Zha in Tamil

One of the defining characteristics of Tamil is its 30th letter, zha/Ḻa (ழ) and has been in use at least since 3rd century BCE. The letter finds its place in Malayalam also. Many Tamils like me are quite possessive and proud about zha and find the correct pronunciation of zha as the hallmark of one learnt in Tamil. Recently, I had a shocking conversation with a Malayali colleague working in Chennai. 

Colleague: Do you know there is a letter zha in Malayalam that is not there in Tamil? 

Me: (quite shocked after hearing this) What? Zha is there even in Tamil. In fact, we Tamilians are very proud about it.

Colleague: Aah that cannot be correct! No Tamilian I know can pronounce zha. They all say valapalam (banana) and cannot pronounce zha.

Me: It is shameful that most of us Tamilians are not able to pronounce zha although we consider it to be the USP of Tamil.

My colleague's observation, although shocking, was true. For all the chest beating by us Tamilians about our Tamil heritage and protecting our culture, most of us  cannot even pronounce an important letter in our mother tongue, which Ashokamitran says is "one of the glories of Tamil language." [Ashokamitran, Tamil Scene: Good Work Continues, Indian Literature, Vol. 32, No. 6 (134) (November-December, 1989), pp. 189-195].

Two things should be done:

1.  No Tamil teacher should be recruited who cannot pronounce zha.
2. People should not accept any politician who cannot say zha.