Canada!
Lifetime Achievement Award 
to Mr. Pathmanaba Iyer of UK!

- A.Muttulingam -

The 4th annual lecture and Lifetime Achievement Award took place at 7 pm on 12th June 2005 at Seeley Hall, University of Toronto. As in previous years, the award was given by the Tamil Literary Garden, in conjunction with the Centre for South Asian Studies of University of Toronto. The award also known as ‘Iyal Virudhu’ includes a plaque and a cash prize of 1500.00 Canadian dollars. The recipient this year was Mr. Pathmanaba Iyer of UK, who, over a period of more than three decades, has made an invaluable contribution to the promotion of Tamil literature. The event drew more than 200 guests, including several who came from the USA and the UK to participate in the function and to honor Mr. Iyer.

Speakers at the event included Professor Chelva Kanaganayakam, Mrs. Satyabama Mahendran, Mr. Ashwin Balamohan, Mr. Tam Sivathasan and the chief guest, Professor David Clandfield. The program also included a video presentation about Mr. Iyer, produced by Mr. Nithianandan from London. 

Following the welcome speech by Sathyabama Mahendran, Mr. Sivathasan spoke at length about the struggles and achievements of Mr. Iyer, reiterating the notion that Mr. Iyer’s commitment and determination to give Tamil its rightful place in literary history must be recognized as a watershed. Mr. Iyer, in his acceptance speech, stressed the need to focus on the future and find more ways of promoting Tamil studies in South Asia and in the West. Professor Clandfield stressed the importance of fostering Tamil studies at the University of Toronto and gave assurance that every effort was being made to begin the teaching of Tamil at the University by the year 2006. The event included an additional award to Iyer presented Professor Sritharan  on behalf of  well-wishers from Europe and North America. The evening concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr Selvam. 

A.Muttulingam
amuttu@rogers.com