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Monsoon murmurs (12)
The ancient Tamils saw the world as Agam and Puram. Agam is all that is related to love i.e. internal. Puram is the external, rough, violent and war. Men are brutal in essence and they need fights. Animals fight for females. Larger your harem, happy you are. You see your genes every where! Early Tamils took war for cattle. When they abduct cows and bulls, they pick up girls too. So they developed weapons like sword, knife, arrow, thrisul and others. It was useful for hunting as well. The world Nandu saw still had violence. It was considered bravery. Violence erupts there for no reason. People fight and break their teeth. Nandu was never for fights. He is more for romance. However, a male child is considered a protector. So they say, an inch of a child if he is a male is still worth having. No wonder Nandu was pampered by all the females in the family. Nandu fell secured with all the love poured on him. He was confident and charming. He stood 'first' in his class.
Dad has no time to see all his progress as he was roaming in the villages but mom had all the time to watch him and mend him. So she was the authority at home and referred as "athamma", the lady of the house. She was brave too. A sangam poem narrates that a Tamil lady while doing her house chore was attacked by a tiger and she simply drove the tiger with her winnow. Amma did such a thing on a night. She went to the toilet to ease herself and saw a man in the well. Since agraharam is close to the river every home will have a small well. The rope in the well attracted a thief and he was removing it when Athamma entered the backyard. He was not afraid as he has knife at his waist. It is Amma who should shrill and shout. But being a brave lady, she saw him and asked him why was he there and doing what. The thief, a tall, dark man was impressed by this small lady of the home and allowed himself a brief conversation. Hearing some voices at the backyard, the eldest daughter peeped through the door to see what happened. Amma had a conversation with a strange, dark man at the backyard. She was shit scared even by the sight.
The tall, dark guy explained to Athamma that he was on a plan to rob some newly harvested rice from the last house for which he needed rope which he was collecting from her well. " Okay fine. I can't stop you from doing your robbery as you are prepared and planned. I will let you take the rope, but you should promise me to bring it back after your job was done. Have we understood each other? said Amma. The guy was pretty surprised/impressed that she could make a deal with the most dreadful thief in the village. He had no other go than to oblige her, otherwise she might shout and awake the whole street. The rich guy in the corner house had no idea that a stealing plan was struck at midnight hours between a brahmin lady and a Muslim theif in the neighborhood. So the sangam tradition had continued even in the 20th century in a Tamil village.
The elementary school was a fun place with pigs around for Nandu. Nobody went violent there. The teachers were kind and lovely with the sweet kids. But middle school cum high-school was different. At higher classes almost men like boys were studying still. To discipline such adults, teachers used violence. Beating was common there. Some of the fearsome teachers carry a cane all the time. There was no objection what so ever from the villagers as they too believed that violence brings peace and discipline. The worst part is that the teacher would ask the adult guys to go and fetch a long, strong whip from the near by tamarind tree. Idiotically, they would do it, to get beaten up by the same whip they brought in. The Tamil teacher Vinayagam was the worst. He was fearsome because he was handicapped in the right hand which was ridiculed by students. He must use his one hand for eating and toileting. Knowing this ridicule he would beat up the students as forcefully as with his left hand.
But the plus point of the highschool is that it was coeducation. Girls and boys studied together, of course in separate rows. Nandu being a top ranking student was allowed to sit in the front row to have a good look of the girls. The teachers have the additional responsibility of protecting the girls from the boys, yet another reason to use violence in the class. The parents see to that girls won't be pretty and beautiful looking as that will attract unnecessary attention from the boys. So even the pretty girls wore dreadful cloths and hairstyle. In spite of that boys were always attracted towards them, as being a girl was good enough a reason for them.
