The Story Of Forecasting Snow In Jaffna
Prof. Mahesan Niranjan
Have you been in situations of embarrassment from which you wanted a quick exit? You might do it by suddenly changing the subject of conversation to get out of the difficulty, weather forecast being a popular trick. The South Indian Tamil author Jeyakanthan beautifully captures a variant of this in one of his short stories about a middle class family switching their conversation from Tamil to English: “the foreignness of the language masks the embarrassment of the topic being discussed,” he explains. My story today is about a young boy who found himself in such a situation and had to be rescued by his father’s wits.
The boy lived in Nallur, a fairly affluent suburb Jaffna town. If Jaffna had a system of postcodes, Nallur probably would have been allocated the number seven. It was a historic place, because in the 16th century, the Portugese took several attempts to defeat its king. There is a famous temple and an equally famous ice cream parlour in Nallur. Many political discussions among Tamils end with reference to the temple occupant in despair: “If that is what you say, even NallurMurugan cannot save the Tamil people!” Recent history of the Tamil people has shown that saving them has never been high on the list of priorities for Murugan, yet he serves as a convenient source of hope. Apart from that, the temple offers a much cherished opportunity for middle class Tamil women to display their collection of gold jewels.