I learnt tamil in 1980s and some of my teachers were just ordinary people. By that i mean lower middle class, working women (since i went to a girls school) trying to make ends meet. My interest in tamil was fuelled mostly by my mother, grandmother, uncle and the treasure of books we had at home. I still have the 'thunai paadam' books with short stories by a whole spectrum of writers - Jayakandan, Jagachirpiyan, Mu Varadarajanar, Vaasanthi, Sujatha, all of them. Yes we did have humor and all navarasams there although I can't say the teachers and majority of students enjoyed them. The upper middle class students were all about doing medicine or engineering and trying to make a living in those days(am sure it is not that different now from what this person says). 40 marks in tamil or any second language was enough for them. Literature and such were usually for lazy people who did not have to work for a living.
That said about school - the hypocrisy in upper middle class culture as this gentleman points out is unmistakable. Most upper middle class kids almost regard it as fashion to speak only hindi, english and a foreign language on the side. I met a recent graduate from Berkeley from a tamil upper middle class family, his family was having a party in honor of his graduation and I casually asked him if he knew George C Hart the great tamil scholar was also at Berkely and his eyes popped out 'tamil scholar'?? there was an awkward silence and he said slowly 'er...no'. I dont' blame him for not knowing George Hart personally but the cynical reaction was interesting.
Some things are true - if parents do not have interest it is extremely rare for kids to develop that, no matter what teachers or anyone else does. I inherited a whole treasury of hard bound english classics from someone whose dad forced him into burning them for his interest instead of doing engineering. The balance between interest and survival has to be taught, and nothing can really replace a parent who inspires interest, for that i am truly grateful and i know lot of people are.
I learnt tamil till my 12th standard (2001) in thiruvaiyaru. I have come across tamil teachers of both the extremes..One who doesn't care about what he/she is teaching and just wanted to teach it for the sake of it. One who gets into the bits and pieces and gets carried away by the sweetness in the language...!
I still remember a class where he taught as Silapathigaram... that koval entering the madurai and it was like the following "Poruzhnthedutha aareyil nedungodi vaaral enbana pol marithu kai kaatta" and our teacher stopped and explained that it is tharkuripetra ani...! and explained that ani and then went on to give us examples about different ani ilakkaanam and then again said a lot of stories in Silapathikaaram etc., those classes were very interesting for people who had interests in tamil language..!
But nevertheless of the quality of teaching students from our class never had any sort of interests in tamil except a very few... My father being a tamil major had a good collection of tamil books or atleast reads very good books and hence I had access to great writers like Kalki, Sujatha, Karunanidhi, Balakumaran, Devan etc., It is just that access to those books that made me read more and more!
Now having settled far away from our mother land, I am again seeing parents of two kinds... One who doesn't care whether their kids speak our mother tongue or not, are very proud that they are speaking English in the accent where they are living and parents who make sure that their kids speak, read and write fluently in tamil. I think if the parents can facilitate the kids to read those books or provide them access to some of the great books then the next generation won't loose any of the great experience we all had by reading tamil books.
my tamil teacher was cynical most of the times expectedly, since it was a cbse school and tamil as a second language has less than 15% takers.the bulk went to french, sanskrit or hindi.
but then some how he left a spark. i thanked him by name in my first novel kaviri mainthan.
also a man with immense memory. when my son finished the same classes under him he used to say : dai unga appan maathiriyE unakkum la Zha lha varaathu pola
he remembered that i had a chronic problem with the las of tamil ( those in the group who proof read my book know of it) 22 years down the line.
>>>>>>> and nothing can really replace a parent who inspires interest, for that i am truly grateful and i know lot of people are.
maloo's words should be etched in gold. i remember my father take me to the connemara library when I was just six. it was like giving me the key to a new big world.that one act at such a tender age changed my life.