Peirce Nigli, the President of the Coimbatore Book Club was a student of Stanes Anglo Indian High School. He was born to Nigli and Lilian Shirley and he has retired as the Assistant General Manager - State Bank of India. While doing his B.Com at the Government Arts College in Coimbatore, Peirce came across a magazine called ' Himmat '.
Peirce Nigli, the President of the Coimbatore Book Club was a student of Stanes Anglo Indian High School. He was born to Nigli and Lilian Shirley and he has retired as the Assistant General Manager - State Bank of India. While doing his B.Com at the Government Arts College in Coimbatore, Peirce came across a magazine called ' Himmat '.
The magazine was published by R.M.Lala and its editor was Rajmohan Gandhi. He was the grandson of both Rajaji and Gandhi. The magazine Himmat was a periodical and it was struggling during the days of the emergency because of the censorship prevalent during those trying times. It was an ' opinion ' magazine which had spoken against the Government and therefore had to face difficulties.
Earlier, the magazine used to have competitions regularly and the topic of the time for which I had written was - ' Should South Africa be banned from all sports ? '. I entered the contest and opined that South Africa should be banned for it was practicing ' Apartheid '. My essay based on my opinion won the contest and I received a prize of Rs.25 through a money order. It was the year 1967 and this victory kindled me to look out for oppourtunities of this kind.
It was at this juncture that I came across an advertisement released by a periodical called ' Enlite ' promoted by Alembic from Baroda. The magazine was seeking part time feature reporters and it was modelled after the internationally famous ' Time ' magazine. Alembic is among the oldest pharmaceutical companies in India and I think it was founded in the year 1907 smiled Peirce while his wife Celine served hot tea along with ' nendhram bhajjis '. The couple are blessed with two sons - Julian ( in the USA ) and Shawn ( Chennai ).
Enlite used to pay Rs.1 per column per inch those days and Peirce used to get about Rs.250 per article. Each article carried a photograph and an allowance was paid in case pictures had to be shot while doing the feature.
It was a package deal and the feature reporter had to cover his or her own travelling cost. Peirce Nigli had to open a bank account with the Bank of Baroda in order to encash the cheques received from Enlite.
He had not foreseen that he would become associated with the State Bank of India during those halcyon days ! Peirce was a lover of films and books. Therefore he spent it on his interests with the full knowledge of his parents. An earning student of this type was a rarity those days and perhaps he was the only one of his kind in this region.
Peirce Nigli recalled his first experience as a features reporter for Enlite, " Well, it was during my student days. My first feature was about the ' All India Nutrition Seminar ' ( 3 day programme ) which took place at the Avinashingam Home Science Colllege ( Avinashilingam University ) during the times of the eminent Dr.Rajammal Devadas. The Chief Guest happened to be the Deputy Union Minister for Health.
The conference was held in the presence of the Founder T.S.Avinashilingam Chettiar and Industrial Scientist G.D.Naidu was among the eminent guests. G.D.Naidu took me to the college mess and gave me some millet dishes ( millet vathal was one the items ) while sharing details about the nutritional advantages of having this kind of food. He was extremely courteous and gentle during our entire interaction.
It became an unforgettable experience for me. The meticulous Dr.Rajammal Devads wanted to vet the article in order to make sure that it was free from factual errors. I let her take a look at it and she was happy to see that it was in order. My first article earned me a good name and I continued to do a number of features for Enlite '.
One of his features had spoken about the poor quality of collegiate education that was prevalent in the country. It carried a critical view of the education of the times along with a photograph of a group of students belonging to the Government Arts College sitting in their classroom.
On reading the article a professor from Government Arts College wanted to know if it had to do with his quality of teaching because of the picture published ! Peirce told him that it was a general opinion and that the picture was meant to give a small thrill for the students.
He wrote a number of articles and it included a story on athlete R.M.Thirumurthy ( a college mate ) who had excelled as a long distance runner. Peirce did a bit of out of station features too. He travelled to the Nilgiris in order to write about the Pasteur's Institute in Coonoor and also about the Indo German Potato Research Station in Ooty ( it was headed by a German Scientist ). N.B.Menon, a student of P.S.G. College of Technology was good with cricket and he was also featured in Enlite, thanks to Peirce Nigli.
The banker in him remembers the feature on Dr.J.Thuljaram Rao and his work at the Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore. Incidentally the scientist had also been the President of the Coimbatore Book Club." Dr. Thuljaram Rao was a globally reknowned researcher and he had introduced a number of strains of sugarcane.
Some of them are still being cultivated by the farmers. This experience was to help me much later during my banking years when I began to evaluate some of the financial proposals that were received from a number of sugar mills. I was able to also understand the work done by the research departments of the sugar mills who were banking with the State Bank of India. In a way my experience as a features reporter helped me to be a successful banker too, " smiled Peirce Nigli.
Peirce remembers using either his cycle or the bus for work connected with writing features for Enlite. He was using the type writer of a friend until such time his father got him an old English type writer. He stayed with his friends at the Nilgiris during his visits while doing stories for Enlite.
Sometimes institutions used to supply the pictures themselves. Peirce remembers a few incidents connected with his reporter days, " Cycling to meet a person was the done thing. However the wait at level crossings used to be agonizing and therefore I used to carry my cycle across the railway tracks in order to save time.
My days as a reporter were really interesting and I was happy to be one. It was a rare opening those days for the entry barriers for journalism was quite high then. The only way to enter the arena was working with smaller publications. I was really happy that my student days and my days in waiting until I got my job in State Bank were spent in a rewarding manner. Meeting up with people gave me both - lots of exposure and immense joy.
Well, once the feature was ready after typing , I used to keep the connected photo along with it in an envelope and send it by post to Enlite. Those were the days. I had kept all the old magazines with my articles in a trunk which had other books as well. Unfortunately , we threw away all of them by mistake ! Nowadays I am an active member of the book club at Coimbatore.
I used to be a member of the Madras Book Club while serving in Chennai. I have attended book reviews in Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru. While travelling abroad I have attended reviews in Boston. Have been to the Harvard University too. It was at Harvard that I exchanged notes about poetry reading in Coimbatore. Banking took a lot of time and therefore I gave up writing. I could have done ' opinions ' but never did so. However I continue to read, discuss and review books at the Coimbatore Book Club meetings. "
Peirce Nigli and his friends are going to have an event connected with the works of Nobel Laureate V.S.Naipaul at the Mani Higher Secondary School in the immediate future . He is keen to add that he had developed a lot of interests due to his reporting experience. He had got interested in nutrition after attending the conference at the Avinashilingam Home Science College. Peirce Nigli loves to be active through the books he loves. The experiences of the columnist turned banker Peirce Nigli makes one realize that diverse experiences make ' A Complete Man '.