On Padmarajan’s 79th birth anniversary, here are a few excerpts from the book ‘Padmarajan ente Gandharvan’ written by Radhalakshmi Padmarajan and published by Mathrubhumi Books.

In the meantime, my letters were discovered again. My father wrote to Padmarajan again: ‘This relationship should end’. I reacted vehemently when I found out. I threatened my parents that I would leave home.

After this, Padmarajan’s letters to me were sent to Mohan Menon’s address. As a mother, I now understand how much my actions would have hurt my parents. In any case, my mother must have understood my feelings correctly. She said to me, ‘There are issues in the horoscope for a year and a half; we can fix everything after that’. 

When Unniyettan’s (brother) marriage was almost fixed, he wrote to his father, ‘Don’t stand against her wishes. If this is what her fate is, we can’t stop it.’

Gradually, the atmosphere at home cooled down. Everyone except my uncle did not voice much objection to this relationship. Mother had only one demand: ‘Padmarajan must come and ask for your hand’.

During this time, Padmarajan’s story ‘Chundal’ was published in the Mathrubhumi Weekly on June 15, 1967. This was his second story to be published. With that, Padmarajan began to be noticed in the literary field. The story used to be aired on Akashvani every now and then.

He wrote a story titled ‘Parvathikutty’ to present on radio. This was based on an incident that I told him about. It centred around a person who was very close to me. Although the events were fictional, the setting of the story was quite realistic. This created a rift between my friend and me. 

When the story was published in a newspaper, people in my area began noticing it. Soon, ‘Parvathikutty’ and Padmarajan became the talk of the town. That story turned many people I knew into my enemies. My friends scolded me, saying that this was a big mistake. 

Padmarajan expressed remorse for hurting the sentiments of many people. ‘Will you say sorry to Parvathikutty on my behalf? he wrote. After a while, when I was wallowing in the sorrow of having lost my friend, she came to meet me with her husband and daughter. We hugged, and as I cried into her shoulders, At that moment, I wished Padmarajan were with me to witness this.