Sunday, February 22, 2015

Kural-amutham


A tiny seed started couple of years ago, shows promises of growing to be a big banyan tree to provide a shady support for treasured Thirukkural. Bay area Fine Arts Thirukkural Competition 2015.

About 230 kids and adults. I am sure more than 1330 kural recited. Recited with meaning. More than $8000 in prizes. Its all from a little seed and a lot of water. If we look at the seed as the origination of thought, the water is the volunteer energy. A completely passion fueled energy motivates the young and not so young Tamil immigrant community in the bay area to revisit a tiny book with enormous meaning. I can only compare Kural with atomic power. Its just so small, 7 words of all, one and a half sentence long.

I was lucky enough to be there for a brief period to listen to an amazing 11 year old and another amazing mom J The 11 year old recited 100 Kural with meaning. And I could discern that she had a clear understanding of what she was saying from her confident demeanor. The friend recited 129. She is a busy mom of two kids, working full time and taking care of family. She still made time to learn,  and recite. What dedication!

Reading Kural is all about understanding and following. I hope the Bay Area Fine Arts continues nurturing the inspiration to learn Thirukkural among the Tamil community not only in the bay area, but slowly in all of the USA and all over the world.

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