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‘Hello young man,’ Ganapathy said from across yard, seeing Moon on the patio chair staring at the clouds with a blank expression on his face.
‘Hello sir,’ Moon replied startled.
How are you feeling now? Where is Subbaiah?’
‘I'm better. Professor Subbaiah has gone for a party meeting.’
‘That same nonsense again. What are they doing to our nation?’
‘Is the University closed today sir?’
‘Of course it is. There is so much violence no one will send their children to study. I will just put on my shirt and come there. I too am feeling a bit bored.’
A few minutes later, Ganapathy was by his side.’
‘Anni,’ he called out to Malathi who was listening to her favorite radio program inside.
‘Thammudu,’she replied coming out.
‘Can I have a nice cup of filter coffee?’ he requested, dragging a chair from inside.
‘Sure, I will be right back.’
‘Sir, you just called Maam Anni. What does it mean?’
It means elder sister-in-law in Tamil. I consider Subbaiah as my elder brother, she called me younger brother in Telugu.’
‘It is so strange. In Corean, Eonni means elder sister.’
‘That is a coincidence.’
‘I don't think so. I came across other words like amma and appa. We also have the similar words. How can we have the same words, is Tamil related to Corean?’
‘Not that I know of. Tamil is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world and is the only Indian language other than Sanskrit to be considered as ancient and authentically original in its form.’
‘Is it possible that some Tamilians settled down in East Asia and influenced our language?’
‘That is possible, the Chola Dynasty which ruled from 9th to 13th century also expanded to Southeast Asia. They may have had a cultural influence on Corea.’
‘Chola dynasty?’
‘In ancient times there were three kingdoms in Southern Indian; Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas who were very powerful.’
‘Just like in Corea again. We too had three kingdoms -Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the peninsula.’
‘This is so strange. It appears that there are many similarities. I better alert Professor Dhandapani, I am sure he will find more. This needs more careful historical research.’
‘Yes sir, I am sure they will find a lot of similarities, except of course the looks.’
‘You are right,’ he smiled, as Malathi placed two cups of coffee on the small stool near them and went inside again. It somehow broke their conversation.
‘Sir, will everything be alright here?’ Moon asked trying to pick up a new thread.
‘I am afraid not. This time it is getting to be very serious, I only hope there is a peaceful solution.’
‘You mean if the Prime Minister takes back her announcement?’
‘No, I mean if the Tamil politicians accept Hindi, then we can carry on with our lives.’
‘The other day you explained to me that it is unfair to impose Hindi, just as it is unfair to impose German in Europe.’
‘Yes, I did, but India is not Europe. We became independent 18 years ago, and have already broken up our country once. This is a silly issue to fight for when we have so much poverty. We need to first grow to the European levels of development and then think about all these mundane issues.’
‘Isn't it a question of identity? The Japanese tried to wipe out our identity when they ruled us, Professor Subbaiah's party is afraid that the Dravdian identity may be wiped out.’
‘That is stretching things a bit too far, many Congress leaders are from the South. If they have no problems, then why should we fear? These small parties only want to come to power, and they will do anything to achieve their goals.’
‘Sir, do you support the Congress party?’
‘Yes I do, they fought for our independence and they are the only secular party which cares for our country's development.’
‘That is not what Professor Subbaiah told me.’
‘The main goal of his party is to humiliate Brahmins.’
‘I heard that Tamil Brahmins are dominating the society and practicing casteism.’
‘That is their old argument. They are reluctant to accept us as Tamilians because they say that our ancestors migrated from North India.’
‘You mean to say that your community was actually Aryan?’
‘There are no Aryans and no Dravidians. We all belong to the same race, this division was created by the British and other European scholars.’
‘Sir, you look different from the other Tamilians, you are fairer and could be easily mistaken for a North Indian.’
‘Color and facial appearance has nothing to do with race.’
‘So then Coreans could also be the same race as Tamilians, since we have many common words in the language?’
‘That is a bit far-fetched. You are clearly the Mongolian race. A little inter-mixing may have taken place years ago, but that is for the anthropologists to find out, I am an economics professor.’
‘You were saying that Tamil Brahmins are not accepted by other castes in South India? ‘
‘Yes, to get back to the point, Subbaiah's party is trying to push us away by saying that we are proficient in Sanskrit, and are Aryans. Actually the older generations of Brahmins were more interested in Tamil than Sanskrit. Many of them were scholars in Tamil and Sanskrit. Now they want to associate Tamil with the anti-Brahmin movement. This is a very clever strategy to isolate us.’
‘Is it true that most of the important positions in government are held by Brahmins?’
‘That is because many Brahmins gave importance to education. With good education, anyone can get important positions. The other castes did not give importance to education, and concentrated on their traditional skills, but once they saw that the Brahmins have occupied important positions, they are upset.’
‘Didn't they have important positions in ancient India too?’
‘We do not have factual information about the status of Tamil Brahmins before the British came to India. There were many Brahmin Ministers and officials under the Kings, but a vast majority of them were middle class or poor and dependent on the temples for their livelihood.’
‘They did not always have power?’
‘Even now they do not have as much power as they make you believe. I will tell you one thing for certain; when East India Company first came to India it was the trading community and not the Brahmins who prospered. The caste-based hierarchy has never represented the balance of power. Everyone accepts that Brahmins are the final authority in respect of religion, that’s all.’
‘They occupy the highest position in your caste system.’
‘That is right, but we were never considered as a ruling class. The lower caste Kshatriyas, were the rulers and the trading was left to people from Subbaiah's community, Vysyas. Only in respect of religion, Brahmins were supreme. So it is wrong to say that we always had power. We are a deeply misunderstood community.’
‘Then why are they against you?’
‘It is all politics, as I told you before. Look I am a Brahmin by birth, but I eat non-vegetarian and am an atheist, completely against the caste system. Many Tamil Brahmins were in the forefront for social reforms like women's education, rights and abolition of child marriage. But Subbaiah's party wants to ignore everything, and that is why I am against them.’
‘You seem to be very close to each other despite the differences.’
‘We have our ideological differences, but still respect each other. We are like brothers.’
‘Good to know, sir.’
‘So, you will be staying here for sometime?’
‘Maa’m insists that I stay till I recover.’
‘What about your clothes and luggage?’
‘Professor Subbaiah said he will bring them after his meeting.’
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‘Nice, since there will be no classes now, I can come and chat with you regularly.’
‘Although you are against the imposition of Hindi, won’t you participate in the protests?’
‘Of course not, the last thing I want is for DMK to come to power.’