R. A. Padmanabhan (1917 – 2014) was an Indian journalist and a bilingual author who was the main avenue for a breakthrough on the identity of Subramaniya Bharathiar. He started his career as a journalist at the age of 16 in a local Tamil magazine, Ananda Viakadan. He worked for various newspapers, dailies and magazines like The Hindu, Dhinamani Kadhir, Ananda Vikadan and The Hindustan. He also worked with All India Radio, Delhi. He received the Bharathiar Award in 2006 from the former Indian President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Dr. Kalam also launched the third edition of his magnum opus "Chitra Bharathi" on the same day. Early life Even as a child, Padmanabhan was interested in journalism and politics. He was politically active in his school days. He organized Congress Meetings in Royapuram, Triplicane and in High Court, Chennai. He, in an interview, also stated how he and his friends used to not allow The Whites (The British) into their schools during working days. He said that all his Classmates would lie down near the gate for them to stop coming inside. he said "We used to get beat up like anything. We used to get our back wounded so badly that we would have to bunk school for the next few days!" When he was in his SSLC (presently 10th grade), he penned stories to Ananda Vikadan. Then in 1933 he became the subeditor of the same paper, at the age of 16. At the time he was the youngest man to become a subeditor of any magazine. Whilst in Vikadan, he was also in charge of the photographic department at times. His friend, S.R.Subramanyam, a Sarvodaya leader bought a rare photo of Bharathiar to Padmanabhan's office. To both Padmanabhan and to Subramanian's delight, Vasan and Kalki asked them to take multiple copies of the same photograph and send it to all newspapers and dailies of that time. S.S.Vasan, the founder and editor of Vikadan, called Padmanabhan asking him to make a decision on whether to continue journalism and quit being a member of congress or quit his job and serve the congress on a bigger scale. Vasan also wanted to ensure that Padmanabhan did not take it as a threat and considered this a friendly advice. However, Padmaanabhan, without second thoughts, quit his job to be a politician. His friend Kalki, hearing the news, got furious and asked