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MARUAPULA, SOUTH AFRICA, May 24, 2005; Hundreds of Asians of Tamil origin, gathered at Maruapula School on Saturday to celebrate the Tamil culture. The festival organized by Botswana Tamil Association, comes a month after the Tamil New Year, also known as Chithirai Vizha in Tamil. The Tamil New Year started on April 15. One of the organizers of the event, P.S. Paramatheva, said in an interview that they are also celebrating their New Year on the day. He further said the festival mainly targets the young people with the intention of teaching them the cultural values of Tamil.



He explained that the festival was not a Hindu event, but encompassed all Tamils regardless of their religious backgrounds. The Maruapula theatre was turned into a Tamil house, as candles burnt at the entrance, with small basins of kumkum available for the dominantly Hindu worshippers to dip their fingers and decorate their foreheads. Tamil anthem, Thamil Thai Vaazhthu, was performed at the opening ceremony of the three-hours long festival, along with the Botswana national anthem. The night was characterized by Tamil dance, song, and theatre all relaying messages of morality and spirituality.



Tamil language, according to the treasurer of the Botswana Tamil Cultural Association, Vivekanandarajah Carthigeyan, originates in India, and is also practiced in Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Durban. He added that one could study science and mathematics up to the highest level in Tamil. He described the Tamil language as one of the oldest languages in the world with its own writing and numbering systems. The language has 247 letters of the alphabet. Carthigeyan said they are teaching youngsters Tamil at the Hindu temple at Maruapula on Saturdays, to preserve and promote the culture.

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