A couple of days ago I met a Sri Lankan man at the bus stand as it is my habit nowadays to speak to all people who look Indian. We got a bit chatty and we had a lively discussion, and the conversation quickly veered towards LTTE and Sri Lanka. This man a Tamil himself, he told me that his grandfather was a Chettiar from Tamil Nadu who had moved down to Sri Lanka to set up a business, surprised me by stating that he did not sympathize with the LTTE one bit. As the conversation began to get more and more intense he said that LTTE kidnapped kids and brainwashed them and trained them to wage the Elam’s war. It hit me that this was no different than Taliban or any other Muslim military outfit. He explained that the situation was grim back in Ceylon ( interestingly he reffered Sri Lanka as Ceylon always) and the LTTE used to kill people even Tamils who did not see eye to eye with their cause. He said that his family moved out of Sri Lanka in the 70s to Canada and Germany.
At this juncture I asked him what about Prabhakaran, he plainly said Prabhakaran has escaped with his close group of supporters and claims by the Lankan Army reports are nothing but propaganda. I pushed him a bit more on how can he be confident on the fact that Prabhakaran is alive, and he gave me a quick grin and said that he knew a lot of people in Lanka and no one believes he is dead, well I was surprised that Vellupillai Prabhakaran had such an indefatigable image in the minds of the people.
I asked him does he not sympathize with the Tamilians of Sri Lanka, and he said that the Tamils were big headed people (he himself was a tamil), who do not respect the other people. He gave me an example saying that in the small Sri Lankan community in Berlin, Tamils never spoke to any Non Tamils whereas the Singhalese (the other ethnic group of Sri Lanka) people spoke to everyone and were very accommodating. He himself while growing up in Sri Lanka had a lot of Singhalese friends and not many Tamil friends.
As the conversation headed towards India, and I explained to him saying that India is growing economy and a very vibrant place ( I have got used to doing this as the Europeans have a portrait of India as a very poor third world country where millions starve without food). He just slashed me down by saying in India the things are fast and fun, in the west (he referred to Europe) the things are slow but effective.
Our conversation got more and more lively but I had to get down at my bus stop and wished him good bye may be for ever, as I do not have his name or contact.
I was delighted to know a lot about my neighboring country what the people think there, how they feel about India. I got to know that you get a better picture of the nation by speaking to some one from there than from some news articles. I was surprised to meet a Sri Lankan who did not sympathize with the LTTE, who did not like the attitude of the Tamils, who thought Prabhakaran was a terrorist and is still alive.
I guess this is a post for me to remember this conversation.
In pursuit of better thoughts 
Its time now for the sri lankan government and its people to accept tamils as part of their society and give equal opportunities for them. Read my poem on LTTE. its called LTTE Poem.
Sheki just think about it. You had a conversation with a Tamil who is a NATURALIZED German who probably has not been to Sri Lanka in his life. I’m assuming that he’s a naturalized German because you say his family migrated in the 70’s. Its quite natural for Tamils to stick amongst themselves because the first thing that comes to mind when the words ‘Sri Lankan Tamil’ are mentioned is LTTE, suicide bombings and violence. There’s a tendancy to stereotype them as terrorists and this happens even in India. Even when Muralitharan was playing in Australia, he was taunted for being Tamil.
So its not fair for anyone who’s not actually acquainted with the ground realities in Sri Lanka to make any generalizations about the Tamils there or anywhere else.
@bala
Well he did his education from Sri Lanka so he spent aroun 25 years in Lanka.
He has married a German (:P)
No the irony is he himself is a Tamil and does not sympathize with them, and it also throws light that the Tamils who emigrated to Sri Lanka about a 100 years ago want a separate Elam (country for themselves), instead of merging and living with the people.
This is the case even in Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha called for a seperate Elam for tamils in this election, Karunanidhi in the 1970s got to power as he was pushing for a seperate Elam for Tamils.
Tamilians rally at every opportunity for a separate Tamil Elam.
It is mindset problem where all Tamilians (all most all ) do not believe they belong to India and sometime they will have their Elam.
May be it was because Tamil Nadu was never occupied by any all Indian ruler like Akbar or Ashoka from the beginning, that they do not naturally feel a part of India.
May be thats why the Indian Freedom movement was not that popular in Chennai where as the other presidency towns Calcutta and Bombay where hubs of Indian National Movement.
tamilians were quite integrated into the srilankan mainstream until the seventies.
then the government started this whole sinhala nationalism crapshit, massacred innocent tamils, had reservations for sinhalese people, and basically discriminated very badly against tamils.
in such a state, what will an average tamil do? peaceful methods were NOT working.
hence the separatist movement.
and freedom movement… bloody hell, have you heard of subramanya bharati? c. rajagopalachari? you presumably have not.
your yappety-yap sounds very regionalist and racist.
