Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
- Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C

About Us & Visitor Comments

Visitor Comments: 2005

From: K.Dinakar Raj, New Delhi, India, 29 December 2005

Sir, You have not given the credit which should have been given to Thiru M.G.Ramachandran. He is the only person who really upheld the honour of Tamils in Indian politics. Tamilians as Central Ministers could be possible only because of bargain power of Thiru MGR. It started in 1977 and still continues. Otherwise our representation was very remote and our views on Tamils rights issue in Sri Lanka could have been unheeded. Another very important historian left out is Prof. Thiru Srinivasa Iyengar of Calcutta University who had written books on History of Tamils with proper scientific authenticity. These two important persons have to be included in the list of 100 Tamilians in 20th Century. Thiru M.Karunanidhi should also be included in the list of Language & Literature apart from Politics. Your website is doing wonderful work and it should be given wide publicity so that many people may utilise it. Congratulations.

Response by tamilnation.org You will find the page relating to M.G.Ramachandran here. Your comment re Thiru M.Karunanidhi's contribution to Language and Literature is a valid one but we have avoided listing names in more than one category. Having said that the actual page devoted to Karunanidhi does carry references to his contribution to literature, though not in a sufficiently comprehensive way. We have now included Prof. Thiru Srinivasa Iyengar in the History and Social Science Section. We thank you for you comments about the website.

From: Jack Rauhala, California, USA, 22 December 2005

[From Matter to Life to Mind: An Unfolding Consciousness] is an amazing Site, excellent resources! The thinking of Dr.Danah Zohar, Dr.Evan Walker, Dr.Peter Russell and many others now "coming out of the closet" ...

Response by tamilnation.org - Many thanks. Visitors to the site may want to visit Jack Rauhala's Find Your God - A Pilgrim's Guide to the Cosmos and also Danah Zohar's SQ - Spiritual Intelligence, the Ultimate Intelligence

From: Arul Pandian, USA 21 December 2005

The recent article on Sivaji by Sachi Sri Kantha was very enjoyable. It is amazing to know about his loyalty for his Guru. We saw Pasamalar recently. Even after so many years still it made us to enjoy every frame of the movie. The photos along with the article are also nice. There is no match for his majestic style and magnetic look. The article is a fitting tribute to the greatest actor of our times.

From: Jekan Natkunam, 20 December 2005

Hello, To begin with, I must commend you on a wonderful website. I'm a fellow Thamilan, and I would like to get a hold of "Purananuru" , published in Tamil. When, I did a search for it in Google, it all came up with Books (English translation). I would like to read it in its' entirety, in Tamil. If you know where, I would be able to get a hold of it (published book), I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Response by tamilnation.org - Mikka Nanri. Actually, Purananuru is available (in Tamil) at this site - the link to the unicode version is this. It is also available in PDF. You will find the links at the Sangam Classics: Ettuthokai/Melakannaku - the Eight Anthologies page.

From: A Visitor from California, USA 19 December 2005

Vanakkam.I want to congratulate you for publishing the "News Watch" of 18th instant exposing the partiality of the SLMM. According to the statement made by the SLMM head to the BBC Tamil Service the proper procedure under the CFA should be that the SLAF should have informed the LTTE if it wanted to fly over the LTTE-controlled area. He conceded that the SLAF had not done so but he was too eager to ignore that and put the whole blame on the LTTE. Your prompt rebuttal has exposed their canard. Many, many thanks for doing so.

From: Christopher M. Glenn, [email protected] , Project Recruiter, Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania, 13 December 2005

Hello (Vannakam), The Linguistic Data Consortium, part of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA ( http://www.ldc.upenn.edu ) is still collecting telephone speech for linguistic research, and continues to seek Tamil speakers to participate. Our new collection effort is called MIXER3, in which Tamil speakers can earn upto $280 by participating in 15 telephone calls of 10 minutes each. The projects webpage can be directly accessed at: http://mixer.ldc.upenn.edu We have a staff of operators, who are always happy to answer questions at: 1-800-380-7366. Again, I wish to thank you for helping us in the past.Tamilnation.org has continued to be a great help to us, and we are very grateful to have your organization as such a valuable resource for our research.

From: Cheran Krishnamoorthy [[email protected] ]

உங்களது பாரதியின்கவிதைகளின் தொகுப்பை படிக்க நேர்ந்தது. பயனுள்ள முயற்சி. தொடர்ந்து மேற்கொள்ள வேண்டும். தமிழைப்பற்றி வெப்தளங்களில் தேடிக்கொண்டிருந்தபொழுது நண்பர்
மூலம் tamilnation.org பற்றி அறியக்கிடைத்தது. மிகவும் மகிழ்ச்சி.

From: Rebecca Webber, Yale Law School Project on Representing Child Sri Lanka, [[email protected] ], 2 December 2005

Dear Tamil Nation: We are building a survey website regarding how each country in the world has implemented Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Do you have the convention translated into Tamil? If yes, will you please email it me? I am also looking for a Tamil translation of Article IV(4) of the Convention on Regional Arrangements for the Promotion of Child Welfare in South Asia. Thank you very much.

Response by tamilnation.org Regretfully, we ourselves do not have the translations that you have requested. Visitors to this page who may have the information may contact you directly. We wish you well in your efforts.

From: Sambandha Moorthy, 2 December 2005

தங்கள் முயற்ச்சிக்கு முதல் வணக்கம். திருமந்திரம் பாடல் 199-இல் கடை வரி "மல்லாக்கத் தள்ளி முறித்துவைப் பாரே" ஏன்றுள்ளது

மாறாக "மல்லாக்கத் தள்ளி மறித்துவைப் பாரே" என்றிருத்தல் வேண்டும்.

சான்று: ஞானசம்பந்தம் பதிப்பகம், தருமை ஆதீனம், வெளியீடு எண்: 997, பக்கம்: 302

-நன்றி

Response by tamilnation.org Many thanks for pointing out the error - this has now been corrected. May God Bless.

From: Avraham Hayam, Jerusalem, Israel [ [email protected] ] 23 November 2005

Hello, I am looking for information and photo of a Tamil string musical instrument
named "Singai". In my search I found very interesting data under the word Singai on:
a warrior, Tamil history (most interesting), Bau mountain in the Singai region and more data, but not on the string instrument. I will appreciate your help.

Response by tamilnation.org If visitors to this site are able to help, they may contact you directly.

From: Mohan Gopala Iyer [[email protected] ] 18 November 2005

I am surprised there is NO section on Tamils in Indonesia.I visited Medan in the 90's.There are 3 temples:Chetiar,Vinayagar,Mariamman temples.There are Indian restaurants,Gurdwara and a Sikh Secondary School too.Whilst elders talk Tamil youngsters speak Indonesian.But they now yearn to learn Tamil as it was supressed by Suharto and earlier Soekarno.This year 2 Iyers went to Kalimantan at the invitation of a Ceylonese Tamil Group to set up a temple. It is up and the Kumbhabhisegam is due.By the way there are Tamils in Thailand too.There is a Mariamman temple in Silom Road in Bangkok. I saw a Murugan temple in Phuket.The priest a Tamil could not speak Tamil.But I met a Tamil in a Buddhist temple who speaks fluent Tamil.

Response by tamilnation.org: Many thanks for your note. We do have a section on Indonesia and the link is available from the main Diaspora page. Unfortunately, the link to the Indonesian page does not appear in some of the other country pages and this may have caused the confusion. We will correct this.

From: Eswaramoorthy Pillai [[email protected] ] 16 November 2005

Here are the list famous Saivism websites. If you can give the links in your website all Saivaism people will feel happy.

www.geocities.com/shivaperuman

www.geocities.com/shivaperumant

www.geocities.com/kathirvelpillai

www.geocities.com/chidambararamalingampillai

www.geocities.com/eswaramoorthypillai

www.geocities.com/arumuganavalar

www.geocities.com/sabapathynavalar

www.geocities.com/samayasaathanam

Regards, Oru Siva Sevagan.

