What better place than the historic Cosmopolitan Club on Mount Road to commemorate Shakespeare’s 450 th birth anniversary through the Shakespeare Millennium Club’s PRICE Awards?
Secretary of the club that was started in 2002, T.V. Jayalakshmi, said the event was an initiative to propagate the English bard’s work and ideas among interested people. The PRICE (Philip Rajya Institute for Continuous Education) Awards, given every five years, is a means to felicitate individuals from diverse backgrounds for their contributions to society.
In 2004, a group of distinguished women were given the awards for their path-breaking work in different walks of life. The following award function in 2009 recognised young achievers in the city. This year it was 25 senior citizens who were honoured.
The recipients of the awards included: N Ram, co-chairman, Kasturi and Sons Ltd, S. Rajakumar, a veteran psychiatrist, V. Saraswati, professor of English Literature, Madras University, Sarasa Seshnarayan, the librarian of the Theosophical Society, Yasmin Ahmed, retired bureaucrat, K.V. Thiruvengadam, senior physician and teacher, and Beatrix D’Souza, former nominated member to the Lok Sabha.
On receiving the award, a visibly excited Dr. Saraswati said she would always cherish this moment. She said, “My romance with Shakespeare began way back when I was a young teenager. I have lived, laughed, and cried with him. And the affair continues.”
The choice of recipients of the PRICE awards is deliberated through many rounds of discussion among members of the Shakespeare Millennium club.
The club, which meets on the 23 of every month, is one of the few clubs in the city which continues to invest in keeping Shakespeare and his works alive.
