Im wondering why such a book is still not on the the bestseller's list or on the 'How to Make it Big list'. Well I first read Thiruvalluvar in an Anglo Indian school.. yes an ANGLO INDIAN School and fell in love with the couplets at first sight. For all those who want a dope on who or what Thiruvalluvar and Thirukural is, here u go.
''Thiruvalluvar (திருவள்ளுவர்) is a celebrated Tamil poet who wrote the Thirukural, a well known ethical work in Tamil Literature.
Thirukural is one of most revered works in Tamil . It consists of 133 athikarams or chapters. Each athikaram consists of 10 kurals (rhyming Tamil couplets) thus making 1330 kurals in total. Each couplet consists of four seers in the first line and three seers in the second.
Well I googled for ''Thiruvalluvar and the Art of Management' but ended with a lotta results on books and research papers from Madras University to the Harvard. But not a single book has reached the fame or sales as the Art Of War by Sun Tzu or the Stephen Coveys or the Deepak Chopras..Thirukural which is all of the above put together was not at all marketed well.
What prompted me to write this was, I read a Kural in the most unlikely of places.
In the Library Bar, at the Ramada Hotel, Doha. The library bar is a bar themed on a Library, the table, the ambience, except the noise around resembles a library. One of the walls is fully painted with pictures of lot of open books with gibberish scribled all over.. One of the open books drew my attention ....They say one hears and sees better after a couple of beers... well wht I saw was unbelievable and till date I believe that Iam the only one who has spotted it ....It carried the first Kural. Will try and get a pic of that and post it in here.
''அகரம் முதல வெழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதிபகவன் முதற்றே யுலகு''
''Aghara Mudhal Ezhuthellam Aadhi Baghawan Mudhetre ullagu''
which is translated as ..
"Alpha is the first and source of all the letters. Even so is God Primordial the first and source of all the world''
I started to look around the painting for a signature... and finally zeroed in on one Ramesh... cld figure out that he had set upon his assignment with the first Kural, there by singing praise to the Gods, but Im sure, lil did he know that his work of art would adorn the walls of a bar some day....
The Thirukural consists of three books, the first book on Aram (the way or dharma), the second on Porul (material or artha) and the third on Inbam (joy or kama). These go on to make the very foundations of the society we live in .
Its been a long blog but I would like to sign off with one of my all time favourite Kurals....
''Selvathul Selvam Sevichelkvam Achelvan
Selvathul Ellam Thallai''
Translated as
The gift of good listening is a basic Wealth that affords other forms of Wealth ... Hence the best of wealth to possess.
Well we run behind the Feng Shuis, The Zens, The Sun Tzus and the Stephen Coveys... stuff we cannot even spell or pronounce correctly ...yet we overlook the 4 - 3 meaningful and relevant couplets from our very own Thiruvalluvar...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Leave alone Thirukural and our other great ethical literatures, we have come across many pattikaadu nambargal converted to Gulf NRIs, they feel prestigious to comment that their children speak only English and hardly could speak or understand their own mother-tongue. When I see such people, I make it a point to spend some time to give them piece of my mind, as a contribution to our motherland.
Post a Comment