My love for Typewriting !!

Do not read the Caption wrong ! (it is for and not at !!) 

Very happy in meeting this gentleman who shaped the lives of many in Triplicane – met him couple of days back near Sri Parthasarathi Swami temple – Mr Narayanaswami.  Have you ever felt bad in being ahead of time ?

 

For many of us 27 Car Street was a landmark !! ~ and this ever smiling man along with a group of good people transformed lives of hundreds. Mr MA Srinivasan  [fondly Gopu] was its Principal.  For those passing out in First class were awarded a travel bag – receiving them from the Chief Guest on Saraswati pooja day was a proud occasion. 

a couple of decades back, life was different -  Godrej, Facit, Remington and Underwood were household names;  Tripicane streets were dotted with Srinivasa, Padmavathi, Sarathy, Shivish Halda, Ganesh, Halashyam ………… and more.  Be it Mylapore, T Nagar, Purasawakkam or Mayavaram – situation was no different. One could see young boys and girls walking with rolled sheets of paper on hand  .. ..the learning courses were usually of an hour duration… the last 10 minutes, if you are to enter the hall, you might be frightened with the silence that precedes typical sound – keyboards pressed, cylinders moving, carriages returned,  occasional paper change… people with total concentration seeing printed matter placed on their side and deftly moving their fingers. 

It was the backbone of every office; you could have seen  them sitting in front of Courts; Registrar offices ~ and all important places where documents were the key…. From marriage certificates – to divorces; property registration and every other service were documented neatly…. Mostly without mistakes by lowly paid people.  In case you are wondering what this is all about… it is typewriters, typists and typewriting institutes… 

Even before Arts colleges mushroomed – there were Typewriting institutes and people rushed there.  A stenographer was premium – in great demand, though the typist to steno ratio in an office could often be 5 : 1 or even higher.  Stenotypists took dictation, hearing English, took notes in Pitman’s phonetic code and converted them back to written (typed) English on typewriter – making communication flow. 

I learnt Typewriting at ‘Srinivas College of Commerce’, ~ 27 Car Street, Triplicane, Chennai 600005  and later honed my ‘Shorthand skills’ also there.  This Institution shaped the career of many Triplicaniites and ensured livelihood to many more… really great service by Mr MA Srinivasan [Principal of Srinivasa Institute] and the batch of vivacious tutors who raised the confidence level of the youngsters that they sure would get a good job. One could happily recall – Sri – Raghu, Sundaramurthi, Santhanam; Sampath Sir, J Srinivasan, Narayanaswami … instructors who changed the lives of many.  Learning Typewriting (& Shorthand) easily provided job opportunities - more importantly, the confidence in a workplace. 

           In early 1980s it bustled with activity ~ institutes would open at 6 am and would close by 9 pm with break from 12 noon to 4 pm….. at Srinivas there were  70 odd typewriters (100+ at its peak)  and in every batch there would be so many girls and boys……….. at street corners some groups would stand waiting to watch those going to typewriting institutes with couple of sheets rolled in their hands… and inside the institutes also developed the love-stories of some… an odd smile, a glance, an exchange from a heartthrob would make you soar ! 

There were many good typists who could churn out error-free documents – neatly made  on a typewriter ; remember typewriter has no correcting mechanism and a mistake made would remain to be seen by all….. yet there were quality typists who could type big statements- multi-pages, which would then be pasted together … quite an achievement indeed.

 

Mr Narayanaswami who was one of the TW instructors, moved out of Triplicane at some point of time and has retired from service too.  Now he is back in Triplicane and it was such a joyous moment reconnecting ! 

If you remember the Q at the start, I joined Typewriting when I was in my X standard and those days most prominent, beautiful people were older to me !!  With love for Srinivasa Institute and regards to all those  who taught ~ in a tinge of sadness, the building is no more now. 

 
Regards – S. Sampathkumar
A proud good Stenographer
20.3.2024