Kannammaa Writes

Lately, I am being abused for being a non-Tamil (Telugu), speaking about the colorism in the Tamil film industry.  Adangomale... I am a Malaysian of Indian origin, shortly called "Malaysian Indian."  Malaysian Indians make up approximately 6.6% to 7% of Malaysia's total population. This translates to roughly 2.27 to 2.3 million people out of a total population of around 32.4 to 34.1 million. They are the third largest ethnic group in Malaysia.  The Indian community in Malaysia is diverse, encompassing various religious and linguistic groups, including Tamil, Malayali, Telugu, Punjabi, and others. Many Malaysian Indians are descendants of laborers brought to Malaysia during the British colonial era, primarily to work in plantations.  Tamil is the most widely spoken language among Malaysian Indians (including non-Tamils like me), though many also speak Malay and English.  I am the tallest one in the picture and the saree I'm wearing is in Telugu style. The en...

  It's Father's Day. So, let's talk about the hype men today. I'll talk about my late dad. As a daughter, I couldn't ask for a better father. He was attentive, caring, and unabashedly proud of my achievements. He was a real worrier while I was ambitious. His constant advice was for me to be wary of strangers, and not consume anything given by any unknown person. Being wary is one thing. Being s*xually ab*sed is another. And the ab*se didn't happen because I trusted strangers. It happened because I existed as a female, vulnerable human. If my dad knew, he'd be heartbroken. But he conspired to take my mom as his second wife. Turns out, he's one of the people he was warning me about, for my mom. And he was her maternal uncle, not a stranger. At that time, he was the most educated man in my family and he let pride get to his head. Because I was his youngest - I was born when he was 50, I didn't witness his elitist side. Nevertheless, it doesn't negat...

  One of the reasons I respect Mani Ratnam's filmmaking is how he portrays women in his films, even in gangster films. In the former decade, however, Mani steadily succumbed to gangster movies where he normalizes gangsters having mistresses. I know that men will come and say that having affairs are a part of life for gangsters - Mani Ratnam is just showing "realism." But I grew up watching Nayagan and Thalapathy. In fact, I used Thalapathy for plenty of feministic referrals. Mani Ratnam proved previously that gangsters needn't use women as side chicks and have wives who tolerate their cheating to prove their "Thug Life" status. And quite frankly, the honoring of women in Mani's Nayagan and Thalapathy is what elevated the films to a whole new level. I do have a bone with the "item" songs in Nayagan and Thalapathy. Nonetheless, the movies hold women in a league where they needn't be a gangster's notoriety enhancers. They exist, as they ar...

  I said that putting rice flour kolam every morning is just extra work for Indian women—if the purpose of kolam is just feeding the birds, then we can just scatter raw rice for them. We can keep kolam as a cultural art rather than a cultural imposition for Indian women—one they must do daily as though they don’t have enough work. Then came the comment about me being Malaysian and how no one is forcing Indian women to put kolam daily, unlike my dad who is a “lusu ku,” forcing me to put kolam daily. Apparently, Malaysian Indians are the people who force women to put kolam daily unlike Indians. So, I should take my advice to the kuthiyans in Malaysia, it seems.  The frequency of kolam in some Malaysian Indian households is every Saturday. That too, only if someone in the house is interested in the artform. Men do it too and we use chalk. The kolam lasts a whole week and is put within the house's wall compound. For the birds, we still scatter raw rice.    Rare pic of a ...