Being Tamilian - 2

Concept taken from a cover pic of Time, but this is done by the blogger itself.. :-)

Without going in details of the questions raised in Part I article, let’s see how the world is (let’s compare) linguistically divided. 

Hindi is predominantly spoken in India, especially in the North. But as Tamilian (Telugu, Malayali, Kanadaigas, Maratha..) there is no specific set of nomenclature for Hindi ( like Hindi-an). USA, England, Canada and Australia are the countries were English is spoken largely, when they mean “Englishmen”, they mean people from “England”. The Americans, Aussies and Canadians has their own diverse features and they don’t brand themselves as “Englishmen”. Another apt comparison will be Spanish, who are on par with English, in fact more than English speaking countries.

Pre & Post Independence

Some people might argue that Tamilian (Tamils) is a “feeling” and cannot be compared in the linguistic-lines of English, Hindi or Spanish. Yes, of course it is correct- the Tamilian is a feeling, which was grown from British-India. In the independence movement India became a parent-set, created by different sub-sets from the regional entities, one such entity is Tamils. (It is ironic that the champions of Tamils then said Independence of India is a sad event, read Periyar).

Post-Independence the feeling "Tamils" were used to demand for a separate country for Tamils, this is the period when CN Annadurai’ DMK came to power in TN (I assume some people would have voted for the separate state ideology). Now the cause of the separate state is dead, but the feeling (Tamils or Tamilian) is still there, which is used by self-interested groups.

As for my understanding in reading Thirukural, which is the oldest literary work in Tamil, there is no mention of the word “Tamil” or “Tamilian” in any verse ( Kural ) or Thiruvaluvar didn't brag about being Tamilian anywhere.

EndNote

There are close to 200 sovereign states in the world, they are separated not by language, not by religion, not by economic lines, not by social ideas, but by a thin line, it might be a Derby Line or 49th Parallel- Separates Canada & US, it might be a Radcliffe line- Separates India & Pakistan. So being a sovereign state I root for being Indian who speak Tamil and live in TN.

***