Maanga

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Prologue (Could be skipped without loss of continuity or differentiability)

Its almost impossible to guess why certain 'things' are named in certain ways. No, when i say 'things', i don't mean 'human things' ... for instance there was this fat rowdy (studying 12th std ) in my neighboring boys high school who called himself 'வெடி முத்து' for reasons unknown - we are not talking about him. Neither are we talking about 'a gang of people' ,like the ones who were against 'வெடி முத்து' , the 13 membered gang who called themselves  'D-13' (Dangerous 13) with a twisted motto - 'நாங்க மோசமானவங்க ... ஆனா பாசமானவங்க !' . ( Of course history has it that D-13 became such a big hit that it had a huge fan following --no, there was no FB when i was in school.. these were real fans in blood and flesh-- and it even inspired the next set of rowdies who called themselves E-11 (Electrifying eleven).. buts lets leave the rowdies in peace for now) .

Our point of discussion today is about something more abstract . It is about a humble  word that has found its way into this elite list of 'non-etymological, incongruent but nice sounding words' . The word of course as all of you would have guessed by now is ---  'மாங்கா'!

What could   மாங்கா  possibly mean? Common usage suggests that it means a group banter with no specific topic in mind. But why would such an usage be termed மாங்கா ?
'Maanga' obviously means 'Mango' in tamizh. So, could it be possible that in the historic days of Chozhas and Paandiyas , philosphers sat in  a circle near the temple and  spoke about pointless topics while they were eating mangoes served by sevagars? Hmm... something lacks rigour in that explanation.
A philosophically bent mind on the other hand would lead us to believe that the crux of 'maanga' seems to carry the essential meaning of the purpose of life - Like what the modern complicated theories of universe postulate - there is neither a beginning nor a end - which even the vedas and upanishads  touch upon frequently. This description so well fits our purposes , but then we still have the question -- 'why maanga?' ... a 'thenga' or 'mulaga bhajji' would have not fallen short of anything that 'maanga' manages to achieve in this context and so we shall throw the 'philosophy' angle to the bins.


A little bit of 'hindi' knowledge suggests a different angle.  माँगा  in hindi seems to mean 'want' or 'need' . Of course we all know the phrase 'yeh dhil maanga more' ... but what would a set of jobless guys sitting in  a cramped room and talking nonsense would possibly 'want' or 'need' ? I can't think of anything and so am dismissing the idea without further consideration.


Something that comes closest to the usage is when you poke your nose into Japanese !
' മാങ്ങ ' (maanga )  in japanese means 'Comic' (and that was not japanese font btw) ..
Now that makes some sense!
Invariably all these Maanga Sessions are comical in nature even if it involves discussing serious current affairs and crucial topics like  'டேய் .. விஜய் பெரிய ஆளா ? அஜித் பெரிய ஆளா?' and so let us for now stick to the contrived notion that the term 'maanga' was invented when a set of first year college students , when they went to an 'industrial' visit to bandhipur forest lost their way and finally landed in  a japanese restaurant and started discussing the 'சப்ப'ness of the noses of japanese girls while a onlooking very old japanese lady who knew a bit of tamil found their talk extermely hilarious and comical and  started laughing her lungs out as she screamed 'maanga' 'maanga' and finally fell down on the floor and died.

Peace.

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CLICK TO CONTINUE READING

Title of the experiment : மாங்கா
Aim                                  : None , whatsoever.
Apparatus Required     :(i)  Few useless Gilmas (minimum 2 in number)
                                          (ii) A dirty hostel room
                                          (iii)A convenient time (after tea and before dinner)

Method : Read on ...

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Gin: " dei R...ennada romba theeviramaa edho yosichikittu irukka....?"
R:  "innaikku romba naal kazhuchu s/w engineering class attend panninen da.."
Gin: "yedhu... indha waterfall model, vaazhpazha model nu oora emaathuvaangaley ... andha class a?"
R: "aaamam da...andha class la onnu solli kuduthaanga...adhu enakku romba pidichirundhudhu"

Gin : "apdi enna solli kuduthaanga?"



