Love is bliss …! – Professor Solomon Pappiah

Q: : Today, you are known as ‘Pattimanra Bharathi’ … when did you enter the arena …?

A: Before joining American College I worked as a tutor at Ooris College at Vellore for one year. At American College, they used to conduct ‘Muthamizh kalai vizha’ on behalf of the Tamil department. We wanted to hold it at Ooris College also. When we approached the principal for permission, he dismissed the idea quoting lack of funds as the reason. At that time, the Congress leader Mr. Anbarasu was the secretary of the students association in the college. I discussed the matter with him and we both collected money from the students. Many students donated with earnest interest and enthusiasm. But a lecturer who didn’t like it advised the students against donation. He didn’t stop with that. He complained to the principal presenting the matter in a wrong perspective. The principal chided us and ordered to stop collecting money.

We had planned to hold a farewell function for the principal as he was due to retire that year. And, we wanted to bring out a souvenir also on the occasion. I requested Tamizharasu to talk to the principal and get permission. When Tamizharasu went to meet the principal, his wife happened to be there. They were very happy to know our plan and gave permission immediately. We decided to hold a debate on classical literature also on the day to make the function more interesting. T. Chellappa, brother of T. Pandian of Communist Party of India was working as a professor in the college. He suggested that ‘Pattimanram’ would be very interesting and a very hot topic should be chosen for debate. T. Pandian presided over the function. The function went off very well. Cuba issue was taken as the topic. I argued as a representative of India while Chellappa argued as Cuba’s representative. It was my first tryst with ‘Pattimanram’.

Following this, the students and lecturers took me to the neighboring villages and encouraged me to speak at various occasions. In those days, no payment was given to the orator and my finances continued to remain meager.

I joined the American College the next year as a lecturer. The period was 1961-’62. During this period, an organization by name ‘Kalai ilakkiya perumanram’ was being run by eminent people like Tho. Mu. Si. Raghunathan, N. Vanamamalai and Jayakanthan with Jeeva as its president. On its behalf, a debate was organized in Pudukottai. The topic was “Was Bharathi a philosophical poet or a modern poet?” Pandian asked me to argue in favor of ‘modern poet’. All the orators who spoke on the occasion were well-known scholars. Our group was received very well. While leaving, Jeeva smiled at me with friendliness indicating appreciation. I felt encouraged; the experience triggered my interest in ‘Pattimanram’.