I was delighted to be invited to the Tamil community's Thai Pongal celebrations which took place last night at the Braithwaite halls.
Did you know that the Tamil language is one of the world's oldest, at about 8500 years?! The Tamil community makes an enormous contribution to Croydon's diverse community, and many doctors, solicitors and medical professionals were present. There were several interesting speeches from community representatives, including the Conservative Mayoral candidate Jason Perry, who tried his hand at a few welcoming words in Tamil and received rapturous applause for his efforts! We also discovered that Thai means January in the Tamil language.
We were entertained to two beautiful dance items and two traditional songs, and feasted on a Tamil light supper, which included delicious Pongal sweet rice. It was a very enjoyable occasion.
