Kural – The ‘NOCringe’ Connect

‘Tamil or Thamizh‘ is not just a language. In countries like Mauritius, Malaysia, Fiji and elsewhere in the world, people believe that Tamil is a religion. I begin this series on the auspicious month of Thai (Shashti day) and devote this to Lord Murugan and his Thamizh

The ‘GenZ’ problem

Popular medias mention that that “GenZ” will soon become the largest set of consumers. This means they will be loaded with infinite problems as well.

Is there a readymade guide for the #genz problems?

Technology and Financial dreams have changed or amplified the struggles young people face.
struggles are diverse and include:

Is there a tool to navigate through these challenges? Is there a coach who can help us and guide them?Who could be a better life coach than Thiruvalluvar to help them navigate through these tough times?

The kural connect

Ever since my childhood, I have realized that Thiruvalluvar’s Kurals are more or less misused as a popular weapon in the political space.(Kural venbaa is an unique poetic expression).

On the other hand, most schools and educational institutions treat Thirukkural as a 5 mark or a 20 mark weightage matter. But for ages, has Thirukkural just been confined to this?

No! The native wisdom of Thamizhs has been proved both socially and anthropologically. Even more amazing is that Thirukkural renders a beautiful solution for the business & consulting space as well.

That’s when this struck and we exclaimed, ‘Oh.. that Thirukkural’ and it was magic.Things worked well when we implemented the real sense of the Kurals we knew.
Yes, that Kural was the favorite for both of us and we implemented a rewards scheme for our team based on their deep-dives and efforts; not on mere results.

Will Thirukkural be a #cringe?

Will the Kurals of valluvar just remain as a political tool or a stage gimmick? Or,will it truly connect with lives of people in a world that believes in virtual reality?

Come lets explore together in our “Kural – The ‘NOCringe’ Connect”.

Epoch1

தெய்வத்தான் ஆகா தெனினும் முயற்சிதன்
மெய்வருத்தக் கூலி தரும்.

Kural 619 (“Dheyvattāṉ ākā teṉiṉum muyaṟcitaṉ meyvaruttak kūli tarum”) – Even if something is not destined by God, your labour will yield its reward.

பொருட்பால் – ஆள்வினையுடைமை / Importance of a (Hu)man’s Effort

Yes, it does not matter what the result is.Well…That’s my all-time favourite Thirukkural as well.

For believers it is, God, and for non-believers, it’s the Nature or cosmos.

However you call it, even if it does not stand by the time of results for all your man/women hours of work – your efforts, those painful physically staking, mentally burning ; efforts will naturally lead you to an appropriate reward.

So long story short, if there’s something that I could learn and give back I thought why not take it as a simple attempt? I’m not a fan of television, but whenever I go out to spend some time for dinner, I see this alarming trend in almost all restaurants.

War-Time

A recent trend, I observe – Primetime channels are busy broadcasting some seriously alarming news on the ongoing armed conflicts. As I see it, in a true sense, these TV contents are more terrifying than the real war. (Social media content is completely on a different level).

These broadcasts about the war were magnifying the fight on the dining tables and when I saw around all the young people around me had no connection with the food on the table but more connected to the long distant war that was served as poison to their table by those TV sets. Topping it was that the war was just not projected as a geopolitical issue but was showcased as a religious riot.

This is the same young urban Indian that spends most of their time and ones in search of food; in the luxury of a restaurant ambiance or at the luxury of doorstep delivery. The war was being fed to them and it was not the food they deserved. Don’t they deserve better?

Aggression or Regression

To my senses, what I have realized is that what you eat is what you become and I see what is being fed. The food for the body and the food for their mind both are being dangerously served. So what do we expect from them and what are they becoming? They are either guided to Aggression or Regression; the perfect state of instability. Instability for both physical and mental health.

There is a beautiful word in Thamizh, KADAVUL – கடவுள். To travel beyond your inner self and that is GOD or GODLINESS.

Say for an example, if there is a revelation after 400 years and someone equates our former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam as God would anyone deny that?

Going by Valluvar’s words,

வையத்துள் வாழ்வாங்கு வாழ்பவன் வான்உறையும்
தெய்வத்துள் வைக்கப் படும்

Kural : 50 (Vaiyatthuḷ vāzhvāṅku vāzhpavaṉ vāṉuṟaiyum dheyvatthuḷ vaikkap padum) – A person who lived by far excellences hall be deemed equivalent to heavenly gods.

A human being who on earth has lived in the state of greater being as he should live so. If he lives so, as a LEGEND, he will be placed among the Gods who dwell in heaven.

Isn’t that true?

The MGR effect

Don’t we have Thulukkaththamman, Madurai Veeran, and countless heroes who found a life of ‘real sense’? (For Netflix fans, remember the Thulaka Nachiyar scene from the recent lady superstar’s movie).

Ex-Chief Minister of TamilNadu – M.G.Ramachandran. What was more amazing was that they do this worship systematically every year. Every year, people throng the memorial place of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar and he is a GOD for many. There are so many and countless.

And here is the catch! What should be the inference we give to this generation who are pushed to outer extremes of Regression or Aggression and not to their inner self?

In the Western world, there is a famous saying, “GOD is a state of being“

Is there a choice for one, the young ones, to know himself or herself?

Lets see if Kural helps us to connect more; if this remains a #cringe to you anymore…