Saturday, August 28, 2010

If you simply avoid two things... !!!

Bas Baskaran
................................
Lovely Thoughts About Life

A short walk is so difficult,
when no one walks with you.
But a long journey is just like few steps
when you walk with someone
who loves and cares for you.

We always look and care for the person
whom we love the most.
But we fail to look back at those
who love us the most.

Death’s not the greatest loss in life..
The greatest loss is when
relationships die inside us while
we are still alive...

Life is not about the people
who act true to your face..
Its about the people who
remain true behind your back..

Time decides whom you meet in life…
Your heart decides whom you want in life..
but your behaviour decides
who will stay in your life...

You can win life by all means..
Yes..

If you simply avoid two things...

1. Comparing - with others
2. Expecting more - from others
Life will be more beautiful!!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

சாதாரணமானவனின் மனது: துலைந்துபோகாமல் போகும் பாதை

சாதாரணமானவனின் மனது: துலைந்துபோகாமல் போகும் பாதை

Fisherman rescued after 31-day ordeal at sea...!!!

Fisherman rescued after 31-day ordeal at sea
Watched father-in-law and son perish at sea

Story and pics by Augustine Fernando

42-year-old Warnakulasriya Fernando, a fisherman from Trincomalee went through the nightmarish experience of having to watch his son and father-in-law die before his eyes, after their boat developed engine trouble and drifted on the high seas for 31 days.

He was ultimately rescued by a group of Bangladeshi fishermen. Speaking to the Sunday Times Fernando described the nightmare he went through battling the blazing heat during the day, the cold at night and having to throw overboard the bodies of his son and father-in-law. On June 23rd accompanied by his father-in-law and son, Fernando left Trincomalee on a normal day’s fishing. On their return journey the engine malfunctioned and the boat began to drift.


Fernando who survived the ordeal and his family. below Fernando’s son Anthony Rushan and father-in law Calistus
“As the boat drifted we were filled with fear” he said. “Soon we ran out of drinking water which too added to our woes. After two days we sighted a navy boat which unfortunately passed us by. By the third day we were extremely hungry and thirsty,” he said.

Fortunately it rained and the trio were able to collect a stock drinking water. But the heat caused their bodies to break out in blisters. “My father-in-law died in my hands” he said. “We could not bear it, but were forced to dump his body into the sea.

However we still had faith God would save us” he said.“Thereafter we had a few welcome showers of rain and were able to replenish our stock of water.“But soon after this the heat got worse and my son broke out in blisters once again.

“He realised he would not survive and asked me to throw his body into the ocean as we had done with his grandfather’s body” he said. “When my son died it was I who had to throw his body overboard. There was none to share my grief with” he lamented.

“Three days after my son died I observed a ship coming in the direction of my boat. I expected it would crush the boat and closed my eyes expecting the worst, but it passed by harmlessly” he said.


“Around 15 days later I was spotted by some fishermen who spoke an unknown tongue. However I was able to understand they were from Bangladesh.

Fernando said he was able to speak to his relatives from Bangladesh and was eventually handed over to Sri Lankan embassy personnel who facilitated his return His wife Rosemary told the Sunday Times they held a funeral service for their son at a local cemetery though his body was not found.


© Copyright 2010 | Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.Colombo. Sri Lanka. All Rights Reserved.|

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Mark Boyle, 31, gave up using money in Nov 2008! He lives in a caravan from Freecycle (uk.freecycle.org), which is parked at an organic farm.!!!



The man who lives without money

August 20, 2010, 6:46 pm

by Jessica Salter


Mark Boyle, 31, gave up using money in November 2008. He lives in a caravan that he got from Freecycle (uk.freecycle.org), which is parked at an organic farm near Bristol, where Boyle volunteers three days a week. He grows his own food, has a wood-burning stove and produces electricity from a solar panel (it cost £360 before the experiment started). He has a mobile phone for incoming calls only and a solar-powered laptop. Boyle, who has been vegan for six years, set up the Free economy in 2007 (justfortheloveofit.org), an online network that encourages people to share skills or possessions and now has 17,000 members. The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living (Oneworld Publications, £10.99) is out now.



It all started in a pub. My friend and I were talking about all the problems in the world, such as sweatshops, environmental destruction, factory farms, animal testing, wars over resources. I realised they were all, in their own way, connected to money.



