An internet group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ponniyinselvan) that discussed the famous historical novel ponniyinselvan written by Kalki. Krishnamurthy brought us together. It was decided that the members of the group would visit the places described in the novel. It was during this trip the group got the acquaintance of Dr. Kalaikkovan, a renowned historian and the convener of Dr. M.Rajamanikkanar Centre for Historical Research. His guidance and encouragement was instrumental in our group learning to read inscriptions, appreciate temple architecture and sculptures. www.varalaaru.com, a portal to share the learnings of our group to the rest of the world was launched on August 15th 2004.
The Crew
S.Kamalakkannan, MBA, MS, (MA History)
An IT Manager working for NEC India Pvt. Ltd, Chennai, India is passionate about Dravidian or south Indian temple architecture, wrote a series on the same in the Kattadakkalai (temple architecture) section.
T.M.Ramachandran, MS, (MA History)
A scientist in Airbus, Bangalore. An avid music listener and regular writer on music in the various forums, groups in the internet and the aalaapanai section of varalaaru.com. His music reviews can be read at http://classical-music-review.blogspot.com. Author of the book 'Isaiyulaga Ilavarasar GNB' by Vikatan publications.
M.Lavanya, CA (MA History)
A Financial Analyst in World Bank, Washington D.C, USA. Her mission to take inscriptions to the public is well on course through her simple yet captivating articles in the kalvettu section. Being a dance student she pursues research on dance related sculptures.
S.Gokul, B.E, MBA, M.A(History), M.Phil(History)
A Software architect working for TIBCO, New York, USA, possesses an uncanny knack of packaging facts into stories that would keep the audience engaged all the time. His stories can be read in the 'Kadhai neram' section.
S.Krupashankar
A software person working in Wipro, Chennai, India, initially designed this site - way back in 2004. He has contributed to several open and closed source applications to help with enabling Tamil computing right from Windows 98 through to low-end mobile phones.
