Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91

Vol. XXVII No. 4, June 1-15, 2017

The man who helped Ramanujan’s widow

– A writer remembered by Charukesi

Pooram Saththiyamoorthi

Pooram Saththiyamoorthi

It is known to all that the world-renowned mathematician Ramanujan worked in the Madras Port Trust, in its Accounts Department. Although he had a temporary job in the Madras Accountant General’s Office, on February 9, 1912 he applied for a job to the Chief Accountant, Madras Port Trust. The letter was sent with a recommendation letter from a mathematics professor at Presidency College, E.W. Middlemast, who described him as a young man of quite exceptional capacity in mathematics. He got the job and, as is well known, he left it to go to England and fame but not fortune.

Years later, S. Sathyamurthy, from Pudukottai, while serving with the Madras Port Trust (1958-1990), worked in the same Accounts Department and sat in the very chair which was earlier that of mathematician Ramanujan! ‘Pooram’ as he was called, was thrilled when the seniors informed him that he was sitting in the same department and occupying the same chair in which the mathematician Ramanujan had sat. Particularly as Pooram too was a mathematics student. He was, however, a short story writer first and foremost and wrote for Kannan, Kalaimagal, and Kalki and won prizes too.

Having read books on Ramanujan, Pooram wrote a play on the life of Ramanujan and approached the then Chairman of the Port Trust to stage it for the benefit of all the employees. Pooram did not stop with that. When he learnt that Ramanujan’s wife Janaki was living in Tiruvallikeni in penury, he prepared an appeal for a lifetime pension to be sanctioned for the widow. “I am a maths student and I was moved to see her plight, being the widow of the great mathematician Ramanujan,” he later said. He went and met her at her house to convey the news of her getting the pension.

Pooram was not satisfied with what he had done to perpetuate the memory of the great mathematician and his wife. He requested the Chairman of the Madras Port Trust to unveil a portrait of Ramanujan in the Accounts Department, where the mathematician served. He gave an initial contribution of Rs. 101/- towards the cost of the portrait.

Recently, at a function to commemorate the first anniversary of Pooram Sathyamurthy’s demise, his close friends and admirers convened a meeting to recall the how much the writer did for the development and promotion of short story writing, through his Pooram Short Story Rasikar Sangam.

Vijaya Thiruvenkadam, former Director of All India Radio, spoke about Pooram’s evening classes on Veda-s and Divyaprabandam at the Parthasarathy Swami Temple, after he lost his vision in both eyes. Vasan, Editor of Brahmins Today, spoke highly about the devotion Pooram had for mathematician Ramanujan and commended his efforts in getting monetary benefit for Ramanujan’s wife and also for arranging to have a portrait of the mathematician installed. Venkatraman, who had organised the event, appealed to the Government to nationalise Pooram’s work.

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Comments

  1. Vedavalli Govindarajan says:

    As one of the daughters of Shri. Pooram Sathyamoorthy I feel proud about my father’s contributions in various fields. His name and fame will remain for ever and for his successive generations to feel great about! I take this opportunity to also inform that a documentary has also been made and published in the Youtube about my late father and his achievements.
    I am thankful to Charukesi uncle who had been a very close friend of my father for writing this article.

  2. Vaasu says:

    He is my maternal uncle and I m proud of him. Very unfortunate that he went unrecognised at the home front.. He is my inspiration in more than one way. Simple man to the core. Regaled us with his immaculate story telling in our very early days whenever he visited Pudukkottai for family functions and ceremonies.

  3. Deepankar says:

    HatsOFF to the man and contributors.

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