I decided to give up cash. I sold my houseboat in Bristol and gave up my job at an organic food company. I made a list of everything I bought and tried to figure out which I could get in another way. For toothpaste I use a mixture of cuttlefish bone and wild fennel seeds. Things like iPods you just have to knock off the list, but birds in the trees around my kitchen have become my new iPod.



Everything takes more time and effort in a moneyless world. Handwashing my clothes in a sink of cold water, using laundry liquid made by boiling up nuts on my rocket stove, can take two hours, instead of half an hour using a washing machine.



It was meant to be just for a year but I enjoy the lifestyle so much that I’m just going to keep living like this. I’ve never been happier or fitter.



I had a very normal childhood. I think at first my parents wondered what on earth I was doing. But now they totally support me and they say that they may even try it themselves.



Sometimes it is frustrating trying to socialise with no money. I grew up in Northern Ireland where it’s a show of manliness to buy your mates the first round. But I invite them back to my caravan instead to have homemade cider around the campfire.



I am single at the moment, but because of the book and my blog a few women seem interested in me. Just being a vegan cuts down the number of women I’m compatible with, never mind being moneyless. I’ll be lucky if there’s one woman in the whole country who wants to give up cash for life – and I might not even fancy her.


(C) The Telegrph Group
London 2010

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Your commitment to your community is your source of strength...WHAT EVERY TAMIL SHOULD DO, MUST DO AND OUGHT TO DO..!!!

worldclasstamil.com Moderator to Massey


Watch us on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1ztxhb8uig


Good day Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Subramaniam Masilamany, I am a Tamil.
Today my topic is

WHAT EVERY TAMIL SHOULD DO, MUST DO AND OUGHT TO DO.

Let me say in one line:
“Your commitment to your community is your source of strength”

I asked a Honey bee, a Termite, an Ant or a Pigeon and they all told me their strength to survive despite their size are their inherent adherence to their community.

Therefore what every Tamil must do is to shed our differences and unite as one community. We must focus on our inherent intellect and build a formidable community displaying courage, esteem, respect and self reliance. We may have division of duties but not division of motives.

There is no point in talking strategies unless we are united. In the 1970s we should not have allowed so many divisions and infighting among various Tamil groups. If the objective is one then there cannot be conflicts within the community. So this time we should not allow or even support any division among our people. It is absurd to support partisan politics; it will hurt the community for the next 30-50 years. So let us get together and insist that there cannot be any ambiguity about the objectives.

Here is small true story, In 1970 I got a girl and a boy married and they came to Canada and I was delighted to taste the out come of my very small effort in 2010, after 40 years. They started in a few menial jobs and finally they both good jobs, the husband did his B.Sc, M.Sc and he became a regional director in the Ontario Government in Canada. Last Sunday when I met them after about 20 years they told me their son has become a doctor and the daughter has become a constitutional lawyer.

The moral of the story is two fold, one is I was able to help them in a very small way, but they did the rest of the foot work. But the most important aspect is that it took 40 years for the seed to bear fruits. The relevance of this story is that Tamils are wondering what future holds for them. They want answers today, right now. But it takes time. Let bygones be bygones. We are now rebuilding our community. It will take time and tremendous efforts besides don’t look at some one else to do it for you. You have to do your part.

Two of my friends told me that Tamils are going to be a lost race as long we remain divided. The question is what is dividing us, it is not who is dividing us. We all want our freedom. Then what is dividing us? There must some compelling reason to override the quest for freedom. Freedom is not something that can be bought over the counter, it is a hard fought battle. Tamils must understand that they are very capable people. They must ask themselves do they want a culture like Japan, Korea and Singapore or one like Sudan, Rwanda and Somalia. The problem is we have some remnants of the LTTE, EROS, EPLRF, and EPDP who are hampering our efforts. It is time to dissociate from such behaviour and build a world class community. I do not understand why even we entertain the Singhalese. I do not understand why some Tamils are stooping down to the level of people who are content with working as maids and bus boys. The problem is the uneducated and inexperienced among the Tamils are trying to hijack the community. I hope Tamil people wake up and realise that these are the enemies of the Tamils. Do Tamils have a proper leadership? I do not think so, leadership is about helping people, showing them the path way or show them what they have to do, what they must do, what they should do and what they ought to do.

