Reflections & Gratitude: Celebrating The Past & The Future

As I look back on last week, I am very grateful for the wonderful moments it brought. We celebrated the centenary of our grandparents, AR. Periyannan & Meenakshi, who are no longer with us. 

If you’ve been following my Hustle or Sunday Letters, you may have seen me write about this over the past couple of weeks. Looking back at how the event unfolded, I realize it was the culmination of nearly a year of work.

Learning From The Past

The initial thought was to have a family gathering. However, towards the end of last year, I decided to write a book on my grandfather. The idea had been brewing for quite some time, but I committed to it in November 2024. 

My grandparents had eight children, and I spoke with each of them. In their stories, I discovered a wealth of information. Crucially, we also found the physical copies of ‘Ponni’, the magazine my grandfather founded and ran. My uncle, Perry Alagappan, had been collecting these from various sources. 

‘Ponni‘ is a historic magazine that championed the Dravidian Movement, introduced Bharathidasan’s literary lineage, and more.  

Building Bridges To The Future

As I learned more about Ponni it became obvious that the magazine needed to be preserved. This led us to connect with the Roja Muthiah Research Library (RMRL) and begin the process of digitizing the magazines. The Library Director Dr. Sundar Ganesan and his team—Manikanda Subbu and Muthu Malathi — played a critical role in this effort. What began as a book project became an archival mission.

The centenary celebration naturally grew bigger. My thought was that we would release the book I was writing in September 2025 and hand over the original copies of ‘Ponni’ to the RMRL. Around this time, we connected with Madras Christian College, where Dr. S. Karunakaran advised us to compile and release the magazines. He noted that this would benefit researchers and students. 

That’s when the idea evolved: not just to digitize the magazines, but also to make them fully searchable, aligning with the AI age. We formed a student crew to help. There were struggles along the way, but we worked through them. The students played a key role in compiling, proofreading, and enabling the old magazines to be searchable.

We decided to showcase the students’ work at the Centenary event. One of my realizations was how deeply the project impacted the Tamil Department students at Madras Christian College. I was told that Tamil language students rarely get such opportunities, so this experience was truly one of a kind. 

The Centenary event turned out even better and bigger than we imagined.

There were three personally gratifying moments for me:

Student Collaboration

It was heartening to see students play such a big role in the centenary celebration. This is exactly how my grandfather would have wanted it. 

The students researched the ‘Ponni’ magazine and presented their findings at the event. Itt was a WOW moment.  What was truly rewarding was when the students — Sowmiya Shree, Karthikeyan, Sabarika, Umadevi, Nandhan, Melvina, and Shammugapriy along with Professor Dr. S. Karunakaran — were honored with certificates and an award by Honorable Minister of Natural Resources, S. Regupathy. 

When the students began their work, we hardly imagined the event would grow to this scale. The students not just played a role in the archival effort, but actively engaged in this opportunity for deep learning. 

This collaboration is unique. We are not just digitizing the magazines but also making them fully searchable. What once took days or hours—such as finding articles by a specific author and compiling them—can now be done much faster. 

So far, we have completed about a year of archives (over 800 pages), with another seven years of material ahead. It will take months to complete, but the journey is well underway.

A Book on My Grandfather -Periyannan

I am deeply thankful that I was able to author a book on my grandfather, Periyannan. The book, written in Tamil, is my second, and I am excited about the outcome. 

Hearing words of appreciation from those who have read it has been extremely gratifying. It means a lot because of the hard work poured into it. We also launched an introductory book on the historic Ponni magazine, highlighting its authors and showcasing select articles from the original volumes.

A Symbolic Gesture: Handing Over Ponni Magazines

As a symbolic gesture, we invited all eight children of AR. Periyannan & Meenakshi — Tamilarasi, Ponni, Poongothai, Sulocahana, Vallikannu, Visalakshi, Perry Alagappan, and Ravi Periyannan — and together handed over the original Ponni magazines to Roja Muthiah Research Library Director, Sundar Ganesan.

We had a full house at the Centenary event. As one of the attendees pointed out, it was not just about one person at the event, it was a great display of team work. The event was for over 3 hours and everyone who attended was fully engaged. 

As I reflect on this journey, I feel deeply thankful for the experience and learning. I also have immense gratitude for the effort of everyone involved. It is not often that we get to do something like this. This effort and its potential outcomes act as a fitting tribute to the legacy of AR. Periyannan.

Thank you for reading.

Karthik Chidambaram.