KOCHI: Palliyara Sreedharan puts the magic in Mathematics. The subject gets a literary spin when the noted writer weaves mathematical problems and concepts into poetry, stories and drama. The 72-year-old writer believes that maths shouldn’t be taught, rather engaged in a manner that makes it easier to understand its applications.
Sreedharan, who is the director of Kerala Balasahitya Institute says that one shouldn’t attempt to learn maths. “Just look around, and you will see maths everywhere. It is in nature - in the rainbow, the rivers, beehives, it is everywhere. t is so ingrained into your life and when you look at it like that, you will stop fearing it,” says Sreedharan.
It was his unending love for maths that made him write books on it that makes the subject fun. He started loving it when he was just four years old. Even then, he would handle the accounts at his father’s tea shack. “He took so much interest in calculations and numbers that by the time he joined the school, he was well ahead of his peers. “But when I was teaching maths to the students at my school, I saw how difficult it was for them to grasp the subject. That is when I started writing articles. Soon I knew I had to write books,” recalls Sreedharan. “There are many textbooks on maths. But none of them has the right way of introducing the subject to kids,” he says.
He resigned from his post as a mathematics teacher and started writing books soon after. His first book, Prakruthiyile Ganitham was just the beginning. Ever since he has been authoring books that make maths fun for kids.
He has written a total of 150 books so far, of which 120 are on mathematics. His recent book titled Nilayum Nileum is a collection of articles on mathematics. While the article Nilayum Nileum explores the similarities between the rivers Nile and Nila and how they were hubs of calcultaions, the other articles explore the many realms of the subject from a literary perspective. Ever since he started writing, he has published at least five books annually. In some years, that number became 10. Sreedharan says that he has dedicated his life to maths, and he intends to write books on the subject for as long as he can. “I want to leave my works behind for children. They would make maths fun for kids,” says Sreedharan.