Tamil Brahmins: Lost in Tamil Nadu. by G. Venkatesh

[prasad1]

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Tamil Brahmins: Lost in Tamil Nadu. by G. Venkatesh

Years ago, well-known Tamil actor and political satirist Mr Cho Ramaswamy had remarked tongue firmly in cheek – “Tamil Brahmins are people who fight with each other, degrade themselves and paint the entire community in shades of dark.” If you look at the events (in literary and movie circles in Tamil Nadu and the political climate), you will realise that Mr Ramaswamy was absolutely right then, he is right even now.


We talk about Kashmiri Pandits becoming strangers in Jammu and Kashmir. The Tamil Brahmins find themselves alienated in their own land. With more than 75% of the younger generation of Tamil Brahmins having moved to foreign land in pursuit of job / education and others scattered across different parts of India, it is an easy guess that population of Tamil Brahmins in Tamil Nadu is steadily waning.

................

Thus, three factors contributed to degradation of Tamil Brahmins in Tamil Nadu.


• Negative influence of movies
• Negative influence of Tamil literature
• The Dravidian rule in Tamil Nadu


Ask any like-minded Tamil Brahmin settled abroad or settled in other parts of India, whether he would like to relocate to Chennai. The answer would be a strict no. Chennai auto drivers are notorious but they are particularly harsh on Tamil Brahmins. Some of my cousins who studied in Chennai have shared anecdotes of how they were ragged for speaking the Brahmin language.


A Malayalee will always support a Malayalee, but a Tamil Brahmin, will always work against other Brahmins. The people whom I have mentioned in the above paragraphs are classic examples. The net result of all these is that Tamil Brahmins are slowly losing their identity in Tamil Nadu.

 

[kunjuppu]

venkatesh is all bull, dear prasad. i believe this is a big lie passed on re the past generations, when the stakes are high ie highpaying jobs, and not survival or entry level.

one of the reasons for the rise of shiv sena, was how, we tambrams packed the jobs in bombay. get one tambram in, and within a couple of years, his brother, nephew, friend and everyone in his village followed him. this was told to me by a maharashtrian brahmin.

in fact, if one tambram went to a certain area in malaya, very soon, all the nearby estates had tambram clerks. same happened in burma. there is nothing wrong with that, as we look out for our own near and dear.

i dont know about you, but my dad had 125 cousins in total and at the peak, 60 of them stayed in bombay of the 50 thru 70s. everyone of them, helped each other to find space, jobs, (sometimes) spouses etc. in fact the biggest gripe of the dravidian movement was the close knit brahmin community, and its habit of sharing job opening onlyamong itself.

nowadays, as seen in this forum, there is no need for us to assist each other in the manner of the previous generations, as almost all of us are self supporting and able to find our own way.

re auto drivers in chennai, they fleece everyone. my wife speaks what passes for brahmin tamil, and we have seen only respect. she has also a sharp tongue, and i always warn her to be polite. everything ultimately relates to caste in india, and all of us went of out of tamil nadu or palghat, for brighter futures elsewhere.

re returning to tamil nadu, half the population, given a chance, would love to emigrate. so does half of india's population. that is due to the sad state of the country. that is what i think. to instigate guilt or self pity or self hatred, i think, this venkatesh is trying. but wont wash with me.

 

[vgane]

K.Balachander sowed the seeds of showing Brahmin women in bad light in the garb of showing reality...The films became hits and others followed in the foot steps...This is at best cinematic insanity

Why cannot the Brahmin film makers show a Brahmins in good light by showing a Brahmin who is working for the society fighting the bad guys...Should it always be a Thevar or Gounder?...

The situation in Tamil Nadu is peculiar for the Brahmins...We cannot compare with the Kashmiri Pandits who were thrown out of their motherland

It requires self introspection...It may require more social work, garnering support from the middle castes, ability to stand on own feet, fearlessness (I find the Tirunelveli/Kanyakumari are more fearless) wealth and oodles of practical wisdom

 

[wrongan]

A real story to the contrary of shri.Venkatesh. I presume to be in later 60s. When 60:40 in land revenue sharing was strictly imposed under tenancy act ie land holdings which affected mostly Brahmins in Thanjavur delta.One Thashildar who happens to be Harijan was posted in charge of our village.The elders in the village felt that they may have to lose their entire land holdings to the toilers To their astonishment when a delegation of elderly Brahmins met the officer He told them He knows who are Brahmins and their qualities well and he will set the records in their favour only.And acted accordingly.

 

[wrongan]

I was administrative Officer in a Government office..One of my lady superintendant used to avoid to come to my seat personally on certain days.Even when I call her to my seat to discuss some sensitive or confidential subjects.She is otherwise very attentive and sincere and capable.One day I lost temper and asked a subordinate why it is so.He politly said that Because you are a Brahmin she fears to come near you in her periods.She is a mudaliar woman.When I entered service in 60s We faced wrath of the mudhaliyar community the most.But things has changed over years.Because we were non aggressive.

