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"What I earned from English I am spending for Tamil," says the Professor. Before we look at what the Professor is doing now, a small break..... "When I saw young lawyers and other educated youth writing so well, I was ashamed of myself; I was kicking myself for being careless in my early years. I felt that a poor handwriting is an indication of incomplete/half baked education. Let each boy and each girl learn from my example and understand that a good handwriting is an essential part of one's education. Mahatma Gandhi in his autobiography says that children should first be taught to draw, before they learn to write. We will now go back to the Professor! The Professor was introduced to the Mahatma in 1946, for his excellent handwriting. "I did not realise the value of my handwriting, when I was introduced to the Mahatma," he reminisces. The Professor has written a book, 'Chittiram', for children. This book was written after reading 'My Experiments with Truth' by the Mahatma. This book has been published in five volumes. The language and style is easy and simple. The layout is attractive and easy to use for kids to develop a good handwriting. Basically an English Professor, working in Tamil too. "I think the year was 1953. I wanted to join Pachaiyappa's college. Famous people like M. Varadarajan and Anbazhagan were among the faculty. I asked them for the English department and they wanted to know why I wanted English. I replied that I need English to serve the cause of Tamil. They did not understand what I was talking about. 'We need to bring in things from other languages, too, to enrich Tamil and for doing this a sound knowledge of English is necessary'. Though the distinguished gentleman understood this, I was refused admission. It is an entirely different story that I joined another college, did learn English and served Tamil! Don't think I write only in Tamil. I write in English, too." His Tamil songs for kids are a bit different. He has written a full song for each Tamil letter." 'Padinoru padalgal pathu nimidathil painthamizh' (eleven songs, Tamil in ten minutes) is the name of my song written for teaching Tamil to children." All his books are very useful for beginners. He says he looks at Tamil in a new, totally different perspective. For each alphabet (Tamil) and each letter he has written a song. "Our movies borrow words from other languages, as though there are not enough words in Tamil. There are innumerable Tamil words that are never used. By giving a song for each letter, I'm introducing these letters and words to children. To do this I have gone through all the Tamil dictionaries that are available," says the Professor. Professor Sigamani, is a visiting professor in Annamalai University, Madras University, and Pondicherry University for their distance education programs. 'Padi Pappa Padi' (Read, child, read!) 'Paadu paapa paadu' (Sing child sing), Chithiram, 'Devotional songs for children', 'Handwriting for pleasure' (5 volumes), 'The pleasure of cursive writing' (5 volumes) are some of his works. He has just finished writing 'Aadu paapa aadu' and is waiting for a publisher, who can appreciate children's books. Are there any in Tamilnadu? We can help by buying some of these books. Those interested may contact: Professor Thanga Sigamani Published on 10th June 2002 Saravanan
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80-years-young Professor Sigamani is as energetic as a 20-year-old! A Professor in English, Sigamani writes a number of books for children in not only English, but also in Tamil. He has written books on such topics as 'How to improve a child's handwriting?' 'How to talk good English?' 'How to write error-free English?'
