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Lights, camera, election: Tamil Nadu’s politics-showbiz mix has me hooked
Tamil politics, dominated by larger-than-life former film stars, has kept me tethered to my mother tongue.
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A poster in Chennai, India, featuring Chief Minister of Indian state of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin (centre) and Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.
PHOTO: AFP
Every now and then, I enjoy needling my 10-year-old niece about her appreciation – or profound lack thereof – of the Tamil language. We can chatter enthusiastically about literally any other subject, but the mother tongue elicits an immediate, impenetrable sullenness.
“I just don’t like it,” she declared in a recent conversation, thoroughly unmoved by my performance of faux-uncle exasperation.
