Singara Chennai Tamil....

Vanakam Nanbargalay...

Sorry for having a long pause in my blogs. Due to several domestic committments, I was not able to devote time towards computer.

I am sure every one might be gearing up to welcome the New Year 2009... I felt, by having a good laughter will be the apt way to welcome the New year, amidst of the sorrowful happenings in Mumbai during November 2008.

I whole heartedly appreciate and thank Vidhya and Rajesh for contributing and expressing their concern about the Mumbai disaster. Words are not enough to express my sorrow about the whole of the incident.

I take this chance to Salute all the Martyrs in the brave fight during November 2008. May the buried brave Martyrs be a seed for uprooting the ugly terrorism all over the world.

Fine, let us not sink ourselves more in grief by remembering the Mumbai incident now..

Let us laugh and relax, for a while and welcome the New Year 2009 now...

Madras -kkaaaran endru sollada !! Thalai nimirndhu nillada !!

The aesthetic quality of Madras Tamil comes from the fact that a classical (and old) language like Tamil is given that contemporary touch by the constructive intrusions from languages like Hindi, Telugu, Greek, Italian, Persian and most importantly English (naduvula konjam uttaks naina). As a result, the language may sound uncivilized, from the point of view of the Madurai folks, who seemingly say 'Vaanga..ponga..' even before 'veesing' the 'veecharuvaa' and the Coimbatore folks who add this sickening slur to every statement... and in their obsession with pure Tamil curb the unfettered evolution of the language, thereby leading to little or no development of the language itself. For instance, words like 'bejaar','peela', 'saavu graaki' have no sense and no equivalents in the Southern dialects of tamil. Certainly an inexplicable loss to Tamil Language!

Now, really getting into the mechanics of the spoken language, the most important point is the relative position of the lips while speaking. While most tamil dialects involve a cavity of 2 inches between the lips,Madras tamil involves a much lesser gap (0.5 to 1.2 Inches). Mastering the exact position is half the language learnt.

Assuming we're using flash cards,

Card# 1 : All words-more specifically, all verbs need to be consistently shortened adhering to a set of strict rules.

padithidu(read), mudithidu(complete), sabithidu(curse) will be gracefullyshortened as 'Pachchi', 'muchchi', 'sabchi'. Note the conversion of the syllable 'da' to 'cha'. This is essentially true for the entire gamut of emotions to be conveyed in Madras Tamil. 'kondirukkiren' is converted for simplicity to '...nikkeren'. As a corollary, 'padithu kondirukkiren' ' = 'pachchi-nikkeren' 'kulithu kondirukkiren' = 'kulchi-nikkeren', 'Utkaarunduko (Sit)' = 'Kundhikoo', 'Thindru Mudithu Vittayaa'?(Have you finished eating) = 'Thunnutiya', 'Jaladosham' = 'Jalpu'

Readers can understand immediately that this was done to save time, so that in the same period of time a Madras Tamilar can convey 1.5 times that of a Madurai Tamilar and 5,000 times that of a Coimbatore Tamilar (depending on the length of the drawl...like 'yaeeeeeeenunga?') One anomaly to this shortening rule is, some words get suffixed with the syllable 'ka'. So, summa = summaka, dhoora = dhooraka.

Card# 2 : Madras Tamil does not use 'neenga' and 'nee' in different contexts. In fact, only 'nee' is used. This is not a deliberate attempt to degrade someone in public, but to offer a level playing field for everyone. So if the auto-karan asks 'enga ponum, unakku?' do not feel offended.

Card# 3 : 'da' is used by ALL IIT guys and ALL policemen for quite different reasons. The tone of 'ennada, license enga, vootlaya?' and 'what da, where is the Item, da?' are self-explanatory. Incidentally, all words beginning with 'vee' can be unconditionally substituted with 'voo'. So 'Veedu' = 'voodu' and 'Vittuvidu' = 'vuttudu'.

Coming back to 'da', a euphemism for that would be 'ba'. So a 'ennada' would be made to sound much less offensive with 'ennaba'. Other less effective words, principally used among friends include 'naina','vaadhyaare', machi', 'brether'(brother), 'allo'(hello)... the list is endless. When it comes to expressing intimacy and friendship, Madras Tamil is the best in the world.

Card# 4 :'enna'(what?) in Madras is 'yeenaa?'. So, combining quations (2) and (5), (sorry ba, 12th Maths madhiree aaychee) 'yeenaa pachchinikkera?', 'yeenaa kachinikkera?'.

