Idiolect

Xi Jinping is the most powerful person in China. This is a fact known to almost every creature in the planet (in case, any creature doesn’t know this, it will meet its fate, don’t worry!). But not many know that he was responsible, albeit indirectly, for making a person lose her job.

This happened in the year 2014 when the President visited India. A newsreader on Doordarshan pronounced his name as ’11 Jinping’( see how his first name looks a lot like the Roman XI. Thankfully, it is not ‘ix’!) and she was asked to get out. Of course, she was only a contracted employee and that made the job easier for the authorities.

But what irked me that time (and still irks me) is the fact that the authorities don’t care a damn if Indian names- South Indian names in particular- are pronounced wrongly. It could be because even the authorities do not know the correct pronunciation. For 5 years from 1987 to 1992, the President was christened as ‘Venkatraman’ and not ‘Venkataraaman’. The former finance minister is still called by many as ‘Chidaambaram’ and not ‘Chidambaram’. Curious case of ‘nedil’(நெடில்) becoming ‘kuril’ (குறில்) and vice versa.

In fact, people living in the north of the vindhyas hardly care about the South Indian names nor do they bother to give any respect. When Mooppanar formed ‘Tamizh Maanila Congress’, the channels thought he was seeking the help of people from Philippines. Otherwise, how could one explain their pronouncing the name as ‘Tamil Manilaa Congress’? The capital city of TN reminds them probably of a Red Dog, because it is ‘Chennaaai’. Examples galore but let me stop here and travel to the south of vindhyas.

Newsreaders here too, murder North Indian names, though it is less intense. Of course, they murder International names as well and one of the unforgettable gaffes was by a lady newsreader on DD long ago when she pronounced ‘Helmet Kohl’ as ‘Helmut Goal’(probably, she was symbolically suggesting the greatness of Germany in football!).

In my opinion, all these can be at least excused. What cannot be excused is the murder of Tamizh by the Tamizh people(not necessarily the media alone). Now, do this exercise. Watch TV serials, News channels and the latest movies for about 2 hours. Take a piece of paper and count the number of people who get ‘ல’, ‘ள’, ‘ந’, ‘ன’, ‘ண’ right. I am sure, your paper will be almost blank.

Go out to a crowded place. Listen to people. Even in colloquial tamizh, see how many people get all those right. See if even such a small word as ‘keezhe’(கீழே ) is pronounced correctly or as ‘keele’(கீல ).

Same is the case in writing as well. It is not uncommon to find people mixing up ‘ல’ and ‘ள’ and ‘ன’ and ‘ண’ .

Well, this is the state of affairs now. What is shocking is that people talk about ‘tamizh race’ and ‘pride’ and yet do not pay attention to the language which is 5000 years old and to the special letters which has made the language one of the most beautiful and unique languages in the world.

I am not here to analyse the causes for this decay. At the same time, my heart bleeds when I see/hear such murders. If I was into law making, I would bring some stringent laws to make people speak/write tamizh properly. But the fact is I am not. Therefore, let me write about a song, which in a way parodies such people.

No, it is not a song in ‘Sentamizh’.

The beauty of ‘Vaalvinil’ from ‘PattaNam Pogalaam Vaa’(1981-unrelased) lies as much in the ‘tamizh murder’ as in the very different orchestration. I am sure both have been done intentionally.

Not many would even believe that the music was scored by ILaiyaraaja, unless told. They can be easily excused if they thought the song was from the ‘40s if they listened to the prelude.

Before we get on with that, I must register my appreciation for Malaysia Vasudevan. It is not easy for a man known for his perfect diction of tamizh(despite being a malayali) to murder tamizh. See, how he says ‘ல’  (la) instead of ‘ள’ (La), ன (na) instead of ‘ண’(Na)  instead of  (and vice versa) and ல(la)  instead of ழ (zha). And how beautifully he has modulated the voice..

As regards Raaja sir, I read long back in one of the forums that he cannot bring out the essence of the old era and that he used the same kind of instruments and tune while trying to recreate that era. The comment quoted the ‘Nayagan’ song and the one from ‘Aditya 369’. People who make such comments should listen to ILaiyaraaja in full. In fact, they must listen to this song to see how the ‘Bhagawatar era’ has been recreated.

Though it has that ‘old era’ flavour, genuine followers of this genius can easily recognise his distinct style here too.

If the romance between the jalatarangam and the tabla tarang and between the clarinet and the strings in the prelude gives us a clue, the way strings are played towards the end of the prelude with the jalatarangam and tabla tarang striking alternately, suggests us as to who would have composed this.

When the percussion completed the aavartanam in the Pallavi, we can easily recognise the Raaja muthirai, a distinct mark like the water mark on the rupee notes!

Charukesi in its pristine form in the prelude, interludes, pallavi and in the charaNams reconfirm that this is the work of the genius.

So do the sober clarinet and the racy strings in the first interlude, the call and response between the strings and the tabla tarang, the soulful clarinet and the sizzling flute in the second interlude , the sudden appearance of the clarinet in the first CharaNam and the structure of the two CharaNams, one different from the other.

The naughty side of Raaja sir is seen again in the second CharaNam where there is impromptu rendering of kalpana swarams after ‘Oram Po’.

It may be recalled that ‘Oram Po’ and ‘Vaangonna’ were banned by AIR and DD those days for ‘vulgarity’ and ‘objectionable content’. Wonder how the authorities do not find any problem with the present day tamizh spoken by ‘tamilans’, while they could find simple rustic words used while learning cycling and the words used by a particular community, ‘vulgar’ and ‘objectionable’.

Shouldn’t such people in the media meet the fate of the newsreader who got the name of the Chinese President wrong?

And shouldn’t there be a ban on the murder of tamizh in our state?

But again, if there is a ban, then 90% of the politicians and 95% of the actors will be rendered jobless.

Isn’t it good for us then?

PS: This post is dedicated to all ‘tamilans’!

                  

                  

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