Re-discovering Tamil

April 11, 2005 – 12:57 am

Well, i did learn English (as my first language) along with Tamil ( as my second language) from my Kinder Garden days. We mugged a lotta Tamil grammer, poetry, prose etc., Sanskrit was my third language till 3rd grade.

During my 7th grade, i started learning Hindi privately and wrote Hindi exams at Hindi Prachaar Sabha.

During my 10th grade i switched to Sanskrit as my second language and mugged lotsa Kalisadasa’s Nalopakyanam. One can score lotsa marks in Sanskrit than in Tamil. Additionally gained marks will eventually lead one to BITS Pilani. I did score a 1060/1100 but then turned down Engineering to pursue Visual Communication. ( It was a cool and bold move those days and i am happy about my choice.)

When i joined the hip and happening Loyola College in Chennai i studied French for 2 years. ( Quel est votre numero de telephone :) How is it? ) , Then to get the required no of credits to be eligible for graduation i took up “ Reading German”

While i did enjoy learning new languagues, somewhere down the line, Tamil was not on my priority list.

Last year, my dad, along with his like minded friends ( some 30 of ‘em) dragged me to Kanchipuram to check out a few ( 25 of ‘em) Temples ( Paadal Paetra Sthalams). They were into a lotta Saiva Sidhantham. By 3 o clock we covered around 15 temples and i got throughly exhausted. They sang songs originally written by Thiru gnanasambar. Every song had a story behind it. The more i started hearing about it the more i became curious about the Tamil Kings who built ‘em.

That day was a turning point in my life. I decided to screw Internationalization and focus on Localization Somewhere deep within i became inquisitive about Tamil and Tamil history. Brother Kingsley ( apart from his regular Park Avenue accent) used to talk a lot about Bharathiyar songs and Tamil history.

A lot has been said about the beauty of Tamil. Its one of the oldest languages in the world. Its time for me to relish the richness of Tamil poetry & history. I am currently reading ” Ponniyin Selvan” written by Kalki. Contrary to what Bharathiyar (k, this aint bharathi, this was some pedha poet) said about Tamil ( Mella ini saagum Tamil ) i have a feeling that it will last for a long long time :)

Posted in தமிழ் |

  1. 30 Responses to “Re-discovering Tamil”

  2. Well!! Quite like minded. You are doing a fair good thing about learning Tamil. Good job. BTW, I think Bharathi did not say ‘Mella thamizh ini chaagum’. I believe it was by an unknown poet and it was hugely condemned by Tamil world. Bharathi or Bharathidasan, I don’t rememeber, wrote a poem starting with ‘Mella thamizh ini chaagum enru sonnan pedhai oruvan…’. The words of the original poem were then re-arranged to read as ‘Mella thamizh inichaagum’ (meaning ’slowly Tamil will become sweet’).

    All the best with your effort.

    By Ramesh on Apr 12, 2005

  3. Ramesh, Thats a beautiful way of playing with words. With minor changes, these blokes were able to change the whole meaning! Guess it will only get sweeter :)
    Have you read Ponniyin Selvan?

    By Muthu on Apr 13, 2005

  4. Ya. Many times. Its my all time favourite. Just an addtnl info, there is a separate group called Ponniyinselvan @ yahoo. I stumbled upon that when I was searching for some info. They have made a trip around important places described in PS. Great stuff.

    By Ramesh on Apr 18, 2005

  5. Thanks for the info dude. Am gonna join this Yahoo e group and probably visit those places too!
    Cheers

    By Muthu on Apr 18, 2005

  6. Enjoy Kalki and Bharathi. Unfortunately, much as I love the literature, I do agree with the dude who said “Mella Thamizh ini chaagum, antha mElai moZigal puvi misai Egum”. BTW, I don’t think anyone attributes those lines to Bharathi.That poem (I think it’s called “Thamizachchaathi”) expresses doubts about the future of Tamil and quotes this as one of the opinions. The poem is highly cynical and negative. Bharathidaasan’s response to it was resoundingly positive, saying we will remake the sciences of the west in Tamil and make the language live. Seeing how that hasn’t happened (not that it’s not possible), I don’t disagree with Bharathi’s negativity.

    By Kingsley on Apr 18, 2005

  7. Yea, “remaking the sciences of the west in Tamil” has not yet happenned as yet.
    Hopefully, the digital archives of tamil will last.

    By Muthu on Apr 19, 2005

  8. Kalki’s Novels are a class apart.
    I love Ponniyin Selvan.
    Please check out Sivagamiyin Sabadham too.

    Once you do it, Your fascination about Kanchipuram / Mamallapuram will grow, just like what happened to me.

