Sardarji who fell in love with kurals of poet Thiruvalluvar

It’s tough to find a Tamilian who knows at least 10 Thirukkurals by heart. But this Punjabi who has settled down in Mogappair can recite 20 kurals at a time. What’s more inspiring is that he has carved the image of Thiruvalluvar on two trees in his garden. Jaswant Singh, a builder by profession, says in chaste Tamil, “Though I am a Punjabi by birth, I am a complete Tamilian by heart. My ancestors moved to Chennai decades ago and we have been doing business here.”

The 56-year-old has a garden that houses around1,000 varieties of plants and 350 varieties of herbs. As an expression of his fondness for Thiruvalluvar, he has carved out the image of the celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. “There are various ways of expressing one’s admiration towards a person and his writings. Since I am a builder and love carving, I decided to carve out my role model on two live trees — a bigger version on a mango tree and a smaller one on a sandalwood tree — in my garden,” says Jaswant.

He started carving three months ago and completed it last week. We asked Jaswant the reason for his love for Valluvar and he says, “I am an avid reader and while reading holy books what I’ve noticed is that all of them talk about their particular community/religion. But Thirukkural transcends caste, creed and nationality. It is one of the greatest works ever written on secular ethics and morality.”

Though he finds it tough to select his favourite kural, Jaswant says that agara mudhala ezhuthellam aadhibhagavan mudhatre ulagu will be his all-time favourite. “Look at these lines.. “If a man can learn to envy none on earth. It’s the richest gift, beyond compare its worth.” Isn’t it very relevant in today’s context? Though it’s written over two millennia ago, all the 1,330 couplets are applicable to our day to day life and are very much relevant even today. But most of us don’t even know the importance of these kurals that have been written to benefit humanity,” he says.

As a first step, Jaswant is planning to promote the couplets in schools and colleges in and around Mogappair. “If being a Punjabi I can do all these, then am sure a Tamil person could do much more than this,” he smiles.

Known among the agriculture enthusiasts for his collection of rare plants, Jaswant shares with us an interesting piece of coincidence. “I live in Thiruvalluvar Nagar in Mogappair and this area was under Thiruvalluvar district until ten years ago. But now the place comes under Chennai district.”

Well, that’s one helluvacoincidence!