Librarian of the Millennium

After his father’s demise, one-year-old Palam Kalyanasundaram’s mother struggled to bring him up.

- F. M. BRITTO

Since there was no school, bus, electricity, or even a proper road in his small village of Mela Karivelam Kulam in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, the little boy had to walk ten kilometres every day to school and back. No other child in his village attended school, since they could not afford the monthly fee of five rupees. So through her hard labour, his mother paid for other children’s fees, books and clothes, so that they too could go to school with him. Thus, from childhood, Kalyanasundaram learned to share with others.

Kalyanasundaram desired to study his rich Tamil culture and history by taking up Tamil literature for his Master’s degree. Seeing his interest, the founder of MTT Hindu College not only introduced the subject in the college, but also sponsored his education. So again Kalyanasundaram saw others’ generosity in his education.