When R. Janani was three years old, she started writing letters in reverse, as mirror images.
She was scolded and even beaten by her parents when they saw her writing Tamil alphabets using lateral inversion, in her homework notebooks.
Now they are proud of the six-year-old girl who has written the 1,330 Tirukkurals in reverse on khadi cloth – using glitter ink pens. Her work can be read using a mirror or by standing on the other side of the cloth.
On Wednesday, City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan and Inspector General of Police (IG) of West Zone K. Shankar greeted the girl in their offices and appreciated her for her efforts.
The Area Commander of Home Guards - Coimbatore District, Balaji Raju presented her with a cash prize.
Janani is a second standard student in Madukkarai Panchayat Union Elementary School at Chettipalayam.
Her father S. Ramesh (34) has studied till seventh standard and is a goods vehicle driver. Her mother R. Nandhini (23) who has completed Plus Two is a home maker.
Ramesh said that without her knowledge his daughter used to write a few alphabets in reverse. Suspecting it to be a common mistake committed by children, her parents had warned her not to do so and tried their best to reduce the number of reverse alphabets. A few months ago, Nandhini saw an article on Leonardo Da Vinci and learnt that he too had the habit of writing in reverse.
Inspired by the article, Nandhini motivated her daughter to write in reverse and under her guidance Janani started writing Tirukkural in reverse on the long piece of cloth about three-and-a-half months ago.
She wrote about 15 Thirukurals from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. before she got ready to go to school. On returning home she completed her homework before 6.30 in the evening and wrote about 20 kurals from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. She completed reverse writing on the 21.5-metre-long cloth about a month ago. Janani said that she sacrificed playing games till she completed the reverse writing project.
The girl, who can write in Tamil in the usual fashion, and in reverse without difficulty, aspires to become a Tamil teacher.