Ok there was a movement against the Tamils, but still it does not justify glorifying Prabhakaran as a hero or Martyr. LTTE kidnap young school children and make them suicide killing machines which puts it along with Taliban or any African rebel movement.
And about the freedom movement I am not denying the fact that some Tamils did participate in the freedom struggle, but it was not as strong or vissible as in other Indian places.
It is known fact that people in Madras and Mysore were more anglicized than the rest of the country, the first to adopt English education, and were more comfortable with the British.
Historically too Tamil Nadu before the British was never a part of an all India rule like the Guptas, Mauryas or the Mughals so thats why they may have had the notion of Tamil Nadu being a separate state which influenced the generations to come. But that does not mean they were not influenced by the other cultures and vice versa.
Ya there is also Sarojini Naidu from Madras Univ.
And I have as of yet not found any document saying that the Freedom movement was less vehement in Madras, Madras actively participated in Quit India movement, but again Madras was a cosmopolitan city with all the elite. And all the people mentioned here were University educated elites, but again I am contradicting myself as it was the case every where else. So may be I cannot state this as a fact but the point that they were never a part of an Indian empire before is true.
Tamilians does not always mean LTTE. There are Tamils living in Colombo and the likes as well who are supportive of the government in branding LTTE as terrorists.
I don’t think it’s right to generalise the entire Tamilian race based on one German’s (I’m guessing he has German citizenship – it would be so typical – people not living in their own country theorising on it) statement. And I can’t agree with the the fact that Tamilians are unpatriotic. What goes on in Tamil Nadu is no different to what goes on pretty much every Indian state, city and town. In Bangalore, you can tear down and insult the national flag, but try doing something to the Karnataka flag – a quick death is probably what will result. In Mumbai, the MNS/Shiv Sena can bring the city to a virtual standstill on mindless issues like outsiders finding jobs. Remember the railway recruitment incident? I don’t think such actions spell patriotism. If I look further, I’m sure I’ll find plenty of places, in India, where people get very regional. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that India’s first and biggest mistake was diving herself into states based on language.
Oh, great post! A lot of thought is bursting around in response from within, so here goes.
My opinion of Tamils, while being Tamil myself (hah) is one of a somewhat more polarised people. They wanted Tamil declared as the national language merely because it was older. They refuse to treat with dignity, guests to their state. (This is slightly different from the MNS where in Mumbai, so many outsiders have encroached that there is no space for setting a pin on a pin cushion!)
They are also a state known for thier regional fanatisism (Though Karnataka is fast picking up).
As for the LTTE, they are an unscrupulous race that bring shame even to the most undignified of Tamil people. However, Tamil politicians, to cash in on the language fanatisism, went to great extents, sympathising with the LTTE. A few insights.
Vaiko: Tamil Nadu would witness a bloodbath even if the slightest harm befell Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader V. Prabakaran.
Jayalalithaa: To get a separate Ealem, vote for the AIADMK.
Karunanidhi: Prabhakaran is not a terrorist, but LTTE is a terrorist organisation. (What!!!?)
All this inspite of the group having had the audacity to assasinate our prime minister.
The latest even went to the extent of an audacious breakfast to lunch “hunger strike”. We would have been much better if he’d fasted to death or been in times when these idiots were locked up for making statements like this under POTA or any other godforsaken act.
That is not all. We have Tamils protesting as far away as England. Guess the recession left them without better work. I only hope they are put out of their misery soon.
In light of recent news and developments, it is mighty clear that the home ministry in India has secretly funded this war and finally put an end to this atrocious organisation that has been smearing shame on the faces of Tamils everywhere.
@Anupam: There was a huge rally in Berlin by the Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu, they were proclaiming Prabhakaran as a martyr and were displaying photographs and posters everywhere. If they think he is a hero then I think they definitely share his idea of an Elam ( a separate land for Tamils).
But luckily the elections this time were not influenced by the Tamil Elam issues.
Great post!
Eye opener?
as it is pretty evident, tis issue has raked up quite a few points, both pro and anti – tam mentality!
we were in paris, the last week and we did see a whole lot of supposedly TAM shops having posters of prabhakaran!
these tams here call themselves south – indian
as far as my knowledge goes, LTTE has brutally used tams, who they are supposedly fighting for, as human shileds at millions of occasions and lot of blood of their own innocent people has been shed!
i know tams who hate their own mentality, so i am led to believe that there is a wind of change blowing the right way.
and it is wrong for anybody to dismiss the views of a naturalised german about his own country stating that he migrated and blah. he also sees the same news as most of the people in that country and ideally must be even having relatives there.
as most tamils would confess, they do not take very well to other languages because of their extravagant pride in their mother-tongue.