Let us send a message to the Sri Lankan government that they have to deal with the educated and erudite among the Tamils. The Tamils Mahinda is thinking are not the modern Tamils. I do not know if Mahinda Rajapaksa has the necessary character to deal with us. We need new people among Singhalese. Thugs, murderers and terrorists are not good for negotiations. We should not, must not and ought not negotiate out of fear or out of desperateness. No man can take away your freedom of thought without your permission and no man can fathom your thoughts therefore there is no need to negotiate with an unreasonable enemy. What we have to do is to develop our faculties, facilities, factories, finances and families so that we present a formidable case for bargaining.

If the Singhalese have won the war, why are they continuing the war? It is because they are insatiable Satan for narcissism; they are a hateful race of people. They live and thrive on lie, larceny and violence.

Today, right now there are several things we should do, must to and ought to do. They are:

Unity and Fraternity
Defining our Heritage
Always staying United
Always helping another Tamil
Always standing up for your freedom and rights.
Helping another Tamil to educate.
Doing service to the community
Helping each other and the community
Having a sense of belonging
Having respect for another Tamil.
Learning to trust each other.
Removing fear from our minds.
Resolving all conflicts of interests.
Contributing to the development of culture and heritage.
Never ever betraying our community.
Finding a satisfying vocation.
Communicating with respect
Educating our children and ourself
Seeing our life in five generations
Not to forget our past.
Developing knowledge
Practicing peace and harmony
Acquiring Intelligence.
Building social capital
Acquiring Political capital.
Minding our health.
Leaving a legacy for the next generation.
Developing deterrence
Developing new knowledge
Leading the next generation.
Clear conscience.
Inventing new knowledge.
Being creative.
34. Cultivating fraternity

These are few of the “things to do” came to my mind but there is much more to be done.
Every Tamil must make it his vocations to do whatever it takes to rebuild our culture and heritage. It may take 30 years or even 60 years but it has to be done.
Freedom is journey not destination. There are no destinations in this infinite universe.

Tamils must not look for easy way out and there is no easy way out, that is why some innocent and naïve Tamils are with the enemy looking for today. You are not one of them. Some Tamils want to join Mahinda and his inferior people, why do I call them inferior people? Because they cannot behave like people of impeccable character. A mentally and morally stable and sound man will never resort to violence; he knows those are the worst enemies of a wise man. Tamil people must learn to identify the lower Tamils and discard them from our community. I am not claiming superiority but simply I apply the standard moral laws and find that some people simply do not belong to any community.

Thank you very much
My name is Subrmaniam Masilamany, A worldclass Tamil, powered by convictions, commitments and conscience.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

SINHALA AMBASSADOR..!!! What you say is that we must kill all Tamils, and then you are accepting that your government committed mass scale murders.!!!

|worldclasstamil.com Moderator to Massey

SRI LANKA A NATION OF MISGUIDED INSECURE PARANOIDS.And a lesson to few of us as Canadians.

“The Singhalese in Sri Lanka has become a nation of mentally disturbed, distracted, distasteful, despicable and distrustful people” and a handful of Canadians are still living in the past hanging on to primitive mosaic of racism, fanaticism, caste, religion etc.

“To live is simple and to live with neighbours is a gift”. Being in Canada one of the most advanced country in Human rights is like living in Utopia; we treat every one and strangers as our family and friends. It makes life so easy. When someone cut me off I understand his need to go in a hurry, when some one cuts into checkout counter we say go ahead spend your money first. We have developed a culture with so many harmless humours to deal with people. People of this country have been conditioned to live with friendship. That is why every one wants to come here. We joke about our taxes knowing that the money ultimately comes back to the people. So there is culture of congeniality and co-operation. Why cannot other nations promote this kind of kinder and gentler society?

