Writing in Tamil

Another attempt.. A personal milestone..

It was in the early 80s, When our family migrated from Chennai to the the foothills of the western ghats in the southern corner of the state. I was already in my first standard. I did not learn Tamil by then..

(City life means studying in an English medium school and Tamil did not even stand a chance as the second language, for French or probably Hindi is already vying for that honor.. And I am really sorry to assert that little has changed in the past 3 decades.. )

Not knowing the local language was the reason why I hated going to my new school back then. (well.. One of the reason.. er.. Ok.. probably the only one with some merit behind it)

Darkness under the Cot was my favorite retreat during the morning school departure time.. My Parents, after realizing that the first 3 ancient negotiating techniques of Sama (Peaceful), Beda (Political) and Dana (Coaxing and promising me the moon) have failed, would then finally resort to the last technique of Dhandam (by Force); Resembling an act of kidnapping, the whole house would be rearranged before they drag me with every available human assistance, pack me, carry me and toss me into the cycle rickshaw..

The cycle rickshaw driver (I still recall his name fondly as Michael Mama.. ) had to put additional latches that locked from outside to make sure I didn't break free and jump from the moving Vehicle.. !!

Once I reach the school, my teachers had a tough time in keeping me in the class. In order to be in the company of people who understand my language and feel secure, I used to march out of the class thats in full progress, looking out for my brothers.. I had two of them.. In Higher classes.. They too, like me didn’t know Tamil by then..

Its under these circumstances that my Father arranged for private Tamil classes at home for all the 3 of us after school hours. The master was a retired Tamil teacher called ‘Sethu Vaathiyaar'. A dynamic man in his late sixties who defied his age.. He comes to our home by cycle from the town few Kms away against the gusty easterly winds from the mountains.. His open mouthed laugh exposing that he had no teeth what so ever, was always accompanied by a gratifying conviction that had no hint of artificiality.

Thanks to the freehand that my father lend him, The laugh would still remain even as his stern hands sometime reaches to our ears when we refuse to toe the line. Slowly Tamil became our favorite subject.. With in a year, I was comfortable enough in the subject to top the class.

After that, the Tamil literature passages from the school text books, usual kids supplementary of the daily news paper, literary functions in temples, the Library of my village where I used to devour countless Tamil classics, Elocution competitions around my district.. All these are positive influences in my early days..

Sethu vaathiyaar’s contribution to all of this is foremost in my interest towards Tamil.. An interest that continues to date.

But last time I wrote in Tamil was 14 years ago...
The occasion was the higher secondary school board exam !!

After that I have not written Tamil.. Since I have stayed outside Tamilnadu for most of my professional life, unfortunately I also lost all opportunities to be in touch with the language. No reading... not even a chance to Watch Tamil. Speaking in Tamil with fellow friends often found me searching for words I wanted to convey and invariably became an English conversation with few Tamil words as prepositions.. Similar to Tamil TV anchors now a days, நீங்க வந்து இப்போ வந்து பாத்தீங்கன்னா எனக்கு தமிழே மறந்து போச்சுன்னு கூட சொல்லலாம். இல்லன்னா வந்து கொஞ்சம் ஞயாபகம் இருக்கு அப்பிடின்னி கூட சொல்லலாம். This is the type of Tamil that I seem to be talking now a days..

Finally I found my lost ground in the internet.. I was glad to see some quality writers and Tamil bloggers.. I slowly started nurturing the secret ambition of writing in Tamil as well.. For a few years now, it remained an ambition thanks to the laziness which appeared more blissful than the predicament to think so much to write in Tamil.

I would be romanticizing it if I said, I was sleeping.. Sethu vaathiyaar came in my dream.. He laughed in a deadly fashion.. First it was his same face with no teeth when he laughed.. Later two teeth emerged from his face.. My ear appeared like a guitar to him.. He started tuning it and asked "எங்க அந்த குறளைச் சொல்லு பாக்கலாம்".. I was shouting "சார்.. சார்..விட்டுருங்க சார்.. " Then I woke up in the middle of the night sweating....

No.. But the truth is somewhat close.. One of my old friends from college with the same name, offered me an opportunity to again write in Tamil, and finally I decided now there is no reason not to..

The result can be found here..

If you thought I have some weird memory to recite those verses in the article after all these years, be glad to know that my ears were paining (thanks to the hallucination of Sethu vaathiyaar) as I was recollecting them...

With Love
Vicky