In Memory of Many Gemunus

Gemunu Kumaraya is much celebrated. An energetic, warlike prince. The one who unified Rajarata. Later projected his power across the country .Overthrew Elara. He embraced Buddhism. Garned Buddhism. Was delighted by the maha sangha. Even made Ruwanwelisaya to house Buddha’s people.  Gemunu is a success story of war, a war between two nations. They were the Cholas from India versus SriLanka.

Starting from the tidbits of Ramayana, when Ravana fought with Rama for Kidnapping Rama’s wife – Sita, comes all the way to 1980’s where Tamils and their political leaders begin to wane. 1983 marks the watershed of the ethnic conflict following the killing of 13 soldiers in Thirunuwelli.

We ended the war. Prabhakaran died in 2009. But still the pieces seem to be lagging.

We’ve heard of America, we’ve heard of their alleged human rights, we’ve heard of arbitrary arrests and killings of the British Army.  Does anyone bother to question them?  Ironically, we have become the heat of discussion for months and months. We tried. We lost though.UNHCR approves the U.S backed resolution calling an independent inquiry into the alleged war crimes of SriLanka. Pakistan denies, India abstains.

We were born into this war. We curled on beds with killing horrors. We were dragged away from schools by our desperate parents, in broad daylight when there were rumors about bomb- blasts. Every inch of the road was guarded by green or brown suits. No man was allowed to any premises unless they were monitored from clothe to shoes, passports and identity cards. We have lost kins and friends to bomb blasts at bus stops and train stations. We’ve lost someone for this war. I do still remember the blast in Nugegoda. I had just left the bus halt and walked up to home when that dreadful noise was heard. Only a SriLankan would know how comforting it is to not to know or hear about bomb blasts in 8’o clock news.

Pic by Ushan Gunasekara 

There is some hope for us. There will be better days. Roads are coming up, schools are been built. Industries, hotels and hospitals equipped with the latest technology are in construction. People travel north and south often now. Viden is a friend of mine, studying in Jaffna University, born and educated in Colombo. He travels on and off to Jaffna and Colombo every weekend. He chats me often about their kovil visits to hear lord Murugan, the sunsets in Nandikadal lagoon, visits to Iranamadu tank, sangili nadagam shows, the cleansed water wells in Aiyyakachchiya and the evening tea retreats of university students at a saivar kade followed by Tamil songs. Indeed they are living epic moments, despite who is Sinhala  or who is Tamil. He says it worths a life time. People are safe and fine except for living conditions like housing and infrastructure which is yet to come. But they’ll have it soon. They’ll be happy, perhaps.

Tamils aren’t new people to us. It’s just that we missed them for thirty decades.

Development and reconciliation is possible. Remember that it cannot happen overnight. It’s a continuing process. One need to work up a lot to make things happen. So the roads are open. It’s a matter of getting worked up a bit for the good sake of this country. Yet our parliament is a sump. We lack responsible and accountable people. Criminals everywhere. They only know to grab commissions to their pockets and let the work happen for several cheap bucks.Many of them are busy cooking tales to divide the people covering themselves in a so called blanket of “harmony “and” co – existence”.

So where can be a development when it’s very owned people create separatism?

However despite all these we still respect people like Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar or Muttiah Muralitharan. Both are Tamils by birth, some rare kind who attempted to restore peace through foreign means bringing all people together.

I’m not supportive to any political agenda. War is a bitter story and the stories of a thirty year war are going to be unpleasant. But I would make a humble request to all SriLankans and even my international friends to be mindful of what is been set up before you by any media, news or whatever when making a judgment regarding this matter.

While this could be a headline for many people out there, war was a horror we lived through and some of us even made it alive.

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For seas and skies , a change that counts !

I do not remember who left the book on my palms that day. Four or five years back. It was Romesh Gunasekara’s Reef. It reached me with a few words. They said, “It’s touching and beautiful, you will like it!” There was no name on the book. It rested with me for three years.

Soon, I handed it over to someone, who possibly knew the owner of the book. I remember those late nights, when I use to fall on my bed and turn page by page reading the words divulged by Romesh. I ate them! They were fascinating.

Two months ago, I was on my way to Kanchanaburi in Thailand by train. Either side of me were greenish rivers that stretched along. Steep mountains that reached high. Tall trees with dry, brown leaves crept inside the train as it swiftly moved. But there was something unlike my home. Not even those hot, exotic beaches impressed me. The sea in Thailand was not the same like the sea near Sri Lanka. Ours was better. Some things pinched my heart.There’s no place better than my country.

Some chunks from Romesh Gunasekara’s Reef poured down my brains. There was a distinct difference in beauty in the two countries. The vast waters that rush into shore and disappear, the underwater corals sparkling and brimming, the fisherman rolling on the surf, the gleams of sunlight that crawl underneath the coconut trees that lengthened along the shores is ardent beauty. The blues mixed with red, orange, yellow and purple patches color a perfect tropical noon in Sri Lanka. I’ve never seen such beauty in other countries.

