Black and Bright and Beautiful

[RM. Krishnan]

At 03:24 PM 11/14/00 +0000, you wrote:
>On Tue, 14 Nov 2000 07:01:28 +0530, RM. Krishnan <poo at GIASMD01.VSNL.NET.IN>
>wrote:
>
> >Without knowing (?) the basic meaning, Tamil Brahmins (especially the
> >mothers) do call children as 'kaNNa'. They think they are referring to
> >Krishna. But then both Krishna and kaNNa are different rendering of the
> >same. - black. It is as if calling a child with love as 'Blacky'.
> >
> >Interesting, is it not? 'En kaNNullE, En kaNNuk kutti'
>
>I always thought that kaNNa was related to Kanha, Kanhaiya, which is listed
>as the tadbhav form of "Krishna", also refers to blue and black. I also
>don't think anyone is under any mis-impression of what Kanna or Krishna
>means -- when I noticed as a four-year old that I was dark-skinned and
>different from the American children around me (and dark-skinned relative my
>family) my mother told me about Krishna, how he was special and how he had
>dark skin.  So I doubt that far more learned Brahmins would be as dumb as
>you suggest.
>
>Chauvinism whether "Dravidian" or "Aryan" or "Tamilian" or "Sanskritic" is
>offensive, even more so when it masquerades as scholarship.  I'm surprised
>that the rest of the list has remained silent, but I'm sure they couldn't
>care less if "pimply green toad" turned out to be a term of endearment, no
>matter how much "scholarship" was behind it.
>
>-Arun Gupta

Dear Mr. Gupta,

You have completely misunderstood the point I was making and started
attributing non-existent motives in your last paragraph. I am surprised as
to how an innocuous expression can be misunderstood. If it had been
otherwise, I would not have written Krishnan alias KaNNan, when I signed.

What I was stating was quite simple.

Whatever be the skin colour of the child, mothers (including Brahmin ones)
often call their child 'kaNNa' as a mark of endearment. So our parents' are
stating that blackness is not something to be ashamed off . Black can be
bright and beautiful too. That I find it interesting and thought provoking,
since it shows basic human decency through a mother's expression.

With regards,
RM.Krishnan