From: Mariappan Eddiah, Malaysia, 16 November 2005

I saw your New Testament Unicode Bible. Here is a link to a complete Tamil Bible in Unicode. http://www.tamilchristians.com/tamilbible/index.html Thank you.

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam. We have included your Complete Bible link in our Spirituality & Tamil Nation page. Mikka Nanri

From: Vijayakumar Vivekanandan, USA, 15 November 2005

Hi, I liked reading Parthiban Kanavu from your site. I am thrilled by the Kalki collection. I am a software engineer. I am glad to be of any help for this site. I was very glad to see sites like this and Project Madurai. Thanks & Regards.

Response by tamilnation.org: Mikka Nanri.Many thanks for your support. Project Madurai is an open and voluntary initiative led by Dr.K.Kalyanasundaram in Switzerland and Kumar Mallikarjunan in USA and the credit for bringing Tamil texts like Parthiban Kanavu to the internet belongs entirely to their untiring and committed efforts and their team of volunteers. The Project Madurai Mailing List is a dedicated list for Project Madurai volunteers to discuss progress in on-going work in Etexts of various Tamil works and related matters. You may want to join the list and in addition email Dr.K.Kalyanasundaram in Switzerland.

From: Sanjay Mohan Kumar, Poland, [[email protected] ] 12 November 2005

From: M.G.Ram Ganesh, Accountant, US Embassy, Muscat 10 November 2005

Sir, I came accross your web page (on Tamil Drama & Film) in an attempt to find more about Thiru. Poornam Viswanathan. I was surprised to note that his name was not mentioned, although there is mention of S. Ve. Shekar, ( I don't deny that Shekar should be mentioned). I would appreciate if you could add Thiru. Poornam and as well Crazy Mohan., Kovai Anuradha, Venkat, etc, who are doing great things in the drama field inspite of fierce competition from Film & TV world.

Although current & last generation of Tamilians knows him very well as Film Actor, Thiru. Poornam acted in more than 4500 stage plays all over India. Apart from this he had written nearly 160 short stories, dramas. As he was working for All India Radio Delhi, he staged his plays in Delhi upto 1964 and then continued in Chennai. He is a founder of Poornam New Theater, which continues to nurture & develop the Tamil drama world... Thanks and regards

Response by tamilnation.org: Mikka Nanri. We have now included your comment in our Tamil Drama & Film page.

From: Christopher M. Glenn, LVDID Project Recruitment, Linguistic Data Consortium, 3600 Market Street, Suite 810, University of Pennsylvania, 9 November 2005

Hello (Vannakam), I last emailed you in April, 2005; when I was looking for Tamil speakers in the United States. I work for the Linguistic Data Consortium, which is part of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA ( http://www.ldc.upenn.edu). We are still collecting telephone speech for our research, and continue to seek Tamil speakers to participate with us in our current project (http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/Projects/LVDID/ ). tamilnation.org was a great help to us the last time I contacted you, and I was hoping that you might be again willing to let your visitors know that we would welcome their participation... There are a few changes from the last time, and perhaps the most significant is that we can now accept participation from Tamil speakers residing in Canada. We are also paying each participant $8 for their efforts. The registration page can be accessed directly at: https://secure.ldc.upenn.edu/cgi-bin/showLogin.cgi To register, just put in your email address in the available space, click "sign up" and then "submit." The registration follows and should only take a few minutes. We have a staff of operators, who are always happy to answer questions at: 1-800-380-7366. Again, I wish to thank you for helping us in the past..

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam. We will post your message in our comments page.

From: Meganathan Moodley, South Africa, 6 November 2005

I am a 37yr old South African. I was born into a Tamil family. For years I just assumed that I was Hindu and due to many stigmas, there were times when I was shy to say I am Tamil. However recently I have "awoke". Reading your site has made me realise that we have a culture so rich, I was really stupid not to have seen this sooner. I have a daughter and a baby son who is on his way. I will make it my goal to make them aware of their heritage. I am a teacher in South Africa.

From: Sara Ananthan, Sydney, Australia, 4 November 2005

Pragmatism and Idle Talk of Vedanta - Talking about Vedanta appears to be a favourite past time amongst some of us to lull others into inaction. But inaction leads to lethargy and bondage as we can see in the plight of Tamils from two thousand years of our history. Speaking for the voiceless and the oppressed is Dharma. Asking for equality and fighting against inequality is the birth right of every human being. To hoodwink that right by invoking Vedanta is amoral...We Tamils are in dire need to churn our minds to find answers to go forward in our society. For that reason the facts need to be laid bare without any favour or prejudice. We can not sweep under the carpet our past and pretend that injustice never existed in our society. tamilnation.org is providing this service and promoting this noble cause... more

From: Krishna Swamy [[email protected] ], 2 November 2005

I have been going through your interesting website... For example...discussion on Tamil, Brahmins, Dalits... Rather than attach oneself to any label... let us build love and friendship in our hearts.. watch for hatred based on religion, caste, language... Become more aware of what is going on in one's heart... avoid hatred at all costs... it will definitely divide, maim, kill... Hatred may be based on high sounding things... nationalism, religion, anti-religion, equality... everytime it is wrong... If war is your destiny, fight... but no good heart is allowed hatred... ALL other talk, discussion, is only, as Vallalar said, Pillai Vilaiyaattu...

From: Senthilkumar Thanakkan, St. Louis, MO, USA, 30 October 2005

Actually I was searching for the meaning of a verse in Thiruvasagam through Google. On the first hit I got this site. I really could express my feelings that this is a site which provides me so much of information on Tamil Literature on the Net. I remember the words told by Comedy Actor Vivek in a movie. It goes like this..."Instead talking about the history of Tamil - take the Tamil to the Internet where every one can see/read/understand and admire Tamil" . Its really a nice site. I hope to visit this site more often...

Response by tamilnation.org Mikka Nanri. Comments such as yours help to sustain us in our efforts.

From: Dr. R. Jagannath, [[email protected] ] 27 October 2005

I am herewith attaching ideas that have occurred to me over a period of time when I was teaching Tamil to Non-Tamil children and adults. I am unaware whether all of this is old stuff or not. Since I feel strongly about these maters, I could not ignore them. If there is something that will help the Tamil cause, I would like that it is seen by as many as possible. That is all the purpose in my sending this to you. Warm regards

Response by tamilnation.org Mikka Nanri. We have include your article in our Learning & Teaching Tamil section.

From: Anna Skarżyńska, Poland, 27 October 2005

From: Jayaraman Raamachandran, Professor of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, 27 October 2005

I have developed CDs on Arunagirinathar's "Kandhar Anubooothi" which visitors to your site may find of interest. Details may be found here

From: Kumar Veeraraghavan, 24 October 2005

The file http://www.tamilnation.org/sathyam/east/thiruvasagam/pm0222.pdf doesn't contain the full text as mentioned. It has only 14 pages (only upto 14 hymns). - tiruvAcagam or Sacred Utterances of the Tamil Poet, Saint and Sage MAnikka-vACagar by Rev.G.U.Pope Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1900 (part II - Hymns 11 -51). - Please verify. Thanks & Regards

Response by tamilnation.org Many thanks for pointing out the error. This has now been rectified. You may also access this page from Mannikkavasagar's Thiruvasagam - 8th Thirumurai.

From: Kannah Vicchu, Malaysia, 23 October 2005

Vannakam. My name is Kannah. I am living in Malaysia. I am a Tamil student. Few days ago, I had a little argument about Tamil with my friend. He says that Sanskrit is better and older than Tamil. What makes me more confused and angry is when he says that Tamil actually originated from Sanskrit. I tried to explain it to him but he refused to listen and he has a large group of people who stand by his side and I do not know what to say. Can you please give me a little explanation?. I wont mind even if it is very brief. Or else at least can you tell me where can I find information about the issue. .I will be very happy if you can help me and Tamilans in overcoming this. Thank you for you time. Please take this as a small contribution to Tamil. Nandri, Kulappamutra Tamilan.

