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ways.
Valliappa’s MALARUM ULLAM-his first get-together
of 23 MALARUM ULLAM, ‘Flowering
Sensibility’; SIRIKKUM
songs-came out in 1944, and with its simplicity of diction, elevating
thoughts and rhythmical ease and adequacy proved an instant
success. Valliappa had no doubt had his predecessors and
pathfinders in poets like Subramania Bharati and Kavimani Desiga
Vinayakam Pillai, and after the first taste of success, he pursued
his vocation with seasoned expertise as well as sustained
diligence. A fuller collection of MALARUM ULLAM-comprising 135
songs-appeared in 1954, and an equally sumptuous Second Series
in 1961. Both volumes carried numerous illustrations, encouraging
the child to shift from the visual to the audible, and to fusion the
double appeal in the flowering sensibility within. Then, in coming
years, more and more choice reading-poetry, fiction, biography-for
the expectant children, and now this latest, SIRIKKUM POOKKAL,
an ensemble of longer and shorter pieces, and lively matching
illustrations in black and white. It is the same tested vintage,
refreshing, stimulating, and manna for the growing child.
POOKKAL, ‘Smiling Flowers’; buds, and blossoms, and flowers, and
the splendour of full efflorescence, and the dedication of this
ardour and beauty and love to the Sun. Aren’t