‘Enjoy Enjaami’ a welcome start, say Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha Tamils
The Hindu
‘A spark’ that could lead to greater awareness of Tamil community’s struggles
When ‘Enjoy Enjaami’ fame Arivu from Chennai recently joined a virtual discussion with a group of activists and youth from Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha or hill country Tamil community, there was one person binding them and their histories — Valliamma, Arivu’s grandmother. She is named in the song that has got over 200 million views since its YouTube launch two months ago. The viral number has intrigued listeners about her story — she was among the Indian-origin Tamils who laboured in Sri Lanka’s tea estates and was later repatriated back to India, with not a patch of land to call her own after years of hard work. Thousands like her returned, and several thousands remained in Sri Lanka, plucking tea every day, building its export-reliant economy. The song merely names Ms. Valliamma, but could be a spark that begins telling the story of the Malaiyaha Tamils, according to Saumyaa Vilashini Muthulingam, a Kandy-based activist working on plantation rights and gender issues, who took part in the discussion. And that is significant, because Tamil Nadu has had little appetite to learn about the struggles of this community, she recalls.More Related News
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