Kurunthokai

I want to talk about namesakes in general and a couple of my own. The word namesake refers to someone who shares the same name as another. Most of us have namesakes—some more than others. Today, I want to share the surprising connections I’ve discovered through my name. The Meaning of ‘Namesake’ In Tamil Nadu, where I hail from, the word namesake, borrowed from English, has acquired a unique…

It is Margazhi, and the streets of Tamil Nadu are alive with beautiful, often colorful kolam creations. These sincere, painstaking pieces of ephemeral art adorn the doorsteps of homes, drawing me into a reflective trail of thoughts. Let me explain why. Kolam and its variations Kolam (கோலம்) is a traditional art form created with white rice flour, enhanced with colors on special occasions. Drawn…

I have an indifferent relationship with cooking. It wasn’t always this way. In fact, it began as a hate-bordering-on-indifference relationship, but over the years, it has mellowed into a simple lack of passion. Cooking and I have had a complicated journey together, and I’d like to share a few chapters of it. Early Days of Cooking In my twenties, as I stumbled through the basics of cooking while…

Have you ever talked back as a child? How about as an adult? Does your child “talk back”? What are your thoughts on “talking back”? Before I share mine, let me narrate an incident. An incident at the pool Last month, I was sitting by the swimming pool while my son attended his lessons. Suddenly, I heard a commotion and looked up from my book. A boy, around 10 or 11 years old, stood outside the…

Have you ever wondered about the choices you made in life? Were they informed choices? Do you think what could have happened if you had taken the road not taken? I’m not referring to the famous Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken“, but the literal path you left unexplored in life. I’m definitely not talking about regrets over roads you knew about and still avoided, but the choices you never…

Do you enjoy challenges? I do. Puzzles? A loud yes. Captchas? Hmm… they are like puzzles, but let’s just say, not so much. Who really likes captchas? Who even invented these, and why did they think it was a good idea to frustrate us all? Just last week, I was trying to update an important document on an official website. I filled out a long form, and just as I hit “Submit,” a captcha with…

If you’re wondering about the long gap in posts, it is because I was away at Tulum, Mexico, attending an official Division Meetup. It was a trip full of mixed experiences, and here are some of the highlights. 1. Stay at the Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya I stayed at the Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya, a stunning resort located between Cancún and Tulum. Except for a short visit to the Tulum ruins, I spent…

Today, I want to share a personal experience—one involving an auto driver named Sekar and his wife, Philomena. It’s about an incident that deeply affected me, the doubts it raised, and how a shift in perspective ultimately brought me peace. Before diving into the story, I should mention that last week I tried to generate an AI image of an auto driver for this post. Although the result isn’t…

I grew up reading poetry in both English and Tamil. While the vivid descriptions of natural scenery didn’t always captivate me, I was drawn to poetry that showcased wild imagination with skillful manipulation of words. Take, for example, the scene in Silappadikaaram (சிலப்பதிகாரம்) where Kannagi (கண்ணகி ) confronts the Pandiya king Nedunchezhiyan (நெடுஞ்செழியன்) to demand justice. The way Ilango…

Ever heard of a “Bushism”? George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, often mixed up his words or had verbal slips that left people either scratching their heads or laughing out loud. But these quirky moments gave us a new term. Bushism, similar to Spoonerism, refers to unintended verbal slips as opposed to the standard linguistic concepts like homophones or metonymy, which are…

You can, that is, if you take the metonymical meaning of the word Kanchipuram, as it is used freely by many Indians. Metonymy is a linguistic phenomenon where a word or phrase is used to stand in for another word or phrase with which it is closely associated. While other linguistic phenomena like homophones and homographs work based on similarity, Metonymy works through contiguity, meaning that…

With the Olympics underway in Paris 2024, I can’t help but think about the sporty and challenging aspects of languages. As we watch our favorite gymnasts twist their bodies into a billion shapes, winning medals as a consequence, let’s twist our tongues to match their acrobatics. Tongue twisters are popular and fun activities that people of any language can engage in together. Designed to trip up…

I have! I used to hiss my mystery class often, especially when trying to talk as fast as my thoughts. These days, I’ve slowed down a lot, and I don’t hiss my mystery lectures when I want to miss my history lectures. That, dear readers, is an example of Spoonerism. A spoonerism is a linguistic phenomenon where the initial consonants or sounds of two or more words are swapped. This results in a…