MY BRIEF AFFAIR WITH THE TAMIL LANGUAGE

                                    

                                             

                                  My brief affair with the Tamil language

           My mother who can manage to read ,write and speak the Tamil language  says that it is one of the most beautiful languages of South India… but her daughter, yours truly , somehow has always had a mental block in even picking up a few sentences of this beautiful language , (which is often called a  cousin of my mother tongue Malayalam!!!) and whatever attempts were made by me to use it,  ended up in embarrassing myself and those around.

        Why I suddenly remembered this  is because of a flying visit I made to Chennai  two days back , after a gap of eight years ! I was getting a chance to  use my linguistic skills in the language but frankly I did not open my mouth to utter even a single word remembering my past fiascos.

        In the early 70’s when I was attending a training programme at ZTC  Chennai , my friend and colleague ,Padmasani invited me to spend the weekend with her and offered to come and pick me up. But I refused the offer and  decided to  take an Autorikshaw, especially as it appeared that  it would be easy to locate her house as it was next to Cine star Vyjayanthimala’s. Unfortunately I did not anticipate that Madam Vyjayanthimala was not as famous  as  Madam Jayalalitha and  the joint enquiries of the autorikshaw driver  and mine  in the locality , did not bear fruit inasmuch  as we  could not  locate the house. It was  mobile-less era and the only means was asking the passers  by. The Driver did his best. Then I spotted a middle aged lady ,with almost a garden of jasmine flowers  in her hair , not very smartly dressed , barefoot , coming  that way .I ran to her and addressing her as Aunty tried to give details like "Vyjayanthimala veedu pakkathile Rayaningar veedu " etc… .She looked at me for a few seconds and asked me in CHASTE English…"My dear girl, whose house are you looking  for ? " She knew the house and gave the correct location. Needless to say I  bowed my head in shame while thanking her. I realized that day,  that knowledge of  English has nothing to do with the way one dresses ! When the driver took me to the address ,I gave him extra  money over and above the fare and told him in whatever Tamil words I could muster , to keep the change because I  liked his “samsaram”(which in Malayalam means  way of talking )  I of course meant  that I liked his polite  ways , but never expected the  way he replied    “ enakku samsaaram illey “ and left with a strange smile.  My friend had to explain to me that samsaaram  meant  WIFE in Tamil  ! (The first fiasco).But later on I came to know that this was a common mistake made by Mallus when speaking Tamil!

  Decades later in  mid nineties while I was  working in the Regional office at  Ernakulam ,in the Credit Dept, I put up a Housing loan proposal  of a staff member under Aashiyana scheme for a second house as was permitted just recently at that time.  The proposal had to be routed through the Dy Regional Manager, Mr.V M George . George Sir  had worked in Tamil Nadu for long and always had the habit of addressing me as Amma and speaking in Tamil, which he knew was a language I could not speak. He came to my table with my  Sanction Recommendation Note  in his hand and said in Tamil.. “Amma how can I sanction  this loan of Mr. S….. when he already has another Housing loan and House “  Mr. George  was not aware of the new HO circular in this regard. I  smartly replied  in my broken Tamil ..Sir  the first one was for Periya Veedu… the present one is for  a Chinna Veedu. Oh My God… the way he scooted  off  laughing and the way everyone around me started guffawing , I realized I had committed some  blunder. When I was informed of the gravity of  my blunder all I could do was pray that the concerned staff member would not sue me for defamation if he came to know about this  incident!!!

   Just  when I was thinking of improving my command on the Tamil language , an incident happened which  put me on the return track. While in the same RO , a Senior Executive, hailing from Tamil Nadu   visited the office. While  I was being introduced to him ,he asked me something in Tamil. Having learnt two lessons in the past , I decided to just smile. Seeing me smile idiotically he  stared at me. .My friend  Mr.K M Surendranathan , who was sitting at the nearby table  came to my rescue and told him , Sir she does not understand Tamil. The remark from the Senior officer really  shocked me. He asked “How did you survive in BOI without knowing Tamil ? “ I am still trying to decipher what he  meant., by that statement . I did “survive” till my retirement… but I wonder if it   was  a case of the survival of the unfit ???

  Actually the  incidents mentioned above are known to many but what is not much  known (or at least I try to believe so ) was one in the very early  days of my joining the branch, when I was in my early twenties.. A senior colleague in the branch would always come  to my table  and tease me  in Tamil…” So when do we get to enjoy your wedding lunch ? “ .This  was getting to be very irritating ..so once    I told about it to a  colleague  sitting at the next  table and asked him to write and give me a sentence in      Tamil     which would mean “ I  have no time for your nonsensical talk “ . He wrote    “ enekku Kaadhilakku neramillay “ and told me to say this firmly but politely. So  the next time the  person asked me  his routine  question I  said this sentence  in Tamil. The fellow just took an about-turn and left and never  irritated me again.It was years later that I understood  how  my “advisor colleague”  had tricked me !! I had not discussed this matter  ,with any of  my  friends. I don’t know whether he had shared this , with his friends!!!( He was a very jovial person and must have only intended it as a joke …. He is no more…else I would have confronted (!!) him if I met him some day… Today he must be sitting in heaven and will have a hearty laugh, if he reads this). As far as I was concerned  ..the matter had ended there and I had prided myself  of being smart !!! I had  not known then ,that it was only a prelude of smarter incidents.!!!

GLOSSARY ...FOR THE KIND ATTENTION OF THOSE WHO ARE WITH ME VIS-A-VIS KNOWLEDGE OF TAMIL.

TAMIL                                                          MEANING IN ENGLISH

ENAKKU SAMSAARAM ILLAY..                               I DONT HAVE A WIFE
PERIYA VEEDU                                                            LARGE HOUSE
CHINNA VEEDU...                                                       MISTRESS
ENAKKU KADHALIKKU NERAMILLAY...              I HAVE NO TIME FOR LOVE.