A lot of us often think of the Tamilians as a race with militant ideas and a misplacced sense of Dravidian/Tamil nationalism. To a large extent, this is because of the language struggle, where they genuinely believed Tamil to be a 'logical' alternative to Hindi and the fight for an independent Dravidian homeland, that consisted of Tamil Nadu and northern Srilanka. Now, consider this:
1. MG Ramachandran was a mallu Nair from Palakkad
2. Rajinikanth (Shivaji Rao Gaekwad) is a Marathi from Bangalore
3. Jayalalitha is a kannadiga from Mysore
4. Khushboo and Simran are Hindi speaking. Incidentally both of them have temples constructed for them in Tamil Nadu.
5. Thyagaraja who wrote the Pancharatna kritis was a Telugu based out of Tanjore
Sure for every MGR we have a Kaurnanidhi, and for every khushboo and a Simran we have a Radha and Radhika, but the dichotomy for me seems too sharp to understand for them to fit the cliche. How can a race that is believed to be so gung-ho about it's identity continuously elevate people from outside to the pedestal. So are they miltant, confused souls with a bit of an identity crisis or more liberal than we make them out to be ?
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So are they miltant, confused souls with a bit of an identity crisis or more liberal than we make them out to be?
Wonderful post on an ironic topic!
PS - Probably the identities of the people mentioned in your post did not come to the forefront of Tamil mass at the early stages of their careers.
Well written post!:) Tams are liberal but at the same time are made out to be a closed in proud society that will not speak hindi:) so, there in lies the dichotomy.Tamils are perhaps meritorius and are willing to accept others who come to their state and adapt to their ways. In accpeting them they make them their own and hence feel a sense of pride.
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