Mridula’s spreading her love for the Tamil language

This piqued Mridula's interest and she decided to promote the Tamil language among youngsters. She started off with the campaign, #36daysoftamillettering, on social media. 

“There is nothing wrong in representing the language which is our identity. What I have noticed is that many youngsters are forgetting their native language and aren’t really bothered about learning it. Even parents aren’t keen on promoting Tamil. That’s one of the reasons for the campaign — #36daysoftamillettering. 

Many people were doing lettering challenge for English alphabet, but nothing for Tamil as such. I explored a lot of techniques and ways that people never thought they could represent Tamil. It was an exhilarating experience, but the response was amazing. People were curious to know how it was done,” says Mridula. 

She continued lettering in Tamil, but couldn’t find any city-based artists who are doing the same. 

“I felt the need to do something to promote the language — there are many youngsters who don’t know to read or write Tamil. It’s high time we inculcated the desire among youngsters. That’s how I came up with the idea of Tamil lettering workshop,” she shares. Her first workshop will be held in That Madras Place, Adyar, on July 1. Modern calligraphy has evolved so much that there’s something in it for everyone. With the help of watercolours and brushes, one can easily transform letters and words into works of art. 

“Imagine a letter being formed using the stem of a plant with foliage around it. I’ll be teaching certain techniques (like blending) to present the script in a beautiful way. This would be a fun way to learn the language and get oriented with it,” assures the artist. 

Developing Tamil in the digital age is an easier process and Mridula feels that there should be more interesting avenues to promote Tamil language and culture. 

Many children feel that Tamil is a tough language to learn and opt for languages like Hindi or French in school. It’s pretty scary to discover that youngsters are showing zero interest in learning their native language, she says. Also, a professional cake designer, Mridula does lettering on cakes.