MADURAI: The quick-witted ever-smiling gentleman who helped spread many a laugh has his audience to thank for the coveted Padma Shri award that came calling at his doorstep. Ask 84-year-old S Solomon Pappiah, who popularised pattimandram (debate) among the masses. He would say with his quintessential poise, “I view this award as a recognition of the artform and the audience who keep it alive.” For decades, any festival in Tamil household is considered incomplete minus Pappiah’s pattimandram show on TV.
Born in Arappalayam in Madurai, Pappiah was the youngest of the nine children of two textile mill workers. “If not for my friends, I would have easily become a drop-out due to poverty. They extended financial help until I completed my Masters in Tamil literature,” he remembered. In 1961, he started participating in pattimandrams organised by Kamban Kazhagam, a Tamil literary group founded in Karaikudi and soon took the artform to the villages far and wide.
“As the audience were different, the topics of pattimandram were altered from literature to family-based themes to suit the crowd. Until the late 1980s, pattimandram was held in villages during temple festivals. The art’s popularity catapulted when Doordharshan started broadcasting the debates.
“With relevant topics revolving around families, a majority of women took an instant liking for pattimandram,” shared Pappiah, who was honoured with the Kalaimamani Award by the State government in 2000.
The octogenarian, who is renowned for his quips and wordplay in pattimandrams, stressed that profanity should be kept off limits while attempting to tickle the funny bones of the audience. Pappiah, who won the fourth-highest civilian award for his distinguished service in the field of Literature and Education-Journalism, could be best described as a bibliophile as he voraciously reads anything and everything that comes his way.
Pappiah’s daughter and professor of Japanese language Vimala Solomon (66), said that he has a mini library at home, and starts and ends his day reading books. Pattimandram speaker S Raja (60) who has worked closely with him for over four decades, says, “He constantly tries to quench his thirst for knowledge through books that are both his work as well as leisure.”
Pappiah is a man of simplicity and tranquil, remarks Raja. Despite his scholarly wisdom on multitude subjects, he is always the same down-to-earth man, unfazed by glory or misery that may happen to cross his path, he adds.