This Sunday, we met this person bubbling with enthusiasm
belying his age……. ~ to understand him more fully, one need to travel back
decades …
Those days the pastime was not Television, in fact
Doordarshan Kendra was inaugurated in 1975 ~ Band 1 Channel 4 ~ limited
transmission starting from 6 and ending by 10 pm… unbelievable it sounds !!
much later came the 2nd channel in 1988 [TVs had no remote !] ~
colour transmission started in 1985 and tamil serial was telecast for the time
in 1986....
Those were the days when Radio ruled the roost… in fact the
Marina beach behind Kannagi statue was ‘Radio beach’ ~ in between the concrete
seat benches there was the tower which
housed a radio and people flocked to hear
‘maanila seithigal’ [news about the State] in the evenings.
This genial person who is octogenarian now, rose to fame
for the variety of children’s programme organized on All India Radio for over
25 years and earned the sobriquet ‘Vannoli Anna'. His tone and tenor were so friendly and
uncomplicated that he was perceived so closed to all children, even when they
had not seen him. It is Koothabiran,
famously known as ‘Vanoli Anna’. He had
discovered and nurtured many a young talent, who rose to become successful
later.
His rich and emotive voice entertained hundreds of
children, who grew up listening to his radio programmes. He still retains the
same penchant and enthusiasm for telling stories to children orienting them to
ethical paths. He for sure would have narrated over 1,000 stories in the popular
‘Pappa Malar’ segment on the All India Radio (AIR), for over 25 years, and
through other television programmes.
He says that his stories are interspersed with real life
characters and incidents that strike him as he sees them. For longer years he successfully managed to
retain a captive audience by involving his listeners with a flowing style of
story telling. Through the stories, he
imparted cultural and patriotic values to children. “Children are children no matter what
generation they belong to. They grow up according to how we mould them,” he
adds.
This year he has kindly consented to be one of our Chief
Guests for the Child Fest and we enjoyed speaking to him and enjoyed the warmth
of his hospitality at home on Sunday 12th Jan 2013, when we went for
inviting him
With regards – S. Sampathkumar .
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