From notebooks to typewriters, from computers to the cellphone, retired stenographer K.P. Purushothaman Nair has adapted to all. The 63-year-old has worked with seven HC Chief Justices and eight judges, was promoted to a personal assistant within three months, has been a private secretary, and retired as a senior private secretary to Justice S.J. Kathawalla. Today, he is using this experience to provide free legal training to aspiring stenographers through WhatsApp.
Mr. Nair says that when he joined the Bombay High Court in 1983, he had studied till Class X and completed shorthand courses, and earned ₹350 a month. He studied further while working and completed LLB in 2011. He recalls taking down dictations from a former Chief Justice and then running to appear for his law exam. “I would not get any time to study; all I had was practical knowledge. Working with the judges gave me a lot of information. The institution taught me.”
He remembers the changes that technology ushered in into his work over the years. First it was typewriters — he would type around 60 words a minute. Computers were introduced in 1998, and he remembers uploading his first judgement in 2003.
Two years ago, he started a WhatsApp group, which now has 181 members from across the State, all either stenographers at lower courts or aspiring to join the profession. He records audio of judgements and puts them on the group, called ‘Jai Maharashtra Short Hand’. “I take my laptop, look up judgements and send the students five-minute-long recordings so that they can first write and then type the material. That’s what we do.”
The word about the group is spreading fast, and not just in the city. A girl from Wardha recently called him and requested to be added to the group. “I want each one of them to clear the HC exam. There are currently 100 vacancies, but no institutes in districts and no one to teach legal shorthand.” Apart from the difficulty in finding institutes that teach shorthand, no one gives students legal training, he said. “One has to get used to the legal parlance while taking down dictations.”
Ashwini Vallakati, a stenographer at a Pune court and a virtual student of Mr. Nair, said, “In Maharashtra, there is no material available to train in legal shorthand. There are people who teach, but they charge a lot even for instruction through social media. But no one teaches like Nair sir, because he does it wholeheartedly. I aspire to become a stenographer in the High Court, and I am sure with his guidance I will make it.”
Mr. Nair says his own journey to becoming a stenographer has pushed him to help aspiring youngsters. After studying till Class X in the vernacular medium, an 18-year-old Mr. Nair worked as a labourer in Neemuch, Rajasthan. But wherever he went, he realised there was always a need for people with technical skills. That’s when he decided to become a stenographer and learnt shorthand in Kochi in Kerala. He can write 160-180 words a minute.
“I topped all three exams in 1982. I went up to my father, a farmer, in the field and told him I want to become a stenographer and excel in it. He gave me ₹50. I used ₹30 to buy a train ticket, and with one small bag of certificates, came to Mumbai as a stenographer. And I will always help anyone who wishes to become one.”