This is a real photograph from circa 1948 of a Tamil Brahmin student studying at home. Tamil Brahmins are popularly called Tambrams.
Though I belong to the Tambram community, I do not dress like that, nor did I ever study like that. But I am likely to be more of an exception. My cousins, one of who stayed with us to study for his Master’s Degree in English Literature, used to study intensely during all their free time and I have therefore first hand knowledge of this kind of work. In this particular photo, the man’s tuft is tied to a nail on the wall and will jerk him awake if he falls asleep while studying. The lamp on the table was a wick lamp using kerosene, a duplicate of which I distinctly remember being used in our village home. The broken chair, the ink well and pen sticking out of it, and the condition of the wall speaks volumes of the poverty under which these types studied. Their parents sacrificed a great deal to see their children be given the benefit of education.
And no, the tuft went out of style many decades ago and only the priests sport them now a days.
Education was a way out of rural lives and poverty and that particular generation was the one that gave birth to the first lot of emigrants to the USA and the UK. Those studious Tambrams who remained behind, secured employment in the then available public sector enterprises or the government and their children in turn were more or less bullied into studying to enter into the IITs and other premier educational institutions to secure not only their own futures but as a spin off effect as an insurance policy for the parents to retire in comfort.
The Brahmins were and still are subject to reverse discrimination and find it extremely difficult to secure admission into institutions of higher learning and have to perforce study to enter the Central Institutions were while quotas operate merit is far more important.
I salute those pioneers who studied like this and made it possible for the community to become quite prosperous despite being denied opportunities owing to the accident of their birth.
Interesting! I had thought the Brahmin class was generally more fortunate…. I have a lot to learn. I admire their fortitude.
Rummuser Reply:
December 31st, 2012 at 19:07
They are, to the extent that they emphasise on learning. Otherwise, as Maria points out elsewhere, it is not easy being a Brahmin in India particularly if you are poor.
Wow I’m really amazed of how they study.
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That drive is the hallmark of so many who have emerged from poverty and/or oppression over the years. They can be very strong entrants into fields where those more comfortable, more complacent, take it for granted and are passed by.
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Rummuser Reply:
December 31st, 2012 at 19:08
You have put it well TOF. It is true across the globe.
Who tied the hair to the wall, the parent or student? I suppose back then studying like that was for the boys in the family. Am I wrong?
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Rummuser Reply:
December 31st, 2012 at 19:09
I suppose he needed help with that to adjust the height and I am sure that one of the family would have very gladly obliged. You are right that education was for the boys and it was a rare family that would send its girls to study beyond elementary or secondary school.
Bookish people were looked down upon where I was raised, and my folks tried to talk me out of it. They lightened up some when I got a scholarship to Stanford.
Here in the US it’s the Asian Americans who have to fight quotas. They come from a culture that values hard work and learning and they do too well. They may also be smarter, of course!
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Rummuser Reply:
December 31st, 2012 at 19:11
That phenomenon exists here too and particularly in some communities, the girls have done exactly what you did and find it difficult to get grooms of like education and it is becoming a big sociological problem for such communities.
cheerful monk Reply:
January 1st, 2013 at 03:04
One perk of majoring in physics was there were about 50 guys to every gal. Finding a potential mate was no problem at all.
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Rummuser Reply:
January 1st, 2013 at 19:48
Lucky you!
I love this post, especially the first photograph and everything it stands for. I think what you’ve said would hold true for most Indian communities of the time. 1948 my father would have been 18 years old and in medical college. I remember him describing how he studied by candlelight all night through, because the house they lived in had no electricity. (He went on to get his FRCS degree from Edinburgh and work in the UK). It was the generation that eagerly embraced education as a way to better their lives, and was the first also to venture abroad for education and work, despite not having the advantages of modern living. Admirable.
Rummuser Reply:
December 31st, 2012 at 19:14
I have come across many such stories from all parts of our country Anita. They were of a different cut. Let me share a small true story. I have a friend whose name is Sthalekar. He acquired the name because when his father came to Pune to study, he found it difficult to find paying guest accommodation as his name was Shirali and the Pune Brahmins thought that to be a Muslim name! Their Guru changed the family name so that he could study in Pune!
Anita Reply:
January 1st, 2013 at 00:39
There’s a story for you! But I’ve known others like that…one of my closest Muslim friends told me that when his father first came to Bombay after the partition, he changed his surname from Rehman to Merchant to escape persecution.
I know about the reverse discrimination, it is so sickening. I feel for students who are born to poor families in the so called ‘higher castes’ who have to work so hard and still not get admission where they deserve when people who are from probably well heeled families and belong to so called lower casts can get the admission with interior results. Reservation has really gotten out of hand in India.
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Maria Reply:
December 30th, 2012 at 16:48
Sorry, I meant inferior results, not interior results LOL
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Rummuser Reply:
December 31st, 2012 at 19:15
And in your part of the country, the behenji and the wrestler are already at each other’s throats because of that!
How fascinating to me as I am quite ignorant of the caste system other than its reality. The few resources that I followed down the the rabbit hole indicate this to be a priestly caste. Where does that fall into your life?
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Rummuser Reply:
December 31st, 2012 at 19:17
Yes, our community were the original priestly class but with increasing population, they took up other occupations and there has been considerable dilution over the last three or four centuries.
For a long time education was a way out of poverty in Britain also, but less so in recent years because degrees and PhDs are now two-a-penny and because jobs are harder to come by and every plum job gets dozens or even hundreds of applicants.
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Rummuser Reply:
January 1st, 2013 at 19:45
We are seeing that phenomenon here too. Employers also complain of unemployability of graduates or they being over qualified for industry’s needs. The quality of teachers is suffering too and tutorial institutions are making fortunes preparing students for various examination.
Fascinating post – I used to have long enough hair to follow his example – not any more.
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Rummuser Reply:
January 3rd, 2013 at 12:53
Photos? May be just the idea for another post?
It all depends on how old you are, what your plans are behind going to school, and if you can make an action plan to actually get things done. Cool resource!