What did the Dravidian Movement do for Tamilnadu?

Writer Jeyamohan has written an article explaining why he is against the Dravidian movement in Tamilnadu. It takes real guts to write such an article in today's scenario, but Jeyamohan has always been known for his independent views.

To summarise the article, he faults the Dravidian movement for

- diluting the Dalit empowerment movement till the 1980s

- just paying lip service for Tamil development and indulging in superficial stuff like World Tamil Conferences while little or no literary and archaeological research has taken place after these parties came to power.

- for claiming credit for work done by people like U Ve Saminatha Iyer, Marai Malai Adigal, Thiru Vi Ka, Ma Po Sivagnanam and others who were not connected to (and in some casess against) the Dravidian movement.

I agree with most of his comments. However, despite all this, Tamils have been consistently voting for the Dravidian parties for the past 40 years. I myself have voted DMK in all the elections since I started voting. Whatever Rahul Gandhi tries in Tamilnadu, it is hard to see any one other than M K Stalin become the CM in 2011. So, what makes the Dravidian parties tick in Tamilnadu?

Economic Prosperity. Even the worst critics of Dravidian movement can't refuse the fact that TN is amongst the developed states in the country. One of my grouses is that the mushrooming of Matriculation schools since 1970s killed Tamil as medium of instruction in TN. No one sends his kids to Tamil medium schools in TN if he can afford to put them in Matriculation schools. Not only the cities, the craze for Matriculation schools is prevalent even in small towns and villages. We now have a generation of Tamils who can hardly read Tamil. But, this proliferation of Matriculation schools (of dubious quality) led to a generation of English speaking Tamils who found it easier to be employed. Given a choice between employment probability and pride of language, employment wins hands down.

Tamilnadu has institutionalised corruption. Every one knows it, but has become indifferent to it. The common refrain is , "Both parties are corrupt, but the DMK at least gets the infrastructure put in place. So what if they take their x %, let's treat it as their service charge".

So despite all their shortcomings, the Dravidian parties continue to rule TN. We have accepted all their sins and misdeeds. This sounds pernicious, but that's how things are.

Aazhi Soozh Ulagu - Joe De Cruz

Aazhi Soozh Ulagu (ஆழி சூழ் உலகு) by Joe De Cruz is one of the important Tamil novels in recent times.

The story is set in one of the fishing hamlets of the south India, just below Tiruchendur. The novel starts with three fishermen lost in the seas in 1983. Then it switches back to 1933 and moves towards 1983, with interludes about the lost fishermen. Though the local dialect proves to be difficult in the beginning, the novelist succeeds in getting us overcome this as the story moves on.

The main difference between this novel and others that have covered the same locale, like Kadalpurathil by Vannanilavan, is the sea. Vanna nilavan's novel focused more on the shore, with sea as the background. In this novel, the sea becomes one of the important characters of the novel. Joe De Cruz's description of whale hunting in a catamaran rivals that of Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea.

The characters that populate the novel have all the human frailties and are well sketched. The Paravar community's characteristics and their attitude towards life are brought out with a good economy of words. The novel deals with their religion, their exploitation by the Catholic priests and the inland people, the shift of economic power from Paravars to Nadars in Tuticorin - all as part of the plot. Through out all this, the sea is there with them, forever nurturing life and taking life. The story is brought to a close when amongst the three fishermen struggling for life, the youngest one survives and is found by a passing ship.

This is one of the most important novels in Tamil in recent times. If you accept that a good novelist is a chronicler of his people and time, then do not miss this.

You can buy it online here.

Erich Segal

There are books that dazzle you, stun you and deeply disturb you. And then there are books that we read again and again, just for the plain comfort and pleasure they provide with their familiarity.

Erich Segal's Love Story and The Class are amongst the books I read again and again. They might not rate as great novels, but those are the most read books in my collection.

Thanks Mr. Segal, RIP.

Garbage

Tamilnadu is a garbage collector's paradise. I don't remember the streets being so full of garbage and dirt when I was growing up. Of late wherever I go, I see only plastic bags and garbages strewn around. It is not particular to any one city or town. I have seen garbage mounds in middle of the street in Chennai, Tuticorin, Sivakasi, Coimbatore - almost in every town of Tamilnadu. The roadside tea stalls don't even have a pretense of a dustbin in front of them. People just throw the plastic cups down and all this plastic invariably finds its way to some water body. Most of the rivers in Tamilnadu are being used as open sewerage by the municipalities and the people. If ever you go to Madurai, look at the banks Vaigai that was once a river. You will find it is now a garbage dump.

Is there a solution to this garbage problem? May be some one will figure out a way and there will be money to be made in Solid Waste Management. I don't know. Blaming the corporations and municipalities is a convenient solution - but the real problem is the lack of civic sense in us Tamils. Most of us keep our homes tidy and neat, put the garbage in a black plastic bag - and the maid / help takes it out everyday for us and dumps it in front of the corporation dustbin. Take any dustbin in the city - you will find more garbage outside it than in it. We don't worry about dumping garbage just outside our neigbour's door. Any empty plot of land will become a garbage dump for the neigbourhood.

I have wanted to write this post for a long time. Was struggling for the right words to write about it . And then I read this poem by Devadevan

குமட்டிக் கொண்டு வருகிறது
வீதியை அசுத்தப் படுத்திவிட்டு
அந்தக் குற்றவுணர்வே இல்லாமல்
ஜம்மென்று வீற்றிருக்கும் இவ்வீடுகளின்
சுத்தமும் நேர்த்தியும் அழகும் படோடபமும் காண்கையில்

Chennai Book Fair 2010

This year the book fair was advanced to 30th Decemeber - 10th Jan, from its regular schedule during Pongal. The scheduling of Sangamam, the street festival during Pongal might have been the reason. This new schedule meant I could visit only the first three days of the book fair.

This year I played safe and went early in the day to avoid the crowds. There was a marked absence of spiritual peddlers this year. These are the books I bought this year.

1. ஜெயமோகன் - காடு, சிறுகதைத் தொகுப்பு, இன்று பெற்றவை

2. இரா.முருகன் அரசூர் வம்சம்

3. தேவதேவன் - கவிதைகள் முழுத் தொகுப்பு

4. நகுலன் - நவீனன் டைரி

5. மனுஷ்யபுத்திரன் - அதீதத்தின் ருசி

6. நாஞ்சில் நாடன் - என்பிலதனை வெயில் காயும், சதுரங்கக் குதிரைகள்

7. ஜோ டி குரூஸ் - ஆழி சூழ் உலகு

8. லா.ச.ரா - அபிதா

9. இந்திரா பார்த்தசாரதி - வேதபுரத்து வியாபாரிகள்