Stories Inspired by Thirukkural - Chapter 1:1 Beginning

Every great journey starts with a single step—or in this case, a single letter! ✨

Rajamani wants his anime-loving daughter, Lata, to learn Tamil literature, but where should he start? After some hilarious back-and-forth with his wise father, Sahasranamam, he stumbles upon the perfect solution—Thirukkural!

Lata isn’t convinced… until she realizes that learning always begins with the basics—just like Luffy mastering his first move in One Piece! 🏴‍☠️

💡 What’s the first thing you do when learning something new? Let us know in the comments!

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📌 AI Note: LLMs were used to generate some pictures, refine the script, and create descriptions for the channel.

The script:

What is a Thirukkural? It is a 1.5 line poem about life, philosophy, and everything in between.

Listen to the conversations between a philosopher wannabe Rajamani, anime-obsessed daughter Lata and fountain of knowledge grandfather Sahasranamam together talk about the 1330 poems that Poet Thiruvalluvar wrote thousands of years ago.

“Enna, di? You are always watching this boy elongate his arms or his legs. Why don’t you do something worthwhile with your time?” Rajamani thundered from across the room.

Without looking at her dad, Lata bit her nails. Her right hand was up in the air signalling something.

“Two minutes, pa.”

“How many more episodes will you watch of this anima?”

Lata lifted her gaze from the screen and looked at Rajamani.

“Appa, that’s anime not anima. This is the latest episode. It is so cool!”

“Niruthu, di. I have had my fair share of cartoons in my life. But, this one’s nonsensical.”

“How do I get her off these cartoons and how do I get her to read Tamil literature?” Rajamani thought to himself. “I don’t know enough Tamil literature myself. How am I ever going to tell her about Tamil literature?”

He called up his father, Sahasranamam. He explained the problem to him.

“You could talk about Kamba Ramayanam,” Sahasranamam suggested.

“Appa, she knows that already.”

“Ponniyin Selvan?”

“She has seen the movies several times. I can’t read 2400 pages anyway.”

“What about Silappadigaram?” Sahasranamam’s 3rd suggestion.

“I won’t be able to understand it myself. I need something short and sweet and I can find it easy to understand.”

Loud music from the next room. Some old Tamil movie was about to start. His wife was probably starting to watch a movie.

“Can’t she keep the volume down?” asked Sahasranamam. “Your mother does the same thing to me.”

“Agara mudala ezhuthellaam aathi bhagavan mudatre ulagu” blared the TV.

“Appa, this Vijaya is blaring the TV all the time.”

“Is that Thirukkural? Why don’t you try Thirukkural, it is. One and a half line poetry. You can ask me and I’ll explain them to you. You can then explain it to Lata Kutty.”

Rajamani put the phone down.

“Thirukkural, it seems. My teeth hurts everyone I try to recite one kural at one go. Reminds me of all my teachers who tortured me to learn up all those kurals. Appappa!”

Rajamani took his iPad out and browsed for a website with all of the Thirukkurals, all 1330 of them.

This is perfect. It has English translations too.

“Lata, Episode over, no? Come here. I’ll read out a poem. Tell me what you think.”

“No, two minutes.”

“Aiyo, not another episode. Stop it immediately. Come here.”

Lata stomped from her corner of the room and sprang onto Rajamani’s lap as if she were a cat. She curled up ready to go to sleep.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Rajamani tickled her with one hand and Lata burst out laughing.

“I am going to tell you a poem.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no…”

“Stop! take a breath atleast.”

Rajamani made Lata to sit up.

“Listen, I’ll start with one and see if you like it.”

“But you have to watch One Piece with me, then.”

“Ok, deal.”

Rajamani took out his ipad from his table and browsed to a website and started with the first Kural.

“அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு.”

“How much more of this poem?” asked Lata.

“It’s done.”

“What? That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“What does it mean?”

“The letter A is the first of the alphabet, the same way, God is the first in this entire world. Hmm… What do you think, Kanna?”

“Just like how Luffy had to learn Gum-Gum pistol before he took out the bad guys.”

“What?” Rajamani tried making sense of what Lata had just said.

“In One Piece, Luffy, the hero, has to learn so many new tricks every time a new bad guy shows up. The same way, if we have to survive in this world, we have to keep learning new tricks.”

“Exactly. Everytime, I learn a new language…”

“But, you don’t know any languages. You are a makku, as Amma calls you.”

“Huh? Your mother called me a makku? I am no makku. What does she know about me?”

“Amma….” Lata yelled.

“Ssshhh… Keep it down…” Rajamani hoped that his wife couldn’t hear him in the next room.

“When I start… If I start learning a new language, I will start with the alphabet.”

“Just like Luffy…”

“You and your Luffy…”

“Lata, repeat after me.

அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு.

Let’s see if you remember what the meaning is?

“The letter A is the first of the alphabet, the same way, God is the first in this entire world. Correct?”

“Correct, my chellam. When you want to learn something new, you have to start from the basics.”

Rajamani carefully put away his iPad.

Lata sprung out of her dad’s lap with renewed energy.

“Let’s watch this One Piece from the first episode… Together.”

[Breaking the fourth wall]

What are some of the skills have you learnt recently?

What do you do when you try to learn a new skill?

Go to the basics, correct?

Ok, let me know what skills are you learning and how are you starting to learn those? Let me know in the comments below.