28th June,3
Being Iyer… Part 4
Well..its
really been a long time since I sat down to write something, but the atmosphere
around me persuades me to write and awake the forlorn writer inside me.
Recently
I started learning and writing tamil before coming to Auroville,Tamil Nadu for
my internship. Of course, mom and dad were elated, and helped and encouraged
me, I made several notes of vowels, consonants and so on… and now I have a
considerable grip over a language whose script was alien to me.
Auroville
is nice, peaceful …serene and what more with altogether new friends and new
things to talk over, but for that, I would have to wait till I write again for
the details of it.
But
let me continue with the woes of a Tam Brahm.
To
begin with, the same story continued here, of being a Tamilian,but hailing from
Kerala, but born and brought up in North, the first day, when I reached my accommodation,
I was asked to fill up a form, which was a formality, the lady care-taker asked
me- “Neengal eppudi Tamil pesuranga??” To which I replied “Ennodu sondha oor
vandhu Palakkad thaan, aana porandhu valandhadhu ellam North-la..Delhi”
(How
do you know Tamil? My own village is Palakkad, but I have been born and brought
up in North)
Then
before they assume that I was a Malayali, I told them, “Palakkad Tamil ellam
konjum vityaasam irrukkum” (Palakkad Tamil is a bit different). Ghosh…!! But
over a few days, I have got used to the “Nasalised Pondicherry Tamil”. And it
surprised me , how people could recognize from the way I talk that I was a
Tamil Brahmin.
It
so happened that I was talking to dad over phone sitting at this “Morgan Café”
in the Town hall of Auroville, I started my conversation with the usual “Enna
Samacharam” (Tamil Brahmin version of What’s up? ) . After I finished my phone
call, the café person asked me,you are a Tamil Brahmin right??
I
said yes… “I am a Pattar” :D He started explaining
that he easily understood because the terms like “Enna Samacharam” and others..
have disappeared from Pondicherry Tamil.
I
still have a hard time explaining to others specially my fellow interns , what
my origin is, and of course, I had to go back 300-400 years to tell them the
stories of Mass migration of Tamil Brahmins to various parts of Kerala.
Well…
it didn’t end here, the guy who lends out two wheelers to everyone sits at a
desk near to me, Laxmanan as he is called, he was all praise for Palakkad Tamil
, which he said was pure tamil, and not adulterated one like that in
Pondicherry, well..i don’t know what is pure and adulterated, but still proud
of the mixed origin that I have, (becomes easy and fun to confuse people I guess)
:D
Apart
from this, there was one uncle in a restaurant, who was impressed when I told
him that I am from Palakkad, he was all praise for Palakkad “Romba nalla edham”
(Very nice place)
Everywhere
I go, the mixed origin will stay with me, it only gets more mixed and “adulterated”
hehehe…
A
Tamilian hailing from Kerala, but born and brought up in Ghaziabad, graduated
in Greater Noida, then worked in Noida and Delhi, and then going to Post
Graduate from Roorkee..
Ghosh…
that’s an interesting tale to tell my Grandchildren…..!!
