We left last week when the Dutch left and the British landed, circa, 18th century. Here’s a quote of 1796 vintage from a British official that I lifted from some books I have been reading: ‘Two nations from the very ancient period had divided between them the possessions of the land. The Sinhalese inhabiting the southern and western parts and the Tamils in the northern and eastern districts.
Author: T R Jawahar
So, how will the youth of TN spend this unexpected holiday gifted to them by politics? Though cinema and cricket are obvious choices, why not also enlighten themselves on Ceylon? After all, some efforts to know thy neighbour is certainly warranted, since the student protest, though having its locus here, has its focus there. Here are some tid-bits gathered from secondary sources; I request everyone to delve deep on their own too.
The fooling spree seems to have kicked off a little ahead of the appointed day. In any case, with our politicians fooling everyone all the time and thus giving the lie to an age-old adage, April Fools’ day has become generic and genetic too in this nation.
Koovam. That’s the village in Tiruvellore district where I was born, though my ancestors hailed from places to the West, as far as even Dharmapuri. But here I am in Chennai as the desolate, dirty Cooum, far removed from my original history and habitat. I know you will hold your nose on hearing my name but please lend your ears to my tale of tears.
For the n’th time, an Indian court has held suicide attempt a criminal act. The utter absurdity of section 309 of the IPC, a colonial hangover that the colonisers themselves have shed as archaic, is once again on parade in the Irom Sharmila case.
Me? A fan of Manmohan Singh? How dare I? I must confess that such a skeleton did exist in my past though it’s long since I have exorcised the ghost. Let me explain! I can already feel those familiar filmy flashback circles going around my head, of course with the appropriate BGMS invoking nostalgia, and lo, we just went back 22 years in a jiffy to 1991 June/July. To the Budget, to be precise.
‘No human has the right to dispense death to another, whatever the circumstances’: The human rights lobby’s war cry is at a feverish pitch.
In their blinkered view the Government and courts are extensions of a bleeding-heart humanity and not impersonal institutions.
Have you played book cricket? I am sure most of you would have for that is the ideal way to put books to good use in school and college, particularly when post-lunch classes are on. Also, scoring runs with a textbook is a lot easier than scoring marks with it. In my case, being a book-addict, over time, the childhood habit of book-cricket had morphed from a playful indulgence to almost an all-consuming obsession. I tell you, there is nothing better in a dull or idle moment than opening a book, be it even a dictionary, at random and feeling the fresh fragrance of new words and ideas or the familiar caress of known ones emanating from that page!
Each one believes he/she is the centre of the universe. Self-obsession in its various dimensions is a human trait. We see life and its myriad experiences only through the prism of our sensory perceptions. The mind, where you and I live and which is the real experiencer of pains and pleasures, emanates and receives actions and reactions and intereprets sensory signals only from the perspective of the individual.