His classroom is a melting pot of cultures and friendships. E C Sabu has been teaching Malayalam for three decades in the city to a mixed bag of students including advocates, Tamil professors, doctors, homemakers, and teachers who speak Marathi, Konkani, Telugu, Kannada or Urdu.
- Coimbatore District Collector Dr G S Sameeran who handed the award to E C Sabu at his office, speaks of his love for languages and literature. The district collector who is from Muthukulam in Allepey district, Kerala, has authored two books in Malayalam. While studying at Trivandrum Medical College, he authored a book on Film and Literature of P Padmarajan , a celebrated writer and film maker. His second book is a Biography on Mudukulam Raghavan Pillai , who wrote the screenplay, dialogue and penned 28 songs for the first Malayalam talkie Balan . “Raghavan Pillai wrote many screenplays, plays, and was an active theatre personality and a renowned comedian in early Malayalam movies. Not many know of his literary pursuits. This is the only book that is available on this personality. Both the celebrities hail from my region, so I could gather information from people there, legal heirs and from the library. My connect to literature is the two books I have contributed on films.” Talking of Sabu’s achievement, he says learning every language gives an opportunity to connect with culture.“There is cultural continuum between North Kerala and this region. Though people here speak Malayalam, they don’t know to read and write. Sabu has helped so many people to academically learn the language, which is a great thing.” He adds, “There are great writers on both sides of the ghats. You need to read Basheer, Jeymohan, Kalki...it will help connect the dots.”
Sabu was awarded the ‘Panditha Sresta Award’ for his service in the education sector by the World Malayalee Council, Coimbatore Province.“It is a recognition of his service in establishing a cultural connect with Kerala,” says C Radhakrishnan, secretary of the council. “ I joined CMS School in Coimbatore as a Malayalam teacher in 1990 and, from then on, I have been a part of the seven-month certificate course conducted by the Coimbatore Malayalam Samajam(CMS),” adds Sabu who is now principal-in-charge of CMS Higher Secondary School.
The two-hour classes conducted over weekends reaches out to a variety of people as there is no age limit. “Every year, we are punctual with the classes. A number of non-native speakers attend to understand Kerala’s art and culture, its landscape, people and literature. There are professionals who learn it for business purposes,” says president of CMS, K Rajagopalan.
Sabu’s teaching method begins with easy letters for the first three months and then covers forms, sentences, grammar and translation. One of his students, a Tamil professor, now translates celebrated Malayalam writer Vaikom Mohammed Basheer’s works in Tamil. Another student N Deepa Saravanan, assistant professor of Tamil at Ramakrishna College (Women), is geared up to launch her Tamil book Kader Kaalam , a translation of Malayalam short stories. She joined the course while doing her PhD on comparative literature on the works of Tamil writer Nanjil Nadan and Malayalam writer CV Balakrishnan. “Sabu Sir’s dedication and love for the language pushes us to work hard. We read Malayalam newspapers regularly to improve our vocabulary. ”
A passion to learn a new language led K. Murugesan, who heads Tamil department at Kongunad Arts and Science College, to the course. “We have close connection with Kerala. It takes just an hour to cross the border. It came in handy as over 400 students at my campus are native speakers of Malayalam. My aim is to translate Tamil epics like Kamba Ramayanam and Mahabharatham.” There are others who join the course after watching Malayalam films or reading Tamil translations of the works of Malayalam literary figures like Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, MT Vasudevan Nair, ONV Kurup, and Basheer. Dr V Natarajan who has his clinic at Oppanakkara Street in the city says he enjoys watching Malayalam films on OTT now. “I learnt Hindi and Bengali online and then Malayalam to interact with my patients who are from these regions.”
“Have you watched Chemmeen ?” asks T Mookiah, a retired joint labour commissioner who is from Tirunelveli and now settled in Coimbatore. “This iconic Malayalam film showcases lives of fishermen communities in coastal Kerala and their beliefs. Learning the language brought me closer to Malayalees.”
C lasses were discontinued during the pandemic but will resume this year. Those interested can call: 9486477891.
