To put it very dramatically, even before the ink could dry on reports that famous Tamil scholar A S Gnanasambandan wanted youngsters to be recognised with awards, landed another announcement that he has been named for the Kural Peedam Award this year.
Gnanasambandan, who is 85, came out with the call to give awards to the youth and not to veterans like him while speaking at the inauguration of the book fair in Chennai on January 5. On that occasion, he was presented the Best Tamil Writer Award by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India.
Four days after that, the Tamil Nadu government announces that he has been selected for this year's 'Sangappalagai Kural Peedam' award. The award is to be presented today on the occasion of Tiruvalluvar Day.
This is probably not surprising for Aasa, as he is known in private circles, who began delivering lectures in Tamil from the age of 9. Awards have been coming his way right through his illustrious career. He has so far won about 20 awards - the crowning glory of which must be the Sahitya Akademi award for his 'Kamban Pudhiya Paarvai' in 1985.
Aasa is a man of parts. He began life as a Tamil speaker under the active guidance of his father, a Tamil scholar, A. Saravana Mudaliar. They belonged to Arasankudi, 12 km from Tiruchirapalli.
Since Aasa had great interest in physics, he opted for the science group in the intermediate class and went on to do his under-graduation in physics in Annamalai University. This interest in science - and also philosophy - continued right till he lost his eyesight recently.
But his father changed the course of his life saying as his only son he wanted him to carry on his work. And, he did not want his extensive Tamil library to go waste!
So he made a neat switch to Tamil Honours.
The Teacher
He joined Pachaiyappa's College in Madras (now Chennai) in the Tamil Department. He commanded immense respect from the principal down to the students with his command of the subject and that unshakable self-confidence which still hits you like a tonne of bricks.
In 1970 he joined Madurai Kamaraj University as head of the Tamil Department. From1984-87 he worked as professor in Thanjavur Tamil University.
The Civil Servant
Aasa has held high posts in the government. He left his job in Pachaiyappa's to be drama producer for AIR, Madras.
In 1959, the late politician-statesman C Subramaniam - a close friend - took him into government service as Secretary, Bureau of Tamil Publications (BTP). He later became Joint Director of Tamil Development.
Till 1970 he was involved with the government in one department or the other.
The Tamil Scholar
This is probably a part he has been playing from his school days.
Today the government is crying itself hoarse about preparing textbooks in Tamil. Aasa brought out 350 books on all subjects in the curriculum, including maths, physics, chemistry and even medicine when he was with the BTP.
He has lectured abroad, sometimes along with his father, in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Burma and the US.
Many of his lectures have been published as books. He has written extensively on Tamil literature, though now he concentrates only on religious literature.
He has translated Tagore, John Dewey and Thoreau (Aasa's English is faultless and he quotes English poets and authors freely) into Tamil and has edited and led teams which published several Tamil works like 'Kamba Ramayanam'.
His resonant voice has fallen silent on platforms now because he is fully into writing books.
His latest book, 'Naan Kanda Periyavargal', pays tributes to leaders like V O Chidambaram Pillai and Right Honourable Srinivasa Sastri. It was Sastri who took special interest in grooming him as a speaker, along with a group of students who had a flair for speaking in English when he was vice-chancellor of Annamalai University.
You will understand what this means, if you have heard his incisive language and inarguable logic during lectures.
The Man
All these parts make the sum total of Aasa. But there are other parts to Aasa which make him a very interesting person even at this age.
Of all the roles he played, he values most the one as teacher.
He walked straight into the hearts of his Pachaiyappa's students on the very first day of his teaching assignment.
"I remember that it was a gallery. I must have been the puniest chap in the whole room. There I was lecturing, when I saw a student bent over something," he recalls vividly.
Aasa found the student working on a physics problem. The Tamil teacher broke into English and demanded to know what the problem was and solved it for the boy. There was total acceptance after that among the students. Principal R Krishnamurthy and the other staff took some time to do this.
The principal was astonished that he could get away with scolding his students in choice Tamil words (there must be something about the Cauvery water which sharpens the tongues of those living on its banks).
"I explained to the principal that the students understood I truly loved and cared for them, and that was why I could get away with my sharp tongue."
Years later, when his student, politician E V K Sampath, chanced to meet him out on a street, he prostrated before him in front of all his supporters. "He said it was because I had loved them and corrected them, though not with sweet words, that he had grown to become a great leader," says Aasa movingly.
This love of his life continues. He has been appointed Tagore Emeritus Professor in the Department of Tamil, Madras University, and will be delivering 12 lectures a year.
But he also values the work he did as a government official. "I had a mission in life. I was a student of science and was sure science could be written in Tamil. When I was in Burma for a lecture, I noticed a US team there was teaching the Burmese science in their language but retaining the English technical terms."
He put forth the idea in a file and later argued for it with the then chief minister C N Annadurai. His case was adopt Tamil as the medium of instruction but use the English technical words.
He still holds the same position. "Use other language words in Tamil when needed, not when there is a Tamil word for it. Cycle should be called cycle instead of the convoluted 'eeruruli'."
Aasa argues that even Tholkappiyar allowed for assimilation of non-Tamil words. So why make a big fuss about it now, he laughs heartily. "Enthusiasm to promote Tamil is welcome. But it should be knowledgeable enthusiasm, for otherwise it will produce the opposite reaction," he warns, living up to the title of 'pachamolaga' that his Pachaiyappa's head of the department, Kandaswamy Mudaliar, gave him.
Tamil has withstood all kinds of assault through the centuries and yet managed to survive. "It lives because of its inherent strength to survive even though we try our best to kill it," he chuckles.
A talented teacher, a renowned Tamil scholar, a lover of science, an eloquent speaker in Tamil and English, a gifted writer and a fearless critic: several good parts that make Aasa a truly great all-round personality - a rare breed.
Related Links
Kural Peedam Award
Best Writer Award
