Two days before the unveiling of Sarvagna, Pramodhini Deshpande and her husband, who carved out the 9 foot bronze statue of the 12th century poet Sarvagna, have not received an official invitation. Incidentally, the original demand for Tiruvalluvar’s statue came from the Bangalore Tamil Sangham two decades ago. Likewise, Attavar Ramdas, president of a social and cultural organization here called Sneha, had met Stalin, then Chennai’s mayor, for land near Ayyanavaram, which is a Kannadiga conclave. And Stalin okayed the proposal in just three days, says Ramdas.
The real followers of Tiruvalluvar
Former President A P J Kalam’s bible was Thirukural and he often quoted from the 1330 couplets that cover every aspect of life. Other not so well-known fans of the Kural have been children (there are debates and competition centred around the kurals in schools), a cobbler near the Chennai railway station who handwrites a “kural for the day” and displays it on the roadside where he works so passers by can acquire some wisdom. Then there’s an auto driver who has been propagating kurals. A school dropout, Vallimuthu, has used his earnings and donations from friends to bring out over a 1000 booklets on Tiruvalluvar’s philosophy for the last three years. His mission to propagate the kural began six years ago when he began writing a couplet everyday on the back of his vehicle. When his customers asked him about it, he was encouraged to bring out books containing three chapters each (about 30 pages) to give away for free. His initiative brought in donations. “I have so far printed more than 50,000 booklets,” he says, adding that he gives them away near schools and colleges so GenX will learn about kurals.
Social workers, really?