My village based Grandpa himself being a ‘classic’ Tamilian who never ventured outside the ‘classic state’ borders decided I needed good English to strengthen my Tamil blood and put me into one of the best English-medium schools in the area (a Boarding School in Yercaud, near Salem). To make it motivating, I stayed as a paying-guest, at the very tender age of three, with an Anglo-Indian family and learnt English from very close ‘quarters’. When I returned (after almost a year) for my first annual holidays I had all but forgotten Tamil. My uneducated Mom failed to understand (she could not even read or write ‘classic’ Tamil) a single word that I spoke and summoned my schooled Aunt (her younger sister) to build bridges over troubled waters!

Years rolled by and my English evolved to the level that my “thinking itself was in English”. My Grandpa also grew old enough to trouble any ‘pants-wearing Gentleman’ passing by our house – calling him to come over and speak to his grandson in English – he liked to hear me out!

Over the years, I grew to love Tamil a lot (was the second highest scorer in Tamil in my Class-X Anglo-Indian Board Exams) and despite the strong English presence made sure that my Tamil learning’s never ebbed.

Viewed in this background, the recent act by the Tamil Nadu Govt. providing for preference to Tamil-medium educated persons in Govt.jobs smacks of ‘classic’ chauvinism and parochialism of the very highest order. Is this not against the very tenets of freedom granted by the Constitution? How can a person be discriminated on the basis of language – leave alone caste and religion. Are we not creating a Tamil caste? Is not the ever dark-goggled polygamist at the helm of affairs in Tamilnadu himself a caste (read Brahmin) hater? Add this to the already pregnant multitude reservations & quotas-where does skill and ability stand a chance?  Are we not breeding an absolutely mediocre generation this way?  Should not a job be given to the most deserving person?  Everyone in India has the freedom to study in any language of his/her choice and nobody has one right over that!

The situation in Tamilnadu is very peculiar with its ever dark-goggled CM announcing all kinds of popular welfare schemes which only serve to drain the Exchequer and is poised to create an extremely lazy breed of people incapable of any kind of work.  All that one needs to do in Tamilnadu is to eat the free-rice/or Rs 2/kg rice offered by the Govt. sit at home in the free concrete house built by the Govt. and watch television on the free Kalaignar TV given by the Govt. and if he falls from his ‘bench’ (while watching TV) use the Kalaignar Insurance Scheme to get free medical treatment using the free-ambulance service specially provided for the purpose-again by the Govt. Once his son/daughter grows up after studying in a Tamil-medium school with free Govt. sponsored noon-meals, he gets the free mangalasutra, free sari and free what-not and the cycle repeats itself. Where is the incentive to work? To top it, under the NREGA people go for the 100 days of Rs 100/- per day only to gather what-ever money is required for buying other heavily subsidized living items without trying to work at all.  Will the livelihood of people ever improve this way? What is all this for? Only to return to power in the next Elections and keep doing more of such imaginative things? What are the ‘classic dark-glasses’ for? Instead of giving ‘free fish’ everyday should not the people be taught to fish for themselves?

On the positive side I must admit that road building is happening like never before in Tamilnadu but still not reaching many interiors like my Village in backward Dharmapuri District, for example –where the 7km stretch from the ‘main road’ to my house has been asphalted only half-way that too after years of pushing. The power-cuts are awfully crippling and over the past 20 years we have had not a single 24 hour interruption-free day. You need electricity to watch ‘classic’ Tamil programmes on the Kalaignar-gifted TV, don’t you?