Wait before we start, let's get it clearly..it's not T-a-m-i-l..It is T-a-m-i-rrrrlll..Keep trying, I didn't get it in six months of practice but in case you are a Bengali please don't embarrass yourself and the language by even trying!!!
I was extremely skeptical of settling down in Tamil Nadu and why wouldn't I be??Here Tamil is the only language people speak and work in. I was a typical Bengali who could speak Hindi..Tamil Nadu is at least 1800 kilometers away from my parents. People say language and cultures start changing once you travel 100 kilometers. This was a good 18 times multiplied!!! But that is how it is...The more you stay here the more you get to know the essence of the place. And I for one enjoyed looking into Tamil Nadu with my 'rosogolla eyes'!
At 5am in the morning people are ready and as fresh as freshly picked lilies out of a garden. Hardly anyone exists here who is not religious! Going to the temple is a routine not only for the old but for the young too! Temples here close by 9 a.m. I bet you would never have heard that in case you never lived here. This just proves the importance of doing things 'early' here. They will do it earlier than you imagine.Be it technology, innovations, passing out from college( most graduates are around 21 here) and of course the quintessential marriage !
They do things 'early' because of their never dying spirit! I have come across the hardest working people of my life here. People literally worship their work. Not surprisingly, the Chennai region has become the manufacturing hub of the country.
Are you under the impression that i am painting too rosy a picture of Tamil Nadu?? Well I will quell your doubts. Not everything is clean. Yes there are dirty public toilets here, there is dirt accumulated on the streets, there is corruption almost in every public dept but then the state had to do something to show it is an Indian state, right?
It manages to hold few dangerously bad things amongst all the other great things that it houses, Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha included. Today it is the centre of attention not only of the country but the world! Thanks to Marans,'Telecom' Raja and the tears of Karunanidhi which fell in Tihar Jail..While it celebrates the return of Amma to power it is fast losing it's national reputation thanks to hard bashing by the media..
But then again there are things which keep its flag flying high. One among them is 'Hotel Sarvana Bhavan' ( Yes, I am a Bengali who speaks about three things only-politics,food and Saurav Ganguly). It is a chain of hotels in Tamil Nadu (few outside) and it specializes in authentic Tamil food. Yes, you may not get the best but you will get better than the best. It is really a heaven you are a true foodie and you have a heart to accept good food from other cultures! The sambhar (yes, it isn't sambar) and the chutney can be awe-inspiring. Not only 'Saravana Bhavan' you get into any Tamil household and the 'Utthapam', 'rasam' they can just take you to places you have never been! Infact they will be my only friends during my stay here!
Enough about food, lets talk about the people who make them! People here are orthodox, yes, but that is what makes them different and it doesn't take away any sheen from them. I am a bit surprised by their resistance to Hindi. It just doesn't go with the kind of people they are. The women-folk and so many of them here would have shaved off their scalp hair! That is because they left them at the Tirupati temple! Needless to say that Lord Tirupati has delivered for ages now and the women don't mind losing one of their most precious things, their hair! It is because of these people that Tamil Nadu stills moves at a frantic pace desperately trying to escape the strangleholds of corruption...Yes,I am running behind them. I am running behind them with my 'rosogolla eyes' hoping to catch hold of that 'sambhar spirit'!
