My trip to Jaffna: "That somewhere life was taking root again…"
The cost of war
by nkabom
Sri Lanka’s Andi Schubert finds hope amid ruins.
When I got the email telling me I had been selected for Nkabom, I had just left home on the first leg of my trip to the Jaffna peninsula in the North of the country. Driving through areas that had very literally been at the center of the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict was for me more than just a tourist tour to the north.
I was traveling to the North with my uncle, to visit his home – a home he was rebuilding for the second time. A home that symbolized to me in some senses a return to a part of my roots that I was not familiar with, in all honesty, that I was almost alien to.
I observed and learned a lot in the week that I was there. I noted the selective memorialization – how some memories were glorified and memorialized in massive monuments and plaques while others were torn down and defaced. I observed the elephant in the room: the LTTE - now militarily no more, its leaders decimated over a year ago. But their presence hung around in the most unusual places – next to an ice cream parlor, in a children’s park now guarded by armed soldiers, in the bullet marks on a fort constructed by my ancestors and in the murmurings of the people I met. I saw the incurable optimism of people like my uncle who were rebuilding their lives for the n-th time. Not just rebuilding, trying to convince others that once again this time there would be something tangible, permanent and long lasting. It’s incurable – this optimism – and it is everywhere.
But I think for me the most powerful image I’ll take away with me from this trip is the visit to this ruined Hindu temple. The construction of Hindu temples in Sri Lanka is generally undertaken by a rich benefactor in contrast to the construction of Buddhist temples which generally receive considerable State support and patronage. We came across this temple while attempting to reach Pooneryn by road (we were turned back by the Army halfway down the road). The temple belfry had the year it was constructed – 1944 – displayed just below the bell. We removed our slippers and walked into the temple premises, the thorns of the weeds growing wild on the ground pricking our feet while the heat from the searing mid day sun burned the soles of our feet.
The first thing that struck us was the tin shed – in the middle of the temple. It housed the temple gods. All resplendent and regal wrapped in the choicest silks but housed in a tin shed – since the temple didn’t have a roof. We also found a Vel chariot just outside the temple proper. The sheer size of the temple and the presence of the chariot suggested that at some point of time this temple had been a significant centre for worship in this town. But this seemed a bit strange as we saw almost no houses on the drive to this temple. Where had all the people who worshiped in this temple come from?
Returning from the temple, this question was bothering me – until I started noticing what I hadn’t noticed before. I saw the foundations of houses, just the foundations, every 15- 20 feet – sure signs of a flourishing village or simple township at least. None of it remained. Just the foundations and the occasional pillar to remind those who knew no better (travelers like me) that, more than 30 years ago, life thronged through this place, that people lived here: neighbors, friends, family. Now, all that remained was a ruined temple and their gods in a tin shack. And then, in that realization, those generally hidden costs of war hit me: the loss of relationships, the violation of those personal spaces, the disappearance of entire townships, the shifting of gods from temples to tin shacks – what does this do to a people? What does victory mean?
In the spirit of that incurable optimism that I found, however, I chose to cling to that image of the temple gods in that tin shack. Why? Because it tells me that in spite of loss someone, somewhere still thought it important enough to do that. That somewhere life was taking root again…
***
I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test:
Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away. – Mahatma Gandhi
13 Comments
My trip to Jaffna.........
People living there are mainly elderly with their siblings overseas.
Stayed in a 5 room House where the old couple lived. They gave the house as they went to Madhu.
This house is not maintained & filthy and bathroom terrirble infested with frogs. our party actually cleaned the whole house and the bathrooms.
The elderly couple living there did not mind the condition they lived. what they said to us was they do not want to do any renovations as other may think that they have money. THIS IS THE MIND SET.
we enjoyed the meals at the Rolex cafe.
Luxury bus system is excellent & comfortable. Rs. 1000 overnight trip and arrive at wellawatte.
And GoSL and its many apologists want the world to believe total normalcy has returned to the Tamil areas. Why were they turned half-way in civil areas in Pooneryn?
