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| Sunday, 19 May 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Halted Sri Lanka by Padma Edirisinghe I may be considered rather odd, but when everybody is busy writing during the pre-Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festival on the inevitable theme of the Sun god changing his Raashi, I prefer to write on some far fetched topic as the "Ghosts in London" or "The kitchen utensils used in ancient Mongolia." It is an innate desire not to join the bandwagon, which however is the done thing in media circles.
To get on, I haven't seen the glossy black face of my newspaper boy ever since September, sorry, April 11th. If I were to go and complain to the proprietor of the paper agency he is sure to retort. "These... (unprintable) blokes are still eating their kavum and kokis in their... (unprintable) villages. Am I to go round distributing the... (unprintable) papers?' The grocery opposite my house has remained barricaded since April 11th for the very same reason. Fast food centers in town share the same predicament. The deserting of Colombo's streets began in the twilight of the old Year. Only a lone young photographer trudges along the deserted road trying to take a shot at fame by a shot of the human denuded roads. And when it gets flashed across the front page of some newspaper, environmentalists, philosophers and romantic writers gasp, "See that photo. Sri Lanka will never sink. Its people are eco-friendly, culture friendly, village-friendly." But these great admirers of village life have themselves deserted them many years back to embrace the tinsel of city life in order to make maximum use of their capabilities and positions for their own advancement and that of the family. Now cushioned in all the city luxury that the metropolis affords they limit their admiration to their villages by only singing hosannas to rural life. To come back to the main theme, seeing the nearby computer shop open after weeks of closure I walk there. Since my computer before the aforesaid period had imitated my perversity and refused to show anything on the screen, I had handed over important work to a girl there. She is back again looking refreshed and beautiful. Her meek frontal facade emboldens me to do a mini research on the aforesaid period. "Where were you all this time?" "In my village off Matale." She giggles echoing the ripple of the meandering rivers in the valleys of that terrain. A ring of high mountains rises before me. And down topple huge cascades of water, all silvery. The loveliest panorama of nature under the sky canopy. But I must not weaken. So I put on my best or worst (newly acquired) veneer of city cruelty. "Where is my work?" Giggles again. "Not touched I will give it to you tomorrow." Now she looks rather guilty and comes out with an explanation. "The thing is I wanted to come earlier. But no buses and no paan." No paan! In my stray readings I came across the interesting fact that paan or that second staple diet of ours, bread was broken in Biblical countries or the land between the great rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. Maybe they overlap. But in the land mass X'tians described as the heathen kingdom it has become the most convenient form of food. Anyway it is one vicious circle rotating in this period under discussion. Bakeries do not bake bread or other easy food items for lack of staff and the villagers are locked up in their villages for lack of transport to come to the city. Workplaces remain empty because of this very vicious circle. Buses do not run for fear of lack of commuters and commuters do not come on to the roads for fear of lack of transport. Going off the tangent or maybe just within its margin it may be mentioned that Henry W. Cave gushing over Ceylon in the 1910 decade almost insinuates that it was the model country of Asia at that time. Its postal system being cheaper than that of the mother country from where it was introduced had begun to surpass it in the standard of work. The codes governing it were so meticulously carried out that nothing got 1st in the post. The CGR code was equal in the meticulous aspect with attention focused on the sick, the disabled and frail females. While the weary Indian traveller was getting down at wayside stations to have their meals while the Yakada Yaka relaxed on the rails, says Cave, our CGR had already begun her catering services. But alas, we have lagged far behind all other countries in the intervening period. Maybe it would be an interesting fact to examine why. Perhaps this long and luxuriously languid aftermath of the festival could be one cause. Ah, says somebody, just forget it. After all Lanka is limping back from one of the most tortuous wars, history has ever seen, hence this limping back from its festivals is a trite matter. But is it? We have so many festivals and if each pre-period and in-period after period is going to take so long, undoubtedly it plays a major role in our non developing syndrome. Just a reflection. |
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For example if a newspaper carries articles on X'mas during Vesak and
on Vesak during X'mas its editor would be considered nutty. So to make up
for any lapse I thought of writing my reflections on the post S&T New
Year. (excuse the abbreviations, no disrespect meant). It is the period
during which the island comes to a grinding halt. So I would be again
going off the track and writing on Halted Sri Lanka deviating from the
current theme "One Sri Lanka."
