A stroll through still-thriving typewriting institutes

Murali Typewriting Institute in West Mambalam and Padma Typewriting Institute in Valasaravakkam keep typewriter nostalgia alive in Chennai.

At Murali Typewriting Institute in West Mambalam, the assumption that typewriters are not in use any more is a distant myth. Instead, it is a place of nostalgia. The classes are bustling with students and the clickety-clack of their typewriters. Here, Remingtons have given way to Godrej Prima.

And there’s Padma Typewriting Institute at Alwartirunagar in Valasaravakkam, which has a storied history. Founded as Goodluck Commercial Institute in 1952 by Nagarajan’s father at Chidambaram, it was shifted to Chennai in 1971. “Back in the 1950s, we had Underwood, Royal, and Woodstock typewriters. We gained government recognition in 1971, and later transitioned to Remington typewriters. We still have some of the oldest models at Padma, but today’s students are only familiar with Godrej Prima,” Mr. Nagarajan says. He owns both Tamil and English typewriters and doesn’t worry about typewriter mechanics leaving the profession; he repairs them himself and knows his machines inside out. Godrej shut down its last typewriter plant in 2011. The number of students may have dwindled, many institutes have closed, and the typewriting mechanics are hard to find. But M. Muralidharan, the owner of Murali Typewriting Institute, has been undeterred since 1986.

“It is a family business. We started with only 4 machines; now, we have 22 typewriters. We still have about 80 students every month, though the number varies. During summer, students come in for crash courses,” he says. “We started with a monthly fee of ₹15. It is ₹600 a month. We still have students of all ages and backgrounds, including those seeking government jobs, many of which require the knowledge of typing,” he adds. This institute suffered a setback in the 2015 floods, which damaged the typewriters. The classes were restarted only in July 2023.

“One of my most cherished memories is this: a student joined my typewriting classes as a teenager in the early 1990s. Over the years, life took her far away. She got married and settled in Australia. But one summer, she returned to Chennai, not just for a nostalgic visit but also for her child, a teenager eager and curious, who joined my summer classes. It felt like life had come a full circle as I watched the next generation take up the same clattering keys, because the parent wanted to make it a shared memory,” says Mr. Muralidharan.

Globally, typewriters are still embraced by writers and poetry buskers for their old-school charm, the satisfaction of not a word wasted, and the undistracted creative flow they offer. These artists create personalised poems for people using typewriters in less than five minutes, charging some money, a hobby that has been gaining traction worldwide.