    Everytime I went to Kanchi ( I am from Perungalathur ) I used to wonder where the Palaces are.? Just vanished..without trace ? Can’t be.

    Nice Blog.!

    By Narayanan on Apr 19, 2005

  9. Kingsley,

    Thanks for the info. I do have concerns onTamil’s future but I think Tamil will live through. This type of hue and cry would have happened about Sanskritic influence in Tamil too. But, Tamil withstood that one. Infact, many of the words we use now have Sanskritic influence. Similarly, we would also assimilate most of the words from English.

    But the lack of proper effort in translating ‘Arivial and Kalai chorkkal’ is a real concern. There must be something done on this.

    By Ramesh on Apr 19, 2005

  10. Narayanan, Perugalathur’s got lotsa mounds rite? Think ‘ve been to Perungulathur. The moment I finish Ponniyin Selvam, I am goin to read Sivagamiyin Sabadham!
    Who knows? May be the Padhala Surangam with the Chola treasure is still beneath the Tanjore fort. Aathitha Cholar’s palace in Kanchi is supposedly also made of gold. Wonder what happenned to all the treasure.

    Now i am curious enough to pay a visit to Kodi karai, all those Lankan Islands and Gangai Konda Cholapuram. I did go to the Poombugaar beach. It was dry and except for a monument built by DMK, i couldnt find anything with historical importance.

    By Muthu on Apr 20, 2005

  11. Muthu,

    Blohopped and got in to urs! Sorry for intruding! :) but i find this post so tempting to comment !So here I go!

    I share the same thot as urs…I am student for Japanese language for the past 6 years and have achieved quite a pro level in that…but still somewhere in my mind (and constant prodding of my mom to learn Tamizh) I have always placed reading Tamizh to be an absolute must!!!The versatility of Tamizh as a langugae is hard to achieve by any language…this is IMHO :)

    Ponniyin Selvan
    Kamba Ramyanam
    All books of Ashokmitran
    All books of Janakiraman
    any work of Kannadasan
    any work of Bharathiyar

    I can just go on n on!It is too vast to be commented in this small square! :) My mom always says before learning any language learn to read and write ur mother tongue first..it is become a fashion statement to say that ” enaku damilu padika ezhudha theiryadhu” but my mother tongue is Tamizh :) ))) how ironical?????

    Thanks for giving this space and sorry to take lots of it :)
    Edatha kudutha madatha pidikira types illa pa! :) ))) I am currently reading “arthamulla hindu madham ” by Kannadaasan!

    By IBH on Apr 21, 2005

  12. ROFLMAO! “Damilu?!!!!! Too funny man! : )) Guess, that’s how most of the Actresses & VJs spoke during early 90s. And it was “IN” those days to speak or wannabe like that.

    Did you say “arthamulla hindu madham”? Holy shit! I do have that book. My dad has a good collection of Kannadasan books.

    I do see an increase in the no. of Tamil blogs gets published. As for me, I am planning to blog in Tamil soon. ( Is there a Tamil spell check program ). Wonder if Microsoft has a Windows version in Tamzhil?

    I don’t mind a screen reader reading out an Tamil e book. But the voice should be intrinsically a tamilian one. It would be great with someone comes up with “screen reader” version or a ebook version of all the books you have mentioned.

    The list is long my friend. I ignored Tamil for the past 10 years. Now, i have a lifetime ahead of me to enjoy Tamil. ;)

    You are welcome to post as much comment as you want!

    By Muthu on Apr 21, 2005

  13. Hey Muthu,

    I completely agree with what you say. I speak French, Italian and a lil German myself - but can barely read Tamizh..
    I think there will be a big market out there for classes catering to born again tamizh makkal.

    Hey BTW, i think you write really well. I enjoyed reading your posts on travel et al. Maybe you should consider writing miny travelogues. Hey ! if Outlook can publish a “52 weekends breaks from Bangalore”, so can you. :-)

    By Geetha on Apr 28, 2005

  14. Hey Geetha,

    Wow! You speak French, Italian and some German!! Too cool. Guess you wont lose your way in ” Yurrup”.
    German is kinda similar to Sanskrit rite? Its got 3 genders and heard that Einstien used to read a loota Sanskrit too. ( May be he found some insights into Science by reading Sanskrit ;) ?

    Born Again Tamizhlar or Tamilian? That would be me and i do find that number growing. Hoping to convert as many of ‘em as possible.

