Fear not, I am not rendering any DMK speech here.Though all the above names mean the same they are different. I am a Tamilian, TamBrahm to be more specific who grew up in many states(but luckily with a sane mental state) other than Tamil Nadu. When someone asks me where I belong, I literally think about the order before I start blabbering about my origin. You see, I am an Iyer whose roots originated from Tanjore or so I am told.Though I never got a chance to visit, I am told that the only way to reach the kukgramam is exactly similar to the mode Madhavan describes in the movie NalanDhamayanthi .My Grandfather moved out and got situated at different places because of work and finally settled in Bangalore(thankfully).Hence I claim Bangalore to be my native although I have never stayed here.I grew up in Vijayawada, Bellary, Hyderabad and now am finally settled here at Bangalore. Enough with the history.Now you get why I fumble when you ask me this question.Of late I have started saying that I am a perfect Indian considering the different places I have lived in.
The primary intention of giving my introduction is to give you all a glimpse of how how many different Tamil slangs I am exposed to(I know you guys are looking for Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli slang. But there are others besides these.)
As a Tambrahm I mastered the aathu baashai (vaango,pongo,aathu,solrel etc. etc.) and thought that was the only Tamil slang that existed, as the only few Tamil friends I had were brahmins too and had the same slang.Also we were not exposed to Tamil channels because only DD ruled then and our local channels were either Telugu or Kannada. And when we visited our cousins in Madurai they spoke to us in our aathu baashai and hence I remained ignorant about these other slangs. There were times even our aathu bashai was a mixture of Hindi, English,a bit of Telugu &Tamil.Here are some of the sentences composed by my brother and me:
1. Samay kuda ennoda ishara la nachardu.(Time also dances to my tunes)
2.But ana (this im guessing every one utters)
3.O andha movie romba onnum Khas a illa. Lite eduthuku, pakaada.( That movie is not even a mediocre one so avoid it. Khas meaning (great), Lite eduthuko(combination of Telugu and tamil)
4. Mom's friend had come home one day when she was not around. This is what was told to her:
Aunty amma velila kacheri ku peirka.. ana beech la ezhundundu vanduduva innum koncham time la.(Mom has gone out for a kacheri but will leave half way as she it might get late.) Aunty was baffled as there is no beach in Hyderabad.
5.Inda galli la left edunthunda oru chourastha varum.(if you cut a left here you shall get a four 4 way route).As hilarious as it sounds, we did talk that way for a few years while getting acclimatized to new places.
Finally the day came when we got our cable connection. We had been listening to the cool kids at school bragging about all the new cartoons,shows and movies they had been watching on their cable channels.We on the other hand were watching latest movies(movies that released some 10 years ago were played on DD as the putham pudiya thirai padam) on our DD channel.
We started watching Sun TV in tamil malai, Raj, Jaya etc... We then gradually picked up the Madras bashai inspite of amma and appa t(y)elling us not to follow that language. But, common it was fun. Kaida, kasmalum, poramboku etc. etc etc. Gosh, what all we picked up.Also, it was then I keenly noted the different dilects. I started meeting different people who spoke in different slangs of Tamil. For instance my athimber(brother in law) is from Tirunelveli. All I could picture when he spoke were dialogues from the movie Dum Dum Dum. Yela, ennatha cholluda ni (What are you saying)...(giggles) Then the Madura bashai. Mom belonged to Madurai and all my maternal cousins had a bit of this slang.(Although, it was only now I noticed it)Thanks to our endless viewing of Vadivel's comedy scenes I picked up some of Madura basha too, for instance, angitu ingitu (here and there), vlatuthanam(playfulness) and so on.
People at my work place also made fun of my aathu bashai (even though they belonged to the same clan as mine) I slowly picked up the way in which they spoke as in vanga, ponga, vandirchu.Well, I donot know if this helped me at work but it definitely helped me during my conversations(fights) with the auto guys when I visited Chennai. The auto guy almost all the times guessed I was from a different place because of my slang(aathu bashai) even when I told him the routes correctly.Enna ooru ma neenga, Bombay ya, Delhi yaa But, now naaah.I am actually proud of it.(patting my back).
Now coming to the confusions created in these different slangs especially the relatives' addressing.We Tamilians are very fond or perhaps obsessed with the relation MAMA. I notice that others call their sister's husband- mama, aunt's husband- mama and uncle(mother's brother) also mama and they make fun of me when I say athimber .Hey, common we atleast have different names for different relatives. Of course any unknown elderly person who comes home is also addressed Mama by us. Ambi mama, Subramanian mama, Venkatachari mama etc etc.Also, the police officers are nicknamed mama too.(beware,donot call them mama right to their face. Apprently they dont like it)
For those Northies, who think every South Indian is a madrasi, hear me out... NO!!! Here is an article which has already highlighted the important facts which I wanted to say too.
http://junktechie.com/2014/01/31/madrasis-south-india
I as a Tamilian got intimidated very easily by other groupies during a young age.There were times when I wondered why I was born a Tamilian?I found nothing cool to boast about. I did not meet the right people then. But now things have changed. I really am proud to be a Tamilian.Tamil was, is and will be the coolest language.We do have the coolest set of slangs and accents.I now see people(who are not Tamilians) call each other Macha and Machi as they sound cool and fun. Even the Bollywood seems to be obsessed with the Tamil film Industry. We have made a mark for ourselves in every field.(I would hate to mention or talk about the movie Chennai express as it was a lame, sick potrait of Tamilians and as claimed it was not stereotypical at all)
So Keep Calm and be proud to call yourself a Tamilian. Also Talavair(Rajinikanth) Rocksss and you know it!! GOD BLESS THE CABLE TV !!
