This painter of signs stamps the official seal on coveted positions

Mani’s name boards have adorned the offices of CMs and Ministers

A.T. Mani, nameboard artist at the Secretariat in Chennai.

Every time there is a shake-up in the State cabinet or transfers of high officials happen, the Secretariat sees more activity than the usual. Political realignments are discussed in the corridors, offices are spruced up for those coming in, and possible farewells for outgoing dignitaries are talked about. Along with all this, the staff call up A. T. Mani for urgent work. Mr. Mani has been painting the name boards of all Chief Ministers, Ministers and senior officials on the Secretariat campus for the past 28 years.

Sitting undisturbed amidst paint tins and wooden boards in his ‘room’ under a staircase in the historic Fort St. George building on Tuesday, Mr. Mani was patiently painting the name boards of new ministers in the Cabinet. A newly-painted wooden board reading ‘O. Panneerselvam, Deputy Chief Minister’ drying next to him, the former foreman with the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) says: “I have painted the name boards of four Chief Ministers which were hung outside their chambers.”

An oval wooden board, he recalls, was what he used for former Chief Ministers M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa. “I used an oval board for them to be different from others. The board was in use for several years,” he recounts.

Mr. Mani uses two types of boards – painting boards (that take two days to dry) and polished boards (the ones with mica sheets from which painted words could be removed with a blade.) “Even the words inscribed under the portraits of former Chief Ministers C.N. Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran hung within the Assembly are painted by me,” he says proudly.

He doesn’t have regular working hours but Public Department officials call him up and ask him to report for work at short notice. “Last year, I was with my family in Bengaluru when they wanted me here after a change in the Chief Minister. There have been times when I had to change the names of Ministers within a day,” he says. Sometimes, Ministers have come to see their names painted. In case of work piling up, he has asked for help from outside.

Happily retired

Coming from a family that had self-respect weddings, Mr. Mani is a contented family man. He proudly says he has married off all his daughters. “You know one of my sons-in-law is a Deputy Secretary here and I painted his name with my hands,” he says, smiling. His only disappointment in life is that he was an employee for 26 years at TANSI but still was not eligible for pension. “We lost the case in the High Court after a seven-year fight!”

He earns about ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 a month, besides the ₹1,000 old-age pension from the State government.

Mr. Mani’s work was known to some officials in the Secretariat during his employment in TANSI in Guindy and hence they made him paint name boards.

It was his work which made officials look for him even after his retirement in 1986.