A Profile of Pulavar Nallathamby (Siva) Sivanathan
BSc (Civil Eng.) FCIOB FaPS FCABE TechIOSH AssocRICS – Senior Construction Design Management Consultant and Founder and Patron of Thamizhavai, London
Introduction:
This is a profile of Mr Nallathamby Sivananthan [known as Pulavar Siva] whose respected contributions to the fields of Poetic Creativity in many aspects of personal, business and family life in Tamil, in Sri Lanka and In the UK have been carried out for more than six and a half decades.
Pulavar Siva is the youngest son of the Late Muthu Thamizh Pulavar, Pundit M. Nallathamby of Vaddukoddai of Sri Lanka, who translated the National Anthem of Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, into Tamil.
We touch on his family background and his childhood before moving through his adult and professional years in the civil engineering and building construction industry based initially in Libya and later in the UK since 1981.
Throughout this journey we will also recognise Pulavar Siva’s continued and ever-evolving passion and commitment to the spiritual links with the Tamil culture, history, and influences.
Evidence in the form of many books, handwritten scripts, published articles in magazines and publications, audio, video productions, TV, and Radio interviews recordings, clearly demonstrate Pulavar Siva’s many poetic and professional achievements.
His recent lectures, poetic recitals, and talks on zoom conferences have been reaching audiences, young and old, male, and female, from a variety of destinations including, Sri Lanka, India, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, to name a few.
Siva’s productions and publications were staged and launched in Tamil Nadu, South India, and these events and functions were attended and very well appreciated by scholars and researchers.
His deliveries cover traditional, cultural, historical, archaeological, scientific, technical, and professional topics, reaching wide variety of audiences.
To ensure his beliefs and desires were able to reach the growing support, Siva founded an institution named ‘Thamizhavai’ in 1999. He has been using this as a basepoint for his non-profit making, charitable, artistic, and cultural productions, performances, events, and functions.
To date, all the expenditures, efforts, and energy for Pulavar Sivanathan’s projects and programmes including charity events, have been driven and funded by him, his wife, and his family, with no support from any government or external funders.
Perhaps, this dialogue does not fully capture all Pulavar Siva’s capabilities and competencies. However, this is produced as a vehicle to support and enhance his continued enthusiasm and commitment to further and share his literary leadership activities and projects.
Education and Professional journey:
Siva was educated in Sri Lanka from where, after a brief time working as a teacher of Science, Mathematics and Tamil Language, he emigrated to the United Kingdom with the intention of following his higher studies in Civil Engineering.He was sponsored by his elder brother, Mr M N Vivekananthan, who was at that time the Regional Managing Director of Matt MacDonald’s and Partners in their Indonesian operations.
Since January 1981, following his degree qualification in Civil Engineering at Middlesex University, formerly Middlesex Polytechnic, Siva worked in the civil engineering and building construction industry, where he held several varying positions in the private sector.
This included roles in the engineering, management, training and development, business development, auditing, and consultancy fields. Supported by his geotechnical and civil engineering career background in Libya in the early part of 1980s, he expanded his professional proficiency and expertise through his continued and committed involvement in project management and leadership activities on projects. These were minor and major in size, shape, complexity, risk parameters, and constraints in and around the M25 circle in the UK.
Siva continued his development to become a Chartered Builder and Chartered Building Engineer, supported by his achievements as a senior consultant. Siva then continued his progression and was awarded his fellowships with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the Association of Project Safety (APS) and the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE).
Siva had also followed and qualified in an intense course, Preparing for Teaching in Lifelong Learning Schemes (PTLLS) and has also conducted Health & Safety Management courses on behalf of IOSH. These awards and qualifications have allowed Siva to practice as a leader and mentor for graduates and future leaders of the construction industry.
Siva’s journey through the construction industry has enable him to interact with a multi-cultural and highly diverse community. This has led to a collaboration with a fellow professional, Mr Glenn Duggleby, who is a highly experienced Project Manager, Senior Leadership and HR Management Consultant.
Together, they have formed a unique organisation namely, Q-HELP International Ltd. The key’s areas of expertise that Q-HELP offerare well defined and the organisations name says much about what they specialise in, i.e.;Q stands for Quality, H for Health and Safety, E for Environment, Lfor Leadership, Learning and Languages, and Pfor People, Projects and Performance.
Siva and Glenn have also found a shared cultural and spiritual vision and recognise that there is much to be learnt from combining the strengths of different cultures, leadership and management practices and skills. They have visited India together twice and are both well-travelled for work and cultural purposes.
In Southern India, collaborations were developed with Siva’s own network of friends and associates, many of whom had been developed through his poetic and spiritual work and teachings.
These collaborations continue to evolve and establish avenues for learning, development, and education. Siva and Glenn have held meetings and continue to develop these relationships with representatives of established partners and institutions, e.g., CIOB and ICE. These relationships continue to develop to support further possibilities and opportunities to match and drive QHELP’s vision and objectives.
