Periyarism in London
Periyarism principle is a social medicine to attain delightful egalitarian society.
Let me take this as an opportunity to understand, document the tints of Periyarism principles one can see in London.
Periyarism principle in my view are:
1. Self Respect.Treat others the way you wish to be treated by them.
2. All are equal by birth.There should be no discrimination by birth among all.
3. Be rational. Do not follow any superstitions, baseless customs, rituals and manners.
4. Equal opportunity to everyone everywhere.
5. Women empowerment.
6. Atheist view.
In short, the digest of Periyarism is, ‘Be Humanist’
People in London are kind enough to treat each other with mutual respect in all spheres of life. This very well can be seen in the basic education system as well. Even in a very early education, kids are taught to treat fellow kids with respect. The self respect, self esteem are promoted by various activities.
There is no discrimination based on birth amongst UK citizens. All are equal by birth. After acquiring necessary skills, anyone can choose any profession what they wish to. There is no job discrimination in any sectors, even a ‘Layman’ can become a ‘Bishop’.
There is no caste system in London, that's why the following magics happen:
1. Almost most of the Londoners are rational, and they do not follow any superstitions. Unlike Tamils, who are having loads of superstitions, following baseless customs and manners, people in London ask reasonable questions to understand the core context, then apply rational to solve any problem methodically and scientifically.
2. London very well provides equal opportunity to everyone. This includes foreign nationals, linguistic minorities, religious minorities etc. You can see lots of these evidences in workforce.
3. London provides ample opportunity to women empowerment. You can visibly see women being head of the organisations, women heading the universitys, women leading the business, women being teacher to driver to what not ?! Every where women do shine.
4. People in London believe in rationale and science, that's why the belief in God and religion is gradually declining.
As per the official census of UK released in 2011, officially there are 25% non-religious people in UK. This is a steep increase of 10% from 2001 census.
Amongst most Tamils, there are still superstitions like astrology, auspiciousness, baseless superstitions rituals e.g. Homam etc. I have heard that people believe in astrology even while applying for visa. Also there are able hard workers who have worked hard throughout their life, however when it comes to auspiciousness even they fall as prey to the irrational good or bad day/time etc. Also the practice of marking the birth time as an astrological superstition is well prevailing amongst Tamil. Numerology, Nameology name it, you can see every kinds of superstition in London as well.
As per the 34th British Social Attitudes Survey and the European Social Survey, the non-religious population has hiked to 53%. This is a surprise as the statistics have outnumbered the belief in Christianity. The British youths are more non religious than their fellow elders.
Amongst Tamils, still there are caste based discrimination, superstition being followed. In all the Hindu temples, even today only upper caste Brahmins are the priest. This is signifying Non-Brahmins unknowingly accept themselves as low caste Shudras and Panchamas, as per Vedas and Manu Smriti. Even scholarly Tamils have unawareness that they are self declaring themselves as a low caste.
I dream one day this discrimination by birth disappears and one of the women become a priest in Hindu temple in London.
Being a Tamil Teacher in one of the renowned Tamil Schools(Thiruvalluvar Tamil School) in East London, I get opportunity to have extensive interaction with Tamil students, to discuss about various topics. My observation or inference from these Tamil Young generation is, Tamil Youths are Self Respectful, Rational, Friendly, and have apt questioning capabilities. All these excellent capabilities they gain out of the British education system. At the same time, these Tamil Youths generations have a clashing point with the elder generation of Tamils. The elder generation Tamils have a sense of insecurity, and fear which makes them to believe in following superstitions, baseless customs and religious practices. Also elder generation Tamils are unable to see distinction between language and religion. Moreover elders confuse or mix-up the language and religion. Elder generation Tamils believe the superstitious acts can protect them and their kids. However Tamil Youths are smart and clever.
My another important concern is, the peers of Tamil Youths are gaining rational. The non-religious youths are steeply increasing. In which case injecting, spreading, sowing superstitions on the Tamil Youth’s mind is an injustice. Because the fellow British Youths are going to have a rational atmosphere. When Tamil youth do not fall into the same rational atmosphere, naturally they may get few disadvantages. That's a worrying part.
British education system is so matured to be inclusive, hence Tamil youth should naturally fit into it to it’s rational sphere to reap the advantage, to safeguard themselves socially.
Let's end this article with a simple calculation. Take 100 students. Consider, for every 100 students there are 2 Tamil students.
For every 100 students, almost 53% are non-religious and rational. Let's say for simplicity stake 60 students.
So every Tamil Youths are associated with 60 non-religious rationale students. Tamil Youth’s Parents have to think, which way of life, which approach can give opportunity, happiness, and growth for the Tamil Youths.
Hail Periyar ! Hail Humanism !!
திராவிடச் செல்வன்
ஹரிஷ் கமுகக்குடி மாரிமுத்து
லண்டன்
References :
https://humanism.org.uk/2017/07/05/53-of-britons-are-non-religious-says-latest-british-social-attitudes-survey/https://humanism.org.uk/campaigns/religion-and-belief-some-surveys-and-statistics/census-2011-results/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-people-christian-more-non-religious-faith-agnostic-atheism-report-a7737856.html
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