Chennai: With virtually no repairmen around, typewriters have now found their place with collectors of antique objects. City-based collector of antiques, Robert Kennedy, has over 30 typewriters in his collection - including a 1897 model of Underwood. Over the years, he has collected typewriters of a number of brands such as Remington, Woodstock, and Underwood.
He said that the first fully functional typewriter was the Underwood no. 5, which he possesses. "This typewriter has all modern and standard functions. All the typewriters that came in its year to those in the last era of typewriters were based on that model," he said.
Typewriters are passé in this era of laptops, tablets, and apps, and with the production of typewriters having stopped, there are no repairmen around, barring a few who are now old and into other businesses.
What keeps the age-old Stenographers' Guild going in Chennai is the demand for government jobs that look for stenography as a must. Located on a bustling road in T Nagar, in the heart of the city, the centre has around 70 students coming daily for various courses.
While most of them flock to the organisation to learn shorthand, many are driven by the need to land a government job. Daily, the faculty at the guild has several batches of students, a majority of them being taught the popular type of rapid writing - the Pitman shorthand.
Subramaniam Aiyar started the not-for-profit organisation 30 years ago, and today, it is his son Siva Subramaniam, an IT employee, who heads the guild. "Even though there are no typewriters, fast typing is a must in many government jobs which need shorthand and stenography skills. Through typewriters, one can learn to type fast," he said.
"Thanks to the state Department of Technical Education (DOTE), manual typing is one of the modes of getting certified in typing. The Government Technical Exams in typewriting and shorthand are to date conducted by DOTE," he said.
Initially, the guild used to be in demand by journalists as knowing shorthand was a must but with the advancement of technology, the demand has fallen. "Also, with the IT boom, the number of people joining the guild had fallen but with time, people realised the importance of a government job and were always on the lookout for opportunities," he added.
Meena Institute of Commerce on Vellala street in Purasawalkam, which was started in 1957, will celebrate its 60th anniversary on Monday, February 20. Proprietor S.Veeraraghavan (85) said, "Over 10,000 students have studied typewriting and shorthand couses during the last 60 years. Several of our students have made it big in their career”. Despite hi-tech times, we continue to get good number of students."
