“Nainaava ittugunu poriya?” (Will you take your father and go?)
“Vootanda poi thunnuttu varen” (I will go home, eat and come)
“En kaila wraang pannada” (Don’t mess with me)
“Anga ore galeejaakudubaa, inna poyappo!” (It’s really yucky there, what kind of a job is that!)
Some say it is as old as Madras itself, while many consider it a post-Independence phenomenon.
Unlike those in Madurai or Coimbatore, Chennaiites may not speak a specific variant of Tamil, but if there is a language that is truly Chennai, it has got to be Madras Tamil or ‘Madras bashai’.
Though far from being a regional dialect, an elaborate Wikipedia entry and a Facebook page with over 2,000 ‘likes’ clearly show how popular Madras Tamil is. The origins of this spoken dialect could be traced to the time the British arrived here nearly four centuries ago, but it grew only after the 1950s, say scholars.
Anchored in the maze of George Town where the dialect, along with trade, flourished in its most natural form, Madras Tamil has travelled far and wide.
Willingly embracing words from languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Telugu and Sanskrit, it has become quite an amalgam of sounds and intonations, some familiar and others, hardly heard.
“A local dialect spoken in a multilingual context” — this is how V. Arasu, head of department of Tamil literature, University of Madras, describes Madras Tamil.
“This language grew after the 1950s, when the city began developing. Labourers living in north Chennai slums, who needed to communicate with businessmen from different regions, picked up many words from their vocabulary,” he says.
Prof. Arasu, who specialises in modern Tamil literature, social history and Tamil, and Tamil media studies, says: “We must understand that this is not a regional dialect. We see it being spoken more in the slums of Chennai. Madras Tamil has grown very organically, unlike the Tamil spoken in FM channels which is artificial, pretentious and horrible.”
Poet-lyricist Vairamuthu says: “This is a language spoken by people who are not educated. All they know is hard work.” They pull (istugunu) the cart so they can have a meal (tunnartukku).
“Like Chennai is a congregation of people from different parts of the State, Madras Tamil is a mix of different languages — those which labourers picked up at different points,” he says.
However, Mr. Vairamuthu believes that with better education and employment opportunities for the working class, the language might die a slow and natural death, over time.
But the fact that it is thriving could be attributed to its vibrant spoken form, Prof. Arasu says. “As long as a language is spoken every day, its functionality will ensure its continuance,” he says.
Madras Tamil’s flavour and appeal may draw many fans, but the fact that it is still used by some people in every day communication is what really matters. “Take the words poikkondu irukkiren for example. It could be split into three words, but in Madras Tamil, it shrinks and becomes simpler — poikkunu [kiren],” he says.
Tamil literature and cinema have, from time to time, portrayed characters that speak Madras Tamil in order to appeal to a wider audience. Writer Jayakanthan, in several of his works, has captured the lives of simple people speaking Madras Tamil, often ushering in a sense of informality and warmth.
Actors Cho Ramaswamy, Thenga Srinivasan, Manorama and N.S. Krishnan were known for the ease with which they could speak this variant, instantly striking a chord with the audience. Kamal Haasan, too, included a liberal dose of Madras Tamil in films such as Vasool Raja and Pammal K Sambandam.
While only a section of Chennai’s population speaks this language, there is, perhaps, no one in Chennai who is not familiar with the dialect. A form of Tamil that began in north Madras, it has gradually spread to other pockets as well.
It is largely confined to the working class. It is very much the language of labour of Chennai. As Mr. Vairamuthu puts it: “The form will thrive and flourish until the time of the last labourer in this city.”
Keywords: Madras Tamil, Chennai dialect
Mr. B. Sriram !
Thanks for your wise comment about the unwanted, costly and destruction of the brand name of Madras that changing it to C has caused! As you see, we still call the local lingo Madras bashai !
Madras bashai is one of the many facets of Madras that defined a native of the city. Along with perhaps institutions like Safire theatre, Woodlands and PTC buses to name a few. Even though I have lived in Europe for more than 3 decades, when I meet my buddies from the city -"vadhyare" from Madras we invariably lapse into Madras bashai and reminisce about the wonderful heritage of that city. And invariably some one is bound to retort " Dai unna madri imma pere naan pathikkuren" !
Sir,
Iam a madarasi for the last 74 years. I love madras and madras Bhashai.
Except for a handful of vagrants among them, most of them are large
hearted and ready to help. Even today if there is a road accident all
the people will run away from the spot or just onlookers but Madras
fellow " Inna ithu, Evan adichu pottuttu poottan, kasumalam, Ayi damu
Tookuappa , aaspathrikku isthukinu pogalam"( What is this some loafer
has done hit and run. Let us take him to hospital). This is their
culture. I love it
Bala
at the outset i thank mr.V.Suresh for remembering our great city as Madras rather than chinese like C.Madras bashai,Madras high court,university of Madras are a few names able to retain the old flavour.Madras Bashai originated from George Town where nerchanting community from Telugu,Hindi speaking areas converged.As Mr.Vairamuthu states labourers picked up often used words to tie up the Madras Bashai which is spoken only language.Hindi words like naastha,kalleju, kasmalam ,beijar came into the vocabulary as also naina from telugu.I love this bashai which helped labourers converse freely as chaste tamil could have been rather difficult for them.My nephews living abroad make their annual holiday visits nad when we meet they want me to speak in Madras Bashai to the extent possible.Chandra Babu was a great exponent followed by Thengai srinivasan,loose mohan,Cho,Kamal,manorama,satya etc.But people who speak this language are innocent slum dwellers who are ready to give a helping hand to needy
Whatever vairamuthu and Prof.Arasu have mentioned would be true, and spoken Tamil
language could be maneuvered easily with a will to change it. Living example is myself. I was
raised near it andhra borders, but speak Tamil as my mother tongue. When I emmigrated out
to a different state, where I had an opportunity to interact with other Tamil friends, hailing
from southern districts of tamilnadu. They could not understand many of my words and
asking me, if I was Tamil ancestarily. With several such moments of embarrassments, I
asked myself, to perfect my own mother tongue, at least to any reasonable extent so that I
am respected or recognized as a person with Tamil as mother tongue, ancestorily. My
sincere paying of attention and thinking about right Tamil words and pronunciations, I have
far improvised my slang better, with a sense of love to cherish the language to which I
belong it. I related it to my own self esteem to speak good Tamil. I correct my parents when
they speak to me.
