CHENNAI: Five books written by Hindi scholar Dr Madhu Dhawan and published by Vani Prakashan were posthumously released at Savera Hotel on Saturday. Following her demise in 2017, her children, students and well-wishers compiled her works for Hindi literati in Chennai to admire. Of the five books published, Abhinandan Granth is a memoir and a collection of plays written by Dhawan, who was formerly the Head of the Department of Hindi at Stella Maris College till 2010.
The memoir was compiled and edited by Srabani Bhattacharyya, HOD of Hindi, Stella Maris College, and Swathi Palival HOD of Hindi, Guru Nanak College. “She was a propagator of the Hindi language in south India. It was her personal passion to spread the language, and she did so by understanding the Dravidian culture and stressing on the fact that Hindi too, is a national language,” said Dr. Bhattacharyya.
This holds the same for K S Preana Arthi Mani Kashtam, who chronicled her writings from 1952 to 2017. “Dr Madhu was as sweet as her name. She conducted many workshops for us, and she lived and died for the Hindi language,” said the retired HOD of Hindi at St Joseph’s College. The other books written by Dr Dhawan released by the chief guest Dr Avanish Kumar, director of the Central Hindi Directorate, were Thadapthi Chahathen, a story chronicling the struggles of women across centuries, Tamil Putra Kalki, tale of a young Tamil girl who travels across the south, Chingari, and Hindi Kahani ki Vaicharik Paksh, a collection of short stories.