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Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by jayasala42, Feb 19, 2021.

  1. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    In 1952 I was in my middle school in seventh standard.Every Saturday
    3P. M. was a jolly period.Guests were invited to talk on interesting topics that relieved students from boredom.No student missed the talk.It was really fascinating.
    On a Saturday,one Shri Ganapathi Subramanian ,65,retd History professor was the guest speaker.
    Normally he used to direct questions to the students and from the answers he delivered the talk.
    There was a question about intelligent and beautiful girls and answers were mixed.Someone mentioned about Sita,Draupathi, Ahalya and some about Cleopatra too.
    The speaker took the thread.
    He started.
    Long long ago South India had a strong trade relation with Egypt.Around 50 years before the birth of Christ,two prominent tradesmen from the South ( Tamilnadu)visited Alexandria.Their hosts took them to the palace to meet the queen.At that time Egypt was ruled by a woman known for her extreme beauty.On seeing the queen,one of the trader burst out in astonishment_"kiliye paarththeeraa"(Have you seen the kili or the parrot/"
    Kili is an endearing expression in Tamil to describe beauty.

    Poet Bharathi addressed his lover as 'chinnanchiru kiliye kannamma'.
    From the fervour with which the visitor uttered these words,the queen wrongly presumed that it was a proper name.She told her officers that ,thenceforth,her name should be what the visitor had uttered.
    Like the English man who misspelt 'kanyakumari' as 'comorin',one of the officers wrote it down as Cleopatra,derived from 'kiliyepaarththeera'.
    Leaving the character let us go to the dramatist.Another Tamilian Iyer named'Seshappayyar'settled in England towards the end of 16th century,People called Seshappayyar as 'Shakespeare 'and wrote all the plays and sonnets.Many in our place believed this as true.
    It is quite possible to be believed as true.In the closing years of 19 th century,one person from Poland by name Jozef Teodor Konrad settled in England,changed his name as Joseph Conrad.He wrote novels in English acclaimed to be the best novels.
    Can anyone rule out the possibility?
    If any one could prove that Shakespeare was really from South India,a colossal gift awaits him.But if he were really a Tamilian,he would have named his play as 'Antony and kiliyepaarththeera'There will be a hitch.
    On reading Shri Thyagarajan's whatsapp message on 'VELAN DINES DAY' transformed into Valentines Day I was reminded of this talk in the school.I do not know whether the name joining Ganapathi and Subramanya ,the divine brothers, did the magic.For a few years everybody in the school started believing that Shakespeare was a Tamil Iyer.
    After 70 years the talk is still green in my memory.There was no whatapp on those days.Yet-------
    Jayasala42
     
  2. Hopikrishnan

    Hopikrishnan Platinum IL'ite

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    Old man eats a heavy lunch of too much rice, and sambar that is spicy enough to etch the esophagus, and then retires to the payal outside the house under the awning.

    Big burps follow. Those in earshot cringe.

    And then come parsing and echolalia.... of whatever multisyllabic foreign words he had seen in The Hindu that morning. Echolalia leads to fantasy.

    "Many in our place" don't/didn't believe any of that. They just show deference to an old man who had retired, and engages in post-prandial blather. Thank goodness for whatsapp, we may quietly toss such things, and no need to suffer face to face.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
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  3. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:
    Kudos to you elephant memory and able to store, retrieve fantastic moments and events that happened seven decades ago in your hitherto dynamic life.

    Our forefathers - many of them must have reincarnated in many continents and but few only could be identified as Shakespeare to have the flavour of our Nation in general and Tamil Nadu in particular.

    I was probably not up to the mark in my previous births in Europe, when I wrote those dramas and sonnets and in other continents: and so shunted to be born again to Tamil Nadu to get solid experience and acumen like any other great Iyer or Iyengars!

    The nation Scandinavia rings a bell.

    Thirumuruga Kriupananda warriar reported to have explained that Lord Velan once threw his dagger from Tamil Nadu Hill so forcefully that it landed in that area now known as Scandinavia. The chaste Tamil word for dagger ( as depicted in the idol & images of Lord Velavan aka MURUGAN) is Skandham (ஸ்கந்தம்)

    Thanks & Regards.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
  4. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:ROFL.
    I mean you mean only sheyshappa Ayyar.
    My subscription to the hindu stands stopped long long ago. I will have to dig into history whether the Hindu was published In Shakespeare’s time!

    Thanks & Regards.
     
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  5. Hopikrishnan

    Hopikrishnan Platinum IL'ite

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    ....
    No.. not just that. It is a genre of musings in all the countries within the Indian continent.


     
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  6. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    @Hopikrishnan
    the man in suit in second video - goodness gracious- resembles a young T in prime at his office but T can speak only Tamil at 100 mph.
    Regards.
     
  7. Hopikrishnan

    Hopikrishnan Platinum IL'ite

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    BBC has a lot of episodes.... of guys who aren't wearing any ties also...

     

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