Aththaan

I was at a get together recently. A Tamil iady addressed her husband as “Aththaan”. I was pleasantly surprised. Nowadays, almost no Tamil woman address her husband by that word.

 

The actual meaning of “Aththaan” is either he is her dad’s sister’s son OR mom’s brother’s son. That word always has a romantic connotation in Tamil Nadu.

 

When some girl says, fondly, he is my aththaan , it is understood he is the guy she intends to marry.

 

In Tamil culture, a girl can legally marry her dad’s sister’s son OR mom’s brother’s son. I know it will be disgusting to our North Indian readers. Actually, 50 years ago 70% of the Tamil marriages were within close relatives. My mom and dad are related. My brother married his aunt’s daughter. No, I did not marry any of my cousins. I married an outsider.

 

I asked that lady in that get together if she and her husband are related before marriage. She said no. Still she addressed her husband as "aththaan".

 

So many romantic songs in Tamil movies with that word. For example:

 

Aththaan varuvaga. Oru mutham koduppaga (Aththaan will come. He will give me a kiss).

 

Aththaan en Aththaan. Avar ennaithaan. Eppadi solvenadi (Aththaan he is my Aththaan. How can I say what he did with me.)

 

Kulungum mundhanai sirikkum aththaanai viratuvathenadiyo (Why the shaking loose end of your saree is chasing out this Aththaan)

 

Akkaluku Valaigappu. Aththaan mugathiley punsirippu (Baby shower ceremony for elder sister. Aththaan’s face is full of smile.)

 

There is a dialogue in a Tamil movie (Bangalore Naatkal). A guy is telling his close associate what kind of wife he wants. One of his condition is the girl should address him as Aththaan after marriage.

Compliments Always Help

(Courtesy: Yahoo. File Photo)

 

A few weeks ago I was traveling from Oakland, California, to Seattle, Washington. The travel time is one hour and 34 minutes. I was in the economy class.

 

After ascending the desired altitude, they started to serve drinks. In the economy class you have to pay for the alcoholic drinks. Soft drinks are free.

 

When the stewardess asked me what I want, I asked for 2 scotch with water. I then gave my credit card. While giving the credit card to her I casually mentioned how nice of this airline to offer beverages to passengers when the flying time is only one hour and 34 minutes.

 

When she heard my compliment, the stewardess smiled and thanked me. She returned the credit card without charging and said the drinks are on the airline.

 

My lucky day.

 

(Side bar: American pilots take too long to turn off the seat belt sign even after reaching the desired altitude. The stewardesses do a great job of taking care of more than 125 passengers within an hour.)

 

I was narrating this incident to my son and daughter. My daughter said “Appa, you are a smooth operator”. My son said “Appa, you a hustler”.

Use of Language

In my last blog post titled “7 Days in Entebbe”, I wrote the following:

 

In the movie when two Germans speak, they speak in their native German language. When two Palestinians speak they speak in Arabic. Why then does the director of the movie let the Israeli Cabinet discuss everything in English? The Israeli Cabinet will always discuss topics in their own language - Hebrew - and not in English. I have a possible reason and it’s the topic of my next blog post.

 

Here it is...

 

I believe the director of this movie decided to have Israeli Cabinet’s conversation in English because, in my opinion, he thought it would show the full force of their words to the audience.

 

As you can see in this movie, when two Germans speak in German they show the English translation at the bottom of the screen via subtitles. That does not capture the full force of their words to the audience. The same is true for the two Palestinians speaking in Arabic. English subtitles are provided on the movie screen. Only if you hear the conversation in the language that is most familiar to you (in this case - English) only then will you get the full effect of the conversation.

 

This takes me back to an eminent international scholar I spoke to once back in the day. He was a professor emeritus at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

 

He told me that leaders and diplomats from English speaking countries (USA, UK, etc.) hate Indian leaders and diplomats because Indians reply/retort immediately without waiting for a translator.

 

According to him, when people say something in their native language…it is then being translated to their counterparts (Russians, Chinese, Japanese, etc.). Then the other leader says something to the translator and he/she translates it into English. So non-English speakers are unable to give an immediate and effective reply/retort. They just sit in front of the English speaking guys like dummies with smiles.

 

So if you understand the language and feel the full impact headed in your direction, without the need for a translator or subtitles, the lesson is “give it to back to them” by replying immediately in their own language.

 

Yo! Your movie sucks and is a terrible re-boot. Let me know if you need a translator or subtitles for assistance.