Thursday 19 January 2017

A Revolution in the Offing

   I have never been a part of any revolution, not even experienced the emotion behind any. Not even during the protests for the huge scams or the recent monumental mismanagement by the government. Whatever TamilNadu is witnessing for the past 3 days stirred something inside me. I never felt pride for anything. Not even for being born in this most beautiful country or having the mother tongue with a great history. For me Life is an Absurd thing. ABSURD as in Albert Camus novels. Culture was a joke to me and adhering to it is not making sense at all. May be even now I am still the same but a slight pinprick might have happened within and I am writing about that small prick of pain with the blood of pride that oozes out of me.
 
    People always protest for something, be it the governmental policies, the scams, the gruesome anti-national and social issues. But here is a protest that united thousands for saving a cultural thing. No, I haven't seen any Jallikattu game in real at any time and I don't think the tens of thousands of young people protesting day and night for the same have seen it either. But why are they fighting? What made them to throng the streets for the game which they haven't seen? I think I have somehow slightly felt the meaning of the line 'Any real sacrifice is a Mystery' in the Magum Opus Amitav Ghosh's Novel 'The Shadow Lines' by feeling these young protesters pulse. India, being as diverse as all the countries united together, had witnessed mass protests on in-numerous occasions and it had seen many darker times like the Emergency where the freedom of anything is strictly prohibited let alone speech. But this is a situation where a linguistic sect of people or a ethnic group protesting against the country which they are part of.

   The banning of something which was practiced for thousands or hundreds of years would make anyone revolt. And it is a well discussed topic that if something was practiced for centuries doesn't mean it would fit to current society. The same was conveyed by our Honorable Chief Justice last year during a proceeding of the Jallikattu case. The more rational and the so called intelligent people drew parallels for Jallikattu with the rigorous practice of caste system and sati. I don't have anything to even think of those analogies.

   There are many conspiracies around the involvement of foreign hands in banning the sport. I don't know much about that. If it is there or not is a different question that needs to be answered but even if it not there, why the people are not allowed to organize the sport? This is a curious question whose roots are tangled in the debate between the National Allegiance Vs the Cultural following. By making a sect not to follow their culture kills the very idea of India. Since the country is above all doesn't mean that the people will not protest anything against the country.

   How long it will go? What if the Supreme court of India will not allow the sport to be organized? What if Delhi betrays the People of TamilNadu by doing nothing in this matter? What options do the Tamilians have? Some of the media are already making analogy to the Arab Spring. This cultural upheaval is nothing short of that and I believe it is the foundation for something big. What about the student who got severely injured during the protests? What about the people who leaving their jobs aside and participating in this mega protests? For what they are fighting. Is it a freedom struggle? If so, from whom? Isn't their right to do what they want to do? If some one take away that right, then the consequences would be unimaginable. The strangling of a culture would have serious repercussions. Don't ever try to violate the right of what you are? I can't live as a different person but as me. The same applies to a culture. The culture to identify who you are. It can't be rationalized, it can only be felt emotionally. Some times, I would think all our so called developments in politics or science or whatever doesn't make any sense. At deep down, the world is ruled by emotions not logics and that doesn't mean we are illogical.

Let's hope for the best outcome!

அந்த காவிரி தான் பாயல
நம்ம காளையாவது பாயட்டும்!

வாழ்க தமிழ் வளர்க இந்தியா!!!