Chennai, Oct 29 (PTI) As gentle breeze whizzes past thesprawling Madras Christian College Higher Secondary Schoolgrounds here, young Tamil students from Singapore swish longbamboo poles in precision synching with the commands of thetrainer.
Part of a group of young students from Singapore, theywere here for a week-long programme to learn ancient Tamildance forms, games, martial art and nuances in studying theTamil language.
The group of 15 Tamil students comprising boys and girlsof Classes nine and 10 were from the Bartley School of theCity State.
They learnt 'Silambattam,' an ancient Tamil martial art,and also underwent a crash course in 'Karagattam,' and'Kummi,' which are dance forms in vogue in Tamil Nadu for wellover a millennium.
Students were delighted to learn to balance pot on theirheads for Karagattam and swing swiftly for Kummi with poise.
"Not only martial art and dances, they also learnttraditional games including 'Pallanguzhi,'and the programmewas in a way a connect to their roots," Correspondent, MCCHSSchool, GJ Manohar and programme coordinator, K Muthumony toldPTI.
They said there was a renewed interest in learningancient martial art dance forms, and games native to TamilNadu among the Tamil diaspora.
Children were quite happy and were joyous to learn gameslike 'Kilithattu,' 'Sangili Bungili Kathava Thora,' and 'PooParikka Vaarigala' were games that are in vogue for a verylong time, Muthumony said.
Also, the students had a primer on folk songs from notedTamil folk singer Anitha Kuppusamy, he added.
The Singapore students, whose mother tongue is Tamilattended lectures on learning the nuances of Tamil language ina holistic manner.
"We arranged a special exhibition of Tamil literaturein our library starting from the Sangam age to give a glimpseof the growth of the language, its vast literature andsignificance," Muthmony who is also a Tamil teacher said.
The students, who also interacted with the students ofMCCHSS left for Singapore on October 28 on completion of theprogramme. PTI VGNROH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
