India, as we all know is a diverse country with a plethora of languages, castes, sects and religions. The diversity is so stunning that a tourist is often left astounded, unable to come to terms with the innate diversity of the land. For every 3000 kilometers, we find a new language being spoken, a new cuisine being followed, not to mention the variations in dressing styles and the customs.

On the other hand, we do find an innate one-ness among such seemingly diverse cultures, the unity not being restricted to the Gods we worship, the festivals we celebrate and the pilgrimage sites spread across the length and breadth of the country.

With this being the case, the best which we can expect from such a huge landmass, being inhabited by a diverse populace, is unity, and not absolute uniformity, which can surely be seen as an attempt to homogenize the land mass and its people.

The people of the south are generally referred to as “Madrasis” by those in the north and the south takes jibe at them as ‘cow belt’ or ‘chappati’, thus each other ‘othering’ one another.

I happened to go many restaurants in Rajasthan which classified the food they served as Indian (chappathi/subji etc) and South Indian (Idli/Dosa etc). Just imagine the sense of other-ness which a southie would have felt reading the menu card.

I am not trying to assign motives to the Hotel owners. This is a deep web which we seem to be stuck in. How we got stuck in it is irrelevant. We need to look at ways and means to get out of it.

Amidst this, there is also the fight between which language is superior – Sanskrit or Tamil. Both these languages are rich in literature and are the oldest languages that exist today. While those from south are aware of the uniqueness and the literature in Sanskrit, it is not the case with Tamil and those living in the northern parts of our country. This is very much to be seen with the Indian government, as an institution not acknowledging the uniqueness and antiquity of Tamil.

Ofcourse, Prime Minister Modi has recently started acknowledging the oldness of the Tamil language in all international forums. But, as we all know the historical wrongs cannot be undone in a single gesture.

I do acknowledge that Tamil being spoken by far fewer people than Hindi/Hindustani cannot be accorded the same status as the latter. I am not a linguistic chauvinist to make such unrealistic demands.

What I am calling for, is a mindset change among my fellow sisters and brothers from the Northern part of the country. Just as how the works of Meera Bai/Kabir are popularized and read by people all over the country, we ought to celebrate the works of Tamil saints like Thiruvalluvar, Avvaiyar, Tholkaapiyar, Kamban and Bharathi.

Let the students read the translations of the works of such great poets from the South, just to comprehend the innate oneness and similarities of various Indic cultures, if not for anything else.

Speaking of the long term, just as how there is a Hindi Prachar Sabha in every southern state of the country let there be a Tamil Prachar Sabha as well. If the setting up of such a Sabha needs active assistance from the Government of Tamil Nadu, so be it.

I advocate the reading of Tamil texts by North Indian students, not to get back at them or establishing a kind of one-upmanship. It is an appeal to strengthen the bonds that the North and the South have always had, from time immemorial.

As a country which prides itself in upholding the principles of Unity in Diversity,it is only fair that the great and ancient Tamil language gets its due from the Indian State.

A Sangam Tamil text, Puranaanooru talks about a single landmass from Himalayas to the Indian Oceans, in not one but two poems (6th and 17th).

Poem 6

முதுகுடுமி பெருவழுதி பாண்டியனை பார்த்து காரிக்கிழார் பாடியது. (Kaarikizhaar sings about the king Peruvazhudhi Pandian)

வடாது பனிபடு நெடுவரை வடக்கும்

தெனாது உருகெழு குமரியின் தெற்கும்

குணாஅது கரைபொரு தொடுகடல் குணக்கும்

குடாஅது தொன்றுமுதிர் பெளவத்தின் குடக்கும்

(vadaa adhu panipadu neduvarai vadakkum

Thenaadhu urukozhu kumariyin therkum

Kunaa adhu karaiporu thodukadal gunakkum

Kudaa adhu thondrumudhir bowwathin kudakkum)

(You are the king of the massive country

which has the snow clad Himalayas as the border in the North,

the fearsome Kumari as the border to the south,

the blue seas as the border to the East and the West.)

Poem 17

சேரமான் யானைகட்சேய் மாந்தரஞ்சேரல் இரும்பொறையை பற்றி குறுங்கோழியூர் கிழார் பாடியது (Poet Kurunkozhiyoor Kizhar sings about the king Cheramaan Irumporai)

தென் குமரி வட பெருங்கல்

குண குட கடலா எல்லை

குன்று மலை காடு நாடு

ஒன்று பட்டு வழி மொழியக்

கொடிது கடிந்து கோல் திருத்திப்

பாடுவது உண்டு

(Then kumari vadaperungal

Guna kuda kadalaa ellai

Kundru malai kaadu naadu

Ondrupattu vazhimozhiyak

Kodidhu kadandhu kol thiruthip

Paaduvadhu undu)

(To the south Kumari is the border.

To the North Himalayas is the border.

To the East and West, the seas are the borders.

Interspersed by forests and mountains, the people living in these lands get together to praise you,

the one who rules the kingdom with the Senkol in hand.)

This is much before the Vishnupurana that talks about India being a single landmass, if we were to go by the dates the Western scholars have given to these texts.

The same text has numerous references to the Himalayas in various poems. (Poem numbers:2, 6, 34, 39, 67, 132, 166, 214 and 369).

Similarly the Sangam text Natrinai talks of the origin of the Ganga River in its 369^th poem.

If a North Indian student were to read such poems of Puranaanooru or Natrinai, we ought to understand how far it will go in inculcating the feeling of one-ness in her or his mind.

Hence, I advocate that Tamil be made an optional 3^rd language which can be read by young minds living in the Northern part of the country. The literature which Tamil has to offer is matchless and far sublime which any European or Arabic language can give us.

Nation building and nurturing a feeling of one-ness doesn’t happen overnight; nor does it happen by mere words. It happens by taking concrete actions.

Tamil, like every other Indian language, is India’s pride. I earnestly appeal to those reading this to atleast try and understand my train of thoughts.

And let’s get the menu cards corrected at the earliest please! We already have enough vultures to exploit and exaggerate the existing linguistic faultlines to their benefit.