Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa on April 13th, 2012 led the state in celebrating Tamil New Year (Tamil month of 'Chithirai'- mid- April in Gregorian calendar). Soon after Jayalalithaa-led government took over, it had reversed a 2008 decision of her arch rival M Karunanidhi to celebrate new year in the Tamil month of 'Thai' (mid- January) to coincide with the harvest festival, Pongal. The practice of celebrating the Tamil new year in the month of Chithirai was being followed for 2000 odd years and the calender was based on seasonal cycles and other geographic parameters. There was also a mention of Chithirai as Tamil new year in inscriptions of Chola and Pandya kingdoms besides literary references. It seems the scholars claim that the mid-April celebration was an Aryan practice that filtered down to the south, while the Thai month that heralds the festival of harvest, Pongal, was the original Dravidian celebration. Jayalalithaa also recalled that Karunanidhi himself had greeted people on Tamil New Year’s day in Chithirai in the past. In 1990, Karunanidhi had, on two occasions, affirmed that Tamil New Year’s day begin with Chithirai. Despite the then DMK Government effecting a change, people had, however, continued to celebrate the Tamil New Year in Chithirai only.
What Karunanidhi did hurt the sentiments of people, big time! Jayalalithaa took a swipe at Karunanidhi for his decision to change the calender as he did it for purely publicity/ commercial motives and it, in no way was to help in development of the language. The sentiments and the opinion of the 'people' were not taken into consideration at all. I mean what is he? GOD? To make such changes? For the record, Karunanidhi married thrice. So, in his next term (if there is one) is he gonna promote polygamy in Hinduism? Huh! Looks like he's capable of making any insensitive change! :-/ Moreover, he's an atheist- so is this the kinda CM, TN would like to look up to? NO.
I have never ever taken any interest in National politics and for, that matter I have never been 'for' or 'against' any political party. But, this thing Karunanidhi did in 2008 really got me thinking. Well, now I'm definitely not 'for'-DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)! Who the hell is he to change our new year? Every year, till 2007 we have been celebrating it in April and overnight we come to know that the new year has changed to January??!!!! This is not fair!! Chithirai is the first month in the Tamil Calender and will always be!!!
On a personal note, infact, the "imposed Tamil new year" in 2009, 2010, 2011 at my college have been working days and I remember attending classes. And I used to think, being in Tamil Nadu we don't have a holiday for our new year, whereas Ugadi- Telugu New Year was ALWAYS a holiday! I never accepted the 'new' new year and we continued celebrating it in Chithirai. I mean why did he have to mess up with this? Are there already less problems in the State? Sheesh! My heart really ached to see the Tamil new year marked in the month of January but alas in 2012 it was removed and it was for the first time in 4 years the University was actually shut down for the "actual" Tamil New Year! Felt really really good to see things falling back in place! Good work done by Jayalalithaa. AIADMK(All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) totally rocks for this cause! Infact she went one step ahead to nail down the matter by ordering a grand celebration by her government on April 13th. The grandiose celebration was personally kicked off by her at the Madras University centenary auditorium in accordance with Tamil tradition and culture. Three cheers for TN CM Jayalalithaa for restoring our Tamil New Year! :)
14th April, 2012
I have never ever taken any interest in National politics and for, that matter I have never been 'for' or 'against' any political party. But, this thing Karunanidhi did in 2008 really got me thinking. Well, now I'm definitely not 'for'-DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)! Who the hell is he to change our new year? Every year, till 2007 we have been celebrating it in April and overnight we come to know that the new year has changed to January??!!!! This is not fair!! Chithirai is the first month in the Tamil Calender and will always be!!!
On a personal note, infact, the "imposed Tamil new year" in 2009, 2010, 2011 at my college have been working days and I remember attending classes. And I used to think, being in Tamil Nadu we don't have a holiday for our new year, whereas Ugadi- Telugu New Year was ALWAYS a holiday! I never accepted the 'new' new year and we continued celebrating it in Chithirai. I mean why did he have to mess up with this? Are there already less problems in the State? Sheesh! My heart really ached to see the Tamil new year marked in the month of January but alas in 2012 it was removed and it was for the first time in 4 years the University was actually shut down for the "actual" Tamil New Year! Felt really really good to see things falling back in place! Good work done by Jayalalithaa. AIADMK(All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) totally rocks for this cause! Infact she went one step ahead to nail down the matter by ordering a grand celebration by her government on April 13th. The grandiose celebration was personally kicked off by her at the Madras University centenary auditorium in accordance with Tamil tradition and culture. Three cheers for TN CM Jayalalithaa for restoring our Tamil New Year! :)
14th April, 2012
Firstly, Selection of pics were too good :D.Overall a very nice post.In India politicians do such abnormal things.It was nice to see that u have shifted ur focus to politics:D
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)) For me, selection of pics is as important as the content of the post! And good observation; the reason my focus shifted to politics is because this issue affected me on a personal level.:)) And hence the flow of emotions :P
DeleteI too liked the pics in the post. :) I know nothing about politics but I know for sure that I hate both these people. To put it in simple words, I dislike Karunanidhi because he is an atheist. I dislike Jayalalitha because she arrested the pontiff at Kanchi peetam. IMO, stupid people who are ignorant of anything can be tolerated but arrogant people who deliberately resort to crimes/evil deeds should be punished very badly. Most politicians are of the second category. God bless our country losing its glory day by day. A society of clueless ignorants led by a group of fools.
ReplyDeleteThanks Vamsi! True that- it's a mess out there! And same pinch: We dislike Karunanidhi for one of the same reasons :P Trust me, there are more :P They do all the nasty stuff and tricks, and we people are at stake! It's not that I'm in favor of Jayalalithaa or anything, but I really respect her for this one thing! Means a lot to Tamilians! :)))
DeleteThe pictures are hilarious! :D I agree with you Divs. The sentiments of people should be respected by anybody and it is only more important for a politician to that.
ReplyDeleteYes Divs :)
DeleteI can't believe K got away with it in the first place. Again, I'm from neighboring Kerala and I didn't even know about this so I certainly can't blame the ppl for not being involved enough. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI like your new blog theme and the pictures ( LOL :D ).
ReplyDeleteI don't like any politicians and never consider the changes they make seriously! So, it din't affect me and my family in any ways ;D
Different topic you ve taken and written it nicely :)
Thanks a lot Bhagya! :)
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