Underwood, Woodstock, Olivetti and Smith Corona. Sounds odd? These were some of the foreign made typewriters, which made ‘click, clack, tap and zip’ sounds at Vasan typewriting institute, the first institute started in the district in 1950. Named after A. Srinivasan Iyengar, a ‘Palace typist’, the institute turned 65 recently and is still going strong, braving the advent of desktops and laptops, and widespread computerisation.
The intermediate-qualified Iyengar launched a job typing centre with a US made “Underwood” typewriter in 1945.
Five years later, the centre on Palace Road here became the district’s first typewriting institute and students began to flock there to learn typewriting and shorthand, both English and Tamil, the mandatory qualification for government jobs in the 1950s and 1960s.
“My father started the institute with five English typewriters, all imported machines, and two Tamil typewriters charging a nominal Re 1 per hour per month,” recalls his son “LIC” Narayanan. After his father’s death in 1992, he started teaching typewriting and shorthand to students.
His father was the first man to introduce Tamil typewriting and shorthand in south Tamil Nadu after buying a Remington second-hand Tamil typewriter machine from Anderson Street in Chennai, said Mr. Narayanan. His father was teaching shorthand till his death, he added.
Students who passed out from the institute were instantly absorbed in government jobs and they became omnipresent in the State secretariat, High Court, subordinate courts, private companies and almost all government departments in the State, he noted.
Mr. Narayanan is presently teaching about 250 students and has prepared them to type 30 words per minute, write in shorthand 80 English words per minute and 60 Tamil words per minute in 45 days. “Those who appear for Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission examinations are put on fast track,’ Mr. Narayanan added.
Typewriting has not lost its charm despite the mushrooming computerisation and internet centres, but almost all the companies have stopped manufacturing typewriters.
He was managing with Facit and Godrej typewriters the institute had bought about two decades ago, Mr. Narayanan said.
One of his two sons settled in Germany and another in Bangalore, and he stays put here to ensure that the typewriters continued to make the unique sounds.
The 65-year-old institute, the first in Ramanathapuram district, has 250 students at present
The intermediate-qualified Iyengar launched a job typing centre with a US made “Underwood” typewriter in 1945.
Five years later, the centre on Palace Road here became the district’s first typewriting institute and students began to flock there to learn typewriting and shorthand, both English and Tamil, the mandatory qualification for government jobs in the 1950s and 1960s.
“My father started the institute with five English typewriters, all imported machines, and two Tamil typewriters charging a nominal Re 1 per hour per month,” recalls his son “LIC” Narayanan. After his father’s death in 1992, he started teaching typewriting and shorthand to students.
His father was the first man to introduce Tamil typewriting and shorthand in south Tamil Nadu after buying a Remington second-hand Tamil typewriter machine from Anderson Street in Chennai, said Mr. Narayanan. His father was teaching shorthand till his death, he added.
Students who passed out from the institute were instantly absorbed in government jobs and they became omnipresent in the State secretariat, High Court, subordinate courts, private companies and almost all government departments in the State, he noted.
Mr. Narayanan is presently teaching about 250 students and has prepared them to type 30 words per minute, write in shorthand 80 English words per minute and 60 Tamil words per minute in 45 days. “Those who appear for Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission examinations are put on fast track,’ Mr. Narayanan added.
Typewriting has not lost its charm despite the mushrooming computerisation and internet centres, but almost all the companies have stopped manufacturing typewriters.
He was managing with Facit and Godrej typewriters the institute had bought about two decades ago, Mr. Narayanan said.
One of his two sons settled in Germany and another in Bangalore, and he stays put here to ensure that the typewriters continued to make the unique sounds.
The 65-year-old institute, the first in Ramanathapuram district, has 250 students at present
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