A Meaningless Affair
And it is that time of the year in colleges where they force you into some Symposium or Technical Conference in the name of ‘Extra Curricular Activity’. They don’t just stop there. They want you to suffer the insufferable, make you attend that two day pathetic event compulsorily, you know, just to fill in the seats in the auditorium and to listen to some inspiring speakers who can put a droning engine to shame. We have a two day national conference on Signal Processing and VLSI. They are amazing topics, but made quite difficult to understand by our dedicated staff. And what happens when you attend that conference? You don’t even want to know. There’s a lot of amusing things that precede such events. People avoiding certain lecturer’s class by requesting OD statuses, people banging their heads off preparing notes for compering sessions or coming up with ridiculously bombastic/flawed/verbose speeches for themselves or prepared for a HOD who pronounces ‘Performance’ as ‘Ferformance’ or ‘Speed’ as ‘Sfeed’. You see, they want to sound sophisticated in front of that gathering. They don’t really admit that they sound pretentious and come off as jackasses.
Apart from boring guest lectures, I can name two things that always irk me. One, singing a Tamil Thai Vazhuthu (a short prayer praising Tamil?) and two, girls asked to look more ridiculous in traditional costumes to wait in the lobby to welcome the dignitaries in. I don’t know why they have to start a technical event with a prayer praising Tamil. It’s all right to be religious but shouldn’t they have a prayer that everyone can understand or one that is less suggestive of linguistic discrimination. Seriously, you’d have to see those non-Tamil students’ faces. Priceless. And is it really necessary for those girls to welcome them dignitaries in the lobby? They just have to stand there and look pretty, waiting impatiently, tugging and smoothing their sarees. And it is a heavily contested job too, I’m told. Isn’t this one of those gender discriminating acts those women groups should consider taking up?
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:47 am
We are living in India. So no use of discussing about these things dude… At the same time…. How many of us knows Hindi? People like me who don’t know Hindi will face the same difficulty that was faced by those non-Tamil students’ during the singing of our National Anthem right? It’s just like that…..
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
National Anthem is not Hindi. It’s Bengali.
I don’t know Hindi well enough either. I barely scraped through those tests while in school. And I believe they taught us what those Bengali words meant in our National Anthem. We know why it is sung and for what. It is not the case with our Tamil prayers. They just follow the same old business year after year and no one comes up with an explanation of why it is done so.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:13 am
Selerines is Siva, my classmate in college. His point is brilliant. Him not knowing what language the national anthem is in only proves his own point.
We live in Tamilnadu and so a Tamil invocation is appropriate. You are not expected to know the meaning or even sing along. (If you just listen you can understand the meaning.) They just have to stand there wondering what the hell it is all about the way we do when the national anthem is sung. This is tradition, something that India is obsessed with.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:49 am
Thanks arun for correcting my mistake…… At the same time u should not consider your thing as an only example…. If u tell i know the meaning of National Anthem and so that it is good to sing National Anthem in functions. As a Tamilian i know the meaning of Tamil prayer and so from my point of view it is good to sing Tamil prayers in functions. It’s just like that…..
For ex : While playing cricket match the national anthem of both the teams will be played in the ground. One team will don’t know the meaning of other team’s anthem. A this point what they should do? Hmmm…… So the meaning is not important…….
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
All I ask for is a common prayer that doesn’t separate us. I do love to see North Indians fumbling while responding to someone who speaks to them in Tamil. But this prayer discrimination one is more like Karnataka banning Tamil movies just because they can’t solve water issues or like Raj Thackaray beating up North Indians against working in Mumbai city. Just doesn’t feel right.
And Marc, I don’t understand chaste Tamil even though I speak Tamil at home. After a second thought, I concede, I know it is Tamil Nadu and they are proud Tamils. But it will go a long way if anyone explains why it is sung and what it means.
Siva, I don’t want to know what the opponent’s Anthem means. It is a different country towards which I have no obligation or loyalty. Such is not the case with our situation. We are part of the same country. And a National Anthem is miles apart from a Prayer.
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
If you ask anyone would be willing to explain to you the meaning! Go ask! What do you want? A daily column about it in the newspapers?
I have no obligation or loyalty to India either. And it’s not a prayer! It is praise or invocation of the blessings of the Tamil mother.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:06 am
You think I didn’t ask? Nobody, not even the lecturers know the meaning of it. They say it should be sung or the dignitaries would take offense. That’s what ticked me off. You invoke blessings with a prayer. I don’t know anyone who prays without the need for blessings.
