The Dreaming Tree

No, this is not another post about my ever expanding Tamil prowess that has left Dravidian scholars in the search for the next The Onne ( or in english, the one). This is my experience living in TN for 3 years, a refreshing, fresh culture shock to my super adaptable mind, to warn it that well, its not genius, not yet.

- Its 14:00 hours. Its a Wednesday. Its also 43 Degrees Celsius. And there's a queue outside the TASMAC liquor shop. There are drunk people on the road, some have passed out maybe because of the heat. Maybe because of the alcohol. Next day, the newspaper casually mentions that 2 people died because they had too much XXX rum.

- I live in a state where alcohol is banned, or in a more refined way, prohibited (Gujarat). In TN, the government sells alcohol. The government. The one that is supposed to stop people from drinking themselves to death.

- Do you have any clue how much these buggers make out of alcohol? The last Google search lead me to an article in The Hindu that said, alcohol revenues in 2006- 6030 Crore, in 2007-7438 Crore. Its not a crore or two. Its a clear 23% rise. And its THOUSANDS of crores.

- Tamil Nadu is also the only place where I have seen public domestic violence. Mess workers beat up their wives in intoxicated fits of anger in full view of the college. Take a 23:00 hours bus back to college from trichy and half of the bus stinks of local liquor. And that's not all. All this can be seen in Chennai as well. My friends would often tell me how their neighbours would come back drunk and unleash household mayhem.

- Chennai, at least, is known to have a well informed and well educated vox populi, maybe its does. But its one vox that I don't see making a difference.

- Tamil Nadu also has an amazing music industry. They are, quite clearly, heads, necks, torsos and even pelvises above their bollywood counterparts. And they really know how to slap a bass.

- This is also the only place that I have physically seen, wherein exists a University with apparent credentials, that imposes dress codes, going to the extent of limiting the fairer sex to a certain set of bland colours. They have also banned mobile phones, for it is a device of the devil. A recent study has shown that my cat is smarter that the entire board of directors collectively.

- Having said that, I must also notify the reader of what Kollywood (yes it is called that, and is as ridiculous as Bollywood) has to offer. Every single videographic clip  that is made here has super-suggestive references. The movies and songs are saturated with sexual innuendos. And quite shockingly no one says anything.

- Also my recent foray into Tamil reality shows has resulted in a set of conclusions that may be treated as a set of rules when further research is done in this intriguing field of Discrete Tamizhism. Every Senthil is trained in carnatic music, which is a good thing. And a lot of slightly large, expressive women believe it is a good thing to bare their mid-riffs and dance wildly on television.  Good thing? You decide.

DISCLAIMER: The above views are not my own. They have been forcefully inserted into my brain by an American doctor's invention,  The Forcefullyinsertthingsintobraintor (Patent Pending). So blame America.