சி.சரவணகார்த்திகேயன்

Written in Tamil by: C. Saravanakarthikeyan Translated to English by: Vijaya Kumar  Some of my colleagues, especially north Indians in IT sector - believed as a field holds people with exceptional skills and knowledge - strongly believe that “Hindi is our national language”.   Some even exclaims when they hear Tamilians don’t know Hindi.   I wonder they won’t be this much surprised even if I told, “I don’t know Java.” Even though their mother tongue is different, they know to speak Hindi at least. Some are well versed as it is their mother tongue. Sometimes they will start discussing in Hindi in between office meetings too. Since I was taught Hindi up to my 8 th standard I can understand a bit. I understand Hindi films with this little knowledge. (Among them films rely on dialogues are not suitable for me. For example, I understood ‘A Wednesday’ whereas ‘Bombay Velvet’ was a challenge.) I understand my colleagues by the meaning of words I know. When I couldn’t, I...

Written in Tamil by: C. Saravanakarthikeyan Translated to English by: Kiruba.H.B  Embracing a corpse in a dark room - Thirukkural (913) “A virgin has died” This was the talk of the whole village. Everyone who had gathered at the tea shops, public toilets, front yards of the houses, cross roads near the well, and those who gathered to play cards in the streets was discussing nothing but this. “Has Kuppan been informed?” This was the first question from everyone who had heard the news. Questions like “who is dead?”, “How did they die?” followed only later. “When is the ritual going to happen?” “Why ask this question as if you don’t know the answer? As usual it’ll happen tonight” They murmured in whispers as they attempted to hide the gleaming curiosity in their eyes. While the women seated around the glass box in which the corpse was kept , were singing oppari, which are traditional Tamil mourning songs sung at funerals, Ramasamy alone sat on a wooden chair faci...