ODE TO THAMIZH

I thought to myself how can I pay tribute to ‘cinema’ without talking

about the language we inhale, exhale, love and live for!

Thamizhukkum amudhendru pEr is the song that immediately played in my mind.

This was Bharathidasan’s ode to our Thamizh maybe 100 years ago?

Thamizh engaL iLamaikku paal …

Thamizh nurtures us like mother’s milk

The uniqueness of Thamizh is the letter ‘zha’

Why then is this letter, one of the most maligned in our language?

How many ‘Thamizh-patriotic people’ make an effort to pronounce this beautiful letter the way it should be?

(sorry, but our actors, singers and dubbing artistes inclusive!)

If Susheela-ma and Balu-ji can have such perfect diction, should we not feel ashamed of the neo-Thamizh culture (in the name of modernity) that makes mispronouncing a fashion statement!?

One of my friends whom I truly look up to said “Tamil is spelt with a ‘l’ simply ‘cos the non-Thamizh speaking people would not know what ‘zh’ stands for! In their blissful state of ignorance they would pronounce it as ‘za’, as in stanza, whereas it should be pronounced like a retroflex ‘r’”

But my point is, why do those who know the exclusivity of ‘zha’ pronounce it as ‘la’?

Thamizh lyricist Newton, told me an interesting fact.

‘Tha’ ‘mi’ and ‘zh’ represent the 3 consonant categories

Vallinam, mellinam and idaiyinam respectively.

That was how our mother tongue got her (most murdered) special name! And listen to this! He also added ‘when we say ‘Thamizh’ on a repeat mode, it becomes ‘ amizhdhu’ which means nectar’

Every new generation tells the preceding one to ‘change with the times’. So why then are we not taking the cue?

Our world has shrunk. Internet and technology has made our remotest

dreams reality. So the argument, people who do not know to speak Thamizh will be unable to pronounce this letter properly is bunkum and bull….!

Hear this link for my sake!

http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/d363/Jacques_Chirac

How many of us would know this is the right way to say it!

Why go to the extent of a French ex- president or politician.

Take the most commonly ‘sought after’ word Pizza.

http://www.answers.com/topic/pizza

Let me opine ‘my bone of contention’.

Why can’t Tamilnadu be changed to Thamizh Nadu and Tamil to Thamizh?

It suddenly struck me that we call our state Tamil Nadu and the most missed ‘drive-in’ hang out now a park as semmozhi poonga? Won’t that be mistaken for sem-mo-zi? Isn’t that a strange anomaly?!

Just ‘cos the Britishers could not pronounce Thiruvallikeni it became Triplicane.

Likewise for various reasons Bombay became Mumbai, Madras as Chennai…

So why can’t there be one more change? And this with valid reason, that too!

Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Just ‘cos majority of the people know only to say la instead of zha, can we change our basic script?

What better example than to quote Veeramamunivar, Italian priest who is renowned for his contribution to Thamizh including a treatise on Thamizh grammar.

On the pedestal of his statue in Marina beach is inscribed:

‘Italian Scholar who helped in the development of Thamizh (1680 to 1747)’

Borrowing a catchy phrase of a popular Chinese cookery show:

If Yan can cook so can you!

If a foreign priest can, so can we!!

And the rest of the world!!!

What if some can’t say it right?

We can still be right, can’t we?

Why cut our nose to spite our face!?

I might be stepping on many toes, and creating ‘a major Katrina hurricane in my coffee cup’.

Potpourri of comments will make it interesting reading till I ‘E-see’ you next!

Signing off with one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite director’s film:

‘en veedu thaai Thamizh nadu endrae solladaa

en naamam Indian endrae endrum nilladaa’

rekhs…