The boys may get a glimpse of what they want to see, with the help of the whirling winds of adi masam (July). Girls in those days never wear an under garment, especially the pantie, so when a gush of wind emerges suddenly what one would see is the under parts opened up. If any one has seen anybody's parts that day, it would be the topic of the day for the boys. The girls dress was a skirt, a blouse and a piece of colored cloth over the brest. It is called half-saree. Many girls wear a protective under skirt but no pantie. With the fear of skirt being loosened and fall the under skirt was worn tight. Nandu has seen black marks of tanning in the waist of his sister. She has tightened it so hard that the skin was injured and blackened.
(cont'd)
© nanu
Dad has no time to see all his progress as he was roaming in the villages but mom had all the time to watch him and mend him. So she was the authority at home and referred as "athamma", the lady of the house. She was brave too. A sangam poem narrates that a Tamil lady while doing her house chore was attacked by a tiger and she simply drove the tiger with her winnow. Amma did such a thing on a night. She went to the toilet to ease herself and saw a man in the well. Since agraharam is close to the river every home will have a small well. The rope in the well attracted a thief and he was removing it when Athamma entered the backyard. He was not afraid as he has knife at his waist. It is Amma who should shrill and shout. But being a brave lady, she saw him and asked him why was he there and doing what. The thief, a tall, dark man was impressed by this small lady of the home and allowed himself a brief conversation. Hearing some voices at the backyard, the eldest daughter peeped through the door to see what happened. Amma had a conversation with a strange, dark man at the backyard. She was shit scared even by the sight.
The tall, dark guy explained to Athamma that he was on a plan to rob some newly harvested rice from the last house for which he needed rope which he was collecting from her well. " Okay fine. I can't stop you from doing your robbery as you are prepared and planned. I will let you take the rope, but you should promise me to bring it back after your job was done. Have we understood each other? said Amma. The guy was pretty surprised/impressed that she could make a deal with the most dreadful thief in the village. He had no other go than to oblige her, otherwise she might shout and awake the whole street. The rich guy in the corner house had no idea that a stealing plan was struck at midnight hours between a brahmin lady and a Muslim theif in the neighborhood. So the sangam tradition had continued even in the 20th century in a Tamil village.
The elementary school was a fun place with pigs around for Nandu. Nobody went violent there. The teachers were kind and lovely with the sweet kids. But middle school cum high-school was different. At higher classes almost men like boys were studying still. To discipline such adults, teachers used violence. Beating was common there. Some of the fearsome teachers carry a cane all the time. There was no objection what so ever from the villagers as they too believed that violence brings peace and discipline. The worst part is that the teacher would ask the adult guys to go and fetch a long, strong whip from the near by tamarind tree. Idiotically, they would do it, to get beaten up by the same whip they brought in. The Tamil teacher Vinayagam was the worst. He was fearsome because he was handicapped in the right hand which was ridiculed by students. He must use his one hand for eating and toileting. Knowing this ridicule he would beat up the students as forcefully as with his left hand.
But the plus point of the highschool is that it was coeducation. Girls and boys studied together, of course in separate rows. Nandu being a top ranking student was allowed to sit in the front row to have a good look of the girls. The teachers have the additional responsibility of protecting the girls from the boys, yet another reason to use violence in the class. The parents see to that girls won't be pretty and beautiful looking as that will attract unnecessary attention from the boys. So even the pretty girls wore dreadful cloths and hairstyle. In spite of that boys were always attracted towards them, as being a girl was good enough a reason for them.
The boys may get a glimpse of what they want to see, with the help of the whirling winds of adi masam (July). Girls in those days never wear an under garment, especially the pantie, so when a gush of wind emerges suddenly what one would see is the under parts opened up. If any one has seen anybody's parts that day, it would be the topic of the day for the boys. The girls dress was a skirt, a blouse and a piece of colored cloth over the brest. It is called half-saree. Many girls wear a protective under skirt but no pantie. With the fear of skirt being loosened and fall the under skirt was worn tight. Nandu has seen black marks of tanning in the waist of his sister. She has tightened it so hard that the skin was injured and blackened.
(cont'd)
© nanu