I have been asked by more than one occasion By the madrasi auto man"Vooteley Sollikinu vantaya".Till date I could not figure out what he really wanted from me as a reply.I asked him once to clarify.He has
no answer excepting to say it is used by asked by every one .Perhaps no
reply is needed.May be I have to tell my family members that The driver
wanted to tell you before leaving the house and I am 'Sollikinu
poren that is all."I think it is something like telling "Poittu varen"whenever we leave the house.Our elders always insist that
we say those words of assurance of coming back,safe and sound.
Perhaps this is what the driver also wanted when he askks"sollikinu
vandya"
I left Madras more than 3 decades ago and have such fond memories of Madras
Bashai. It was spoken at my school when we played with tops or marbles in the
playground or played that fast paced game 3 pitch.
Madras will always be Madras for me - I never use that new name for my dear town
which starts with C.
//Go to Northern India or as a matter of fact any other Country...the middle class communicates in the common language.//
I don't agree with prasanna in the above statement.As it is evident in every state and in every language this kind of exploitation of language is happening.we can find this in many Hindi movies too.For, instance we can take Hyderabad and Mumbai where the same thing happens.
How can you miss the name?? Loose Mohan is the coolest madras bashai expert - the others far behind him.
Sivakumar
In Chennai most shops , restaurant are not even playing Tamil Songs.
Especially in Malls shops like Westside, Reebok, Addidas etc., they
will play only Engish & Hindi songs.
It is considered cheap or not Hep for them to play local language
song. When asked they say it is their company policy.
Many banks do not have their call centers which have Tamil as an
option in the ivr menu.
Even worse is in Nilgris supermarket & other supermarkets all the dhal
names are refered to Hindi names, so when I was sent to fetch passi
paruppu, i could not find it and even the sales girls and to confirm
with their manager if moong dhal and passi paruppu are one and the
same.
The Truth is now if you know only Tamil it is not easy to get by in
Chennai & our Government and Political Parties are happy if the Name
board is in Tamil and inside you can murder Tamil who cares.
Ennatha soli ennatha
Two things worry me.
Firstly the write-up itself lacks purpose. It's as if someone decided the topic will be
cool before deciding what needs to be written. Apart from attributing the "dialect" to
class and a quote from a Professor that's so vague, there is no construction of
narrative. A few declarative sentences sewn together usually don't find place in The
Hindu.
Secondly, the comment above by Mr Prasanna is even more worrying. That the
middle and upper classes in Madras speak English has a long and cherished history
starting from the times of the Justice Party. Even if such a history weren't in place,
how or why it bothers an individual is not clear. And rightly or wrongly, English has
become the way in which we consume cutting edge knowledge. To wait for that
knowledge to be translated in Tamil before consuming it will be a spectacularly
stupid waste of time and initiative. And how is a possibly tacit approval to Nuclear
Power a sign of apathy?
Pure Tamil has the origin of Divine Language Sanskrit.It belongs to the southern states.But Madras the present Chennai is a place of migrants mainly from Andhra and the old dwellers of Madras Viz Fishermen. These people had no formal education and spoke whatever they can communicate. There was no discipline in their language. That is why the present status of Tamil in low ebb.The mockery of the slum's Tamil has become a fashion in most residents of chennai. Hence the city!
Tamil is a great language as evidenced by its literary richness.Purananuru, silapadikaram, Kamba Ramayanam, Nalayira dhivaya
Prabandham,Periyapuranam are written in Tamil and appreciated by all around the world.Even today many Tamil scholars and learned professors
talk in that language and no doubt we are thrilled when we listen to them
in many conferences and seminars.But even these scholars tend to stoop
down by talking in Madras tamil,in TV pattimanrams, may be to become
popular among the masses.Actually Tamil true to its worth has been
awarded the classical ststus.But people here have not been made to
realise this greatness.The press like The hindu with the help of
great Tamil professors should propagate the greatness of classical
Tamil so that Madras Tamil Vanishes in the years to come.
Though I appreciate difference, making a dysfunctional accent mainstream is worrisome. More worrisome is the attitude exhibited by second generation Chennaiites, especially the middle and upper class with their pre inclination for English as a language of the learned and a condescending attitude towards adoption of Tamil as a Form of communication with common man.
I sometimes wonder if Chennaiites consider themselves more British than the British themselves. Go to Northern India or as a matter of fact any other Country...the middle class communicates in the common language. To me Chennai and its language preference is more like a marriage of convenience and a paradox. Tamils are an alien breed in their own land. This is not some right wing anger, this is about the lack of warmth and camaraderie amongst the Tamils themselves. As always reflected by apathy towards sensitive issues down South (like Kudankulam protest) and recent SL ethnic cleansing.
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