Response by tamilnation.org You may find the material at the page on Status of Tamil as a Classical Language helpful and in particular the views expressed by Professor George Hart of California University -

"...To qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. Unlike the other modern languages of India, Tamil meets each of these requirements. It is extremely old (as old as Latin and older than Arabic); it arose as an entirely independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit or other languages; and its ancient literature is indescribably vast and rich..."

Additionally, you may find the remarks of Professor Mu.Varadarajan in the History of Tamil Literature (and in particular on Unnecessary Polemics) of interest.

From: Venkateshkumar Naidu, 23 October 2005

From: R.Swaminathan, [ [email protected] ] 22 October 2005

I have visited your site http://www.tamilnation.org/oneworld/ It is very, very useful to our Tamil people. I have also created a web page in Tamil - http://www.rswamitamil.com I want to post some Tamil text in gif (available in word doc) so that with a computer not having Tamil font one can view the web page without facing font problem. Please help me as to how I can make a text into gif and
also direct me the freeware/tolls available on web.

Response by tamilnation.org Regretfully our remit does not extend to advising on web site creation etc. You may want to address your request to a list devoted to such subjects. Having said that, we have posted your request here so that visitors to this page may contact you directly, if they so desire.

From: Anton Skjernaa, Kent Law School University of Kent at Canterbury, UK

Hi, I'm a post-grad student of international, writing an essay on the right to self-determination. I found the article by Halim Moris "Self-Determination: An Affirmative Right or Mere Rhetoric ?" very interesting, and would like to know whether it has been published in print, or if you have any guidelines for how to quote it.

Response by tamilnation.org Vannakam. The article was published in the ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law, Vol 4-1 and also appeared online - but the online version is no longer available. You may want to check out http://www.nsulaw.nova.edu/stuorgs/ILSAJournal/index.cfm or your library. You may find some guidance re web citation at http://www.lib.calpoly.edu/class/citing.html

From P.A. Subramaniam, Australia 20 October 2005

This e-mail is mainly to appreciate the work tamilnation.org is doing. In particular the work done in sponsoring other liberation movements in the Fourth World is to be commended as the struggle for Tamil Eelam is linked with them. If possible, please consider two suggestions:

1) Listing related websites to all the sponsored movements.
2) Organising an interactive forum on the fourth world to promote linking of the various liberation movements and also to provide an ideological basis and justifying them socially, scientifically and even spiritually.

From: Vendan Kumararajah, Mitcham, Surrey,UK [[email protected] ],

Thank you for publishing my previous letter. I went through Professor Wilson's "well researched" paper. There is surprisingly no mention of Jaffna Association, its president Mr. A. Sabapathy or Sir A. Kanagasabai. I am directly quoting from respected journalist T. Sabaratnam's "Murder of a moderate: Political Biography of Appapillai Amirthalingam". There is a link to the passage below from your website at www.tamilnation.org/books/eelam/tsabaratnam.htm but I have posted below the following passage for information.

"Whilst the Ceylon Reform League had made territorial representation a fundamental of its demands, the Jaffna Association demanded the retention of the communal representation as the safeguard for the minorities. Arunachalam arranged a meeting between A. Sabapathy, president, Jaffna Association, James Peiris, president, Ceylon National Association, and E.J.Samarawickreme, president, Ceylon Reform League; it, however, failed to produce any agreement..." more

In events and negotiations leading up to the formation of the Ceylon National Congress and political reform, the Jaffna Association was the only Tamil representative body. Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam due to his considerable personal clout and reputation was rightly the president of the newly formed Ceylon National Congress (but not the Tamil representative). Hope this clarifies.

From: Vendan Kumararajah, Mitcham, Surrey,UK [[email protected] ], 18 October 2005

I refer to TamilNet's interview with Mr. V. Navaratnam on the 6th of October which you have published in your site. I could see an error in his recollection of the 1919 events. To my knowledge, it was the Jaffna Association and it's president Mr. A. Sabapathy who were representing the Tamils. Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was a Colombo based leader who wanted the Jaffna Association to drop it's core demand of group representation which was the only safeguard for the minorities. Also, the Ceylon National Congress was formed only after Jaffna Association agreed to the Sinhala demands. So the question of the Ceylon National Congress and it's leader being Tamil representative is factually incorrect. Should you require more information about that period, please let me know and I would be more than happy to contribute.
Also, if you are still looking for entries for great Tamil personalities, I would like to nominate Hon. Mr. A. Sabapathy.

Mr. A. Sabapathy was one of the founders of Saiva Paripalana Sabha, Jaffna Hindu College, Editor of Hindu Organ for over two and a half decades, President of Jaffna Association and Nominated Tamil Member of the Ceylon Legislative Council amongst many other things. Surely, his record of service to his community deserves a mention. He was also one of the figures who were instrumental in getting the Local Board to Jaffna and a member of it from its inception.

Response by tamilnation.org Here, the views expressed by Professor A. Jeyaratnam Wilson in his well researched paper on 'The Contribution of some leading Ceylon Tamils to the Constitutional and Political Development of Ceylon during the 19th and 20th centuries' at the First International Tamil Conference Seminar in Malaysia in 1966, may also be of interest -

"....On 11th December 1919, the Ceylon National Congress held its first sessions. Arunachalam was elected the first President. For the next few years' the Congress played an important role in the political life of the country. The Governor at this time, Sir William Manning had at various stages to negotiate with it in order to secure its co-operation to work the reforms of 1920 and 1923. This was an index to the strength and representative character of the Congress.

Shortly after the constitutional reforms of 1920 were announced, there developed differences of opinion between the Sinhalese and Tamil members of the Congress in the question of representation in the Legislative and this led to Arunachalam withdrawing from the National Congress along with the majority of the Tamil members of that organisation.

The Congress in a memorial to the Secretary of State for the Colonies alleged that Arunachalam had left the Congress because of "disappointed ambition`', because he had been frustrated in his plan to represent the Colombo constituency in the Legislative Council as a result of Mr. (later Sir) James Peiris offering himself for election.

In a letter to the Governor, Arunachalam denied these averments. He said, that having sat both in the Legislative and Executive Councils, a seat in the legislature had no attraction for him and far from this being the case, he was "anxious that younger man like Mr. James Peiris should have the opportunity of serving and gaining experience in the Legislative Council". "The sole reason for my withdrawing from the Congress" he added "was the subsequent breaking of the pledge" given by two leaders of this Congress (Mr James Peiris and Mr. E. J. Samarawickrema) on the basis of which the Tamils as a community had joined the National Congress. This pledge related to the question of adequate representation for the minority communities in the legislature..." [see also Tamil Eelam in 1922 - Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam]

From: Yesu Nesan [[email protected]] , Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 27 June 2005

I am a postgraduate student doing my masters in social work. recently I have visited Mandapam refugee camp for my project work. During my visit I came to understand that these people are suffering a lot in many ways. My study mainly focuses on the emotional problems faced by Tamil refugees in this camp. I will submit my report to the university and other various NGOs. I need to know the real problems and agonies facing refugees in these camps. I have also interviewed some people. I feel that a person like you will be knowing more about this. I request you to help me in this matter. I am not doing this work just to fulfill my acdemic requirements but because of the real burden faced by my Tamil people.

Response by tamilnation.org: You may find some matters of relevance in our Refugee Section. We ourselves do not offer interviews. You may also find useful information in the Yahoo Group - Tamil Refugees, as well as at The Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabiltation(OfERR) - Tamil Nadu.

From: Dr.N.Muthu Mohan, Reader & Head, Guru Nanak Devji Chair, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai , Tamilnadu, 25 June 2005

From: Dr. Jagadesan Pather, Director, Tamil Information and Cultural Centre, Durban, South Africa, 16 June 2005

Vannakam. Congratulations on a well organized website. Currently I am finalising a new web page called Tamil Afrika that will be of special interest to Tamils in this continent. In analysing a host of web pages I found that yours is the best. Keep it up; I intend to strongly recommend the page to our readers. Regards.

