Prof. V C Kulandaiswamy, 71, has received at different times a Sahitya Akademi Award for a Tamil literary work and a 'Padma Shri' for distinguished service in the fields of education and science. He "belongs to that rare band of scientists who are able to synthesise the scientific and literary cultures," to quote the citation that accompanied the honorary doctorate that Jaffna University (Sri Lanka) conferred on him in 1980 in recognition of his contributions to Tamil literature.

Kulandaiswamy is an engineer who has played a pioneering role in the development of mathematical models in the field of hydrology (the study of the distribution, conservation, use, etc of the water of the earth and its atmosphere), his area of specialisation.

Anna University (formerly the College of Engineering), Chennai and the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi developed into recognised centres of excellence during his tenures (1981-90 and 1990-94 respectively) as Vice-Chancellor of those institutions.

Poet, linguist

Well established as a writer of Tamil prose and poetry, Kulandaiswamy has 13 published volumes (six volumes of poems and seven of prose essays) to his credit. The Tamil Nadu Government conferred the prestigious Thiruvalluvar Award on him in 1999. Deeply interested in developing Tamil as a vehicle of modern knowledge, he is a crusader for Tamil script reform.

Kulandaiswamy is a Fellow of the Computer Society of India. The fellowship is in recognition of the extensive use he has made of computers in hydrologic research, particularly computer modelling of hydrologic processes. In 1964, when Kulandaiswamy was on the faculty of the College of Engineering, Chennai, that college was the only educational institution in the country other than the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur to be computer-equipped.

Kulandaiswamy is modest about his versatility. He told this writer in the course of a telephone conversation that he had always been interested in languages and had wanted to opt for English literature during his student days. But the greater employment potential of engineering determined his career path, all the more so because his family was not well off. Kulandaiswamy added that his educational planning and administration activities developed logically from his membership of the faculty of an engineering college.

Tamil Academy

At present Kulandaiswamy is Chairman of the Tamil Academy, Chennai. The academy is engaged in bringing out an eleven-volume medical encyclopaedia and has started work on a seven-volume work on Siddha medicine.

Kulandaiswamy has been named Chairman of the Tamil Virtual University, which has a website in Chennai and servers in Chennai and abroad. The objective of the university, which, hopefully, will be inaugurated in January next, is to teach Tamil language and culture through the Internet to Tamils in India and abroad.

Kulandaiswamy also holds the post of Vice-Chairman of the Institute of Asian Sudies, Chennai. The institute is working on an encyclopaedia which would throw light on the more than 75,000 palm leaf manuscripts in Tamil which have found homes in museums in India, Europe and South-East Asia.

Kulandaiswamy was born in an agricultural family in 1929 in Vangalampalayam, a small, remote village then in Trichinopoly district (now in Karur district). He did his M. Tech. in IIT, Kharagpur and obtained a doctorate in hydrology and water resources from the University of Illinois (United States).

Hydrolgy research

Widely quoted in hydrologic literature is the 'Kulandaiswamy model,'a mathematical model for the rainfall-runoff relationship based on a general equation developed by him. Kulandaiswamy was a member of the UNESCO planning group (1978) for the preparation of the second six-year plan (1981-86) of the International Hydraulic Programme (IHP). He has authored more than 60 research reports and papers in the field of hydrology

The first significant position in educational administration that Kulandaiswamy held was that of Dean of Post-Graduate Studies (1971-74) in the College of Engineering, Chennai. Next came the post of Director of Technical Education, Tamil Nadu (1974-78). Kulandaiswamy has been the Vice-Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University (1978-79) as well as Anna University and IGNOU.

During his term as Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU, the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL), Canada formally recognised that institution as a centre of excellence in distance education. IGNOU is the only university in the Commonwealth to have achieved this distinction. The Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship which CoL conferred on the university gave it the wherewithal to extend its distance education programme to 19 developing countries as of 1993.

Innovation

Under Kulandaiswamy's stewardship Anna University became the largest technical university in the country-with 5,000 students on its rolls-and the seat of several innovative programmes. Kulandaiswamy introduced a training scheme for Dalit and tribal teachers in that university. CoL conferred an honorary fellowship on him in 1999 for his "tireless efforts and unrelenting commitment to increasing access to education and training not just for a few but for thousands…in India and elsewhere in the Commonwealth."

Kulandaiswamy has authored books on Tamil script reform and the use of Tamil in the areas of science and technology, which have run through several editions. Kalanjiam, a quarterly journal promoting Tamil writing in modern areas of knowledge, is his brainchild.

The 'Padma Shri' was conferred on Kulandaiswamy in 1992, and the Sahitya Akademi Award - for 'Vazhum Valluvam,' a book on the Thirukkural - in 1988. Other awards won by him are the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award (1984), the Pranavananda Award of the University Grants Commission (1990),and the Central Board of Irrigation and Power Diamond Jubilee Award (1991). Also in 1991, the Institution of Engineers formally recognised him as one of the eminent engineering personalities of the country.

Kulandaiswamy is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi and the Institution of Engineers (India), Calcutta. He has been associated with many committees, national and international, in the fields of hydrology, general education and distance education.

 - R. Padmanabhan