Translation of Muthu Nedumaran's interview: I was first inspired to meet Muthu Nedumaran from an article
written by eminent journalist Malan (Narayanan) titled "Murasu
Anjal: The pride of Tamil". Malan mentioned, "everyday
when I sit in front of my computer, I silently thank Muthu
Nedumaran"
We
type effortlessly in Tamil in the newly arrived IPhone 6. But
thirty years back, it was not so easy. Very few people from
different corners of the world had taken meticulous efforts to
key in Tamil language in computers. Its their dedication &
efforts that enabled us to input Tamil in Unicode in today's
smart devices. One of whom is Muthu
Nedumaran, a Malaysian Tamil - one of the pioneers who
gave Tamil Unicode font.
"I should say I
started very much from the scratch. My native is
Uthiramerur. My grand father Subburayan migrated to Malaysia
for menial jobs (kangani) in which he had suffered a lot. My
father Murasu Nedumaran studied well and became a Tamil
teacher. Even before which he became a Tamil poet. My mother
was born & brought up in Malaysia. I should say
my father injected Tamil in my blood.
I
still remember the first day in my school, where I spotted a
mistake in a thirukkural taught by our teacher. My father
taught me the Tamil syllabus up to 3rd standard before I
went to school. We couldn't afford going to school and I
learnt Tamil language from dailies & magazines. At the
place where we stayed (Kesari island), we took pride in
knowing Tamil.
Only
at the time when we stepped out of our island to join
another school in a bigger town, we were aware of English!
It was like Greek & Latin to me. But the clarity which
we get in studying in our mother tongue defeats everything.
As
a part of our Tamil Mandram, we bring out Tamil souvenirs.
Unlike Malai or English, it was not easy to get Tamil in
print. The cost was also high running more than 5 times
compared with other languages. There were many reasons told -
lack of labour, difficult to type-set, tough to do without
typos, etc. We were feeling stagnated when compared with
others. I was urged to do something on my part. When I felt
that computer is the future, it stroke me that Tamil doesn't
have the appropriate position in Computer. That's how I
started.
"I
felt very dejected even now. Today I am respected by people
from Microsoft or apple - I have umpteen number of options to
complete a job; but in those days what I got from my family
was very little. I saved my commuting & food costs to buy
EPROM chips. Even after that it was not a cake walk... This is
our journey in "Murasu Anjal"
"The
pride each and every Tamilian feel when they first key in
Tamil using Murasu Anjal in you computer - When you witness
this all your sufferings do not matter. Not only me, each
& every developer who worked on Tamil computing, was
giving our soul to see that pride in each one of us"
Then
I was tuned to notice these - When I see characters in any
device, I begin to check whether there is an option to see
them in Tamil. Computers, displays & advertisement boards
in airport terminals, smart phones, smart watches, wherever I see
English alphabet, I ask whether Tamil is also present. If
not, I look ways to have Tamil in it. This is my
journey in internet Tamil. This is the journey which earned me
in crores.
I
would say the difference in my approach is to to integrate
Tamil in the device. For instance, others were providing a
separate app. There
is a difference in integrating this rather than providing
this as a separate app. I chose the first option. When
you get a Apple device today, it already supports Tamil. You
just need to configure it rather than installing a separate
app.
In
general Apple is known for avoiding third party integration.
How did they accept Sellinam/Murasu Anjal?
"This
is a market driven economy. 9 crore people speak Tamil. If
we say we are going to buy your phone only when you support
our mother tongue, they have no other choice than to listen.
Apple required to support Tamil, they came to me"
I
am not aware of Tamilnadu. But for us (NRIs) Tamil is the
only identity. Our children study in Tamil. They are named
in Tamil.I had stored all my contacts in Tamil. All my songs
are named & sorted in Tamil. If an
English word slips in my conversation with a fellow
Tamilian, I am ashamed.
I
recently was looking to buy a Volvo car. Although I liked
everything in that car, I could not connect my phone to the
musical instrument in the dashboard. I did not ask "Why Tamil
isn't supported". Instead complained, "Its an issue in your
car." That too with the filled cheque in my hand. Now they had
supported Tamil in all types of those cars which I complained
about!
How
do you see the Tamil usage among Non-resident Tamils?
It
mainly depends on the country. In Malaysia there are 25 lakh
Tamils. Here Malay is the official language. Tamil is a
recognized language. We believe the government gives us due
importance. In addition, the Tamil votes is a deciding factor.
Irrespective of all these, I feel, when you realise the
importance, you can spread Tamil even in Antartica. The
language's pride not only lies in its heritage but also its
continuity & contemporariness.
"We
realise that Tamil computing is an important factor in all
these. Do you feel that the government is doing enough in its
part?"
"We
introduced Murasu Anjal in all the Malaysian schools.
Singapore government declared 'Murasu' as the official Tamil
keyboard for all the schools. Tamil computing is not
confined to fonts alone. This shows their dedication. When
you visit the Singapore national library, you can read the
Tamil books released even in last month. I cannot compare
that with the state in India. But in democracy, as the
people, so is the king, right?", he asks this very politely
but its a tight slap on our face. 
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