Card # 5 : The syllable 'zha'(as in tamizh) becomes 'ya'. So, 'vaazhai pazham' is 'vaaya payam', 'vaazhkai' is 'vaaykai', 'vazhukki' is 'vaykki'. Off the record, 'zha' is a pain in the butt. More than 95% of Tamil Nadu substitutes it with 'ya' or 'la'.

Card# 6 : When it comes to borrowing words from other languages 'Madrassukku nigar Madrasse'. English words can be used in any context without feeling alien. 'wrongu', 'rightu', Railway tasion, bridju, scooteru, 'yechusme, Madras Tamil - Worth Reading !! 'adjist','abase', 'abscond', 'beetiful', 'superu', 'fruitu', 'pil im', 'figureu', correet, tenshun, its alriteba, and so on. Hindi has its contributions like 'bejaar'. Telugu: 'naina', 'baava', 'eppudu', 'cheppu' etc.

Many such languages have their representations all of which cannot be listed here. Also singular and plurals in English are inversed. So, even one lady becomes 'ladees', one friend becomes 'priends', a vegetable puff becomes 'puphs' etc.

Miscellanious : Superlatives are mostly functions of time and fame. But some superlatives like 'Lord Labakdas' ,'Amrican citizen', 'Columbus', 'pisthu', 'pistha' can be used at any time, anywhere, guaranteed. The etymology of these words are unknown.

Slangs are very important in Madras. Especially while drunk, during 'kozha adi sandai' and in the 'paal booth'. 'saavu graaki', 'somaari', 'kasmalum' , 'keesuduven', 'bejaara puduva' can be used as and when required.

The best ever sentence I heard in chennai is this : 'Vara solla vutaanda oray mayai'.. Means while coming it was raining heavily near the house'... hhhmmmm.. How easily this is said in 'Singara Chennai' Tamizh...!!

DISCLAIMER : Tamil spoken at Ethiraj, Stella Maris & other notable women's colleges is entirely different and is beyond the scope of this article.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2009.

- Vartaaa..

Vanakkam from Vidhya

After a long lapse, I am in the blog mood today. Much things have happened these days, especially the horrible thing in India. It is quite embarrassing to face the fellows in the office here in the US when these incidents crop up. We have no answers except to watch our country taken over by politicians on one side and terrorists on the other side. Who is being punished? the public who does no harm to anyone, nor enjoying any comforts in their life....The rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer and terrorists get terrorizing.

The media,...well they really earned well in these incidents. Actually people like us are dummies. We do not make the government. The politicians manipulate us and make their way and make money and make their life better. Who cares about us? The media are concerned about rewarding their staff who brings very attractive stories. Who cares about good things? BTW, I wanted to remind one thing about the pathetic state of the medias when our Bharath Rathna, the divine Singer, M.S. Subbulakshmi passed away, all the news papers showed the photograph of the dead cadaver, blown up in the first page of their papers. Not a single news paper put the divine face of her as seen in her devotional song cassettes. When she died she was very old and aged. There is no need for showing the age when she is there in every house and in every heart. This is what the media do....they want to highlight the dark, the unwanted and the uglyness of every aspect of society.

Well, Bombay has always been 'Bomb'bay. True Rajesh, we are angry and helpless and we will remain that way for ever....I am angry about that too.

The past two blogs are serious because of the serious situation in India. My next blog will be about my greatest anger on the health insurance and health policies in the US. ..... Athuvarai Ungalidamirunthu Vidaiperuvadhu........Vidhya

Ulaga Nadappugal...Cont'd

Dear Friends,

Hope everyone is doing good.....Especially the ones in India. People are still trying to recover from the shock. I was also very shocked of hearing the whole tragedy. I was following the news about this incident and the whole thing was portrayed like a action movie in some news channels which pissed me off. Initially I thought it was a bomb blast and then found the story developing into all sorts of twists and turns. The most annoying thing for me was the coverage of these incidents by the media especially one of the news channel which even played a kind of background score for all kind of situations like the action scene with the choppers and the rescue moments! To What extent do they go to make money out of everything? I was mad at that.

Then came these politicians to steal the show!! Media must be the only ones who would have been very glad because of all those resignations and sacking of politicians because the terror operation was over and they want something new to make news and these politicians gave food for their thoughts.....! I don't think these resignations would make a great deal of comfort to any of those shocked minds of the Public.  

Bombay has become "Bomb"bay! Though am not living there, It made me feel sad and more angry at the situation of helplessness we are in. The last but not the least of these are the effects of these on our cricket tours and tournaments. It made me even more pissed off. Cricket is also hurt and bleeding at the moment.....as much as Taj and Oberoi was during the last weekend. Hope it recovers soon along with the Nation looking for speedy recovery. 

Ulaga Nadappugal thodarum....