R: "WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get ..... indha idea mattum vaazhkayila ellathukkum porundhinaa evlo nalla irukkum"
Gin :"machaan.... warn pandren....ella theory um practical a apply panna mudiyumnaa naanum neeyum ipdi suthittu irukka maattom"
R:  "hmm.... apdiyey innum konja yosichen da.... oru bayangaraamaana conjecture thonithu... aanaa epdi prove pandradhunnu dhaan theriyala"
Gin: " ayyayo...ennada aachu unakku...."
R:  " 'all figures are isomorphic to each other'  ... idha epdi da prove pandradhu?"
Gin: "idhu romba simple da.... ippo P unna enna pandra?"
R: "kevala padutharaa"
Gin : "Q?"
R: "asinga paduthara"
Gin : "A?"
R: "avamaana paduthara"
Gin: "X ?  Y  ?  Z ?"
R: "madhikka maatengaraanga"
Gin: "oru maadhiri sketch of the proof kedachiduchaa?"
R: "un kitta sonnen paaru..... "

Gin: " oru kavidhai solren kettuko.....
'sooda kudikanum chaaya...
aatu kaal paayaa....
mookukku keezha vaayaa?
ponnungelaam maaya!'  "

R: " engayo poitta da...aana enakku innum neraya doubts irukku da"

Gin: "ayyo...ivan tholla thaangaley... orey oru class attend pannadhukkey ivlo knowledge quest la irangittayaa da?"

R: " ippo for example... oru payyan oru ponna L pandraannu vechippom"

Gin: "adhavadhu nee P a... "

R: "dei.... generalaa pesum podhu specific a pesaadha"

Gin : "seri naan P a"

R: "dei....!!!"

Gin: "seri namma P a... ayyo...thappaavey varudhu..... ok...yaaro yaarayo.... ok va?"

R: "ok..."

Gin: " mela sollu"

R: "payyanum ponnum nalla pair a irundhaa kooda sila samaythula ponnungalukku ego problem varudhey ...yen?"

Gin: "ennadaa... doordharshan 'edhiroli' la kekkaraa maadhiri kekkara...."

R: "dei..serious a kekkaren...solda"

Gin: "periyavanga sollirikaangaley da.... 'thaan aadavittaalum than figure aadum' nu.... adhu dhaan idhu...."

R: "dei... sambandhaa sambandham illama edhavadhu olaraadha"

Gin: "nalla punch thoninaa anga anga sollidanum.....context varra varaikkum wait panna koodhadhu.... in fact love kooda apdi dhaan.. context kaaga wait panna kaanama poiduva!!"

R: "sooper karuthu da...seri.. ippo enakku innoru doubt...."

Gin: "sappaa...."

R: " ennoda school friend oru ponna rendu per saava saava sight adichaanga.... adhula oruthan paakka gethaa irupaan... sema height sema body.... aana innoruthan sema kullam.... kadaisila andha figure andha kulla payyana L panna aarambichittaa.... yen da"

Gin: "avan romba 'down to earth' a irundhirupaan da"

R: "dei... serious a solda"

Gin : "machi...serious a dhaan solren.... appearance a paathu L pandra alavukku innum ponnunga naatla cheap a erangala da"

R: " apdi paatha innoru school ponnu oruthi irundhaa da"

Gin: "dei...unga school la indha physics, chemistry, maths... idhelaam padikkavey maatengalaa...only 'social studies' a?"

R: "solradha keluda"

Gin: "solli thola"

R:" andha ponnayum rendu per love pannaanga.... oruthan sema height sema body.... innoruthan sema gundu....oru naalaikku 6 velai saapduvaan.... aanaa andha ponnu andha height body payyana L panna aarambichitaa ... idhukku enna artham?"

Gin: "andha gundu payyan orkut la 'male single' nu poi sollirupaan...."

R: "avan 'male single' dhaanda"

Gin: "oru naalaikku 6 velai saapta 'male double' nu podanum naa nyaya padi..."

R: "dei... konjamaavadhu serious a pesu da... "

Gin: " appearance paathu L panna maataanga naa ... asingama irukaravana dhaan L pannuvaangannu artham illa da muttaaal"

R : "appa....appo enakku scope irukkunnu solriyaaa?"

Gin: "solla mudiyaadhu da.... ippolaam P  indha G payyanoda sutharadhaaa kelvi"

R: "dei...ennada solra?"

Gin: " paathukko...avlodhaan solluven....avana temporary variable a use panni 'aal'a swap pannida poraa..."

R: "deiiii....."

At this point a group of fellow classmates are singing 'warden machan vayasukku vandhutaan' as they cross the room where Gin and R are discussing 'life' .

Gin: "machaan.... dinner kku time aachu.... anga poi continue pannuvomaa?"

R: "seri vaa povom .. vaazhkayila yaaru mukkiyamo illayo...soru mukkiyam!!"


And thus ended another quick maanga session where useless pointless things were discussed in unnecessary detail. And am sure both Gin and R had never heard the following quote  though they often put it into practise.

"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time !"

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Catch up with you folks soon.