Chapter 7 : Oh! Tamila! Tamila!

 

Oh! Tamila! Tamila!

 

As Tamilians, no matter where we live, we must live with feelings of good will.

“Call yourself a Tamilian.

Hold your head high”.

“When we hear the name of TamilNadu

Sweetness as honey enters our ears”.

So wrote the Tamil poets.

But is that our situation today? Are we holding our heads high as proud Tamilians?

No, we are not. Many Tamilians are suffering amidst us. We tolerate their suffering without helping them with our supportive voices. If at all we do support, it might have political reasons or undertones. As individuals we do not offer support keeping in mind the plight of the suffering people.

 

If we look at people who belong to other linguistic denominations, they are united and proud in their unity.

 

What should we do to stand proud like them? Firstly, we must be united.

 

No matter where Tamilians are suffering, we should help them and offer them relief.

 You are not asked to fight. You are not asked to start riots and rebellions. The least that we must do is to offer them help and relief materials.

 

I am proud of our neighbouring state, Kerala. A Malayali who comes to Dubai for employment will take it upon himself to bring his family and friends for employment in Dubai.

A gentleman Ahmad Dahlan whom I knew used to be a Director of Police in Abu Dhabi. I visited him on a friendly basis. He had some Palestinians working under him. The Palestinians did not welcome me or return my greetings appropriately. I did not understand why the Palestinians were antagonistic. Once I approached them and asked them “Why aren’t you friendly with me?”

They asked me “Are you a Malabari (Malayali)?”

I replied “No I’m not a Malayali. I’m from Tamil Nadu”.

“Oh, is that so!?”

I asked them “What does a Malayali do?”

The Palestinians explained “At first, a Malayali comes to work as a labourer or chai wallah. After coming here, they learn everything... English, Arabic. Then they communicate directly with the superior officers and fulfil the professional needs of the officers. They organise their files, written work and reserve a soft spot in the hearts of these superior officers. They develop themselves professionally.  Then they bring their brothers, their uncles, their cousins and finally we Palestinians will have no work.”

Immediately I replied “No worries... I am a Tamilian ... I will not learn any language other than Tamil”.

Even though I replied jokingly, I do feel sad, when I compare the unity among Keralites to the situation of the Tamilians.

 

There is another humorous story about the unity of Tamilians. There was an exhibition in a foreign country. People from various countries visited the exhibition.

There were many jars with lids in which crabs from different countries were put. All the jars had lids with the names of the respective countries on it. Only the crabs from Tamil Nadu were in jars that had no lids.

When a spectator asked, “Why are the jars from Tamil Nadu without lids?” Won’t the crab’s escape? The Tamil exhibitor replied, There’s no worry about it. If a crab from my state tries to escape by climbing the other crabs below will pull it down

Even though this story is narrated to create laughter it reveals a painful truth. The Tamilian doesn’t live himself nor let others live is a bitter reality.

 

Another incident.

 

A Keralite named Abubacker worked in a company Al Muftaah in Doha. He was next in position to Abdul Rahman (The boss).

 

But Abubacker had studied only till grade 10. So, I asked him “How did you develop so much?”

 

He replied “When I used to work and do odd jobs in Mumbai, Abdul Rahman came to Mumbai. I used to do his work in an honest manner. He took a liking to me because of my honesty and brought me to Doha.  We didn’t even have proper air travel. We came by ship. He gave me a good job in his office and facilitated a very comfortable living style for me in Doha”.

 

I asked “At the airport you addressed the driver as your cousin and your other colleagues as brother or uncle... Are you all from the same family?” He proudly replied “Yes, they are all from my family... What benefit is it that only I live comfortably here… I didn’t study a lot... The Lord blessed me with all this... so I endeavoured to bring all my family here. All of them are happier and more comfortable here than what they were back home.”

 

This is love for homeland. Wishing well for others and endeavouring to create that wellbeing for others is a sign of a good heart.  In this goodness we Tamilians must learn from our brothers from Kerala. We must strive to be educated and technologically savvy.

 

Do you know how the Prophet (peace be upon him) “ransomed” his enemies in war? If the enemies were educated the prophet set them free once they taught the Muslims to read and write and imparted their knowledge. From this we can understand the importance of education and hard work.

After we work and achieve progress, we need to be torchbearers for the development and progress to our poorer relatives.

 

Goodwill is a rung to unity in family.