Date:10/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/10/stories/2008111050580200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Ever enthusiastic

Kannal Achuthan

— Photo: Kannal Achuthan

R. Radhakrishnamurthy

Chennai: Although this octogenarian has over 50 years of experience in publishing, he still retains the enthusiasm that he started with. R. Radhakrishnamurthy, managing director of New Century Book House, is an example of simple living and high thinking. His association with the New Century Book House (NCBH) began in 1951. “I started off as a salesman,” says the 84-year-old R. Radhakrishnamurthy, who now not only heads the company but also serves as an inspiration and mentor .

The publisher’s eyes brighten as he discloses his plans for the company’s diamond jubilee in a couple of years. “We plan to bring out about 1,000 titles… And construct a new building ,” he says. Sifting through memories of over five decades, he comes up with some nuggets. He remembers the time when the NCBH stocked shelves of Russian children’s books from the Soviet Union. A strong supporter of the Communist Party from his boyhood, he said that the ideology of spreading knowledge is what has held him firm to the business of books. He participated in the Quit India Movement. When there was a repression of the CPI in 1948, he was jailed in Vellore for about a year and a half.

Mr. Radhakrishnamurthy is now looking at tying up with a Chinese publishing house that specialises in children’s books. NCBH has also set up a charitable hospital and a school in Ambattur.