Thoughts on Tamil

First of all I want to clear that this post is not a supporting nor an opposing post to the recently published article by Writer Jeyamohan in the Hindu tamil. This is just my views on what I see on and after the article. We are born as Tamils (or our language we hear around during our infancy and childhood days is Tamil). So we relate the cultural heritage with our language which cannot be explained elsewhere or in other language. Vernacular words cannot be translated into other language. To be frank even in the same language we can find the differences over the region. So one’s identity lies with the language. This is a fact or one way of approaching the term identity. But are we really following and respecting the same? We hail the language, we say it is sacred and so on but are we teaching our kids the so called sacred language or we want to be update with the current trend of the world?

This question leaves a big impression on us. So the same writer wrote a couple of weeks ago that before talking much into the quality of writing we must need to drag people into the writing then let them choose the quality of which they like. One cannot start reading Dostoevsky unless he read a lot grasped a lot. So according to him we need to improve the habit of reading in Tamil. Once you can bring more audience then it is a great exposure and opportunity for them to choose over the type of literature they wish to read. By this the language will be existed throughout. Very few talked about that article. I have heard from the same people who praise a mediocre English novel over a better Tamil novel as the reason is that it is in English. I wondered that are we independent or still colonial slaves of British?

Now all of a sudden the readers may wonder why this stupid is writing all this in English. Here lays the beauty of the post, I write the English post in English script not in any other script. So the beauty and the identity of a language lies in the SCRIPT. So it is essential to retain the script, but are the readers are reading Tamil? I know myself a lot of friends who are born and bred in Tamil family and don’t even know to read the language but they can speak and understand very well. So what is the way to bring them into reading? This is the thought that might have come into the writer’s mind. Of course we type an awful lot and kill not only Tamil but also English so he thought that why not write a book in that way. The whole word condemned about it. I am not the supporter of that but if someone can write a novel in the texting language why not someone can write in Tanglish? We even able to accept that Khan Noonien Singh is an English. We can't even find the classics our parents talked about in any way. When the source becomes more accessible then the exposure will be high and we will also go the route easily available or else our future generation may not find at all. Either you define the growth or let it evolve. If you can't do either of those then please keep quiet and help yourself. 

If someone says that we cannot accept that, then for those who condemn the writer have they read any of his works? As for as I am concerned, I can say he is one of the authors we need to refer a dictionary to read his work. I need a bigger Tamil to Tamil dictionary to read his Tamil works. Okay let us leave all the above arguments and see is the Tamil Literature welcoming new talents? Are there any young dynamic writers whose work is interesting and prolific? If your answer is no then what the writer says is the problem. There are lots and lot of talents are there and lots and lots of books which cannot be equaled by today’s writers. But the problem is poor marketing and lack of exposure to the Tamil Literature world. So I have to thank Je.Mo for letting people show their Tamil pride and waking the language love inside the people. 

Still if one thing which irks me is that are we grown enough from the period of A.P. Nagarajan? Or still the same? To my feeble knowledge I can refer the names of the young writers who have experience in tasting the Tamil and writing, but these practices are more A.P. Nagarajanish. You may wonder why APN, it’s because of the character he played in certain movie which is still remembered and the dialogue uttered by Nagesh to him still ringing in my ears. We have to be more generous towards the new talent that’s the only way to increase the sample size. I would like to conclude the post by quoting a dialogue from the movie Ratatouille, “In many ways the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the *new*. The world is often unking to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends. Last night, I experienced something new: an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconveptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret disdain for chef Gusteau’s famous motto, “Anyone can cook.” But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist *can* come from *anywhere*. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Guteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finesh ched in the France. I will be returning to Gusteau’s soon, hungry for more.”