I could put mokka like Ragha, if you like that. It’s a technical event, why there can’t be a Einstein Vazhuthu?
April 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I’m with you on the pretentious sfeeches, dude. But sarees, don’t hate on sarees. Seriously.
April 5th, 2008 at 11:35 am
And while we’re on anthems, I loved my school’s anthem in Trichy. Inspiring stuff, with requisite organ music, and huge choirs. Ahhh, what an anthem!
April 5th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I have nothing against sarees, George. I question the chief guest’s lasciviousness to have young girls in sarees welcome him.
Your Trichy school got it right. Have you had the misfortune to hear St Johns School Anthem?
April 5th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
@Arun : Your point is nice dude.. A common prayer for all of us…. For that only we are having our National Anthem…. See even though we are having national things from one side… We are also having our own state’s culture and customs on the other side….. So we have to give equal importance for both the things.. Thats y India is the country of Unity in Diversity…. U know na… All 29 states with different culture and customs….. I don’t know why you people are standing against Tamil….. You told one point in your post… Non-Tamil students are suffering so much when the Tamil prayer was sung…. You tell me.. What they will do? If they are in the position to listen some other language prayer at some place… By that time will you tell the same thing… So many differences are there.. We should only adjust ourselves for that..
And dude one more thing…… Visit my blog selerines.blogspot.com and comment your views there… One important topic is going on there….
April 5th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
@George : Ha ha… So cool dude….. Surely we won’t hate Sarees yaar….
April 5th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
@Arun : We are in India yaar.. That’s what i already said…. See this is our culture….
Ex : Ladies wearing sarees while welcoming cricket players in Hotel….. U know na? It is so nice too see those things…. No where we can see all these things…..
April 6th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Shiva, you sound like Jeppiar when you say this is our culture.
link
It’s true they want to preserve their culture and practices. The problem is they don’t know what it actually stands for. Like I asked people what Tamil Vazhuthu means, no one gave me a answer more than ‘it’s our culture’, ‘it should be sung’ or such phrases. It’s the case all over the country. I just took up what’s happening in our colleges as an example.
And you are forgetting that it’s nice for those foreign cricketers to be welcomed traditionally by women. They are visiting this country for the first or once in a while and they should know the glory and pride of our culture. It’s appears exotic for them to welcomed so. But our Chief Guest ‘bemaanis’ don’t have to insist on that welcome.
April 7th, 2008 at 7:00 am
@Arun : So bad da Arun.. Because you compared me with Jeppiar.. It is not fair… See if some fuckers are framing some stupid rules and regulations and telling that it is our (Tamil) culture means then what can we do for that… I don’t know why you compared me with JPR…. Whats the reason for that? Am i responsible for those stupid rules yaar??????? Listen what i meant is.. Tamil culture in the sense Welcoming friends by wearing nice sarees with a nice smile on their face, then respecting elders and so on…. I don’t know y u are arguing this much about Tamil culture.. Whats wrong in that? You people are living in India and just wondering about Western culture, but here you people are hating our own culture and customs. I don’t know what i should tell for this? OKKKK tell me.. what you think about the english people who are welcoming guests by wearing Shirts or some thing else….. Hmmm… Do you like that????? Be precise in your views dude…
April 7th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I ask you one question just for the heck of it. If you are a proud Tamil, then why do you append ‘Yaar’ here and there in your comments, eh?
For the last frigging time, I’m not hating our culture or anything. I want people to know what they are doing and why, not just blindly follow what our ancestors laid out. This hour is different from the last hour and we need to adopt new ways to keep up. Anything wrong in wanting something new? Maybe you are a Ajith fan and can settle for his style of acting which can’t be differentiated from his previous ones. I simply can’t.
I like the western way of welcoming people. A red carpet welcome and a higher official to receive them. It’s quite simple. And a standing ovation to his excellent speech to show proper respect and approbation. How is that?
April 7th, 2008 at 11:45 am
People don’t know the meaning of the national anthem either. This is due to the unbiased ignorance of the average Indian.
April 7th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Precisely! They don’t know anything but to stand still when it is sung.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Then why would you expect them to know the meaning of the Tamil Mother Invocation?
April 8th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I didn’t read your previous comment properly. It’s unbiased as you say when it comes to doing repetitive things, the meaning or relevance of which they don’t know. Then why do it in the first place?