Response by tamilnation.org: We thank you for your encouragement and support. We wish you well in your efforts to nurture the togetherness of Tamils in South Africa.

From: Jyoti Gupta, Bangalore, Karnataka, India, 16 June 2005

Hello, I have visited your site http://www.tamilnation.org/ and we wish you well in promoting the culture and community of Tamil people all over the world. We are http://www.YourManInIndia.com , a Bangalore based concierge services provider for NRIs from the renowned 77-year-old TTK group. Our services came about as a response to a growing demand from NRIs living away from India, who were looking for trusted people to carry out their personal tasks in India for them, most of which included regular follow ups and quick response times. Many NRIs have benefited from our services and we wish to provide the same to your visitors too.

From: Kopinath, Colombo, 13 June 2005

அன்புடன் ஆசிரியருக்கு,

தமிழர்கள் தொடர்பான சகல தகவல்களையும் ஒரே இணையத்தளத்தில் கிடைக்கச் செய்யும் உங்கள் சேவையை உளமாரப் பாராட்டுகின்றேன். அதேவேளை உங்கள் (எங்கள் ?) இணையத் தளத்தில் ஆங்காங்கே பாரதூரமான எழுத்துப் பிழைகள் காணப்படுவதைச் சுட்டிக்காட்ட விரும்புகின்றேன்.

உதாரணமாக, "தமிழ் தேசியம்.அமை ... ஓர் வளர்கின்ற ஒன்றிணையம்" என்பதில் "ஓர் " என்பது "ஒரு" என்றிருக்க வேண்டும். உயிரெழுத்துக்களின் முன்னாலேயே ஓர் என்பது பாவிக்கப்படுகிறது. (தமிழ் தேசியமா அல்லது தமிழ்த் தேசியமா?) மேலும் இணையப் பக்கங்களின் தலைப்பு " தமிழ் தேசியம் ஓர் வழர்கின்ற ஒன்றிணையம் " என்று காணப்படுகின்றது. "வழர்கின்ற" என்பது தவறானதாகும். இது போல "தணிநாயகம் அடிகல், மரைமலை அடிகல்..." ("தலை நிமிர்ந்த தமிழர்கள்" பக்கத்தில்) என ஆங்காங்கே எழுத்துப் பிழைகள் தொடர்கின்றன. இது தொடர்பில் நீங்கள் கூடிய கவனஞ் செலுத்த வேண்டும் என நாம் எதிர்பார்ப்பதில் தவறில்லை என்பது என் அபிப்பிராயம் . அன்புடன், கோபி (கொழும்பு)

Response by tamilnation.org: We are grateful for your comments and for pointing out the errors - எழுத்துப் பிழைகள். We have now made the necessary corrections. As for 'தமிழ் தேசியமா அல்லது தமிழ்த் தேசியமா?' - we prefer to stay with தமிழ் தேசியம். மிக்க நன்றி.

From: M.Nithilaselvan, International Thirukkural Conference Committee, Washington USA, 31 May 2005

We, the Tamil Sangam of Greater Washington D.C, USA and other sponsoring organizations, will be conducting an International Thirukkural Conference (பன்னாட்டுத் திருக்குறள் மாநாடு) on July 8-10, 2005 near Washington D.C. USA.We are trying to let Tamil speaking communities all over the world know about this historic event. Since, Tamil communities all over the world visit your web site, we like to get your help to pass them the information about this Conference. For more information about the conference please visit the website http://www.thirukkural2005.org

Response by tamilnation.org: We have announced your conference in our Whats New page as well as in our Thirukural page. We wish the Conference much success and we wish you well in your commitment to serve the world wide Tamil community.

From: Thava Eliyathamby, Malaysia, 28 May 2005

Your group is doing a very great service for the Tamil Nation. I enjoyed a lot of the items at tamilnation.org. I pray to God for your continuing service to the Tamil people in the world. I could not find Swami Vipulananda's book called "Yarl Nool" in your web site. Thanking you

Response by tamilnation.org: Mikka Nanri. Regretfully, we have not been able to obtain an electronic text of "Yarl Nool". We have however updated the Swami Vipulananda page and you may find that of some interest. May God Bless.

From: Christopher Glenn, LVDID Project Recruitment, Linguistic Data Consortium
3600 Market Street, Suite 810, University of Pennsylvania, 25 May 2005

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for your assistance in recruiting Tamil speakers for our Linguistic Research. I want to also let you know that we are now accepting volunteers from Canada for our speech Collection study in Tamil! Previously, we had to turn some potential volunteers away, because our phone system was not able to dial out of the United States. Since that is no longer the case, I am hoping that those people are still interested and may even know other Canadian Tamil speakers who might enjoy participating with us. Therefore, may I ask that you repost our call for Tamil speakers to include Canadian Tamil speakers? We are looking forward to working with them! For additional information, please visit: http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/CallFriend2 Thank you so much for your help!

From: K.Kalai Rasan, Tamil Nadu, 24 March 2005

அன்புள்ள ஆசிரியர் அவர்களுக்கு வணக்கம். எனது பெயர் கி.காளை ராசன் காரைக்குடி அழகப்பா பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் உதவிப் பதிவாளரகப் பணியாற்று கிறேன். தமிழில் ஏம்.பில். பட்டம் பெற்றுள்ளேன். தங்களது இணையதளம் பார்த்தேன் மிகவும் நன்றாக உள்ளது வாழ்த்துக்கள்.

Response by tamilnation.org: Mikka Nanri.

From: Gwladys Savery, City University, London, 23 May 2005

I am doing an MA in journalism. I am writing a piece on an under reported story and I have chosen Sri Lanka as I am South Indian originally. I would like to ask you if I could speak to you over the phone to see with you what is the current situation there. How is it going with the Tamil Tigers? How is the crisis going since the tsunami? And I would like to know if you could advise me about maybe some Sri Lankan journalists or NGOs members.Thanks a lot, Regards.

Response by tamilnation.org: You may find some of information that you seek in the pages of this website and in particular in the Struggle for Tamil Eelam page. However, we do not offer phone interviews.

From: Sisira Jayasinghe, Los Angeles, USA , 23 May 2005

I am impressed with the contents of your great site. I have learnt a lot about the culture and social values of my friends. The poem on the header by "Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C" gave a great meaning to me. Thank you.

Response by tamilnation.org: Many thanks for your encouraging comments.

From: N.S.Narayanan, Singapore, 18 May 2005

I happened to go through tamilnation.org site by chance. I am very delighted and must commend the administrators of this site for the mammoth efforts invested in offering such service for the international Tamil and related communities. Tamil language is my passion and I am an avid supporter of good Tamil. I have been a broadcaster with the Tamil Radio service in Singapore for about 14 years and have been a journalist with the Tamil newspaper here for about 4 years. ... It is also very heartening to note that option to send comments in English or Tamil is offered at this site. It shows the seriousness of the site's mission. Congratulations!

I have written a comic book in Tamil for school children, which I am quite positive is the first of its kind to be published in Singapore. The story of the book entitled "Ponn Vilaiyum Mann Magal" (Land of Golden Opportunities) revolves around an individual Indian young man, who comes to Singapore as a construction worker to eradicate poverty back in his home.

This book was actually written to raise funds for needy childrens' educational assistance. As such, the cost of publishing the book was generously underwritten by the management committee of Darma Muneeswaran Temple in Singapore.

This 36 page book was written with the aim of promoting good language usage among Tamil students in schools. It could be read by students aged 10 onwards. A glossary of words used in the story are also give after the last page of the story. The cost of this full-colour book is S$5/- excluding freight charges.We are also trying to promote this book to all Tamil language speaking children around the world, as we feel that it would benefit them and interest them to read on other works. I think that there can be no better media than this site.

Those who may be interested in enhancing the growth of the language and undertaking a charitable cause to help other needy Indians here in Singapore, may contact me at the following e-mail address: [email protected].

