Birthday bash for T Padmanabhan

Kozhikode: Short story writer T. Padmanabhan was in his elements  at the Kerala Literature Festival on  the beach here on Friday.

It was his 86th birthday which novelist K.R. Meera  realised during the preparation for  an open forum on the bio-elements in stories. She announced it at the beginning of the session and cut the birthday cake for him.

Padmanabhan turned nostalgic, sharing the details  about his past, including his love, the perfect woman  behind the story Gouri, his affection towards his mother, his father who died  soon after his birth and so on.

When queried about the perfect woman in his mind like the one he had portrayed in the short story Gouri, Padmanabhansaid that there was one.  

“She is still alive. We are still in touch over phone,” he said.  Asked  how an outwardly rough man like him maintains a loving relationship,  he smiled and said, “even Charles Shobhraj had one.”

Now living with a home nurse and countless dogs and cats, Padmanabhan is more comfortable with animals than human beings.

“I have been true to myself. When I die and go to my Lord, I can look at him with head held high," he said. At 86,  the writer speaks about the next leap of life.