Elamurugan

“Roja” which means rose in Tamil. In school, Elamurugan was taught how to draw by the “Oviam” master – a term he mentioned is used for art teacher. He studied at “Putokode” district (note, spelling may be wrong) till standard 10 before moving to *Tirupur and entered training. He dosen’t really enjoy studying and out of 142 in his class, only 7 passed.

Before working in Singapore, he works at a garments factory cutting up cloth for 9 years. He has a father who is 75 years old, a brother who is 44 and unemployed plus 4 sisters. His elder brother has 4 kids and he is working to support them. Elamurugan is 28 years old. His father works ad-hoc jobs sometimes.

Socio-economic background of Tirupur:
from wikipedia:

*Tirupur is the Capital of Tirupur District. Tirupur (Tamil: திருப்பூர்) is a textile city and one among the 9 municipal corporations in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is an important trade center of India. Tirupur has gained universal recognition as the leading source of Hosiery, Knitted Garments, Casual Wear and Sportswear. It is a new district. Tirupur is the Seventh largest city in Tamil Nadu and is one of the fastest developing cities in the state. Tirupur has emerged as the knitwear capital of the country in three decades. Exports from Tirupur, which provides employment to over three lakh people has crossed the Rs.12,000 crore mark last year.

He shared he did not like the chalk pastels used to draw the pictures above because it is thick and the paper small. We then used normal paper and a pen to draw the next one which is a peacock. I learned from him that the peacock is a symbol of Lord Murugan which part of Elamurugan’s name came from.

A description of Lord Murugan from Wikipedia :
Murugan or Murukaṇ (Tamil: மு௫கன் ) is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus, and is worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influence, especially South India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. He is not quite so well-known in other parts of India. Like most Hindu deities, He is known by many other names, including Senthil, Saravaṇa, Kārttikeya (meaning 'son of Krittika'), Arumugam or Shanmukha (meaning 'one with six faces'), Kumāra (meaning 'child or son'), Guha, Skanda (meaning 'that which is spilled or oozed, namely seed' in Sanskrit)^[1], Subrahmaṇya, Vēlaṇ and Swaminatha^[2]. He is the God of war and the patron deity of the Tamil land (Tamil Nadu). According to the Tamil devotional work, Thiruppugazh, "Murugan never hesitates to come to the aid of a devotee when called upon in piety or distress".