Response by tamilnation.org: Many thanks for your comments. We have included a note of the book in the Tamil Nation Library - Language Section and also in our Singapore page. We wish you well in your efforts to benefit Tamil speaking children, living today in many lands. தமிழ் அகம் - ஓர் உணர்வா, அல்லது இடமா?

From: Rani Theeparajah, Canada, 11 May 2005

From: Jacquelene Netto, India, 10 May 2005

Vanakkam. I am an Anglo-Indian, married, working and doing M.Phil in Tourism Management. I just went through tamilnation.org. Its wonderful and simply superb. We are able to learn so much about Thiruvalluvar and His kurals are wonderful. He is indeed great. Such an esteemed personality who is still not been recognised amongst many. We should be proud to have Him stay in our state long, long ago. I am proud to be an Indian and then an Anglo-Indian. Congrats on all your efforts to put up the site with lavish and enriching works of Thirukural. God Bless India & all the Indians all over the world. With great affection to you all I remain.

Response by tamilnation.org: Many thanks for your kind words of support. May God Bless.

From: Dr. Kumar Ganesan, Christchurch, New Zealand, 10 May 2005

Please list the Canterbury Tamil Society web address in the tamilnation.org site.
www.CanterburyTamilSociety.org

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam..The Canterbury Tamil Society site has been listed in the Tamils - A Trans State Nation - New Zealand page - with our warm wishes for the success of your efforts.

From: Sebastian R. Wiliiams, Singapore, 6 May 2005

Vanakakam, I am proud to be a Tamil after visiting your website. Please let me add a few great gentlemen from Singapore whom I think should be on your list. 1. J. Y. Pillay - The man who made Singapore Airlines, responsible for contributing 25% of the country's GDP. Forbes & Asiaweek called him one of the most brilliant men in Asia. 2. Dr. A. Vijaratnam - Engineer who was responsible for the building of the Changi International Airport and Port Authority of Singapore (PSA).Thanking you

From: D.V.Babu, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, 4 May 2005

Vanakkam, It is great to see the enormous growth of your website in recent years. Not only for Tamil community, your site is very useful for the entire humanity. I wish you continued success in all your efforts to serve the Tamils all over the world.

I am running a website in Tamil for cookery information, from Nagapattinam. The address of the website is http://www.arusuvai.com. The mission of the website is, any information about food would be available here in Tamil. This is an ad-free website and I believe this is the first website in Tamil for cookery. I would be thankful if you place the link of my website in your site on the http://www.tamilnation.org/culture/cuisine/cuisine.htm page .

Response by tamilnation.org: மிக்க நன்றி. We have included a link to your site in our Tamil Cuisine page. We found your comments about your website of interest -

" இது போன்ற ஒரு இணையத்தளத்தினை ஆரம்பித்து நடத்த சென்னை போன்ற நகரங்களில்தான் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்ற நிலை சில வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பு வரை இருந்து இருக்கலாம்....இந்த இணையத்தளமானது பெரிய நகரமும் அல்லாத, சிறிய கிராமமும் அல்லாத நாகபட்டினம் சிறுநகரில் இருந்து தொடங்கி நடத்தப்படவுள்ளது. இதுபோன்ற இணையத்தளங்கள் இனிவரும் காலங்களில், சிறு சிறு கிராமங்களில் இருந்தும் தோன்றி வளர இது ஒரு முன்மாதிரியாக அமைய வேண்டும் என்பது இதன் உள்நோக்கம்."

From: Paul Kim, Toronto, Canada, 3 May 2005

Vanakkam! I am Paul Kim, a Korean language teacher living in Toronto, Canada, who is researching the similarity between Korean and Tamil.I want to know the history of Ayodhya Kuppam, a fishing village located between Chennai and Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu. There are two palces which have the same name of Ayodhya.Ayodhya is located in Uttar Pradesh, nothern India. Another is named Ayodhya Kuppam, near Chennai. My question is about Ayodhya Kuppam. Was the name of Ayodhya Kuppam the same as that of the period of Chola Kingdom, between A.D. 10 and A.D 50, about 2,000 years ago? Between AD 10 and A.D. 50, what an important accident such as war and natural disaster like tsunami happened around Ayodhya Kuppam and Kanchipuram, a major city then? I will appreciate your answering my questions. Nandri Vankkam! Tirumba Sandippum!

Response by tamilnation.org: We regret that we ourselves do not have the information that you request. You may want to post your query in the Agathiyar Discussion Group which is moderated by Dr.Jayabharathi who is very knowledgeable in matters such as this.

From: Siva Brabaakaran, Sydney, Australia, 3 May 2005

Hi, I have been visiting tamilnation.org from the beginning and the site keeps getting bigger and better. We operate a 24 hour Tamil Community Radio in Australia and we would appreciate if you could place the link in your site. Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (ATBC) is the first 24 hours Communtiy Radio run by more than 80 volunteers. ATBC web site is http://www.atbc.net.au

Response by tamilnation.org: Many thanks for your support. Actually the link to your site was already in the Diaspora - Australia page. We have now included the link in the main News page as well. We wish you and your volunteer group continued success with your efforts to serve.

From: Society of Confluence of Festivals of India, India 3 May 2005

I visited your page on Thai Pongal. There is a lot of great information regarding Pongal. I have a site http://www.pongalfestival.org/ dedicated to Pongal and were hoping that you might consider linking to us. Following are my site details: Title: Pongal Festival URL: http://www.pongalfestival.org - Pongal the harvest Festival of South India, find an overview on its celebrations, history, customs, preparation, receipes and more. A warm & loving Pongal wish!

Response by tamilnation.org: Mikka Nanri. As requested we have included the link in our Thai Pongal page.

From: Sarojini, United Kingdom, 29 April 2005

From: Bala Pillai, Sydney Australia, 28 April 2005

Vanakkam. Neenga oru surusurupaana Thamilarnaala ungalukkum unga minthala rasigargalukkum ithu oru mun arivippu - a sneak preview. Check out the new www.tamil.net -- it is in beta while we prepare for the public launch. One of several Asian Knowledge Economy Brands in-the-making. Would love to hear if the roadmap for a new Tamil beginning at http://www.tamil.net/node/67 resonates with those who make the Tamil world happen and those well on the way to be in this category, amongst your readers.

Response by tamilnation.org: You are one of the pioneers of Tamil in the internet and your relaunch of www.tamil.net will be looked forward with interest. We wish you well in your continued, energetic and persistent efforts in Tamil cyberspace. We remember with gratitude the support that you so readily extended us in our early days in 1998. Mikka Nanri.

From: Bhavna Luthra, India 26 April 2005

Attached Image is of an Art Book on Tirumala, Tirupati. This book titled "Tirumala Tirupati - the legends and beyond..." is scheduled to be in the South East Asian market by the last week of May 05. We will appreciate all the help and direction you can provide us to promote this book. Description "A hard bound 192 page art book consisting of over 300 photographs, illustrations, miniature paintings and architectural drawings. Legends, facts and narrations weave the images to capture the essence of the richest and most powerful temple in the world. The first book of its kind that aims at inspiring the believer, educating the information seeker and enlightening the curious. The book captures sites and glimpses of Tirumala. It tries to depict the past, describe the present and encapsulate the spirit of the people." The Publisher - Visual Quest India has a strong focus on publishing and VQI's clients in the publishing vertical include the largest tabloid newspaper in the world "Metro", one of North America's largest 3rd party administrators, India's premier communication provider VSNL and the Corps of Electronic and Mechanical Engineers - the technology wing of the Indian Army. You can also visit the link http://www.vqindia.com/tirumala/

Response by tamilnation.org: We will list the book in the Art & Architecture Section of the Tamil Nation Library

From: R. Yagneswaron, Mumbai, India 23 April 2005

I live in Mumbai. I wish to use Tamil soft ware for my personal use. Could you kinldy recommend me suitable software for download compatable with window XP? Are these softwares available free or have I have to pay for it? If I have to pay for it, what it is the procedure to buy the same. Please give me the details. Thank you.

