Diwali Pattimandram 2021

The last few years it has become an household habit to listen to every single pattimandrams that are telecasted  for special occasions across Tamil tv channels. Though there was a time when I used to listen to such talks for the topics, now it has come to listening for the people. I do have personal favourites like Barathi and Raja. And I am sure they are for many other Tamilians.

This one was a little emotional and special as it is about  who is being more responsible for a child’s growth - men or women. There were many statements and moments when I laughed but now while thinking about it makes me a little uneasy. That unexplainable feeling one gets when the soul truth is questioned or touched is something that is hard to explain in words or emotions. To put it in another way - soul truth is the unwritten truth/principle/rule which we write down in our brain for ourselves and for our society. It can be as simple as ‘I woke up at 10AM this is unacceptable’ to something like global warming and beyond. Every human has this and also this is the reason why all the judgements in this world exists. 

So coming back to the pattimandram, I didn’t remember most of the words, actions and statements that made me uneasy when the show was over but it got me thinking to how constantly tuning myself to be more inclusive and accepting of individuals has also made me become a judgmental person of people who are not inclusive. 

This sure is an irony. Just think of being in a position where an chauvinistic person asks us why he/she is not accepted as a fellow human when only those who suffered are. In a way this sounds silly but what if that judgement and excluding behaviour came because of something they had experienced? Is there a reason why a white supremacist hates POC? A particular so called higher caste person hates another so called lower caste? Etc. Has there ever been reasons on an individual level to be so without considering the “because I have been taught so” population? Are we all looking at just the exit of the tunnel without realising there is a landslide on the entry side? Are we really covering all the sides of the cube? Are we including the excluded and being truly inclusive? 

The world is changing and the other side has to be looked at as well before it becomes too late and then there comes a need to repeat everything for the now so called upper handed side. We are all here to seek for balance so we need to ensure that we need to stop bringing things up or down the second the balance is reached for the balance to prevail. But do we really know when the balance will click? 

Something to ponder - something to remember while trying to be truly and wholeheartedly inclusive of all kinds and flavours and thoughts of humans.