Friends, I did my plus two during 2004 academic year. If you leaf through the tamil thunaipadam book, it, you will find that there are stories by many great authors. Jeyakanthan, Asokamitran, Anna, are among them. I'm not very familiar with the works of those great men, so i can't pass judgement on their works.
I had a brilliant tamil teacher who made even the abstruse 'cheyyul' (poetry) part sound like a modern masala movie. Our class would just roar with laughter every time she rendered her version of Cheevagan's leelais. (Cheevakachintamani :-))
Even she was unable to elicit even a single smile in the whole +2 academic year whenever she taught us thunaipadam. All stories were 'heavy', dripping with social message. You couldn't crack a joke without feeling guilty for having laughed. I'm not saying that a student shouldn't be socially aware, but one or two stories with a humorous theme is not much to ask, no?
We get the impression that tamil is a 'serious' language. It is in the nature of a teenager to have fun. Yet the tamil state board books are full of lessons like, tamilin perumai, isai tamil, g.u.pope biography, etc., By the time i finished 10th, i was sick of the whole thing. I wanted to choose french, but the teacher convinced me to hold on.
Why aren't we including stories by sujatha or kalki? Are they too 'cool' to be considered as serious tamil writers? Look, 'serious' writers are great. Fantastic men. but isn't there an imbalance on the non-humor side? Who is the new P.G.Wodehouse of Tamil?
Look at english books. There are 'real' stories. Hemingway's fast narrative, Fischer's comments on Gandhi, Life of Bill Gates, Cup of Joy by mike gatting and so on. You can see the range of themes. Everyone has something.
You can't preserve a language by shouting about its glory. You preserve it by making it relevant to the times and by helping us to understand the range of human emotions it can convey.
If you speak english and talk about white superiority you are still a man with a closed mind. If you talk tamil and you make people laugh or make them understand computers, you are still a modern man. Will the Education department realise that?
I'm proud of the language, but can i convince a youngster who comes to me for advice on whether to take french? I can only threaten him: Take tamil or else you won't get a government job, you won't be recognised as state first etc.,
I am very happy to see some one who has the exact same feeling as I have.... This is a mail I sent on 12/29/08 to Dr.S.Palaniappan , a noted tamil scholar based in Dallas "I would also like to express that the syllabus set the boards are un interesting when it comes to Tamil. When you take a non detail book all you got is about a poor man taken for a ride by a rich man. There is no variety. They could have a abridged version of Ponniyin selvan or Parthiban Kanavu and so on. Social issues dont excite school kids. Historical novels will excite the mind of young readers. "
I raised this issue even few weeks ago in the Ponniyin Selvan drive posts.
Our non detail syllabus is seriously pathetic and outdated. It seriously makes students lose interest in Tamil Literature and creates a image oh...this is how Tamil Literature is going to be, lets be better off with English novels.
I seriously wish some one reconsiders the syllabus esp. Non Detail.
My Tamil used to be pathetic , that my mother used to read the text for me and I used to listen and prepare for exams. She very often used to say , I hate you ND stories, its very one sided and make people fear that rich people are evil.
I dont know if the syallabus is same but in line I used to have Anna's Sevvallai where a poor mans banana tree is swindled by every one, then a story where a house door used by kid to play is removed by the court/bank since they didn't pay their dues properly...and then a story where Jaminder doesn't allow people to rush into his house when there is a flood and so on. Its worse than mega serials in TV. It has very negative impact on Students liking Tamil.
My simple undertsanding is, we have a brilliant language which people automatically love. But people try to impose its glory on us and shun the people away from loving it.
We should make students enjoy Tamil and not compel them to read and prepare for test. Tamil as language should be a subject without exams.
Balu Mahendra in some meeting said "Film appreciation should be made a subject"..like that we should make Tamil Language appreciation classes instead of classes which have exams and grade Tamil. Surely students are disgusted with such ND stories for sure.
I wish students in School get a chance to read Smile of Murugan. The book develops a taste and a love for Tamil. I hope some book like that in Tamil should be given to students.
I really hope some school students get a look at my blog, because they are in a illusion that Tamil Literature is dull and boring and it is not the reality, Tamil Literature is more versatile and different themes ,logics,styles.