    I intend to visit one new place a month and publish my experience. Thanks for the your encouraging words : )

    By Muthu on Apr 29, 2005

  15. Yenna naina - Damil mandai podungirey. Yinna nenche nee, yen mother language pa - saava otruvoma?

    Tho paar - Bharthi keeraru, kalki keeraru - avinga picha pota booksunglam keedu - padichu dhool kalapa matom - itandu vaa - andha vellai tholunglala - oru round vuttu paklam.

    By Ravages on May 11, 2005

  16. Appadi podu aruvaala! :)

    By Muthu on May 12, 2005

  17. pls check out this link to read all the stories and novels online….kalki’s all novels available online (free)……make use of it…
    http://www.chennainetwork.com/a/ebooks/ebooks.html

    By venkat alias muthu on Jun 21, 2005

  18. Hi Muthu,

    I was on my way grazing about Tamil history and stumbled on your blog. Interestingly, my present state of mind about Tamil matches yours in your “Re-discovering Tamil”.

    My best wishes for everybody supporting Tamil.

    Thank you.
    Gopi

    By Gopi on Oct 6, 2005

  19. Hey Gopi, great to know that you are gettin hooked on to tamil. What are you reading these days?

    By Muthu on Oct 7, 2005

  20. முத்து,

    தமிழ் வலைப்பதிவுகளைப்படிக்க - தமிழ்மணம்

    பாரதியைப்பற்றியும் கம்பரைப்பற்றியும் பல விதயங்களைப்பற்றியும் சுவையான தமிழில் படிக்க http://harimozhi.com
    If you have any doubts in Tamil (language and literature technicalஹரியண்ணா is THE PERSON.

    If you want more links related to Tamil Computing - http://suratha.com

    Have Fun! :)

    -Mathy

    By மதி கந்தசாமி on Nov 13, 2005

  21. I came here by sheer accident.

    The line ‘mella thamiz inich chAgum’ no doubt occurs in one of the poems of Bharati. (BTW, it was never a line written by some other poet which was modified as has been mentioned by some above.) The poetry in question is titled ‘thamizth thAi,’ and starts with the first line ‘aadhi sivan petru vittAn.’ This particular line in question precedes the very popular line ’sendriduvIr ettuth thikkum.’ It is a pity that people do not go through even Bharati’s poetry properly.

    Though this line occurs in his poetry, it is not to be seen as Bharati’s vAkku as Bharati says ‘a fool said so.’ You may like to see these two pages in this respect.

    http://www.harimozhi.com/article.asp?id=537

    and

    http://www.harimozhi.com/Article.asp?id=833

    Thanks, Mathy. :-)

    By Hari Krishnan on Nov 16, 2005

  22. Mathy,
    Mikka nandri for posting nice tamzhil urls.

    Hari, your blog really rocks! Have whole lotta questions for you. Will mail you soon.

    Wonder if there is any built-in online tamil spell-check tool available!?

    By Muthu Online on Nov 22, 2005

  23. I just got htis site by accident……nice people ..nice about tamil..

    By Ramesh on Nov 30, 2005

  24. Hi i am totally blown away with the blogs people have created its so much fun to read alot of good info and you have also one of the best blogs !!

    By internet marketing ebooks on Jan 26, 2006

  25. Hi all, Is “Arthamulla Hindu Madham” is available as ebooks any site. Please update me on this….

    By Ghu on Feb 6, 2006

  26. Hi there,
    I am in search of “Ponniyin Selvan”‘ english translation. Is it available online for free. I could see Tamil version free online. Are there any English translation available online. Please let me know. I am not very fluent in Tamil.
    Thanks
    Jayanthi

    By Jayanthi on Apr 5, 2006

  27. hai,
    itz nice to know someone is thr for tamil. but no need to fear.it’ll not die n will b here till the world ends.btw,itz interestin to read ur article.i lov tamil though im a m phil in english n i prefer to b a multilinguist rather than stickin to my mother tongue alone.im very fluent in malayalam n evan mallus never believe that im a tamil if talk in their lang. but still tamil is tamil n i lovvvvv it n itz in my blood n my breath….keep goin wth ur work…all the bests..

    By simi on May 29, 2006

  28. hello
    I wnat to read the Chandilyan and Deepam Parthasarathy books online to read (as like ponniyin selvan) Can i able to get it. You have any idea about .. Please

    Thanks

    durai - bkk

    By Duraimuruganv on Jul 15, 2006

  29. hey
    I need an ebook or something on Ponniyin Selvan (english) where can i find it?

    By Vramdevan on Jan 20, 2007

  30. Hai,
    I wnat to read Mr. Balakumaran books online to read. Can i able to get it. You have any idea about .. Please
    Thanks,
    BALA

    By bala on Jun 16, 2008

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