Yes "it is incurable - this optimism - and it is everywhere" and this is not peculiar to Lankan Tamils. It is just as true with many societies under oppression. No amount of force or military might can tear the Tamil people from their ancient land although, admittedly, there is no want of effort.
One hopes that tin shed will give way to a formal Gopuram, Ther-vandi, Sannadhi and all when, hopefully, fear, prejudice and lack of understanding gives way to tolerance, compassion and justice.
ISS
Dear
(Dogobet)
23 nails in body of tortured maid
By MD RASOOLDEEN | ARAB NEWS
Published: Aug 25, 2010 01:08 Updated: Aug 25, 2010 01:08
RIYADH: Doctors in Sri Lanka have found 23 nails in the body of a tortured housemaid who returned to Colombo from Riyadh, Sri Lankan Embassy sources told Arab News on Tuesday.
“We have received this complaint from the Foreign Ministry in Colombo, who said the maid has been allegedly tortured by her sponsor,” a senior diplomat from the Sri Lankan mission in Riyadh told Arab News. “We are looking for the sponsor. We were able to track down the Saudi recruitment agent in Riyadh and we will summon the sponsor to discuss this issue,” the official said.
Doctors at the Kamburipitya Base Hospital in the Matara district, 140 km from Colombo, said the nails had been hammered into the maid’s body. Dr. Kamal Weeratunge, who was treating the maid, claimed the nails had been heated up before they punctured her skin.
On Sri Lankan television channel Newsfirst Sirasa, the maid showed the marks where the nails had gone through. The maid, identified as 50-year-old Ariyawathie, said that there were too many people to serve in the house where she worked.
“I had to work continuously since I had to do the chores of all the occupants and when I wanted to take rest due to tiredness, they inserted the nail in my body as a punishment,” she said.
“I had to work from dawn to dusk. I hardly slept. They beat me and threatened to kill me and hide my body.” She added that she arranged her travel documents to return home on her own expense. “They were really devils with no mercy at all,” she said.
According to records at the Sri Lankan Embassy, the maid came to the Kingdom on March 25. The diplomat said that the sponsor had bypassed the mission and made his own arrangements to send the woman home. “We can only deal with cases that come up before the mission,” he said. However, he added that the mission would take action following the complaint submitted to the embassy from Colombo.
The maid had come to Saudi Arabia after being registered at the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE).
SLBFE chairman Kingsley Ranawake said that a formal inquiry would be held with the concerned maid and appropriate action taken
What are you veeraya are doing about it instead of pooeing on Tamils.
My trip to Jaffna
Jaffna is a beautiful city shaded with big trees.
The designs of almost all houses were not different from those in the rest of the SL.
People were generally friendly and we found adequate number of traders who could speak sinhala.Even a trader in Kilinochchi spoke good sinhala.
In the road to Dambakola patuna,we saw many abandoned houses,quite big and beautiful.
I did not feel any difference in Jaffna interms of wether,apperance of the people,trees etc.I realised the north can never be a tamil homeland,cos it is not a different area.
I did not feel I am in a different country as there are many Hindu temples in Colombo and elsewhere in the country.
I realised that more sinhalese should settle in the north so that the Northan tamil will learn to live in a multicultural society as we live in Colombo.This will help them to realise that tamil homeland concept is a myth and embrace a Sri Lankan identity.
I was happy that at least one buddhist temple is there in the JaFFNA City, Naga vihara.
I stayed in a house run by a sinhalease leased from a tamil family.So I mostly had rice and curry.However,masla thosa from a restaurant at Power house street was wonderfull.
The Jaffna city view seen when i returned from Nagadeepaya was amazing and beautiful.Hope there will be highrising building very soon and sinhalese and muslims can also work there with Tamils.
Nallur Kovil was wonderful.One tamil gentleman volunteered to explain us the meaning of all the rituals performed and the reasons.He even told us similarities between buddhism and hinduism.
