Tamil Information Center in London invited me to deliver a talk in a Children's programme called 'child to Child on Feb.22, 2003. Children of Sri Lankan origin inform themselves over the status of their brethren in Tamilnadu (in asylum camps) and Sri Lanka and device ways to help them.
I suppose the only qualification that I have as a scientist to participate in a Child to Child program is that a scientist is defined as a "child like adult" :-))
Well, I was given the task of infusing pride among the youngsters to be a Tamil. In short I was asked to be a cultural activist (which I slowly become :-) So I addressed my talk with the question "what is to be a Tamil in a multi-ethnic, mono-lingual set-up (e.g.. London)?". The talk was mostly in English.
When Mr.Varadakumar explained my background to the children who ranged from age 8 to 18 they generously allotted one hour to me. I made it an interactive seminar with full participation of the children.
Of course, you need to register your name with yahoo to get into these pages but that is really simple.
To my surprise I could keep the attention of children irrespective of their age focused on to my talk till the end of the show. The children of Sri Lankan parents are very attentive, curious, participatory and intelligent. They told me at the end that my talk was quite beneficial and they learnt something about their heritage. I used photos of heritage materials that I collected during my last trip to Tamilnadu. It is possible that seemingly complex information about our past could be comprehended by children. No wonder Wordsworth said "child is the father of man".
I would very much like these children to visit places like the ones described by Pavithra Srinivasan in her travelogue. Is it possible that to have a group of volunteers in Tamilnadu who could go with these children to these places and explain the history and significance of the artifact? We need excellent travel managers who could organize a safe and informative tour for this children. The motive of the group involved in this project from Tamilnadu should not be commercial but academic. If you know somebody who could help us, I shall propose a Cultural-Heritage Tour programme to Tamil Information Center in London (keeping in mind a larger participation of Tamil children from other lands). There is nothing like seeing our heritage alive. THF should never be a docile place of browsing the artifacts instead we should make our heritage vibrant and alive. Such programmes help.