I was listening to the radio in Canada about the 500 or so people who escaped genocide and the Sri Lanka ambassador to Canada calling them terrorist. This lady must understand that these people have nothing to do with her country anymore. I hope this bigot gets the message. They have left their soil in which they were born and your people chased them out of the country so leave them alone. What are you trying to achieve? What are your objectives? What you say is that we must kill all Tamils, and then you are accepting that your government committed mass scale murders. I hope some of the media moguls in Canada who for some unknown reason take the side of the Singhalese in Sri Lanka. Two people quarrelling and you take one side. There are five reasons as I told one reporter earlier, Food, Sex, Money, Racism and Patriotism. Patriotism is ruled out. But the rumour is there is something more then mere reporting. This ambassador is contradicting her government position of reconciliation. This is not reconciliation this is outright disrespect for the suffering of people.

The Singhalese in Sri Lanka are fearful of India, not Tamils, Tamils are a small minority.
Singhalese should settle their grievances with India, not settle scores with the Tamil who speak Tamil and follow Hindu faith. Tamils, we are a minority. When a majority of people subjugate a minority of people it is genocide. There is insatiable thirst for racism among Singhalese and they were brainwashed by the Mahavamsa, Mahasangha and the Mahanayakes. Mahinda is the criminal element and the enforcer of the directives given by the Mahanayakes. The real power center is the fanatic organization called the MahaSangha. How do we remove this culture of racism supported by the state? What we need is something similar to what was done in Germany and Japan after world war 11. The leadership of Supreme Race put on trail and then sent to gallows. This has to be done in Sri Lanka. The Mahanayakes along with the criminal elements within the political establishment must be put to death by an International tribunal so that the nation can progress. People may not accept my views but then how many of us know where the root of the problem is?

There was a person on Toronto 680am Radio saying that it is waste of tax payers money.
But this country was built by immigrants and refugees who worked 16 hours a day for 7 days a week. A person who has really worked hard will never say what he said. I am pretty sure that this person has never had a real job creating wealth in his life. I am proud to be Tamil for we create wealth for all. Today they are illegal immigrants, tomorrow they will be washing dishes, cleaning office and working in menial jobs, but within 5 years their children will enter one of the best of universities in Canada come out as Doctors, Engineers, Investment bankers. Lawyers and other professionals. Then these Dishwashers will begin to buy the same restaurants and become owners. You see, a good seed will grow anywhere. “It is intel inside”

I came on April 23rd ,1979, that evening on the same day I stared working. Today I own my own Corporation, employing people, inventing new products, applying for patents, design and copy rights, became the President of Lions Club, entered the Canadian club, became a member of the list of distinguished citizens. But I also came to Canada like these boat people whom some of us despise. I am pretty sure the people who complain are the very people who milk our generous welfare system. A hard working man can and makes so much more money that this pogey money is like pittance. So don’t expose yourself, unwisely.

A very few Canadians, who are very uncomfortable with these people and because you look at people with the wrong prism which can only reflect colour of skin, race, culture language religion etc. May I suggest that you pick the prism that will show the internal intellect of these people. I mean loyalty, trust, sensuality, sincerity, diversity of intelligence, hope, faith and love; you will see a different people. It is time for people to move to a higher level of evolution.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Teachers are the driving force of change!We need creative classrooms!The classrooms shd be rooms for discussion & debate! Every subject is important.!

School Education » Issues

august 7, 2010 The mind of a leader
ZIYA US SALAM

The Hindu
Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in New Delhi. Photo: V. V. Krishnan

Darkness has descended at the residence of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. A local short circuit has left all of us in darkness. Facing an emergency light sits Kalam in his study, his silver eyebrows gleaming, his face retaining its familiar spark. As he winds up a chat with his publishers, Rajpal, there is divine justice. The lights are back. This time he opens up to talk about his latest book, “Spirit of India”, a book that encapsulates the soul of the youth of the country with a selection of questions, many of them irreverent, that Kalam had to field in his interaction with youngsters over the past decade or so.

“I have interacted with 9.5 million youth of this country,” the former President says. His modesty prevents him from adding that his latest book is being translated into four languages, including Marathi, Gujarati, Assamese and Hindi, while his earlier venture, “Indomitable Spirit”, went into 11 translations. He is known for his love for students and youth, he travels widely; but how does he manage to write so much? “Spirit of India” is his 30th book, and seventh with Rajpal publishers.

“Writing is my love. If you love something you find a lot of time,” he says with a glint in his eye. As he surveys his aesthetically maintained study which has room for a handful of mementos and thousands of books, he adds, “I write for two hours a day, usually starting at midnight; at times I start at 11.”