ICE cream shops near the Kovil were really good.
Jaffna library staff seemed disliked visitors as appeared from thier faces.
In my recent trip what I noticed was that there is a lot of development taking place and business is booming there. I will shortly retire there now that the LTTE menace is not there.
Instead of building more and more Buddha statues in the Northeast as elsewhere, let's learn what Buddha said we should be doing to each other as human beings.
Surely this can't be right ??? The writer is clearly lying thru their teeth
Everyone knows Jaffna is in ruins.
Everyone knows. No one is rebuilding anything.
Everyone knows Sinhala racist army is holding all Tamils at gunpoint
Everyone knows No one is allowed to go anywhere
Right ???
Disapora Tamil Brothers - Us Sri Lanka Tamils Really, Really Thank you for keeping the flames of racism well-fuelled from your safe-havens in the West. We really appreciate you telling us we are not allowed to have hope because "it just doesn't fit in with YOUR agenda"
Yuu guys did this for the past 30 years and kept us in bondage (see where it got us).. how much longer are you going to do this ????
Dear Sri Lankan,
Sri Lankan embassy officials in Riyadh are partly responsible for this. They don't treat the housemaids as their own people. When housemaids run away from their sponsors and reach Sri Lanka embassy welfare center, some officials make money by selling them to new sponsor or master. Some ambassidors are political appointees and promote their own bussiness instead of looking after the welfare of the expatriates. Only couple of Sri Lankan doctors in Riyadh do great service to housemaids and other workers.
Mecator -
My family was in Jaffna all of last month.
Yes, Jaffna is in ruins.
But, there is a lot of rebuilding going on – roads, bridges, schools etc.. The A9 is now widened and smooth. Jaffna town is buzzing with opportunities. People are looking forward to the opening of the Jaffna – Colombo railway line, and the Pallali airport.
The army is not holding anyone at gun point. Actually, they are very friendly, and some even speak fluent Tamil.
There are some areas that are prohibited due to landmines that are not cleared yet. No one is holding anyone at gun point. No need for anyone to go on forced hunger strikes or to attend street dramas that spew out hatred and false propaganda.
Life is far from perfect, but it is better than what they were used to for the past 20 or so years.
The comments of M/s Tharmasundaram and Gnanam raises hopes that despite many short-comings things are on the mend. This is excellent news presuming both are Tamils from the area. That the army is trying to make up with the Tamil civilians is good news. As the Defence Secy assured the Lessons Learnt and Truth Commission if the army presence outside the camps are
reduced and replaced by the Police, this will convince the Tamil people the Govt of President Rajapakse means well by them. Simultaneously HSZ land must be restored to its original owners and steps taken by the Govt to assure the people the State has no intention to inflict a majority hegemony to reduce them to minority status in their own areas. At the sametime early steps should be taken to allow the people of the North to run their political affairs themselves through the democratic process.
ISS
"The construction of Hindu temples in Sri Lanka is generally undertaken by a rich benefactor in contrast to the construction of Buddhist temples which generally receive considerable State support and patronage"
There are lots of Buddhist Temples that are derelict, abandoned or in ruins due to lack of funds. There are also many Monks in rural areas that do not recieve alms and go hungry many a day. They all depend on individual benefactors.
State patronage for Buddhist temples ONLY and not for Hindu Kovils is a myth.
You do that to subtly promote your propaganda of "Discrimination against Tamils".
CW:
When Douglas Devananda was the Minister of Hindu Affairs, some Hindu Temples got some aid from the state. The Hindu priests of those temples were killed by LTTE later.
Now the Ministry of Religious Affairs is under the President and we never heard any STATE HELP for any HINDU temple but we read many Catholic Churches like St.Annes of Krunagala, Madu got millions from the State.
M.Sivananthan
Sadly you miss the point. If Christian churches obtain Government aid, so be it. I hope and pray the Hindu Temples will also obtain Government aid in Millions of Rupees. WHY NOT?