The Tormented Titan

Five years my senior, MT was in college while I was doing high school. I was enamoured by the very first story he wrote.

- C Radhakrishnan, Writer

More important, though we had not met, I loved him because his writing revealed a mind construct that closely reverberated with mine as we were products of the same age, social background, ethos, aspirations and world view.

I had to wait till I reached Calicut as a college student to get an opportunity to see him. A journalist working with the 'Mathrubhumi', my father's classmate, happened to be my local guardian. MT too was working there. As I went up the stairs MT's cabin was halfway, on the first floor.

Of course I didn't dare to walk in. Instead, I bent down and looked beneath the half door. All that I could see were a pair of chappals, and his feet, withdrawn from them, free and resting. This became a ritual. On some days these telltale presences were not there. I missed him.

I read whatever he wrote, my admiration developing with every addition. I had to wait for five more years to get to meet him. The opportunity came when I got the first prize in the novel writing competition the Mathrubhumi Weekly had organised for the first time and the last ever. I went there to receive the prize. Dr N V Krishna Warrier, the then editor of the Weekly, introduced me to MT. He said 'Good!' and was gone. I was disappointed, but consoled myself that he was probably a man of very few words.