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam. You will find some information and a range of software dowload links at Tamil Fonts & Software . One of the free software available for down load is e-Kalappai - you will also need to download the Tamil Unicode Keyboard Driver for e-Kalappai. You may find it helpful to read the review by Ram S. Ravindran . Additional information may be obtained by joining the e-Uthavi Discussion Group.

From: Gustav Bernard, South Africa 20 April 2005

I am a student, and I am doing work on Sri Aurobindo. I am naturally up against some of the standard notions by academics that if something is not purely logical, and not subjective, it cannot have validity. So I am building a case that the type of knowledge that Sri Aurobindo got through intuition is a valid way. One of the pieces of information I miss is details of where he stated or indicated that he obtained his knowledge through intuitive means. Could you perhaps help? Thanks.

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam. Though we ourselves have been influenced by Sri Aurobindo, we would hesitate to paraphrase his writings. One of the helpful summaries of his writings was that by P.B. Saint-Hilaire in the Evolution of Man. Aurobindo declared -

"...reason cannot arrive at any final truth because it can neither get to the root of things nor embrace their totality. It deals with the finite, the separate and has no measure for the all and the infinite.... Four main principles successively ' govern human conduct. The first two are personal need and the good of the collectivity. A conflict is born of the opposition of the two instinctive tendencies which govern human action: the individualist and the gregarious. In order to settle this conflict, a new principle comes in, other and higher than the two conflicting instincts, and aiming both to override and to reconcile them. This third principle is the ethical ideal. But conflicts do not subside; they seem rather to multiply. Moral laws are arbitrary and rigid; when applied to life, they are obliged to come to terms with it and end in compromises which deprive them of all power. Behind the ethical law, which is a false image, a greater truth of a vast consciousness without fetters unveils itself, the supreme law of our divine nature..."

Sri Aurobindo was always very emphatic in stating that only he could write truly about himself and you may obtain some useful insights from his book 'On Himself'. Another book, which in fact introduced us to Sri Aurobindo was Satprem's 'Adventure of Consciousness'. You may also find Oppenheimer's remarks in Science and Understanding helpful. We wish you well in your studies.

From: Christopher Glenn, LVDID Project Recruitment, Linguistic Data Consortium
3600 Market Street, Suite 810, University of Pennsylvania, 14 April 2005 [email protected]

I am writing to ask for help/advice in the recruitment of native Tamil speakers, residing in the Continental United States. I work for the University of Pennsylvania (www.upenn.edu) at The Linguistic Data Consortium (www.ldc.upenn.edu). We are a non-profit organization dedicated to linguistic research, and have recently launched a new telephone speech collection project called CallFriend2. The purpose of this project, like many of our past projects, is the collection of speech data to help build automatic systems for the identification of languages and certain dialects within languages. Tamil is one of 13 languages selected for the first phase of this project.

My goal is to find about 200 Tamil speakers in the U.S., who would be willing to register with us and make one 10 minute phone call to a friend or family member. The two Tamil speakers would converse on any subject that they wish for 10 minutes, and then we will use their conversation for our research. The project itself involves minimal effort from participants, and more information can be found at our project site http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/CallFriend2/ .

The Linguistic Data Consortium is prepared to offer a number of different ways to compensate for the collection of speech for this particular project. We can, for instance, pay an organization like yours $8 for every participant who is recruited by it (contingent upon the participant completing the study), or if the organization does not wish to be compensated, the particpants would be put into lottery drawings (in groups of 200 spanning all 13 languages) for $500 prizes.

I am hoping that this recruitment letter can be forwarded and posted widely. Our recruitment budget is fairly small, but I thought that by writing to your organization I might receive good contacts for groups, listservs, forums, etc. I look forward to hearing from anyone who may be interested in assisting linguistic research, or who may just want a free phone call to a friend or family member. Please feel free to reply to my email, or call our recruitment center at 1-800-380-PENN (7366). Thank you for your time and attention.

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam. We will post your message in our comments page. With all good wishes for your efforts..Regards..

From: Christian Noll, International Peace and Conflict Resolution, American University, School of International Affairs, 4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW , Washington, DC 20008, U.S.,14 April 2005

My name is Christian Noll, a graduate student at American University's School of International Service. I am conducting a case study of the conflict in Sri Lanka to examine the interactions between Tamil youth agency and LTTE norms of childhood. The following five questions comprise my study's Delphi technique, measuring my study's findings against the opinions of experts. I hope you will take the time to respond to this brief survey.

1) Is there a distinct Tamil definition of childhood existing apart from international norms which define a child as a person under the age of 18?

2) To what extent is the involvement of Tamil children and youth with the LTTE voluntary or involuntary?

3) How do the LTTE view Tamil childhood and youth?

4) How do LTTE perceptions of childhood interact with Tamil youth's self-images and desires?

5) Is LTTE not abiding by agreements to end recruitment of children a result of local definitions of childhood, or willful continuation of LTTE practice?

Please send your replies via email to this address, [email protected] . I look forward to reading them.

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam. We do not participate in surveys but you may find our pages on Human Rights, Humanitarian Law & the Tamil Nation of interest - in particular the pages relating to

Child Soldiers? What Child Soldiers?, 2004 ,

Child Soldiers and the Law:A Survey,2004 and

Tamil children orphaned by Sri Lanka's war and tsunami - and maligned by UNICEF! 2005.

Your assumption that 'international norms...define a child as a person under the age of 18' may be problematic in the context of child soldiers and the Geneva Conventions Additional Protocols of 1977, which impose a minimum age of 15 for recruitment into the armed forces of a state. Having said that, we found your reference to the Delphi technique of interest. We take it that you are not unaware of the concerns expressed about the Delphi Technique by Lynn Stuter-

"...In group settings, the Delphi Technique is an unethical method of achieving consensus on controversial topics. It requires well-trained professionals, known as "facilitators" or "change agents," who deliberately escalate tension among group members, pitting one faction against another to make a preordained viewpoint appear "sensible," while making opposing views appear ridiculous. In her book Educating for the New World Order, author and educator Beverly Eakman makes numerous references to the need of those in power to preserve the illusion that there is "community participation in decision-making processes, while in fact lay citizens are being squeezed out." .."

We also found Lynn Stuter's advice about 'How to Diffuse the Delphi Technique' of particular interest -

"Three steps can diffuse the Delphi Technique as facilitators attempt to steer a meeting in a specific direction. Always be charming, courteous, and pleasant. Smile. Moderate your voice so as not to come across as belligerent or aggressive.

Stay focused. If possible, jot down your thoughts or questions. When facilitators are asked questions they don't want to answer, they often digress from the issue that was raised and try instead to put the questioner on the defensive. Do not fall for this tactic. Courteously bring the facilitator back to your original question. If he rephrases it so that it becomes an accusatory statement (a popular tactic), simply say, "That is not what I asked. What I asked was . . ." and repeat your question.

Be persistent. If putting you on the defensive doesn't work, facilitators often resort to long monologues that drag on for several minutes. During that time, the group usually forgets the question that was asked, which is the intent. Let the facilitator finish. Then with polite persistence state: "But you didn't answer my question. My question was . . ." and repeat your question.
Never become angry under any circumstances. Anger directed at the facilitator will immediately make the facilitator the victim. This defeats the purpose. The goal of facilitators is to make the majority of the group members like them, and to alienate anyone who might pose a threat to the realization of their agenda. People with firm, fixed beliefs, who are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in, are obvious threats. If a participant becomes a victim, the facilitator loses face and favor with the crowd. This is why crowds are broken up into groups of seven or eight, and why objections are written on paper rather than voiced aloud where they can be open to public discussion and debate. It's called crowd control.

At a meeting, have two or three people who know the Delphi Technique dispersed through the crowd so that, when the facilitator digresses from a question, they can stand up and politely say: "But you didn't answer that lady/gentleman's question." Even if the facilitator suspects certain group members are working together, he will not want to alienate the crowd by making accusations. Occasionally, it takes only one incident of this type for the crowd to figure out what's going on....

