Nellachi Row (now Nellachi Pillay) was the daughter of Ardy Pillay, a member of the Chetti Melaka community and a clerk in the Treasury Department. She migrated to Singapore in the 1950s where she attended the Teachers Training College and graduated in 1953. She taught at a primary school before she was seconded to the Social Welfare Department.By the late 1950s, Nellachi joined the School for the Blind, and in 1959, she became one of the first women to receive the Colombo Plan scholarship when she was sent to New Zealand. On her return, she was promoted and became the Principal of the School for the Blind. Motivated by her training in arts and crafts, she introduced special teaching aids for blind students. In 1986, she joined the Diversional Therapy unit of Tan Tock Seng hospital, Singapore as Secretary and initiated programmes that used crafts for therapy. She is an important pioneer who is part of Singapore’s lesser-known Chetti Melaka community.This is a portrait of Ardy Pillay, who was settled in Bachang, Malacca, with his wife.