Poetic Creativity:
Siva, the youngest son of a renowned and highly respected poet, his father died when he was only eighteen months old and thus Pulavar Siva began his life’s journey by teaching himself and immersing in the Tamil Culture and literature from an early age, influenced by his father’s many poetic works.
Although his mother, Thangaratnam Nallathamby, passed away when Siva was only 19 years old, her influence on his believes and behaviour, was also very strong, not only during his childhood but also on his ongoing life’s journey.
His passion and interest in poetry, drama and all aspects of the spoken word led him into village-based events, functions, and performances from an early age.
During his school days, he used to spend all of his spare time watching Kooththu stage plays and many othermusical plays and attending meetings or events where he could listen to famous orators from Tamil Nadu.
Siva’s obvious creative leanings and early evidence of leadership skills were recognised by his circle of friends from an early age. He would gather his village friends and directed and produced traditional plays, folk arts, and dramas in front of audiences at his own residence hall.
Siva’s creative, poetic, dramatic and oratory skills and talents were further developed during his school and college life, spent at Vaddukoddai Hindu College, Skandavarodaya College, Kantharodai, Chunnakamand Aquinas University college, in Colombo.
This continued through further studying in Colombo, his teaching life in Uruththirapuram, Kilinochchi, and his home life in Pallai. Poetry and drama continued to be the major influence on his ethos and was further influenced by his associates, friends and mentors.
In 1974, aged 25, Pulavar Siva came to the UK, and commenced his engineering studies at Bolton Institute of Technology initially and then followed to complete his degree education at Middlesex Polytechnic.
As his engineering education progressed, Siva’s passion for the Tamil language, literature, art, and culture, alongside a desire to expand his understanding of his ancestor’s history and civilization,continued to grow.
He has immersed himself in the writing of Tamil Poetry in publications and journals, delivering speeches and poetry recitals. This has increasingly moved into other media, with interviews on stages, in community radios and televisions, and speaking at public and on-line zoom conferences.
He has been a frequent speaker in Cultural, artistic, and theatrical concerts, community gatherings and participant of talk shows. He has written and directed a number of dramas and plays for stages and radios.
His works on the creation of dance dramas are well known among the Tamil community, both in the UK and overseas. Perhaps Siva’s biggest passion is with his commitment to promote and celebrate traditional folk arts including ‘Kooththu’, Villupattu’, Dance Dramas and adaptation of Indian classics.
Pulavar Sivanathan has spent a great deal of his life journey in developing talents within the community, of people of all ages and backgrounds.
For this he has been recognised with many awards and accolades, here in the UK and in Tamil Nadu, South India.
From his own experiences and history, he has strengthened his focus on championing how we can impact upon‘bigger picture’ issues through our own influences.
In his messages through his works, he has focussed on the eradication of human sufferings, nationally and internationally, and of prejudices and perceptions due to centuries of unjustly evolved global ignorance.His soul, heart and mindhas always been focussed with:
- The influences of global Leadership
- The imbalance of power and economical resources
- Inhuman activities related to global human resources.
- Child labour abuses
- Issues on Environment, Ecology, and a sustainable globe for the future generations
Pulavar Siva’s poems, songs and books are readily available in the plethora of social and global media that we all access these days. They will always reflect, using both humour and serious context to highlight Pulavar’s strong and firm beliefs and views on these topics.
Amongst his renowned writings, published as books,are:
- ‘Emathu Payanam’ (a short narration to call upon peace and harmony in Sri Lanka)
- ‘Kumural’( a poetic narration of Sri Lankan political issues related to Tamil minority)
- ‘Saththyam Saahaathu,’ (an anthology of Pulavar poems)
- ‘My beloved ancestors under the deep sea’ ( a very detailed research work related to Tamil’s ancient civilization with specific reference to pre-historical Tsunamis).
Pulavar Sivahas also worked on a number of productions, publications, and projects focussed and involving the younger generation, from children to young adults.
During his time in the teaching profession in Sri Lanka and continuing into his time in the UK, Pulavar Sivahas written a series of books which will combine traditional wisdom and teachingswith more modern and culturally diverse education and development tools.
The aim is to help develop an improved quality of life, especially focussed upon the poor and under privileged spread across our ‘global village.’
Pulavar Siva’s establishment and ongoing commitment to ‘Thamizhavai’has continued to lead and promote learning, training and development within and alongside the Tamil community across the globe.
Thamizhavai will continue to support world peace, justice, education, charitable works and cultural awareness, not only to the Tamil Community worldwide, but also to the global community in a multi-cultural and multi-national environment.
Pulavar Siva will continue to take strength and support from his Thamizhavai community to help spread the messages from his writings, performances, and productions.
During the Covid epidemic period, Pulavar Siva created a forum named, ‘Thamizhavai- Thedalum Koodalum’ and led, conducted and delivered more than a hundred zoom conferences.
This was a great example of the community strength and need driven by the help of his associates from Thamizhavai and of his many friends from Sri Lanka and India.
This identifieda diverse selection of topics that encouragedlife-long learning and much-needed research works, especially during a challenging time, across the global community, when this support and resource was crucial.