When A City Forgets Itself

Topic started by Adithya (@ 203.101.151.34) on Fri Mar 15 01:07:45 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

CHENNAI: Chennai is of course the capital of Tamil Nadu, the land of Tamils. But the word’s origin is shrouded in mystery. Certainly, it is not a pure Tamil term.

That perhaps exemplifies the increasingly non-Tamil character of the city. For starters native Tamil speakers constitute hardly fifty per cent of the population.

Even five decades after the British left the country, the colonial hangover continues to persist.Anything connected with Tamil language and culture is at a discount and even sneered at.

It is here that the most adulterated Tamil is spoken by people. But English is taught in schools with utmost care. In schools, children are fined even if they inadvertantly use a Tamil word. Forget about Thiruvalluvar, the system, seems to say. The Tamil savant, whose seminal work Thirukkural is translated into a whole range of languages, next only to Bible, was supposedly born in Mylapore in the heart of the city.

The greatest qualification for a lyricist who wants to survive in Kodambakkam is that he write a song mixed with English words. Still better if he can write without any meaning.

Even the film titles are in English, from Love Birds to Duet to Red to I Love You Daa.

In Chennai, which is also the capital of classical music, one gains recognition only by his virtuosity to render Telugu keerthanaas. Tamil classical songs are termed as urupadis (soiled cloth). Few care any longer about the divinity of Tamil music which was proved in Mylapore when Saivite saint Thirugnanasambandar resurrected Poombavai from the ashes through his hymns.

It is in Thiruvallikeni, Peyazhawar, that one of the first Azhwars, who enriched Tamil poetry with his contributions, lived. A note of caution though. Better pronounce Triplicane. Otherwise people will be confused whether such a place exists or not.

Pattinathar and Vadalur Vallalar Ramalinga Adigal had lived in Thiruvotriyur for sometime. Great poet of our times Subramania Bharathi lived in Thirvallikeni and roamed like a lion on the sands of Marina. Today many secret places of Thiruvotriyur, Thiruvallikeni and Marina have become hotbeds of smuggling and criminal activities.

Nobel Laureate Naipaul remembers the sands of Marina for the appalling sight of people easing themselves in the open, never for a moment sympathising with the lot of those who are forced to forget their dignity in order to attend to the nature’s call.

If the Naipauls of the world have only contempt for their native land, the denizens of this “great city” only seek to emulate him turning their back upon their own traditions.

http://www.newindpress.com

http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IET20020315001840&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&rLink=0

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