A group of professionals from various fields assembled in the city recently to figure out what stopped them from signing their names in Tamil, their mother tongue. Among those gathered were school teachers, college professors, bank and Government employees, IT professionals, doctors, lawyers, stage artistes and theatre activists, who could not really attribute a reason to this. A majority of educated people find it convenient to sign official documents such as bank or passport applications in English, while others use a thumb impression. Signatures in Tamil are far and few.
A band of youth volunteers is trying to encourage people to do so. The team is approaching people individually and in groups to convince them to sign in Tamil instead of a foreign language.
“We should be proud of the rich legacy of our language,” says U Sagayam, vice chairman of Science City, Chennai, who is spearheading the campaign as leader of Makkal Pathai, a social reformation group. “Tamil society is in slumber and we need to bring back the connect,” he says. Cautious that the campaign does not go against any ethical background or other languages, he says the idea is to only awaken Tamil pride. “Look at any European country,” he says, “The French sign in French and the Germans in German. Why isn’t this the case with Tamils?” The thought had been niggling him ever since the jallikattu issue united Tamils across caste, religion and political divide.
At Happy Street in Madurai, people joined Tamil signature drive | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
This month, Makkal Pathai volunteers fanned out to 32 districts in the State urging people to put their signatures on every document in Tamil. “Most people will start with bank accounts and we will also help them with the procedure,” says Poorna Parthasarathy, a volunteer in the city.
Those willing to switch to Tamil signatures for all purposes are to pledge their commitment by signing in a Makkal Pathai form. The volunteers go around collecting the signatures at bus stands, parks, railway stations, markets, kalyana mandapams, academic institutions and hospitals, and on the streets. Like P Sujatha, who, on a train to Nagapattinam, got talking about the signature campaign and many co-passengers in the coach immediately signed the form in support.
Young children join the Tamil signatures drive | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Another two volunteers returned with 750 signatures in two hours from an Uzhavar Sandhai in Madurai. The Happy Street event last Sunday was a perfect venue for the volunteers to talk to people and convince many. Likewise, signatures are being collected from each district, other States, and from the Tamil diaspora in 30 other countries. The drive will continue till the one crore mark is reached. So far, 30,000 signatures have been collected from all over the world.
The big day is, however, slated for this Gandhi Jayanthi when the team is aiming to create a Guinness Record. All signatures collected in other places will be brought to SIGA in Kilpauk, Chennai, where an expected 7,500 people are likely to gather on October 2 and sign in Tamil to create a record for highest number of signatures in one language at one go. Celebrities from the world of cinema, literature and sports are expected to lead the activity.
“Your signature is your identity and should not be made a tool of cultural hegemony,” says Sagayam. Many North Indians sign in Hindi, Bengalis also do so in their mother tongue,” says Sagayam, who has been signing in Tamil ever since he joined the bureaucracy two decades ago.