This strategy also works in a face-to-face, one-on-one meeting with anyone trained to use the Delphi Technique."

From: Alyssa Cooper, John Hopkins University, USA 11 April 2005

Hello. I am currently working on an MPH thesis at Johns Hopkins and am studying the psychosocial interventions used by NGOs (local and international) in response to the Tsunami. I understand your time is valuable, but would greatly appreciate if you could provide any of the following information about your organization's psychosocial response. Identifiers will be removed from the answers before being used in the paper.

1. Basics (what is the program, when was it implemented, for how long and where).
2. How were participants selected?
3. What indicators will be used to measure success of the program?
4. Was this program developed using any specific model or framework?

Once again, thank you very much for your time!!

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam. You may want to contact the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation directly at http://www.troonline.org/en/ All good wishes for your research efforts.

From: www.numkitchen.com, 31 March 2005

From: Kate Amatruda, California, 27 March 2005

Please add the following link to your information about the impact of the tsunami in Sri Lanka: http://www.psychceu.com/tsunami/tsunamijournal.html . Tsunami - A visit to Sri Lanka - A humanitarian mission sponsored by the Association for Play Therapy and Operation USA

Response by tamilnation.org Vannakam. Your link has been included in our tsunami page. Warm Regards

From: Ne. Pu. Sivakumaran, United Kingdom, 18 March 2003

I list below two Tamil university academics' website which readers may find interesting and useful because of their interests in Tamil and Saivaism/Hinduism.

1. Pasupathy, S. University of Toronto Professor of Electrical Engineering - Home Page: http://www.comm.utoronto.ca/~pas

2. R Sri Ravindrarajah, BSc (Eng) (Sri Lanka), PhD (Sheffield)- Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at an Australian University http://www.eng.uts.edu.au/~ravir/

Also a news item about a Tamil doctor who returned from UK and is now doing yeoman service in Batticaloa - the article is "Lone Psychiatrist Works to Ease Mental Devastation"

From: A Visitor from Malaysia, 11 March 2005

Have you come across any books on moral values for children basd on the Thirukurral which are also colourfully illustrated? How can I get this information?Thanking you in advance for your help.

Response by tamilnation.org: Vannakam. You may want to try EVS book shop in Singapore - we did see some children orientated Thirukural books there some years back. However, we do not know the present position. Their address and contact is as follows: EVS Publishers, 16 Cuff Road Singapore 209727; Tel : 62915334 ; Fax : 62952105 They are listed on the web at
http://www.eguideglobal.com/sg/company.asp?company_id=141890&pcode= and there appears to be an email enquiry form.

Additionally you may want to try the World Tamil Women Organisation at 170-10 Cedarcraft Road, Suit11, Jamaica, New York 11432, USA - phone (718) 657 9463, fax (718) 523 7399, email [email protected] . WTMO have brought out some illustrated books for children on Konrai Venthan etc and they may be able to help.

If any visitors to tamilnation.org have any information in this regard and they email us, we will forward their responses to you. May God Bless.

From: Manoharan Kandasamy, California, USA, 7 March 2005

Vanakkam, I am Manoharan Kandasamy, working here in Bay Area of California state in software field for 25 years. I am hosting a weekly 3 hours radio program in Tamil through Stanford University FM Radio for the benefit of Tamil community. This program can be heard in FM radio at 90.1MHz locally, as well as through Internet stream during program period. Archived program can be heard (usually after 2 days, to stream and upload into server) at any time by visiting www.siliconsolai.com. This week (03/08/05), an interview with Prof. George Hart by Kumar Kumarappan, Fremont, CA will be aired on the subject 'Tamil as a classical language'. I would like to share this information with you so that if any one is interested can listen to this program. Any comments on the program are welcome.

From: Shyama, United Kingdom, 25 February 2005

Vannakam. I am looking for the Tamil equivalents for a few English medical terms: viz. Hormones, Chromosomes, Screening Test, and Down's Syndrome. I would be grateful for any assistance from visitors to your site.

Response by tamilnation.org :We will be happy to forward to Shyama any responses that visitors to this site mail to us.

From: Doctor Mahendran, United Kingdom, 23 February 2005

While browsing as I always do, I stumbled across a book review by Sachi Sri Kantha on Bradman Weerakoon's Rendering unto Caesar. I wish to congratulate your web site for publishing such an incisive account on the book. In fact reading the book now, will give me an added dimension to view the writing more purposefully. Keep up this excellent service.Thank you.

From: Thanasegaran Sithambaram, Malaysia, 23 February 2005

Dear Friend, I have just read few things here and there at your web site and was quite taken up by the contents. I was actually browsing around the net looking for some Tamil friends from Europe especially France. I lived in Vienna for a short while and made some great Tamil friends and still keep in touch with them. I'm Thanasegaran from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I studied Tamil from standard one to Upper Six (A Level) which is 13 years. But these days I only read news papers on weekends but I have never lost touch of the language which is my mother tongue. I will be visiting your site from now on and would be grateful if your site could provide some service for meeting new friends as well. Please give it thought ...Till then, vaazhga Valamudan.

Response by tamilnation.org : Many thanks for your comments. You may find the groups and chat sites listed in the Tamil National Forum Page of interest.

From: Dr Selvaraj Velayutham, Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, Parramatta Campus EBa, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC NSW 1797, 18 February 2005

Dear tamilnation.org, I am currently researching for a paper on "The virtual presence of the Tamil diaspora". I am interested in finding out the types of tamil communities that exists on the internet, the kinds of service they provide, and issues they raise. I would appreciate if the visitors (especially overseas Tamils) to your website can comment on what do the Tamil websites do for them in their everyday life. It will be helpful if the respondents identify the country they are residing.

Response by tamilnation.org : The subject of your research is of great interest - and of great value. We will be happy to do all that we can to help your efforts. Visitors to tamilnation.org may contact you directly or if they email us, we will forward their responses to you.

Visitors to tamilnation.org may also find the following of interest -

1.Dr. R. Harindranath (University of the West of England and presently at Melbourne University) presented a paper on "Virtual Nationalism: diaspora, deterritorialisation and tamilnation.org" at the First International Conference on Communication and Reality, in Barcelona, Spain in May 2000 and the paper was published in Tripodos.

2. Maya Ranganathan's 'Potential of the Net to Construct and Convey Ethnic and National Identities: Comparison of the Use in the Sri Lankan Tamil and Kashmir Situations' as well as her comments on this page.

3. More recently Ashwini Vasanthakumar has written on "Speaking for the Homeland: the Political Activism of Tamils in Toronto"

4. Piet Bakker on New Nationalism: The Internet Crusade, 2001

5.Scott Crawford and Kekula Bray-Crawford on Self Determination in the Information Age and

6. Oivind Fuglerud on Life on the Outside : The Tamil Diaspora and Long-Distance Nationalism

From: See Swee Lan, Senior Research Engineer, Institute for Infocomm Research, 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Singapore, 16 February 2005

I am glad to locate you from your website http://www.tamilnation.org/diaspora/singapore.htm We are doing research and development in Speech Technologies. We are currently looking for one full/part time Singaporean Tamil-and-English linguist to join us. Can you help to recommend or disseminate this message to your fellow colleagues, friends or / and family members? We are based in Singapore, in the campus of National University of Singapore. If someone is interested, can you kindly advise them to email [ [email protected] ] me a resume? We'd reply and shortlist suitable candidate(s) to come for job interview. Thanking you in anticipation. Best regards.

From: JJ's Choice. 14 February 2005

On your web page "Future of Self Determination" I notice the following: "4.....If self-determination is an internationally recognized principle, why does it not apply to the people of West Iran, East Timor, Tibet, Kashmir and other territories, as it has..." I wonder if "West Iran" shouldn't be "West Irian" (Western New Guinea, or West Papua).