There was a time when those sparkling reefs were taken away. The waters were overtaken by death squads. Fire was lit. Portuguese, the Dutch and the British came full of the promise of cinnamon, pepper and clove; struggled a bit to take Sri Lanka into their hands. But we were released later. It is ironic that independence from the British led to brutal violence even worse than what the British did. The violence tore apart the paradise. It was in the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was a time where one could only have pleasure by firing another bullet. Destruction was normal, like for those heaps of reefs taken away to make cement, the structure of the sea is destroyed, the sea will come straight in and demolish the land. It was a time when politics and religious turmoil even dragged away the comfort of the thin breeze.

But, after 30 years of conflict we see the beauty appearing again. Rays of hope unrolling across the country. Life is back. People are enjoying the waters washing away shores. They are actively engaged in daily chores. There is no alarm about bombs. No black skies. No gun smoke running up. Hot red evening skies are back to be seen.

Time has made such a difference. The diastolic past is done.  Even the seas and skies have changed.It’s time for us to rise, lead and unite, to make Sri Lanka a better one. 

( Published  in " The Nation" newspaper on the 20th April 2014)

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THE SUN NEVER SET

“And water'd heaven with their tears 

Did he smile his work to see 

Did he who make the lamb make thee"

Blake's tiger is a divine creature. A creation of a natural world therefore. The tiger's mystic beauty implies the benevolent aspect while it's evil behavior signifies the bad. Blake's awe through out the lines for which " that god once created the good and the bad another time "  voices something striking. Doesn't it tell us something about this world ? the men who live in it ?

The British Empire was the history's largest empire that spanned the globe. They said that sun never set on it because the empire was humongous and it was always daytime somewhere in the empire. It's hard to track down when and where this long daylight began. The whole process of claiming a colony was undoubtedly arbitrary.Essentially British began to own land striking flags in random beaches. This could be called as how they began building up their empire. The influence and the power of the British ran across the world in many ways.

The British had its own good. Being pioneers of the industrialization, they helped spreading technology through out the world . Alongside the technologies , new agricultural techniques were introduced. Trade became one of the biggest reasons for the expansion of the empire. Improvement of trade involved importation and exportation of products of its colonies.They modernized education. Africa was such a beneficiary of British education where the their society ran through formal education and even residents were taught to read and write. Countries like India and SriLanka are devised by Britain . They inherit their laws , their constitutionalism  and even the infrastructure developed by them like  transportation resources , irrigation  and  telegraph lines. India thus became " the jewel of the British ". India titles for the longest rail road in Asia today consequent to the English developments. Little things like interaction with other languages  to enrich language with new vocabularies was a result of this widespread empire.

However the bad outweighed the good. The empire was built upon the death of hundreds of thousands of people. Colonies prevailed ruthless acts of imperialism. Acquisition of countries were always made with treaties that always favored them. The locals were pushed into colonies and grabbed the most fertile and the productive land. Simply speaking , opportunists they were!. Alienation of locals from their native land lead to fury of the indigenous people of the colonies and ancient records state that such activities brought about nationalistic movements that demanded freedom and liberalization from the colonization. These further lead to outbreaks that killed many citizens. Military forces were used to take authority over buoyant indigenous communities . The death toll was countless in these wars while some were locked up in cells. Human rights were violated unconditionally.

Followed by all these the empire came in to an end with the decolonizing. Apparently the Colonial British switched themselves to as the “Commonwealth”. 1887 marks the first Colonial Conference held by the Commonwealth leaders. The objective of such conference was to strengthen the Commonwealth relationship and to address the pressing commonwealth issues of the day.  Further subjection to amendments the summits renamed the Conference as the “Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings “(CHOGM) of which the inaugural meeting took place in 1971 in Singapore, later succeeded in every two years. The CHOGM 2013 was more a seasonal sensation that gripped the entire SriLanka. Starting from the little trees planted all over the Colombo streets, the pavements and roads were reconstructed to welcome the looters who jiggled the country sometime back in an attempt to make benefits. For those who witnessed, it was more a bigotry than a genuine workout, I feel. After a week’s exercise there is no fruitful outcome to be seen. The entire talk was about the breached human rights and the media justice. We as Lankans should realize that Cameroons’ are neither interested in the post war development nor the rehabilitation going across the country today. Methinks that nobody could say it’s totally unfair to go for an international inquiry or fair to have such. It’s clean enough for one to think that appointing your own committee and having own inquiries into allegations will have no enough transparency and therefore heading to international inquiry via a third party would satisfy means. On the other hand it’s evident that international inquiry may not favor us as the majority of the nations are conceived of the consequences.

The empire no longer exists yet holds the name for its grandeur and triumph. To some of us its glory seems fake though in the modern context. The only query lying on the British is why we, “SriLanka “all the time? British being the heart of protecting human rights is no longer adhering to its rules too. Recently leaked British Government documents reveal that in 1972 British soldiers were given an indemnity from prosecution for illegal killings of the civilians during the Irish wars. Further many  killings have been made against the civil Iraqians , systematically being beaten up and tortured . Surprisingly the British Army has held no official inquiry to many of these killings and no British Army has been prosecuted. Britain's human rights violations are likely to be a blind eye in the face of other countries today. Having their violations kept aside pretending to not to know about them, it's ironic in a way that they are preaching other countries about safeguarding human rights like the “honorable masters" of all. 