 

[amala]

venkatesh is all bull, dear prasad. i believe this is a big lie passed on re the past generations, when the stakes are high ie highpaying jobs, and not survival or entry level.

one of the reasons for the rise of shiv sena, was how, we tambrams packed the jobs in bombay. get one tambram in, and within a couple of years, his brother, nephew, friend and everyone in his village followed him. this was told to me by a maharashtrian brahmin.

in fact, if one tambram went to a certain area in malaya, very soon, all the nearby estates had tambram clerks. same happened in burma. there is nothing wrong with that, as we look out for our own near and dear.

i dont know about you, but my dad had 125 cousins in total and at the peak, 60 of them stayed in bombay of the 50 thru 70s. everyone of them, helped each other to find space, jobs, (sometimes) spouses etc. in fact the biggest gripe of the dravidian movement was the close knit brahmin community, and its habit of sharing job opening onlyamong itself.

nowadays, as seen in this forum, there is no need for us to assist each other in the manner of the previous generations, as almost all of us are self supporting and able to find our own way.

re auto drivers in chennai, they fleece everyone. my wife speaks what passes for brahmin tamil, and we have seen only respect. she has also a sharp tongue, and i always warn her to be polite. everything ultimately relates to caste in india, and all of us went of out of tamil nadu or palghat, for brighter futures elsewhere.

re returning to tamil nadu, half the population, given a chance, would love to emigrate. so does half of india's population. that is due to the sad state of the country. that is what i think. to instigate guilt or self pity or self hatred, i think, this venkatesh is trying. but wont wash with me.

I agree with the gist of your post. But when you say Tambrams helped each other etc, from what I've seen from my own relatives vis a vis Malaya etc, its only the Pattars that are very very united and you're absolutely spot on about the fact that once they get a footing somewhere they would try and get their whole village in , not so much the Tanjore ones. They are also way less adventurous than the Pattars, which is why most local Msian/Sporean (and I only mean "local" Tambrams) are mostly all Pattars. At one point in my cousin's apartment in Bhandup, Mumbai, every single flat except my cousin's was occupied by Pattars. Every single one of them. Even if they didn't have much education, they had this boldness and adventurous streak, so they actually went pretty much everywhere. That's really something to admire, my dad often says compared to our Tanjore types and Telugus who are quite "bayanthangollis"

 

[kunjuppu]

I agree with the gist of your post. But when you say Tambrams helped each other etc, from what I've seen from my own relatives vis a vis Malaya etc, its only the Pattars that are very very united and you're absolutely spot on about the fact that once they get a footing somewhere they would try and get their whole village in , not so much the Tanjore ones. They are also way less adventurous than the Pattars, which is why most local Msian/Sporean (and I only mean "local" Tambrams) are mostly all Pattars. At one point in my cousin's apartment in Bhandup, Mumbai, every single flat except my cousin's was occupied by Pattars. Every single one of them. Even if they didn't have much education, they had this boldness and adventurous streak, so they actually went pretty much everywhere. That's really something to admire, my dad often says compared to our Tanjore types and Telugus who are quite "bayanthangollis"

dear amala,

being a pattar, i can only speak for my our group. afaik, when i grew up in madras, there was always a steady stream of cousins nephews nieces of my dad, from all over malabar and palakkad, to bombay and each everyone of them found a willing place to reside sleep and help to find a job.

which is why i am surprised about this type of OP i saw here. nowadays, help is usually asking for MBA level job high paying jobs and not the entry level 50 years ago. so it is not possible or even fair to put recommendations for a job that pays a couple of lakhs a month (!).

you are right about enterprise. these guys, very soon got involved either in the unions or managed to get mgt promotions, and though they liived in matunga all their lives, they did pretty well for themselves careerwise, and bought apartments in bandra or elsewhere and rented them out as the controlled rent in matunga was only about 100 ruppee range

all their children are abroad, mostly usa.

 

[Raji Ram]

'pattars' are supposed to be very smart! In one of my experiences, the 'PAlakkAttu smarthyam' was ONLY with

one of my student mAmi's and not an iota with me!! K Sir knows the story!

P.S: My ancestors are from Kerala. :grouphug:

 

[auh]

Why cannot the Brahmin film makers show a Brahmins in good light by showing a Brahmin who is working for the society fighting the bad guys...Should it always be a Thevar or Gounder?...

I guess that is because everyone apart from a pattar is a bayanthangolli, among the brahmins, that is.

 

[kunjuppu]

'pattars' are supposed to be very smart! In one of my experiences, the 'PAlakkAttu smarthyam' was ONLY with

one of my student mAmi's and not an iota with me!! K Sir knows the story!

P.S: My ancestors are from Kerala. :grouphug:

dear raji,

dont know about the smart part. but poverty was high. most of palakkad villages were poor, with few land holders. large families forced even within a generation of settlement in palghat in the 1800s, to move to other nearby parts of malabar ie trichur etc and farther north to calicut badagara or telicherry.

so 'vaith-eeswaran' was the prime instigator of moving anywhere for jobs. and naturally everyone eventually found relationship through blood or marriage to others in the village and nearby villages. so job finding for near and dear, became not only an obligation but a duty. done willingly, because one never knew, when one needed help.

nowadays, all is different. ofcourse.

 

[Raji Ram]

....... Why cannot the Brahmin film makers show a Brahmins in good light by showing a Brahmin who is working for the society fighting the bad guys...Should it always be a Thevar or Gounder?...

Please see this clipping from the Silver screen........

Chef gets kumbhipakam as punishment

 

[kunjuppu]

'pattars' are supposed to be very smart! In one of my experiences, the 'PAlakkAttu samarthyam' was ONLY with

one of my student mAmi's and not an iota with me!! K Sir knows the story!

P.S: My ancestors are from Kerala. :grouphug:

adhi saamarthaym 'aaLe kollum'

 

[Raji Ram]

adhi saamarthaym 'aaLe kollum'

I am yet to get 'sAmarthyam'!

Then only comes 'athi sAmarthyam'!!