From: sp2@cec1.wustl.edu (Sundara Pandian)
Subject: On starting the newsgroup soc.culture.tamil
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis Mo.
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 18:26:35 GMT

           On starting the newsgroup soc.culture.tamil
       --------------------------------------------------
     It was one of those hot days in Madurai that I was waiting for any
 P.R.C. bus to go to Madurai Periyaar bus stand,when I met my old friend
 Srinivasan. A bus which came from the Pudu jail Road stopped at the bus stop
 I was standing in and I took that bus. Someone tapped my right shoulder and
 I turned to find my friend  Srinivasan. He is also a poet and when we talk,
 it is mostly in the language of poems in the "Manikkodi" style and it is hard
 for others to grasp what we talk. At the next-stop, Railway Colony,someone
 got up and we found a vacant seat close to where we were standing. I asked him
 to take the seat and he asked me to take the seat. We were arguing and the bus
 started moving. A school boy pushed both of us aside and took the seat.
        Likewise, I saw a lot of postings in S.C.I. supporting the idea of
 a seperate newsgroup for worldwide Tamils,but noone seems to hint the usual
 procedure for starting a newsgroup , calling for VOTES etc., I think that it
 is a great idea to start this newsgroup . We should start calling for votes
 atleast by next week.                         
         First,we should settle the name. "soc.culture.tamil.international"
 is too lengthy. It goes on like Draupadhi's saree. We should have some short
 name like "soc.culture.tamil". It is understood that this newsgroup is for
 worldwide tamils.
         Next,there is a question ,"Do we need this newsgroup?" .  
 Shyamala Parameswaran writes :    

>I think this is a bad idea. SCI has served as a wonderful receptacle
>in fielding discussions of all kinds related to India. True, there
>are Tamils in Singapore and Malaysia, Gujaratis in Fiji and parts
>of Africa, Punjabis in England and Canada and so on...but citizenship
>does not preclude anybody from discussing anything Indian or common
>with India. There was some sort of a private tamil email net started
>by someone at Georgia Tech. I'd assume that should serve the needs
>for those wishing to exclusively discuss tamil....

          It is hard to find a relevant article in S.C.I. Also there is a
 problem of providing translation for the Tamil postings. I have seen a  lot of
 Hindi poems and other postings without any translation and I was once flamed in
 S.C.I. for my tamil poems by some Hindi readers even though I provided English
 translations for them. Not just that, as a poet, I know that this translation
 task affects by writing. If we start this Tamil newsgroup, we can freely write
 in Tamil ,without bothering English translations. 
    A note to Krishna Raj : We should fix some rules for writing Tamil in 
                            English,for the sake of uniformity.
 An e-mail network is a bad idea. That precludes those S.C.I. readers who are
 interested in Tamil arts from reading Tamil poems and posing questions on
 Sangam Literature or Dravidian culture. I know of some Hindi readers who like
 my(Vashistha)'s philosophical Tamil poems and my(Vashistha,Yogi,Vaisnavi,
 Pandian) conversations. They will miss them if we start an e-mail network.
 The very fact that many Tamil readers support the idea of starting this Tamil
 network disproves Shyamala's assumption that an e-mail network suffices the 
 needs of interested Tamil readers. 
    Friends, we will go for starting this Tamil newsgroup.
    We have a lot to talk on this newsgroup.
 [1] Srilankan Tamils Issue :
------------------------------
      Though some Indian readers are against L.T.T.E. tigers staying in Tamil
 Nadu, they  do pity for Srilankan refugees.  I am one of those people who have
 not really understood this Srilankan problem, like how it started ,how the
 tigers emerged, Amritha Lingam's eforts, Jayaverdane-Rajiv's accord, why it
 failed, IPKF's operations etc. There are many Srilankan Tamils around and
 hopefully they will enlighten ( rather than create flame-wars ) other Tamil
 readers some facts and figures on Srilankan Tamils Issue.

 [2] Tamilnadu Politics :
--------------------------
       In this ,we can talk about the recent developments in T.N. politics,
 Cho's views, jokes etc. Since there are D.M.K. and A.D.M.K. supporters around,
 I expect the usual flames between them. Anyway, there is no article on S.C.I.
 about T.N. politis in these days and we hope we get some in the new newsgroup.

 [3] Tamil Movies :
-------------------
      We can talk about movie-reviews, movie-soundtracks, lyrics, etc. This is
 a better newsgroup to have this discussion which pertains mostly to Tamil
 readers. 

 [4] Tamil Arts:
------------------
     We can discusss the classical concerts ,announcements of Carnatic vocal
 or instrumental recitals ,reviews etc. We can also talk about Sangam poems or
 the modern "pudukavithai"s. I hardly see any Tamil poem in S.C.I. these days.
 The two prolific writers, Vashistha and V.Sundar don't seem to write poems.
 We could however talk about the works of Mu.Metha, Abdul Rehman,Vairamuthu and
 others.
     We can continue the discusssion on finding good Tamil words for complicate
 English words in this newsgroup. Same goes to Tamil slang also.
                ..............................
      You can add anymore of your topics. Of course, this new newsgroup is not
 going to affect the flow of articles in S.C.I. We can send a copy of any
 posting that pertains to all Indian readers to S.C.I.  
     These are my preliminary comments. I welcome your comments on the items on
 soc.culture.tamil and the steps to call for votes. With your support, we can
 soon start this new newsgroup.
      To put in Kalainzar's style,
     soc.culture.tamil
        - Thamizharkalukkaaka Thamizharkalaal vizhaiyum  oru Thaimizh saithi
          pathirikai.
       [ A  Tamil newsgroup started by Tamils intended for all Tamils. ]
                                                                
                                                                 -- S.Pandian,
                                                            sp2@cec1.wustl.edu
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