People from all corners have made Madurai their home and hearth
As dawn breaks, overnight trains spew dishevelled humankind at the Madurai Railway Junction.
The natives walk away in a brisk pace to the Periyar bus stand or autorickshaw stand with confidence and purpose. But quite a few others from other States and faraway lands collect themselves and their luggage on a different soil where they encounter a tongue twister of a language as they squeeze their way out through a motley crowd of paging people, metal detectors and a whole lot of eagerly waiting crowd to ‘receive’ them.
They emerge out in the open for a face-off with the autorickshaw and taxi drivers busy marking their target among themselves with shouts of “yellow churidar is mine,” “big-suitcase Sardarji for me,” “Don’t touch fat ‘saettu’ (Marwari),” “leave foreigner with torn jeans trouser for me” and the like.
For the bewildered outsiders, wriggling out of the mob is quite a task, amid a dissonant sounds of revving autos, offer of help in touristy Hindi and English — Meenakshi temple going madam?
And above all the thunderous Madurai Tamil piercing the sultry air, in a place where yelling rather than talking is customary for locals. “Phew! What a wild crowd”… newcomers may wonder. But the reality is quite the opposite. This is a melting pot of a city, though not on the scale of Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore, but in its own old-world way.
This ancient trading centre, through the ages, has been attracting people from far off places in the country.
Multitude
There is this multitude of Telugu speaking Naickers, Sourashtra speaking people from Gujarat and English-speaking Anglo-Indians, who’ve not only lost touch with their roots but also merged into the mainstream to add colour to the Madurai mosaic. Though these people are now scattered all over the city, the Sourashtrians are found mostly in the Tirumalai Naicker Mahal area and adjoining eastern parts of the city. The Urdu-speaking Muslimsfrom Central and northwestern India are concentrated in Khaji Mar Street and Mahaboobpalayam respectively. The Anglo-Indians, though diminishing in numbers due to steady exodus to foreign countries, live mostly in Railway Colony, Ellis Nagar and S.S. Colony. Weavers, speaking Kannada, also migrated from Karnataka. So did Malayalees from Kerala. They have made Sellur their home. Pre-Independence Madurai saw a good number of Kutchi-speaking Memons, Gujaratis, Marwaris and others from Rajasthan and Sindhis from undivided India setting up their businesses and homes in the vicinity of Meenakshi Temple.
Joining mainstream
There are also quite a few people from Punjab, Orissa, West Bengal and even a handful of Pathans from faraway Afghanistan. Many of them come in search of a business base and once they establish themselves, they bring their kith and kin to form a community.
Over the years, some of these communities have joined the mainstream to talk the Madurai slang and behave like the natives do. A few others still hold on to their Kutch or Marwar roots to perpetuate the matrimonial and business contacts. A majority of the Naickers have switched over to Tamil from their anyway Tamilised Telugu over the generations.
On the other hand, Sourashtra people follow their customs and food habits and speak their own language, though garnishing it with Tamil words. Anglo-Indians marrying into Tamil families are also happening now and then.
Most of the migrants have become natives of the soil so much so that some of the good educational institutions and top business houses of Madurai are run by them. Not for nothing that Madurai is called Koodal Maanagar (city of confluence)
An ancient city and once the seat of Pandya kingdom, with virtues and valour much written about through the ages, this city is a perfect example of what Tamil Nadu as a whole is known for –— “Vandharai vaazha vaikkum Tamizhagam” (Giving a living to those calling).
Yet, Madurai remains unpretentious. It can never boast of the stilettos-filled shopping malls or big gulp multiplexes, or even the true blue fast food joints you find dime a dozen in big-time cities. It is hard to find even a trace of it here. But there are umpteen reasons to derive simple pleasures in this small city that never sleeps. Those who’ve taken roots here will vouch for the good qualities hiding behind the brusque behaviour of the locals. Unlike in the apartment culture of megapolises, where neighbours greet newcomers with a blank stare, people here are forthcoming and trustworthy too.
Simple trust and unbridled interest — the hallmark of villagers — are found in abundance here. While the outright approach may appear indecent and invasion of privacy in the initial days, once the bond with neighbours, hawkers, shopkeepers and locals strengthens, the outsiders get to know what true Madurai is all about. And, indeed, many go on to make Madurai home.
