i begin this thread at the request of sapr33, although with more than normal trepidation.
a thread of this nature can easily turn into a verbal fist fight about roots, causes, hurts, insults heaped over the ages and more recent past.
let us hope, that we can keep this civil, and to the topic of how we, as tamil brahmins, can once again, endeavour to integrate ourselves with the other tamil tribes.
personally, i will keep my posts, as factual, as i can, without intending to provoke a 'brahmaNa dhrohi' type responses. it sure is a fine line, between the nakedness of truth and the cloak of 'indignation full of righteousness'.
let this thread be focussed on finding solutions and moving forward, more than anything else.
my attitude towards this post is 'the pursuit of a community's interest is the beginning and very nearly the end of morality' - the community being here, our tamil brahmin community.
only tamil brahmins. not other brahmins of india or elsewhere. for only we, have an interest in our own welfare in mind, i think, to be considered part of the tamil tribes. once again.
i will use the term tamil tribes as opposed to inam. elsewhere, in this forum, the concept of inam, has been found painfully unpatriotic. but the belief in tamil inam is widespread in tamil nadu. we cannot simply wish it away. it exists.
our own bharathiayaar, parithimaar kalaignar, and to an extent naa parthasarathy, all, subscribed to the concept of tamil inam, and our due place in it.
so if we treat the word inam clinically, and without the socio political connotations of late, it might indeed be the appropriate word to smith. but i will desist.
again, i think, the tamil tribe concept is all encompassing to include the other southern linguist groups. which is why, when someone points out that periyar was a kannadiga, vaiko is a telugu or mgr is a malayalee, it falls on deaf tamil ears.
tamil nadu has generally been generous in accommodating immigrants.
which is again why, it is a surprise, since we tamil brahmins, who have been there for a millenium or more, for reasons beyond the focus of this thread, have been in the socio political wilderness since the dawn of the dravidian era. ie since 1967.
to be sure, we participated in it. we eagerly, along with rajaji, voted congress out, to usher the dravidian era, and tamil nadu has not looked back.
at the time, the nadars and the gounders, were the only groups that were opposed to dravidianism. over the years, they have made up, and have become part of the ruling clique.
these gounders, pillais, nadars, mukkulathors, and even tamil dalits, might fight tooth and nail today. but appear, to make up constantly the next days, before indulging in another fight. seems like any normal family.
but we appear to be the outsiders. after enabling the birth of this dravidian baby, we fell out very quickly. and have been the consistent outsider to any significant role in tamil nadu.
why is it that we alone are a perpetual political panchamar in tamil nadu? .
this shunning by other tamil tribes, has hurt us, i think. for in india of today, without a home state, i think, one is an orphan. one's strength in delhi or elsewhere, comes from one's own deep grounding in the native province.
in order to move forward, the intial steps may be to acknowledge the reality of the need to belong and find a place in the state of tamil nadu.
in order to do that, we need to understand ourselves as viewed by the other tamil tribes. this analysis of the current situation, must be introspective in nature, and could bring up some aspects of our past, which we might be uncomfortable with.
a soul search, need not be painful. it is more an acknowledgement of whether, our true loyalties lay in which part of the greater indian that we are - tamil nadu or the pan-brahminism bridging the linguistic divide.
for many of us, the answer may already be evident. others, such as me, are hopeful, that much as committed bharatvasis that we are, it does matter, while avoiding the fissiporous ideologies, to be at the same time, a proud, belonging, accepted, equal participant and a vibrant contributor to tamil nadu.
that is as important, as being an indian. one cannot, i think, be a fulfilled in one role, without a complimentary fulfillment in the other. they both go hand in hand. atleast, i think so.
but, i think our progress towards integration within tamil nadu, would lie, in knowing not only our strengths, but in understanding our weaknesses. for many of us, even to accept the concept of 'weakness' may be anethma.
it may be that the exploitation of our weaknesses, is among the root cause, for our rootlessness? i don't know.
whatever it may be, i think, it is in our interest to integrate. the other tamil tribes, much to my chagrin, simply 'do not care' if we don't come to the party. they have enough quorum and clout.
the quickest expalanation to this quagmire, is to blame the propaganda wing of the dravidian parties, who have made haywire out of the bogey of anti brahminism, for their own political ends, and hence the cause of all our misfortunes. i think, that is not the whole story.
but that is an easy way out. it does not quite subscribe to the paradigm, that 'the pursuit of a community's interest is the beginning and very nearly the end of morality' .
i do not think that we need be necessarily moral in our such pursuit.
maybe some political compromise and raja thanthiram is also needed. not sure.
i think, what is required is some out of the box thinking, practical small steps that each of us could practice, so that over a period of time, our image, to our fellow tamil brethren, is one of favour. the least minimum, one of indifference. or brahmin neutral environment.
that would indeed be moon mile distance, from where we are currently right now.
