Udal mannirkku, uyir thamizhikku
Ithai urakkacholvom ulagirkku
Vairamuthu’s from the movie Iruvar would have remained just lines if not for Sweet Uncle’s influence in my life. Any attempt to translate the lines into English would be a vain effort in conveying what it means. I was homeschooled to read and write Tamil, my Father was my Guru. He taught me the alphabets and how they were strung together to form words and how words lined up together to make sentences. However I owe it to Sweet Uncle for sowing the seed of love for Tamil in me, literature, poetry, movies and culture.
Shri Shanmugham, an employee of the erstwhile Cheran Transport Corporation, anointed Sweet Uncle by some cousins and workers of a press my Father used to own in the late 70’s. He never used to come without a box of Nellai Lala sweets when he came visiting and hence the name. I’ve known him all my life. He was a noble person who sometimes came across as a trite impatient at the world and it’s machinations.
His knowledge was vast & varied, he could regale anyone with stories about the Dravidian movement, hollywood movies, trade unions, Clint Eastwood, Bud Spencer, MGR, Shivaji, Gregory Peck, Omar Sharief, Kannadasan or Kalki. My childhood is replete with movies he’s taken me along, the best being Thevar Magan, which was a bit too violent when I saw it, but later was a movie that moved me by the sheer power of the actors on screen.
He wasn’t my classmate or playmate. More than 40 years separated us but that didn’t stop us from being friends. My brother was ever his darling, affectionately called Renadi and pampered to no end. The distance kid bro took a walk with him in the Nilgiris when they went to attend Aunt’s wedding is a story he could narrate any day not to mention another detail around bro wanting to take a piss.
Sweet Uncle was a rare human being who was moved by human sorrow. He was a firm believer in the God and some saints, he was truly pluralistic in his religious outlook. His cycle was his prized possession and I vividly remember it took me many years to be able to get access to ride it. He was a collector, of books, magazines, paper cuttings and things like that. Sweet Uncle and Athai liked to serve food, to be kind and hospitable and no visit to their house was complete without more than a full stomach and heart.
As someone who urged me to read Kalki, more specifically Ponniyin Selvan, I owe it to him for having earned now the ability to appreciate Tamil and the vast literature that fills it. He could narrate a kural for any situation you ask. He could talk about the classic movies from the black and white era. I could never get him to say anything nice about the modern Tamil film music that I was exposed to, yet he had a liking for Kaviarasu but Kannadasan was his all time favourite.
The past few years have been harsh after been confined to the house all day and the loss of the grandson he doted so much on, life took a bitter turn. He recently was shifted back from the hospital to house after breaking a bone in the leg. This afternoon was a rude shock with the news coming in about his sad demise and a wave of images play in my head. Every single incident between us from the past. I on my part wasn’t able to make time for him as much as I would want and an impending change in the days ahead was going to help in that front but destiny had other plans.
RIP Sweet Uncle.
Inru un rojapoo mugathil muthamida ninaikiren,mudiyavillai
Mutti varum kanneerai moodivida ninaikiren, mudiyavillai
Poivaa nanba, poivaa
Un pakkathil enakkum oru padukkai virithu vei
Yendraenum orunaal unarugil naan varuvaen
*The lines above are Kaviarasu Vairamuthu’s from the movie Iruvar