Source - The Hindu Metroplus
As dawn breaks, overnight trains spew dishevelled humankind at the Madurai Railway Junction.
The natives walk away in a brisk pace to the Periyar bus stand or autorickshaw stand with confidence and purpose. But quite a few others from other States and faraway lands collect themselves and their luggage on a different soil where they encounter a tongue twister of a language as they squeeze their way out through a motley crowd of paging people, metal detectors and a whole lot of eagerly waiting crowd to ‘receive’ them.
They emerge out in the open for a face-off with the autorickshaw and taxi drivers busy marking their target among themselves with shouts of “yellow churidar is mine,” “big-suitcase Sardarji for me,” “Don’t touch fat ‘saettu’ (Marwari),” “leave foreigner with torn jeans trouser for me” and the like.
For the bewildered outsiders, wriggling out of the mob is quite a task, amid a dissonant sounds of revving autos, offer of help in touristy Hindi and English — Meenakshi temple going madam?
And above all the thunderous Madurai Tamil piercing the sultry air, in a place where yelling rather than talking is customary for locals. “Phew! What a wild crowd”… newcomers may wonder. But the reality is quite the opposite. This is a melting pot of a city, though not on the scale of Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore, but in its own old-world way.
This ancient trading centre, through the ages, has been attracting people from far off places in the country.
Multitude
There is this multitude of Telugu speaking Naickers, Sourashtra speaking people from Gujarat and English-speaking Anglo-Indians, who’ve not only lost touch with their roots but also merged into the mainstream to add colour to the Madurai mosaic. Though these people are now scattered all over the city, the Sourashtrians are found mostly in the Tirumalai Naicker Mahal area and adjoining eastern parts of the city. The Urdu-speaking Muslimsfrom Central and northwestern India are concentrated in Khaji Mar Street and Mahaboobpalayam respectively. The Anglo-Indians, though diminishing in numbers due to steady exodus to foreign countries, live mostly in Railway Colony, Ellis Nagar and S.S. Colony. Weavers, speaking Kannada, also migrated from Karnataka. So did Malayalees from Kerala. They have made Sellur their home. Pre-Independence Madurai saw a good number of Kutchi-speaking Memons, Gujaratis, Marwaris and others from Rajasthan and Sindhis from undivided India setting up their businesses and homes in the vicinity of Meenakshi Temple.
Joining mainstream
There are also quite a few people from Punjab, Orissa, West Bengal and even a handful of Pathans from faraway Afghanistan. Many of them come in search of a business base and once they establish themselves, they bring their kith and kin to form a community.
Over the years, some of these communities have joined the mainstream to talk the Madurai slang and behave like the natives do. A few others still hold on to their Kutch or Marwar roots to perpetuate the matrimonial and business contacts. A majority of the Naickers have switched over to Tamil from their anyway Tamilised Telugu over the generations.
On the other hand, Sourashtra people follow their customs and food habits and speak their own language, though garnishing it with Tamil words. Anglo-Indians marrying into Tamil families are also happening now and then.
Most of the migrants have become natives of the soil so much so that some of the good educational institutions and top business houses of Madurai are run by them. Not for nothing that Madurai is called Koodal Maanagar (city of confluence)
An ancient city and once the seat of Pandya kingdom, with virtues and valour much written about through the ages, this city is a perfect example of what Tamil Nadu as a whole is known for –— “Vandharai vaazha vaikkum Tamizhagam” (Giving a living to those calling).
Yet, Madurai remains unpretentious. It can never boast of the stilettos-filled shopping malls or big gulp multiplexes, or even the true blue fast food joints you find dime a dozen in big-time cities. It is hard to find even a trace of it here. But there are umpteen reasons to derive simple pleasures in this small city that never sleeps. Those who’ve taken roots here will vouch for the good qualities hiding behind the brusque behaviour of the locals. Unlike in the apartment culture of megapolises, where neighbours greet newcomers with a blank stare, people here are forthcoming and trustworthy too.
Simple trust and unbridled interest — the hallmark of villagers — are found in abundance here. While the outright approach may appear indecent and invasion of privacy in the initial days, once the bond with neighbours, hawkers, shopkeepers and locals strengthens, the outsiders get to know what true Madurai is all about. And, indeed, many go on to make Madurai home.
Source - The Hindu Metroplus
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