Appa Takkar

Jus woke up after a short nap on a lazy Saturday evening….prepared a cup of my favourite Horlicks and was about to switch on the TV when I heard the kids in my colony playing outside…so took an U-turn and headed towards the balcony from where I could see them playing cricket…

I would have witnessed their game for about ten minutes when a small fight started amongst them regarding who should bat next.. I saw one of the boy referring to the other as  “ivaru periya appa takkaru” and I couldn’t control my laughter as these kids were hardly around 6 to 7 years old and such phrases used by them was a little funny….

I am aware that ‘Appa’ means father and ‘takkar’ means super in tamil but out of curiosity I googled to see what this word really means.. “ithellam konjam overu than.…ana ippo than ellathukum google irukae” and I couldn’t believe there were nearly 10 pages running to explain this word...and in fact there was another blog which had explained the origin and thathpariyam of this wonderful word…….it seems it was referred as a matter of respect  to a man who lived near the Madras seashore who  was good in heart and was highly skilled in his respective profile…and so it has become a practice to refer to people who are to be respected for their profound skills and values…

just as I had got enlightenment of this takkar word, my daughter sat down to finish her homework  and started narrating one of her school stories….. during the course of it she too used the word ‘appa takkar’ and I was surprised as to how this word has become so catchy amongst kids…

I was enquiring with her if she knew what this word actually means when the door bell rang….. she got up and opened the door and as I was about to ask her who it was…..she came with a bang “Amma, Appa takkar vanthutaru”…..and i saw my hubby entering the house….Stunned by her reference, both my hubby and me looked at her and not knowing for sure whether she had said a bad word my daughter immediately said with a sly smile…..“illa namma Appa than takkar ache athanala than sonnen”….

The situation became light as we started laughing and I could see a sigh of relief in my daughter’s face as she was not banged by us and from then on my hubby dear is referred as ‘Appa Takkar’ in our house and it has become common for us to address him that way during our casual talks…I dedicate this post to my family’s Appa Takkar J …....“ippadi ethavathu title vekkanum appuram ice vekkanum… eppadi”....