インド系の女性で、アメリカの大学で教鞭をとっている歴史学者の本です。英語はかなり難解ですが、内容は面白く、何とか読み終わりました。
「タミル万歳！ヒンディーは地獄へ！」と叫んで焼身自殺した27歳のタミルの若者の事件を中心に書かれています。インドの歴史はとても複雑ですが、何故、妻子、母親のいる若者がこのような過激な行動をしたのか、多少はわかったような気がしました。1月25日は、その事件の記念日になっているようで、チェンナイではそれに対してどう祝っているのか、あるいはしていないのか、興味があります。ちょうどいいタイミングで行けそうです。
最近知り合ったコロンボ在住のタミル人へのEmailの一部をコピーします。
I’ve read through ‘Passions of the tongue’ and now I understand the day is ‘Language Martyrs’ day’ since 1968. I am to go to Chennai on 19 January, so I’ll be able to see local newspapers there. Though I cannot read Tamil now but surely the local English papers would carry the news and information about the day. It is a pity that I cannot see this year’s Mylapore Kolam Festival which is to be held from 9 to 12 January, but I am happy that I can be in Chennai on the day to collect historical newspapers there.
I do not say that I’ve understood the history of India but I can say that I’ve understood the complexity of the history of Tamil related political, cultural and language related scenes. Also I understand that there are many Tamil related statues on the Marina and many streets’ names are changed to Tamil related ones. It would be my great pleasure to stroll along the streets of Chennai thinking about and to know about the history of it. As a beginning learner of Tamil language, to find that an essay titled ‘Devotion to Mother Tongue’ appears in the seventh-grade textbook of Tamil Nadu was also a pleasure.
Last month I’ve taken 6 months tourist VISA of India at IVS in Colombo and found it interesting that there are great differences of VISA handling fees. They vary greatly depending on nationality. They are 8050, 1065 and 5355 SLR, which are USA, Japan and others respectively. Favor to Japan is striking!
I have 5 years VISA of Sri Lanka. To get that and secure my life here, I’ve been to the Immigration Office of SL 25 or so times. I’ve found SL gives favor to China on VISA related matters.
It is also interesting that both Chola dynasty and SL have the same lion as their nations' symbol.
The world is very much complicated. It is so from the beginning. But seen from the different perspective, it might be simple.