Much of the research for his latest book came via his interaction with millions of youngsters aged below 17. So, what did he notice in his talks with students?

“They are very open to discussion, very free with their opinions. One of the very important characteristics of a student is to question. Let the students ask questions. A teacher should have a creative mind. He or she should encourage questions. At times I find teachers are in a hurry to finish the syllabus. But discussion should always be there. Let the students ask questions, even if some of them are obvious.”

Creative classrooms

The man who distributed newspapers in Rameswaram during World War-II — back then, as he writes in the book, as a little boy he used to get up at four in the morning, go for his tuitions, perform his Namaaz, learn the Quran Sharif, then go to the railway station to collect the newspapers — feels strongly that the future of the country is in the hands of its teachers. “Teachers are the driving force of change. We need creative classrooms. The classrooms should be rooms for discussion and debate. Every subject is important for studies. Science has its place, just as there have to be specialists of finance, commerce. We cannot have everybody as a scientist. We need to make teaching interesting.”

He provides an example in the book. On page 72, while answering a question from a student in Aligarh, he writes, “Science has revealed that the human body is made up of millions and millions of atoms….For example I am made up of 5.8x10{+2}{+7} atoms.”

Then he calls for an Indian Science Service on the lines of Indian Administrative Service. “Scientists should be in a cadre, like the IAS.”

However, before all that we need a healthy primary education system.

“Before higher studies we have to think of primary education. We need more reforms in primary education. There are many good recommendations in the Prof. Yashpal Committee report. Classrooms should not be structured, they should be creative. Our literacy rate is 66 per cent. Education is a must for 100 per cent literacy. Seven million students do 10+2. Three million go for higher studies. We need to address the skills of the dropouts.”

Complete literacy, he feels, can be attained with the Right to Education Act, which is “going to change the education profile of the youth because it is free and compulsory”.

He, however, cautions, “To complete the success of achieving universal education, it is also essential that the programme of PURA (Providing the Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) should be in position throughout the country.”

That is certainly the way ahead. But how do you explain the disparity in English language skills between those from city-bred and urban education and those whose medium of instruction is an Indian language?

“I studied in a regional language too as a young boy. Everything is fine till one comes to class 10. In places like Delhi where we have a large number of people from smaller towns and villages, we need special classes for such students. A student who goes up to 10+2 spends roughly 25,000 hours in the classroom. It gives one plenty of time for attaining knowledge, to gauge one's learning capacity.”

Kalam feels it is important for a teacher to read in order to teach. “A teacher should not go by notes in the classroom. To teach for an hour, a teacher should prepare for three hours.”

web.thehindu@thehindu.co.in Copyright © 2010, The Hindu

Tamil is extremely old (as old as Latin/older than Arabic); it arose as an entirely independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit.!!!

Here is an article that every Tamil should read.

This strong recommendation from Prof.Hart of Berkley,California went a long way in compelling the Indian Central Government to (though reluctantly) declare Tamil as a Classical language:

http://tamil.berkeley.edu/Tamil%20Chair/TamilClassicalLanguage/TamilClassicalLgeLtr.htmlTamil is one of the great classical literatures and traditions of the world- Prof.Hart of Berkley

Please forward this to all Tamils.
--------------------------------------------------------------- April 11, 2000
Statement on the Status of Tamil as a Classical Language

Professor Maraimalai has asked me to write regarding the position of Tamil as a classical language, and I am delighted to respond to his request.I have been a Professor of Tamil at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1975 and am currently holder of the Tamil Chair at that institution. My degree, which I received in 1970, is in Sanskrit, from Harvard, and my first employment was as a Sanskrit professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1969. Besides Tamil and Sanskrit, I know the classical languages of Latin and Greek and have read extensively in their literatures in the original. I am also well-acquainted with comparative linguistics and the literatures of modern Europe (I know Russian, German, and French and have read extensively in those languages) as well as the literatures of modern India, which, with the exception of Tamil and some Malayalam, I have read in translation. I have spent much time discussing Telugu literature and its tradition with V. Narayanarao, one of the greatest living Telugu scholars, and so I know that tradition especially well. As a long-standing member of a South Asian Studies department, I have also been exposed to the richness of both Hindi literature, and I have read in detail about Mahadevi Varma, Tulsi, and Kabir.