more later.
thank you.
a thread of this nature can easily turn into a verbal fist fight about roots, causes, hurts, insults heaped over the ages and more recent past.
let us hope, that we can keep this civil, and to the topic of how we, as tamil brahmins, can once again, endeavour to integrate ourselves with the other tamil tribes.
personally, i will keep my posts, as factual, as i can, without intending to provoke a 'brahmaNa dhrohi' type responses. it sure is a fine line, between the nakedness of truth and the cloak of 'indignation full of righteousness'.
let this thread be focussed on finding solutions and moving forward, more than anything else.
my attitude towards this post is 'the pursuit of a community's interest is the beginning and very nearly the end of morality' - the community being here, our tamil brahmin community.
only tamil brahmins. not other brahmins of india or elsewhere. for only we, have an interest in our own welfare in mind, i think, to be considered part of the tamil tribes. once again.
i will use the term tamil tribes as opposed to inam. elsewhere, in this forum, the concept of inam, has been found painfully unpatriotic. but the belief in tamil inam is widespread in tamil nadu. we cannot simply wish it away. it exists.
our own bharathiayaar, parithimaar kalaignar, and to an extent naa parthasarathy, all, subscribed to the concept of tamil inam, and our due place in it.
so if we treat the word inam clinically, and without the socio political connotations of late, it might indeed be the appropriate word to smith. but i will desist.
again, i think, the tamil tribe concept is all encompassing to include the other southern linguist groups. which is why, when someone points out that periyar was a kannadiga, vaiko is a telugu or mgr is a malayalee, it falls on deaf tamil ears.
tamil nadu has generally been generous in accommodating immigrants.
which is again why, it is a surprise, since we tamil brahmins, who have been there for a millenium or more, for reasons beyond the focus of this thread, have been in the socio political wilderness since the dawn of the dravidian era. ie since 1967.
to be sure, we participated in it. we eagerly, along with rajaji, voted congress out, to usher the dravidian era, and tamil nadu has not looked back.
at the time, the nadars and the gounders, were the only groups that were opposed to dravidianism. over the years, they have made up, and have become part of the ruling clique.
these gounders, pillais, nadars, mukkulathors, and even tamil dalits, might fight tooth and nail today. but appear, to make up constantly the next days, before indulging in another fight. seems like any normal family.
but we appear to be the outsiders. after enabling the birth of this dravidian baby, we fell out very quickly. and have been the consistent outsider to any significant role in tamil nadu.
why is it that we alone are a perpetual political panchamar in tamil nadu? .
this shunning by other tamil tribes, has hurt us, i think. for in india of today, without a home state, i think, one is an orphan. one's strength in delhi or elsewhere, comes from one's own deep grounding in the native province.
in order to move forward, the intial steps may be to acknowledge the reality of the need to belong and find a place in the state of tamil nadu.
in order to do that, we need to understand ourselves as viewed by the other tamil tribes. this analysis of the current situation, must be introspective in nature, and could bring up some aspects of our past, which we might be uncomfortable with.
a soul search, need not be painful. it is more an acknowledgement of whether, our true loyalties lay in which part of the greater indian that we are - tamil nadu or the pan-brahminism bridging the linguistic divide.
for many of us, the answer may already be evident. others, such as me, are hopeful, that much as committed bharatvasis that we are, it does matter, while avoiding the fissiporous ideologies, to be at the same time, a proud, belonging, accepted, equal participant and a vibrant contributor to tamil nadu.
that is as important, as being an indian. one cannot, i think, be a fulfilled in one role, without a complimentary fulfillment in the other. they both go hand in hand. atleast, i think so.
but, i think our progress towards integration within tamil nadu, would lie, in knowing not only our strengths, but in understanding our weaknesses. for many of us, even to accept the concept of 'weakness' may be anethma.
it may be that the exploitation of our weaknesses, is among the root cause, for our rootlessness? i don't know.
whatever it may be, i think, it is in our interest to integrate. the other tamil tribes, much to my chagrin, simply 'do not care' if we don't come to the party. they have enough quorum and clout.
the quickest expalanation to this quagmire, is to blame the propaganda wing of the dravidian parties, who have made haywire out of the bogey of anti brahminism, for their own political ends, and hence the cause of all our misfortunes. i think, that is not the whole story.
but that is an easy way out. it does not quite subscribe to the paradigm, that 'the pursuit of a community's interest is the beginning and very nearly the end of morality' .
i do not think that we need be necessarily moral in our such pursuit.
maybe some political compromise and raja thanthiram is also needed. not sure.
i think, what is required is some out of the box thinking, practical small steps that each of us could practice, so that over a period of time, our image, to our fellow tamil brethren, is one of favour. the least minimum, one of indifference. or brahmin neutral environment.
that would indeed be moon mile distance, from where we are currently right now.
more later.
thank you.
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