|
| Njattiyela Sreedharan, Thalassery, Kannur Mob: 9895410120 |
|
|
His formal schooling
was only up to 4th standard.
But now, 85-year-old Njattiyela Sreedharan has to his credit the creation
of a 900-page four-language dictionary covering the four major South Indian
languages.
It may be
an irony of fate that Hermann Gundert, who wrote the first dictionary in
Malayalam, did his work at Thalassery, from where the new collector of words
hails.
After dropping
out of school, Sreedharan worked for a while in beedi factory. Later he passed 8th standard equivalent exam
and got a job in PWD. Even while he was working
in the Department, he had begun work on his dream in 1984. However, it was after retirement from government
service in 1994 that he dedicated his life to stringing the garland of words in
four languages.
Apart from
Malayalam, he picked up Tamil, Telugu and Kannada all alone. Wherever he travelled in South Indian states,
people were always eager to help him with his compilation work.
He mentions
how he would find the meaning of a word in two languages and would have to labour
for years to get the words in other two languages. In certain eureka moments, a word he was
searching earnestly would come to him in a dream. At such times he would literally jump out of
bed and write it down.
While a
task of this magnitude would be a worthy endeavour for a university or research
organization, Sreedharan embarked on the adventure all by himself. He dedicated 25 years to compile the words
for the dictionary.
Once the
work was over, he knocked at the doors of countless publishers without much
success. At last, the dictionary was
published with the support of the Senior Citizens Forum of Kerala. Priced at Rs.1500, the 900-page dictionary
can be ordered from him.
Vidya
Raja (text), thebetterindia, December 31, 2020
