Statues of literary icons spruced up

Madurai: Thirteen statues of Tamil literary giants erected way back in 1981 during the Fifth World Tamil Conference in Madurai have been cleaned and spruced up, thanks to 'Vaa Nanba', a city-based outfit of youths, professionals and social service-oriented men working towards a cleaner city.The members spruced up the statues to commemorate the 35{+t}{+h} year since the world Tamil conference held in Madurai.A large number of members of the forum, who congregated on the Tamukkam ground, teamed up into 13 groups and spread out, each team cleaning up a statue. Mayor V V Rajan Chellappa inaugurated the drive and took part in it.Many people in the city do not know the location of the statues. Many have even forgotten about the existence of the idols. "We cleared the weeds around the statues and posters on the figures. The coat of paint we gave last year was still intact. We just needed to clean it up," said M C Saravanan, secretary of Vaa Nanba.Madurai is known not only for history and culture, but also for its role in the development of Tamil language. Madurai was selected as the venue for the conference since it was known for developing three forms of Tamil - Iyal, Isai and Nadagam. But there had not been any takers for the statues.The members of the forum were shocked to see the condition of the statues. When they approached Madurai Corporation to spruce them up, it readily gave permission.The Tamil Annai statue at Tamukkam, the Arumuka Navalar statue near Mariamman Teppakulam, the Kavimani Thesiya Vinayagam Pillai statue at Tallakulam, the Tholkappiyar statue at K K Nagar arch, the Roberto de Nobili statue near Fatima College, the Veeramamunivar statue near Fatima College, the Ponpandithurai Thevar statue near Thilagar Thidal, the Mayavaram Vedanayagam Pillai statue at Raja Muthaiya Mandram, the Thiruvallur Statue near the Anna Bus Terminal, the Thaninayagam Adigal statue near Melamadai junction, the Thiru V Kalyanasundaram statue at Kalavasal Junction, the Navalar Somasundara Bharathiyar at Palanganatham junction and the U V Swaminatha Iyer statue at Tallakulam were erected during the conference.