My hope is some time I want to start a Online Tamil Magazine contributed only by School students. I hope some time down the line it happens.
--- In [email protected], deranggen@ wrote: > > We get the impression that tamil is a 'serious' language. It is in the nature of a teenager to have fun. Yet the tamil state board books are full of lessons like, tamilin perumai, isai tamil, g.u.pope biography, etc., By the time i finished 10th, i was sick of the whole thing. I wanted to choose french, but the teacher convinced me to hold on. > > > > Why aren't we including stories by sujatha or kalki? Are they too 'cool' to be considered as serious tamil writers? Look, 'serious' writers are great. Fantastic men. but isn't there an imbalance on the non-humor side? Who is the new P.G.Wodehouse of Tamil? > > > > Look at english books. There are 'real' stories. Hemingway's fast narrative, Fischer's comments on Gandhi, Life of Bill Gates, Cup of Joy by mike gatting and so on. You can see the range of themes. Everyone has something. ==================================> SPS ::
I THINK IT IS MORE DIRECTED TOWARDS SELCTION OF RIGHT BOOKS BY THE DEPARTMENT.
I AGREE.
-------------- You can't preserve a language by shouting about its glory.
You preserve it by making it relevant to the times and by helping us to understand the range of human emotions it can convey.
If you speak english and talk about white superiority you are still a man with a closed mind. ============================ THESE DIRECTED TOWARDS WHOM ? / WHICH SYSTEM ?
TOWARDS TAMIL SPEAKING PEOPLE ? SCHOLARS ?
I DO NOT SEE SUBSTANCE.
On the other hand, look at ANCIENT TAMIL ::
" Sembula peyal neer pola anbudai nenjam thaam kalandhanve !"
Used in modern film songs - under different versions -more than once atleast.
Look at Modern Tamil with dialects - collogueal or borrowed ::
" nakkamookka .. " etc etc.. Less said - appears better.!
What Role the Language Scholars play in these ?
People (audience) are PROGRAMMED to a Taste ! It can be argued GOOD TASTE ? RIGHT TASTE ? etc., etc... then these are mattes of opinion !
" Vaa Vadhyare Voottande .. " was Madras language .. truly reflecting the flow that prevail(ed) ... like " gonna duh that ? " accent used by Other author Authors re specific region / creed.
These travel altogether in different direction.
Nothing to do with the RICHNESS of TAMIL LANGUAGE or RICH SCHOLARS who have been advocating such Richness.
And definitely such ADVOCATING - CANNOT BE TERMED - SHOUTING !!
Pls read RA.Pi.Sethupillai - Raya. Sokkalingam - Proses of Kaviyarasu Kannadasan and then skim through the pages of Mahakavi Bharathi.... then go back to Bakthi Literature of 7th 8th Century -Thevarams - THIRUVASAGAM - Prabandhams and the like !!
Seek through Thirumandhiram - the essence of Vedas and get stunned whether THIRUMOOLAR knew / read Vedhas and UNLEASHING EVERYTHING independently himself ... !
You will be getting ready to feel the Breeze of Sangam Literature !!
The milder ones Agananooru - Purananooru - Kurundhogai will make you realise the SAME PASTORAL COLLOQUEAL backdrop so Serene - and each verse itself an EPIC !
!
I sincerely realise - i had WONDERFUL TEACHERS - Who guided on this Walk- through very pleasantly.
> I really hope some school students get a look at my blog, because they are in a illusion that Tamil Literature is dull and boring and it is not the reality, Tamil Literature is more versatile and different themes ,logics,styles.
romba nalla irukku vairam, athuvum your recent post on kovalan's love letter materiel to kannagi would be very useful......
Ha ha.. 'Playboy' Kovalan? I knew he was fools around, but i didn't expect such a naughty description. It was so subtle, a fine balancing act. Those lines he uses to charm were outrageous. Beautiful language.
I wonder what contemporary women would think if i used the lines on them? They'll probably think i'm a psycho. Nice blog, thanks for bringing another facet of the book to light.
As for the visual imagery thing, Tamil poets have always excelled in that. And in prose, Kalki was brilliant enough in making the scenery stand in front of the eyes.