Latest posts by Mathy Kandasamy
The Jallikattu Protests in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu Are Not Merely About a Bullfight
"People finally have become bulls to reaffirm their self-respect, determination and identity."
Sri Lanka: A Suppressed Nation
Access to many Sri Lankan IDP camps are still limited to the international journalists and aid workers and the information are suppressed. So it is hard to hear the voices from these IDP camps. Regini David, a human rights, women and workers' rights activist, has been working with vulnerable people for the past 23 years. In her blog, ‘Unheard Voices‘, she has started writing about the very unheard voices from Sri Lanka, voices of the people she worked with.
India, Sri Lanka: Temple Festivals on both sides of the Palk Strait
Temple festivals are an integral part of life for Hindu Tamils, across the countries they live in. The following photo essay captures a few moments of these festivals. From Rakwana in Sri Lanka, a temple car festival in photographs by ‘Irakuwanai’ Nirshan. One of the focal points of the festival...
Sri Lanka: Stop the War on Journalists
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), an organization which aims to protect and strengthen the rights and freedoms of journalists is calling for a Global Day of Action on the 10th of April, titled Stop the War on Journalists in Sri Lanka. IFJ has asked it's friends and colleagues to participate...
Tamil Blogosphere: Anuratha's ongoing battle with breast cancer
Tamil Blogdom is generally considered to be a place to have ‘fun’. A bunch of people standing around in groups discussing politics, movies, music, technology. A different set of people sit together talking about literature and churning out poetry and short-stories. Yet another group can be seen jumping around bursting...
Sri Lanka: Death of LTTE's Thamilselvan
Thamilselvan, Tamil Tigers’ political wing head was killed along with five of his colleagues on Friday. [link: BBC]. Thamilselvan was the public face of the LTTE and his death has devastated many Tamils. However, as is in the case of such men, his death also highlights the controversial role of...
Sri Lanka: Anuradhapura, Terrorism and Hillary Clinton
On October 22, an air force base at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka was attacked by a Tamil Tiger suicide squad. [News: BBC]. According to BBC, Tamil Tigers claimed to have destroyed eight aircraft including spy places while losing 21 of their fighters. According to the Sri Lankan Government just two helicopters...
Celebrating festivals, feasting and donating smiles
Last Saturday Muslims all over the world celebrated Eid ul-Fitr that marks the end of Ramadan. Abul Kalam Azad a Chennai blogger shares his experiences. His children eagerly distributing festival sweets to friends and neighbours, His youngest daughter preparing a project detailing Ramadan with her non-muslim friend's help. Azad ponders...
India: Tamil Blog Camp in Chennai
On August 5th 2007 tamilbloggers.org conducted a blogcamp in Chennai, India. More than 300 people attended the blogcamp Almost double the number expected. Tamil Blogs have been in vogue for around four and a half years. In the beginning almost all initiatives to propagate blogging in Tamil took place on...
Tamil Blogosphere: The Cheroot Store
The Cheroot is a cylindrical cigar with both ends clipped during manufacture. Since cheroots do not taper, they are inexpensive to roll mechanically, and their low cost makes them particularly popular. The word cheroot comes from French cheroute, from Tamil curuttu/churuttu/shuruttu – roll of tobacco. This word could have been...
Tamil Blogosphere: Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India
Back in Nov 2006, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie was in India and had showered praises on India for giving shelter to displaced people from a number of countries. She also said that India's action of providing shelter to refugees from various countries, though it had needy people of its own...
Sri Lanka: Being young through War and Peace
Sayanthan, a talented Sri Lankan Tamil blogger based in Switzerland is famous for his entertaining podcasts. His blog is usually full of enthralling anecdotes. Today, he posted a thought provoking post on young people and their way of dealing with the conflict in Sri Lanka. A translation of Sayanthan‘s post...
India: The Kanchipuram Girl and other photographs
Keerthivasan from Chennai visited nearby Kanchipuram, a temple town. An avid photographer, he snapped a lot of photos but displayed only one! He did not even choose to take this photo. When he was busy concentrating on the temple elephant, a passerby with an authoritative voice demanded that he shoot...
Sri Lanka: S. Bose(1975 – 2007), Poet, Editor & Writer
The following poem was written by S. Bose, a writer-poet (Tamil) from Vavuniya, Sri Lanka and was translated by a friend of mine for Global Voices Online readers. Chandrabose Sudhakar or S.Bose was shot dead by armed men in his own home on April 16th, 2007. The killers who spoke...
Tamil Blogs: Agriculture, Street Threatre and Children
187 countries observed ‘Earth Day’ on April 22nd. This month we have a new blogger in Tamil blogosphere whose blog is titled ‘iyarkai vivasaayam‘ or ‘Ecological agriculture’. In this blog Samsari talks about path-breaking, successful farmers, their techniques and issues related to farming in Tamil Nadu(TN), India. He introduces us...
Tamil Blogosphere: Reflecting on Women and Gender
International Women's Day evoked quite a lot of posts in the Tamil Blogosphere. Living Smile Vidya is a transgender blogging from Madurai, South India. Through her posts she has been quite instrumental in making other bloggers understand the trials and tribulations transgenders face in India. Her personal recounts the troubles...
