Pongal is around the corner and there is huge socio-political contraversy about the festival. This thread is to discuss the history, origins, sociological implications etc of the issue. Is Pongal really a Tamil specific festival ? Is it really ‘new year’ or is a mass propoganda campaign of the tamil nationalist lobby to promote it as a ‘nationalist’ festival based on linguistic lines. Traditionally is it a Hindu/Bhuddist festival celebrated with variations in Sri Lanka and other parts of India, Nepal, Thailand etc Any views,new discussions etc. Is this a festival that is popular with Christians, Muslims etc if at all it is to be seen as a ‘Tamil festival’ rather than a religious festival.
The idea is to open up some amount of discussion in this section rather than the usual rhetorics of exchanging plesantries and ‘gifts’ for festivals and thinking all is well but more about opening up a dialogue between communities which requires a bit of introspection. However even though this is an explorative thread about history etc it doesnt mean there are no limits.
So please bear in mind this issue might be of interest to people beyond national borders and hence I would stress caution and wont tolerate meaningless insensitivity or discussing present day politics etc.