I have spent many years -- most of my life (since 1963) -- studying Sanskrit. I have read in the original all of Kalidasa, Magha, and parts of Bharavi and Sri Harsa. I have also read in the original the fifth book of the Rig Veda as well as many other sections, many of the Upanisads, most of the Mahabharata, the Kathasaritsagara, Adi Sankara’s works, and many other works in Sanskrit.

I say this not because I wish to show my erudition, but rather to establish my fitness for judging whether a literature is classical. Let me state unequivocally that, by any criteria one may choose, Tamil is one of the great classical literatures and traditions of the world.

The reasons for this are many; let me consider them one by one.

First, Tamil is of considerable antiquity. It predates the literatures of other modern Indian languages by more than a thousand years. Its oldest work, the Tolkappiyam,, contains parts that, judging from the earliest Tamil inscriptions, date back to about 200 BCE. The greatest works of ancient Tamil, the Sangam anthologies and the Pattuppattu, date to the first two centuries of the current era. They are the first great secular body of poetry written in India, predating Kalidasa's works by two hundred years.

Second, Tamil constitutes the only literary tradition indigenous to India that is not derived from Sanskrit. Indeed, its literature arose before the influence of Sanskrit in the South became strong and so is qualitatively different from anything we have in Sanskrit or other Indian languages. It has its own poetic theory, its own grammatical tradition, its own esthetics, and, above all, a large body of literature that is quite unique. It shows a sort of Indian sensibility that is quite different from anything in Sanskrit or other Indian languages, and it contains its own extremely rich and vast intellectual tradition.

Third, the quality of classical Tamil literature is such that it is fit to stand beside the great literatures of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Chinese, Persian and Arabic. The subtlety and profundity of its works, their varied scope (Tamil is the only premodern Indian literature to treat the subaltern extensively), and their universality qualify Tamil to stand as one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world. Everyone knows the Tirukkural, one of the world's greatest works on ethics; but this is merely one of a myriad of major and extremely varied works that comprise the Tamil classical tradition. There is not a facet of human existence that is not explored and illuminated by this great literature.

Finally, Tamil is one of the primary independent sources of modern Indian culture and tradition. I have written extensively on the influence of a Southern tradition on the Sanskrit poetic tradition. But equally important, the great sacred works of Tamil Hinduism, beginning with the Sangam Anthologies, have undergirded the development of modern Hinduism. Their ideas were taken into the Bhagavata Purana and other texts (in Telugu and Kannada as well as Sanskrit), whence they spread all over India. Tamil has its own works that are considered to be as sacred as the Vedas and that are recited alongside Vedic mantras in the great Vaisnava temples of South India (such as Tirupati). And just as Sanskrit is the source of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, classical Tamil is the source language of modern Tamil and Malayalam. As Sanskrit is the most conservative and least changed of the Indo-Aryan languages, Tamil is the most conservative of the Dravidian languages, the touchstone that linguists must consult to understand the nature and development of Dravidian.

In trying to discern why Tamil has not been recognized as a classical language, I can see only a political reason: there is a fear that if Tamil is selected as a classical language, other Indian languages may claim similar status. This is an unnecessary worry. I am well aware of the richness of the modern Indian languages -- I know that they are among the most fecund and productive languages on earth, each having begotten a modern (and often medieval) literature that can stand with any of the major literatures of the world. Yet none of them is a classical language. Like English and the other modern languages of Europe (with the exception of Greek), they rose on preexisting traditions rather late and developed in the second millennium. The fact that Greek is universally recognized as a classical language in Europe does not lead the French or the English to claim classical status for their languages.

To qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. Unlike the other modern languages of India, Tamil meets each of these requirements. It is extremely old (as old as Latin and older than Arabic); it arose as an entirely independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit or other languages; and its ancient literature is indescribably vast and rich.

It seems strange to me that I should have to write an essay such as this claiming that Tamil is a classical literature -- it is akin to claiming that India is a great country or Hinduism is one of the world's great religions. The status of Tamil as one of the great classical languages of the world is something that is patently obvious to anyone who knows the subject. To deny that Tamil is a classical language is to deny a vital and central part of the greatness and richness of Indian culture.