Rangarajan Kazhiyur Mannar (July 23,1958.)

I belong to Kazhiyur Village near Cheyyar, North Arcot, Tamil Nadu, India. The family tree, all members of which are great astrologers, is as under:

Late Kazhiyur M Veeraraghava Iyengar
Late Kazhiyur M Alwar Iyengar (1840-1912)
Late Kazhiyur M Venkatesan Iyengar (1866 - 29.12.1944) alias Kuppan Iyengar, my great grandfather
Late Kazhiyur M Ananthalwar Iyengar (25.12.1901 - 10.2.2003) , My grandfather

Shri Kazhiyur M Ramanujam Iyengar.. my father staying with me


Though native of Tamil Nadu, South India, I, as in the case of my 4 brothers (Vasudevan, Purushothaman, Veeraraghavan, Ravi and a sister (Vijayalakshmi) , was born in Vijayawada, on the banks of River Krishna, in Andhra Pradesh, India. When every one used to head to cool hill stations, during summer vacations
we used to go to Vijayawada, one of the hottest hubs of A.P. Those days, almost daily we used to bathe in River Krishna, pray in the ancient Kanaka Durga temple atop the hill and play in the evenings in Gandhi Hill and for a joy ride in toy-train. Hot or cold thinking of birth place tickles sweet memories and I cherish those child hood days spent in Vijayawada.

I studied from Baby Class to 5th Standard in Saint Lazurus Middle School, Mylapore, Chennai 600004, Tamil Nadu, India during period 1963-64 to 1967-68. From 6th Standard to 11th Standard in Santhome Higher Secondary School, Mylapore, from 1968-69 to 1973-74. Pre University Course during 1974-75 and B Com during 1975-76 to 1977-78 in Vivekananda College, Mylapore, Chennai. Then did Post Graduation in Commerce from Madurai Kamaraj University during 1978 - 80.

Being away from my family on transfer, since May 2006, I alternate between hope and despair, and during insomniac nights, start writing what my mind roams about. My care for Nature, ruing of my loneliness, strong feelings about child-abuse, air pollution, water pollution, sufferings of the villagers, killing of the girl child etc., pour out in my verses.

Rangarajan Kazhiyur Mannar's Published Books:

Thirumal Amudhu (Tamil)