Legendary journalist DVV’s centenary celebrations

The birth centenary of the late D V Vasudevan (DVV), legal

correspondent and religion writer at The Hindu daily newspaper for

over four decades was celebrated by his family last week at Chhajer

Bhavan in Lloyds Road, Royapettah with his associates and former

colleagues sharing their pleasant memories of the late senior journalist.

Harikatha exponent Damal Ramakrishnan gave a religious discourse on

the importance of Margazhi month and the devotion of Aandal to Lord

Krishna. There was also a Carnatic concert by Uma Money and party.

Born on Dec 25, 1924 Vasudevan joined The Hindu in Chennai in 1949.

He served in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kurnool, Tiruchi and Coimbatore

before being posted to Chennai in 1963. Vasudevan lived in

Ganeshram Colony, Srinivasa Avenue Road in RA Puram until his death.

The Hindu had started the religious column in 1963 covering the

various religious discourses rendered by eminent scholars and speakers

and Vasudevan was the natural choice to cover and write the gist of

such discourses held at various centers in the city.

He continued to write the religious column even after his retirement as

he became an expert in giving the gist of the speech with his

interpretations focusing not on the Hindu epics and the Vedas but on

the moral side of every aspect. He was also in charge of the

engagements column of the newspaper for several decades.

An ardent admirer of Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam, the late

Vasudevan covered the reviewed the annual music festivals from the

beginning stages after the late NM Narayanan (NMN). He was a much

respected music critic and vidwans took advice from him. He was also

an expert in Tamil isai and pann research and took part in all the

conferences related to the subject.

He served as mentor to many a young journalist including this writer

and had inducted many into the exciting and exacting world of

journalism. He earned the praised of several judges of the Madras High

Court for his accurate legal reporting of judgments and court

proceedings and judges were eagerly looking forward to read how

Vasudevan had covered their previous day judgments.

He is survived by his wife and only son DV Muralidharan, a chartered

accountant and senior partner of Raghu and Murali Chartered

Accountants in Mylapore.

At a function arranged by Muralidharan and his family, relatives,

associates and former colleagues shared their pleasant memories of the

late Vasudevan and recalled his unadulterated affection for his

colleagues and his commitment to honest journalism.

Saroja Vasudevan, Vanaja Muralidharan and D V Muralidharan

welcomed the gathering. Dignitaries attended included Srinivasan K

Swamy, Executive Chairman of R.K. Swamy Hansa Group and former

chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), Prof T K

Varadarajan, correspondent of PS Matriculation Higher Secondary

School and veteran stage artist T V Varadarajan.