TIRUCHY: Walk into his house in Subramaniyapuram and you are sure to be transported into a bygone era where you will learn about events you never knew had happened.
A copy of Kumari, once edited by senior Congress leader Kumari Anandan; another daily, Tamil Nadu, brought out by Karumuthu Thiyagarajan Chettiar, and copies of Jayakodi and Jayaperigai, edited by Jayakanthan, will make you rub your eyes in disbelief.
All these publications, now folded up, and many more of them will take you on a journey into the past. You will notice several hundreds of rare journals and Tamil newspapers of over six decades being part of this septuagenarian’s proud collection.
Meet 75-year-old K Pattabiraman, a retired PWD engineer, who has been collecting newspapers and journals since the age of 14. “Many people have the habit of collecting postal stamps, currencies and coins. I had chosen to collect newspapers. I have at least one copy of 7,000 different Tamil newspapers and journals. I started collecting the papers and journals I read from the time I was in Standard IX in Aranthangi, Pudukkottai district,” says Pattabiraman.
The habit became a passion by the time he joined the PWD after completing his diploma in Annamalai University.
“By the time I joined university, I had copies of 650 newspapers. Motivated by my professors, I conducted my first exhibition of newspapers at the varsity library,” he says.
A passion for news and papers
“By the time I joined Annamalai University, I had copies of 650 newspapers. Motivated by my professors, I conducted my first exhibition at the university’s library hall in 1964. That was when I wrote to Pollachi Mahalingam, a philanthropist, seeking help. In a week, he sent me a money order of `200. Several hundreds of students and teachers visited the exhibition,” he recalls.
Talking about famous personalities, Pattabiraman beams, “Periyar EV Ramasamy came to Aranthangi for a meeting in 1960s. I was known in the neighbourhood for reading out school lessons aloud. So my neighbours made me read out an article from a newspaper in front of Periyar, who greatly appreciated me. When I told him about my newspaper collection, he handed me a copy he had in his hand.”
Pattabiraman says he had the good fortune of collecting newspapers and journals from well-known personalities such as Kundrakudi Adigalar, Thirukkural Munusamy, K Appaduraiyar, Deepam Parthasarathy, Jayakanthan and Kumari Anandan, among others.
Narrating another unforgettable experience, he says, “Poet Subramanya Bharati’s close associate Parali Su Nellaiyappar was living in Chennai. I learnt that he had a collection brought out by Congress leaders during the freedom struggle. I went to his house, stayed there for a whole night speaking about the freedom struggle and my collections. The next day, I was thrilled to receive from him a copy of Logobagaari, which he edited during pre-Independence era.”
Within a decade of starting his collection, Pattabiraman says he had treasured over 2,000 newspapers, including Bramma Vidhya (1887), Kala Nilayam (1929), Vivega Bothini (1915), Vedanta Deepigai (1926), Manoranjani (1926), Ananda Bodhini (1939) and Logobagaari (1934).
He also has over 100 copies of newspapers that had been brought out by several DMK leaders during the party’s nascent stages.
“These newspapers are too rare to be seen even among the collections at the DMK’s headquarters,” he chuckles. Now, his treasure trove of news is in a library built like a shed on the terrace of his house on Panneerselvam Street, Subramaniyapuram.
The library has become complete with several special editions released on various occasions, apart from hundreds of books on journalism.
The only worry Pattabiraman now has is that he is not able to frequently climb up and visit the library like before – thanks to a leg injury he suffered during a road accident a few years ago.
Over 2,000 newspapers in a decade
Within a decade of starting his collection, Pattabiraman had treasured over 2,000 newspapers. He also had the fortune of collecting newspapers from well-known personalities.