Response by tamilnation.org :

Vannakam. Many thanks for pointing out the error. We have now made the correction.

From: [email protected] , 7 February 2005

Dear Sir, The Information below which is an excerpt from your website, does not give the right information - which I have underlined. E. V. Ramasamy Naicker, is not a Kannadiga but he belongs to a Naidu family of Erode Town in Tamilnadu, and Mr. Karunanidhi belongs to a community called Pillai as called in Tanjore district now Nagapattinam , which is a a 100% Tamil caste , so does Mr. Annadurai who belongs to the Mudaliar Community of Kanchipuram, Rest all true. Kindly change the Information given in your website. I would also like to tell you that I am not a communal shamanist. I gave this Information just because your effort should not be misleading. Sincerely

"Enslaved Tamil Nation

Karnataka Tamils under the grip of the Dravidian ideology stood stunned, benumbed and dismayed over the turn of events over the last three decades. They could not find a way out of the drifting sands. Events gradually led them to look at the Dravidian tale of Tamil-Kannada natal ties with mistrust and discover that it suits only the non-Tamils to yoke the Tamils in Tamilnadu. They realised that Tamilnadu has let them down.

How could an enslaved nation redeem its kinsmen elsewhere? They realised that the Dravidian ideology was chosen and nursed by a Malayali T. M. Nair and a virulently Telugu Pitty Thyagaraja Chetty of the former Justice Party, and fostered by E. V. Ramasamy Naicker (a Kannadiga), C. N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi, (both Telugus), M. G. Ramachandran (a Malayali) and Jayalalitha (a Kannada Brahman on her mother's side), Tamils have thus lost their very linguistic Tamil national identity through the Dravidian trap.

On the contrary, Kannada, Telugu and Malayali ethnic consciousness grew strong with the formation of the new States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala"

Response by tamilnation.org : Many thanks for your information. The excerpt that you have corrected appeared in the writer Guna's article entitled What Caused Veerappan? written in October 2000. We have now included your correction as a boxed note to the paragraph in question. Mikka Nanri.

From: Sara Ananthan, Australia 30 January 2005

As a request, could it be possible to include the Tsunami Poem by Kavignar Kasi Ananthan with the other Tsunami poems in the Tamil Nation website? I listened to him in the IBC Tamil website. In this poem, he talked about the heart wrenching human loss suffered at the Navalady village in the East. In addition, he also talked about a temple dedicated to Kadal Achchi (Sea Grandmother) at this Navalady village and its worship.

This worship may have been the vestige of an ancient Kumari Amman worship that was prevalent from the Tamil Sangam age as mentioned in the article at the web site http://www.intamm.com under the heading History. It was said that amongst our brethren in the Eastern Tamil Eelam, the uncorrupted pure Tamil words of the Tamil Sangam age are well preserved and still in vogue such as Eluvan Karai and Paduvan Karai. These poems are also a tribute to our contemporary Tamil poets, Puthuvai Rathinathurai, Kavignar Kasi Ananthan and Arivumathy as they eternally represent and reflect the throbbing pulse of a people whom they dearly love. These poets in addition to portraying the hope, sorrow and happiness of their beloved people, fulfill an immense historical duty by forewarning the society of dangers and pitfalls ahead as they live through with their people in this historical journey for freedom. The Tsunami poem by Puthuvai is an example.

In the words of Arundhati Roy, "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing". If we listen to our poets on silent nights, we the Tamil society that is represented by these eternal poets will not go wrong.

Response by tamilnation.org : We have now included the link to Kavingar Kasi Ananthan's Tsunami Poem in the சுனாமி கவிதைகள் page . Mikka Nanri.

From: Sara Ananthan, Australia, 23 January 2005

As our Tamil poet laureate Kannadasan said so beautifully in those memorable lines "Natporulai Thedi Civanthana Ganiar Nencham" (நற்பொருளைத் தேடி சிவந்தன ஞானியார் நெஞ்சம்), this "Thedal"or "Search for Multifaceted Knowledge" is very important in one's life. For this Thedal one only needs to visit the tamilnation.org web site which provides all the material and the relevant links. In this era of mind altering media onslaught, which is unashamedly proclaimed as 'public opinion shaping', truth is the first casualty. tamilnation.org is the eternal sun in the galaxy of web sites that shine in the cyber space to share our side of the story and to bring about a growing togetherness in the Tamil Diaspora. We, the Tamil community are indebted to you for providing this invaluable service at this critical time of our history. The coverage of the Tsunami disaster by tamilnation.org is exemplary. The Tsunami poems as you have rightly described, reflect the healing power of poetry. The Tsunami Poem by Puthuvai is outstanding and portrays the current situation aptly. Other poems also depict the soul wrenching pangs felt by this disaster. But one is disappointed with the poem by Mu. Karunanidhi... more

From: Cherrie Alexander, Kerala [[email protected]], 15 January 2005

Who reads this, I will never know, but after the tsunami, I pledge you to retain the Dravida land not as Tamil Nadu or Dravida Nadu but as Tamil Rashtra. I am destined for it and I know this land before it was made - no it is not madness. I will work with each and every Tamil leader born till I unite my people.God is with me and I know it. Do you want to see his power? I pledge to get this land freedom. It is my nation and no one can stop me from that. I am a Syrian Christian orthodox, from Travancore but I know it is my war and I have to fight it now - the time has come. I have never loved the Tamil cause but today I know Vaiko was right, it is even great if he my Drona stands with me because I know it is my war and no evil can touch me.

From: Kundavi Sandrasegaran, Malaysia, 12 January 2005

From: Rajeev Prabhakaran, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 10 January 2005

To begin with I would like to commend you on the brilliant website where Tamils across the world are being given a platform where they can understand Tamil and the greatest Tamils. I was particularly impressed with the '100 Tamils' section which gives due credit to the greatest Tamils in different categories.I was equally appalled to find that in the area of Art the name of Shree K.R.Venugopal Sharma - the legendary painter who depicted the great 'Thiruvalluvar'..the only ever depiction, was not included. His work on Thirvalluvar has been accepted as the only depiction of the poet worldwide. The government of Tamil Nadu in fact issued a stamp with the same picture and made it mandatory for all government offices, schools, courts and police station to keep the picture depicted by the great artist genius.Truly Shree Venugopal Sharma is the only painter of his time to achieve this kind of legendary prominence. I am sure you will agree that he needs to find place on the top of any list compiled on the greatest Tamils.

Response by tamilnation.org : We have now included Shree Venugopal Sharma in the Art & Sculpture category. Many thanks for your supportive comments.

From: Alisa Stack-O'Connor [email protected] , USA, 5 January 2005

I'm writing about the women of the LTTE and have found several references to statements by Pirabakaran and other Tamil leaders about the role of women in the LTTE, but I can't find the actual statements. Where should I look for official LTTE doctrine on/about women? I have The Will to Freedom by Adele Balasingham, but can't find her other book, Women Fighters of Liberation Tigers. How can I obtain it? Is there a LTTE political representative in the Washington, DC area? Thanks for your help.

Response by tamilnation.org : The ISBN of Adele Anne's book 'Women Fighters of Liberation Tigers'. is 1-897800-00-3 and you may be able to obtain a copy, perhaps from the US Congress Library. As you know, the LTTE is banned in the US and we imagine that it is unlikely that there is a LTTE political representative in the Washington DC area. However, the LTTE is not banned in Sri Lanka and given the resources available to you, it may be possible for you to contact the Political Wing of the LTTE in Killinochchi with the assistance of the US Embassy in Colombo. Visitors to tamilnation.org may ofcourse want to get in touch with you directly if any of them have the information that you request - more so because it appears that you are an academic of some standing in the area of counter terrorism at the US National Defence University, a speaker at Grinnel College courses and also because you served as Assistant Director, Counter-Terrorism Policy for the Office of the US Secretary of Defense. We thank you for your interest in tamilnation.org and we regret our inability to be of greater assistance.

[see also earlier Visitor Comments: 2004]