Monday

"Iyer the Great" – says a Non-Iyer

The title of this article might make some move to the next topic immediately. Some might however read further with curiosity. The very purpose of this article is to remove the stereo type reaction.

It is an unfortunate recent development that while writing about the Sri Lankan crisis, some writers are grouping Iyers (A caste group in the Tamil society who practices vegetarianism) as an entity and are accusing them as though all the members of the community are against the cause of the suffering people in Sri Lanka. They are projected as being solely responsible for the socio-economical problems in the Tamil Nadu state or elsewhere in India. These writers tend to forget that any society in the world is made up of different groups and each group is represented by different individuals. Tamil or any other Indian society is no exception and is reflective of similar division based structural society.

I am not a supporter of caste-based structure of our society. My focus now is to move forward and integrate our several sub-structures in to an united force to meet the future challenges.

As soon as we land overseas, be it USA, Europe or Australia we no longer represent any particular caste based community. We are happy to converse in our native language and watch our language movies periodically. We are willing to acquaint with anyone who speaks our language and participate in community based cultural activities. We are proud to send our children to the language class and also help fellow community members. While we exhibit tolerance among different caste members in an alien land why can’t we extend a similar gesture back home?

When we portray “Unity in diversity” at a national level, why are we not inculcating “Unity in diversity” at the community level? I have had the acquaintance of several Iyer friend’s right from my childhood. Together we have visited several non-vegetarian restaurants back home and also here in the US and have happily fulfilled our eating desire without compromising our Vegetarian or Non Vegetarian identities. After 20 years they continue to be in my buddy list.

Some of my friends agree with the idea of an independent nation in the North & East of Sri Lanka and few of them agree with the armed struggle. Back then, the father of one of my friend was a big contributor to the independence struggle in Sri Lanka. It may be surprising to many of you. But it is the Truth. Why should we alienate such a noble soul from a common cause? Should we remind ourselves who the great poet and freedom fighter Barathiyar was and which community he belonged to.

As we move forward to integrate and unite, let us believe that one day “The Hindu” news paper will also come under our long list of friends. To be frank right from my childhood, I have learned my English from reading “The Hindu” news paper. A decade back, they were a vocal supporter of the Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka. Some of their articles I liked to read again and again since it gave lot of insight every time I read. However off late their articles are simply away from the truth.

Good writings should weave the words over the “truth” skeleton. If the skeleton is not “truth”, whatever the color of the thread, your weaving will expose the lie. This is what is happening with “The Hindu” news paper today.

Few years back, I was reading two articles on insurgencies – one in Iraq and another in Sri Lanka reported in the same issue of “The Hindu”. They were published on either side of the same page. On one side the insurgents were portrayed as heroes and on the other side as villains. In the end “The Hindu” lost the creditability from my eyes as it drifted away from truth. In recent days “The Hindu” has become nothing but a “straw man” with its words and phrases lacking editorial professionalism.

According to the Mahabarata epic – Dhronachariya’s love towards Arjuna was more than that towards his own son - Ashwathama. However Dhronachariya was bound by duty to fight for the Gauravas and thus against his favorite Pandavas . On the 14th day of the war, Dhronachariyar lines up the entire Kuru army, with millions of its soldiers in front of Arjuna. But Arjuna exhibits his full prowess, and by the end of the day has killed more than a million warriors. The Pandavas win the war in the end and recover their lost country.

Today “The Hindu” may be the Duronachariyar due to their massive circulation (Duronachariyar is the teacher of warring brothers Pandavas and Gauravas – from the Indian epic Mahabaratham). Similar to how Arjunan defeats his master, we will in the near future put “The Hindu” news paper in the right spot by exposing its untruth journalism to the world inclusive of “Iyer the Great”.

Again let me emphasize my point. When we talk about “The Hindu” news paper, let us expose them correctly and politely without bashing any specific subset of our own community or invoking any caste sentiments.

Our intentions are clear. Our vision is set. While we aim to face the global challenges as one strong community we must first get rid of our small differences. Instead of putting-down some our own people, let us welcome them with the firm belief that all are equal. Each and every soul in the community is valuable and can contribute to the development of a vibrant society. We are striving for building the prosperous, innovative, bold community and seamless integration of various sub structures including the Iyer the Great and “The Hindu” news paper.

Let us pledge on this day, that we will extend our hands with brotherly affection to each and every soul “Rich or Poor, Male or Female, Dark or Fair” no matter where they come from, no matter where they live now, to achieve our common goals. As Jews succeeded together in the 20th century, we will do it together one day and will touch great heights and new boundaries. 

On that day, surely the world will listen to us.

Written by Sasikumar

An engineer by profession, Sasikumar holds double masters degree in Engineering from India and Business Administration from USA. He writes to transform the Indian politics into an issue based one.