Director of Area Cyclone Warning Centre here S R Ramanan, who became a household name in Tamil Nadu in over a decade with his unique style of delivery of weather predictions, retired today after 36 years of service in the Meteorological Department.
Ramanan became most popular weatherman across the state largely due to his proficiency in Tamil and the style of delivery of the weather bulletins and his news bytes and interviews to Tamil television channels.
Notably, he used Tamil words, several of them coined by him, to refer to even complex meteorological terms so that it could be easily understood by a layman.
For example, he made popular Tamil phrases like "Veppa Salanam," (meaning convective rains), something unheard of before.
He took efforts to compile a glossary of Tamil equivalents to meteorological jargons which was hosted in the official website of the Met Department in Chennai.
Such initiatives not only took the science behind meteorology to the people, but also his name.
The level of popularity he enjoyed could be gauged from the fact that his name was referred in several Tamil films in the context of weather although in a lighter vein.
His popularity peaked during the November-December rains last year, when memes centered around him flooded social media websites and mobile messaging platforms.
"I thank each and everyone of my department, the people, well-wishers, weather enthusiasts and journalists on this moment. Without all round support I would not have been able to work effectively," Ramanan told PTI.
In his 36 years of service, he served the department here for 26 years and the rest in several other places in the country including Delhi and Pune.