As awful this empire may be, still there are people who embrace its two century long daylight. Blake's wonderment in fact is usual. The conflict that Lanka is going through now is very much two folded. Inquiries in to allegations may carry their good and bad and so does the God's creation of the Tiger. British once "watered the heavens with their tears” but the question remains whether "they smile to see the destruction caused?".

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Jaffna ; a hope or despair?

From Colombo to Anuradhapura, then Vavuniya passing Madawachchiya and to few iconic towns like Omanthai, Killinochchi, Arali Point and the stunning arid view of Elephant Pass, a moment of beauty that one could never think of. Just wondered “how cruel they were to kill such picturesqueness”. Trees still with bomb scars , “Thal”  standing with much elegance , a true symbol of the north but  leaves burnt and  houses destroyed , yes it was  quite astonishing to these eyes! . These places were just heard in television until that long drive of two hundred and fifty five miles brought me down there just a few months back. The figure was small but looked nourishing and brimming.

“Javaka”, “Javapattuna”, “Yaalpanama”, and “Yapapatuna” it may call himself. The word “Jaffna” comes from the Portuguese rule of Franciscan Friar. The full name given by him to Jaffna was “Jafana Patanaoture”. History records state that the name was derived by a headman called “Yapa” .Who this “Yapa” is not stated though. The Tamil name “Yalpanam” provides no history about Jaffna except for the fairy tale of “Yalapana Vaipava Malai”. However Jaffna is entirely a creation of the British Colony. It was one of their maritime provinces of administration. It must be said, that what  is known as Jaffna district even in late 1824 was known as “Waligama”, purely a Sinhala name. One could come across “Waligama” in ancient colonial maps. Whether the district was Sinhalese, English, Portuguese or whatever, a highly controversial question with regard to Jaffna was if it was a separate kingdom or a precise Tamil Kingdom.

And the question still remains.  Years back Jaffna was quite known for trading. Jaffna could be called the “land of prosperity “for its soil was fertile and ideal for much cultivation. People from the down south of SriLanka often claimed shops to trade in Jaffna. It was a mix of Hindus and Sinhalese who worked together back then. Surprisingly it’s no longer there to be seen. Hardly one could see a Sinhalese passing by. So is it now entirely owned by the Tamils? A separate kingdom within a united state? Where does the harmony lie? This is what my mind questioned when I heard a military officer telling “No Mahattaya, the city is more likely to be of the Tamils’ , we’ll never see a single Sinhalese living here in years to come except for those tourists” , “It’s pathetic” he said. I feel that it’s signaling of something more dangerous rather than of a “pathetic “position. Who knows if it’s the rising of another brutal army?

However these creepy thoughts drowned for a moment and I was beguiled by the town’s wonders. Clockwise from the upper left was the Keerimalai springs, thought to have healing powers. We had a visit there with some armed guards. “Nallur “was something fascinating. Topless men with sarongs, crawling on the sandy ground around the “kovil” and women in gold “thalis” worshiping God for each step they keep on a single tile, one could think they are utterly mad. No, it was a perfect showcase of a vibrant culture, their love for god and fear for “karma “. A true sign of devotion and respect.

It was hot outside, and the sun was strong. But the wind was even hotter, where hundreds of "Jaffnians" had gathered at the beach. They were selling “karawala” for the tourists. The men, quite determined and very competitive of their prices, were trying to sell as much as possible because “karawala” is what gives them bread and butter for survival. The little stay there told much about the people. They were actively engaged in their daily chores which was a good sign of post war. The well carpeted roads, the upcoming hotels and restaurants were examples of development in the heart break of thirty years of bloodshed.

Yet some things are disturbing. When evening six’ o clock alarms, they said it is time for patrolling. On one hand it’s a good indication of ensuring the security in the villages even after the war is done, but also manifests that they still suspect of an existence of terrorism. The four days of stay confirmed that the lives are not disturbed by violence anymore. However the disheartening fact is that still the Tamils are not contented of what they’ve got. One should necessarily remember that no one can do miracles at a glance. No one can rebuild a country that was destructed much for thirty years in seconds. Rebuilding is a continuing process and we hope that we will get to see a better version of “Jaffna” in another couple of years to come. Nevertheless the constant complaints made by Tamils of the fact that they still suffer from war sounds very psychological. Many Tamils were born to see terrorism. Some experienced terrorism in real; some thought terrorism was for their own benefit and perhaps for most of them war was a part of their lives and some demand for war even now. Prabhakaran is been worshipped and praised. Who knows if Prabhakaran treated them good? Well, one would not believe of an evil beast being generous and compassionate for a while yet one shouldn’t forget that one would always support their kind and therefore a Tamil will always aid a Tamil .We humans always prefer and welcome the usual things we do and see in life. We fear the “change” over what we’ve undergone in life in its major sometimes. Thus this grievance of the Tamils could be of one such. It’s well known that the North is developing but it will be hard to fix those wrecked hearts bruised by callous memories. It may be impossible at times unless they themselves try to change or see life in a positive way.

Published on December 29 2013, in The Nation

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