels, 200 short stories, essays stage plays, and popular articles and Q&A on science UNI VV-GM LS KP2309