So there I was perusing my daily academic when i chanced upon this rather charming article from the Excalibur, York University (the Canadian one,not the UK one). Apparently the students of the esteemed is using the York University Tamil Students’ Association (YUTSA) is using the LTTE , oh I’m sorry the Tamil Eelam (take a right at Neverland, pass Atlantis, go about 20 kilometers and you’re there) flag to use to promote their Tamil culture.

Apparently the flag being used is not affiliated with the LTTE because the words LTTE are not included. Thus it is a representative of ‘Eelam,’ not the LTTE. Of course this does ignore one small fact. That it was Prabhakaran that was the Betsy Ross of the ‘Eelam’ flag. In fact he designed it based on a matchbox (Inside an Elusive Mind. M.R. Narayan Swamy. Sri Lanka: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2006.). This revelation would of course not come as much of a surprise to those of us who have lit a furtive cigarette in our youth from saivar kade matchboxes. I always knew there was something familiar about that flag but never placed it until I read the book.

So this is what I really find amusing. After a couple of millennia of cultural achievements ranging from the Brihadeshvara Temple to the Chola bronzes (and some might even say the invention of the crepe) the esteemed students of the York University (the Canadian one not the UK one) Tamil Student’s Association led by Sahabthan Jesuthasan have chosen to represent that with a matchbox inspired flag designed by a psychopath.

You must make your people proud.