A Thirst For The Classical Language

Only after music director, Vijay Anthony made the Aathichudi song, many of us wanted to find out what it meant. Aathichudi is a collection of quotations by Auvaiyar. Most of us who are not from Tamil schools don't know much about Tamil Literature.

I'm amazed how this single-lined quotations are created. If you know Aathichudi and the meaning of each quotations then you can teach the Tamil Alphabeths together with Aathichudi to your children, because it is organized in alphabetical orders. So don't teach 'A for Apple' to your child. Teach அ - அறம் செய விரும்பு. Which is A - Aram Seiya Virumbe that means have desire to do good.

I really regret I did not get a chance to start my early education in a Tamil school. In east Malaysia the Indian community is a minority and there are no Tamil Schools. I always thought those who live in the west were luckier because they have a chance to learn some of our literature. But surprisingly there are Indians in the west who don't want to send their children to Tamil School. English seems more important than our mother tongue.

Wonder what is wrong with Tamil Schools? Not enough facilities or is it false perception that if you study in a Tamil School, you won't be as smart as the students in national primary school. In the 60's, students from Tamil Schools had a hard time when they enter the secondary school where the syllabus was in English at that time.

But now, it's different. Most parents are able to speak at least basic English. So why not send the child to a Tamil School. My Tamil School was my mum. She taught us to read Tamil from the magazines and newspapers we bought when we came for holidays to the west.

I remember how we kept the papers and magazines so safely, handling each page delicately to avoid tearing it. It was that precious to us, reading the same papers and magazines again and again each month because we did not have any source of Tamil books. Not even a Tamil radio station.

A thirst to learn my own language, Tamil. Back to the Aathichudi, I am still searching for the meaning of each quotation by Auviyar.