Vokey machi, now slightaaa open the bottle I say!!
The primary intention of giving my introduction is to give you all a glimpse of how how many different Tamil slangs I am exposed to(I know you guys are looking for Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli slang. But there are others besides these.)
As a Tambrahm I mastered the aathu baashai (vaango,pongo,aathu,solrel etc. etc.) and thought that was the only Tamil slang that existed, as the only few Tamil friends I had were brahmins too and had the same slang.Also we were not exposed to Tamil channels because only DD ruled then and our local channels were either Telugu or Kannada. And when we visited our cousins in Madurai they spoke to us in our aathu baashai and hence I remained ignorant about these other slangs. There were times even our aathu bashai was a mixture of Hindi, English,a bit of Telugu &Tamil.Here are some of the sentences composed by my brother and me:
1. Samay kuda ennoda ishara la nachardu.(Time also dances to my tunes)
2.But ana (this im guessing every one utters)
3.O andha movie romba onnum Khas a illa. Lite eduthuku, pakaada.( That movie is not even a mediocre one so avoid it. Khas meaning (great), Lite eduthuko(combination of Telugu and tamil)
4. Mom's friend had come home one day when she was not around. This is what was told to her:
Aunty amma velila kacheri ku peirka.. ana beech la ezhundundu vanduduva innum koncham time la.(Mom has gone out for a kacheri but will leave half way as she it might get late.) Aunty was baffled as there is no beach in Hyderabad.
5.Inda galli la left edunthunda oru chourastha varum.(if you cut a left here you shall get a four 4 way route).As hilarious as it sounds, we did talk that way for a few years while getting acclimatized to new places.
Finally the day came when we got our cable connection. We had been listening to the cool kids at school bragging about all the new cartoons,shows and movies they had been watching on their cable channels.We on the other hand were watching latest movies(movies that released some 10 years ago were played on DD as the putham pudiya thirai padam) on our DD channel.
We started watching Sun TV in tamil malai, Raj, Jaya etc... We then gradually picked up the Madras bashai inspite of amma and appa t(y)elling us not to follow that language. But, common it was fun. Kaida, kasmalum, poramboku etc. etc etc. Gosh, what all we picked up.Also, it was then I keenly noted the different dilects. I started meeting different people who spoke in different slangs of Tamil. For instance my athimber(brother in law) is from Tirunelveli. All I could picture when he spoke were dialogues from the movie Dum Dum Dum. Yela, ennatha cholluda ni (What are you saying)...(giggles) Then the Madura bashai. Mom belonged to Madurai and all my maternal cousins had a bit of this slang.(Although, it was only now I noticed it)Thanks to our endless viewing of Vadivel's comedy scenes I picked up some of Madura basha too, for instance, angitu ingitu (here and there), vlatuthanam(playfulness) and so on.
People at my work place also made fun of my aathu bashai (even though they belonged to the same clan as mine) I slowly picked up the way in which they spoke as in vanga, ponga, vandirchu.Well, I donot know if this helped me at work but it definitely helped me during my conversations(fights) with the auto guys when I visited Chennai. The auto guy almost all the times guessed I was from a different place because of my slang(aathu bashai) even when I told him the routes correctly.Enna ooru ma neenga, Bombay ya, Delhi yaa But, now naaah.I am actually proud of it.(patting my back).
Now coming to the confusions created in these different slangs especially the relatives' addressing.We Tamilians are very fond or perhaps obsessed with the relation MAMA. I notice that others call their sister's husband- mama, aunt's husband- mama and uncle(mother's brother) also mama and they make fun of me when I say athimber .Hey, common we atleast have different names for different relatives. Of course any unknown elderly person who comes home is also addressed Mama by us. Ambi mama, Subramanian mama, Venkatachari mama etc etc.Also, the police officers are nicknamed mama too.(beware,donot call them mama right to their face. Apprently they dont like it)
For those Northies, who think every South Indian is a madrasi, hear me out... NO!!! Here is an article which has already highlighted the important facts which I wanted to say too.
http://junktechie.com/2014/01/31/madrasis-south-india
I as a Tamilian got intimidated very easily by other groupies during a young age.There were times when I wondered why I was born a Tamilian?I found nothing cool to boast about. I did not meet the right people then. But now things have changed. I really am proud to be a Tamilian.Tamil was, is and will be the coolest language.We do have the coolest set of slangs and accents.I now see people(who are not Tamilians) call each other Macha and Machi as they sound cool and fun. Even the Bollywood seems to be obsessed with the Tamil film Industry. We have made a mark for ourselves in every field.(I would hate to mention or talk about the movie Chennai express as it was a lame, sick potrait of Tamilians and as claimed it was not stereotypical at all)
So Keep Calm and be proud to call yourself a Tamilian. Also Talavair(Rajinikanth) Rocksss and you know it!! GOD BLESS THE CABLE TV !!
Vokey machi, now slightaaa open the bottle I say!!
No comments:
Post a Comment