பக்கம்:சிரிக்கும் பூக்கள்.pdf/20

|FORFA MORÐ - by Prof. K. R. SRINIVASA IYENGAR MA., D.Litt. Vice-Chancellor, Andhra University (Retd) Fellow, Sahitya Akademi The reason behind Tiru AL. Valliappas request that I should write a Foreword to his new collection of Songs for Children, SIRIKKUM POOKKAL, can only be that, since I have myself reached that stage in life called ‘second childhood', I am duly qualified for the role assigned to me. So be it, then. It is, indeed, a pleasure to wish Godspeed to this volume, 'Smiling Flowers', by a writer who has made- children & literature’ his own elected field and cultivated it with love, dedication and perseverance over a period of several decades. While opting for the Banking profession to earn his everyday bread and butter, Al. Walliappa nevertheless chose, for the health of his heart and soul, to feed on the honeydew and milk of Paradise so readily accessible in the world of children, part make-believe and part quintessential reality. Lisping in numbers at the age of thirteen, Valliappa hasn't looked back, and his books for children (prose and verse) number almost sixty. He xvii