Vittal Rao K.

Vittal Rāo K (Tamil: விட்டால் ராவ் கி) (born 12 May 1942) is a Tamil writer who was born at Hosur, a small town in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, India. Although a Kannadiga by birth, Tamil was his medium of instruction since he did his schooling in Tamil Nadu. A man of varied talents, he took to writing in his early twenties, but he became a recognizable face in the local literary circles when his short stories started appearing in popular Tamil weekly magazines such as Ananda Vikatan in 1967. In his literary career spanning over four decades, Vittal Rao has written 9 novels, 5 collections of 140 short stories and 7 essays ranging from world cinema to fine art, history and literature. Vittal Rao was born in Hosur, a small town in the old Salem district of Tamil Nadu, India. He was the sixth of eight siblings born to Saraswathi and Krishna Rāo. He spent most of his childhood and adolescent days in Salem before moving to Chennai in 1960 to work as a radiographer at Stanley Medical College and Hospital there. It was during this time that he developed an interest in fine arts and literature which encouraged him to enroll at the prestigious Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai (formerly known as the Madras School of Art) in Chennai. He joined Madras Telephones later, in 1963, where he continued to work until his retirement in May, 2002. Working at Madras Telephones, allowed him to pursue his interest in fine arts and literature. One of his favorite pastimes included browsing the Moor Market, near the Madras Central Railway Station, which used to be a popular hangout of literary and art aficionados where used books from around the world could be bought at a bargain. His first short story appeared in the popular weekly, Ananda Vikatan in 1967, and from there on his writings have appeared in all the popular as well as little literary magazines.