Infused with Tamil Pride

Two men from the Chennai Corporation came to my shop a few days ago and delivered some news that made my day, nay, my year. They told me the Chennai Corporation had a new regulation that all retail outlets had to abide by: store signs must have the name of the store in Tamil, and then the classification of that store in Tamil below that (i.e. hair salon or designer store or book store) and then finally below that the name of the store in the English alphabet.

Needless to say I was thrilled; it’s not everyday that someone throws you a little curveball just to keep you on your toes. And truth be told, I was planning on changing my sign anyway because it’s lost among all the other more colourful signs in that building, and it’s behind a tree so I need to do something different to make it stand out. This notice from the Corporation could not have come at a better time: my collection had to be launched today, a close friend who I’ve known since 3rd grade is getting married in Bangalore and I’m leaving town on Sunday, and the deadline for this new sign is 31st May!

I know, this is a very small issue in comparison to staff issues or low sales, which is why I choose to cope with a bout of sarcasm rather than starting a campaign against it. If this had happened two years ago I would have got worked up about it and fired off a letter under the Right to Information Act asking why private businesses can’t have creative control over their own signboards. Now, after many experiences dealing with uncooperative businesses and an unhelpful Corporation office, I know when to pick my battles and I don’t think this should be one of them.

Still, it’s sad that the government thinks changing a signboard is what will change people’s attitudes or their level of pride in the Tamil language. It’s also sad that this is at the top of the Corporation’s list of things to do in Chennai. It’s not providing clean drinking water or making roads safer or doing what they can to facilitate business and economic growth; instead if anything they are hindering small businesses that rely on their signboards as a marketing tool to attract customers.

At first I thought I’d be giving their illogical agenda too much importance by writing this post on my blog. But then I realized that if I don't speak out at all then I am not showing any form of resistance or at least reluctance. I hope that more businesses speak up- especially some of the larger retailers and traders. To have our creative license taken away from us for signboards that we pay for is unfair. And if it's signboards now, then what's next?

Gotta keep people's thoughts from focusing on their drinking water or their unsafe roads...