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| Sunday, 5 June 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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The right column Of festivals private and not so private Sri Lankans have a habit of making every natural occurrence a festival. From the labour room to the grave a festival of a sort covers every turning point in the life of an individual. Some of course have been going on for ages. I believe there must be good reasons for a festival to withstand the test of time for so long, especially among Sri Lankans whose memories are too short. Birth, death, coming of age are all very personal and at best family affairs. Unless you belong to the royalty or stardom they are celebrated in private by small circles of kith and kin. Coming of age, especially of girls is celebrated on a grand scale in Sri Lanka. In other countries it is a very private affair confined to the individual concerned. Here, of course it is on par with a wedding with invitations, expensive receptions etc. etc. There are even privileged invitees who would open the festive dinners or have the privilege of planting the first kiss on the cheek of the young lady. The celebrations are so widely announced that the subject of so and so attaining age becomes a topic of conversation among the neighbourhood youth who would often challenge one another to win the maiden love of the just blossomed lass who would wait confined to an ill-lit corner of the house with little ventilation or hygiene oblivious of all such talk till the auspicious time arrives for her to be cleansed and brought back to society to the glaze of curious onlookers. Be that as it may, the Sceptic has not much grouse about it. What irritated the Sceptic for some time has been the ostentation and waste that is associated with funerals. Funerals have become today occasions to display vulgar wealth and display pomp and glory. The more expensive the coffin the more prestigious it is to the living and ironically not to the deceased. To the deceased it does not matter whether the body is cremated or buried, carried on horse back or on shoulders. The latest fad at funeral houses is to photograph the entire proceedings or catch it on video film. Last weekend the Sceptic went to pay respects to a departed countryman, an octogenarian who happened to be suffering for almost two years from a terminal illness. What irritated him was the way the relatives of the dearly departed posed for photographs in turn by the coffin. A professional photographer had been hired for the job. He was jumping from left to right, bending forwards, backwards, sideways to capture the images of the relatives - sons and daughters, grandchildren, close neighbours and even some of the elite. As is natural on such instances a smile flickered on the faces of some who posed by the coffin when the flash lights of the camera flashed. Bending their heads and bodies not in paying homage to the deceased but in gratitude to the cameramen they would move away giving room for the next group to have a photo opportunity. It seemed that most gratified were distant or relatives who never had the opportunity to pose for a photograph with their departed relation once he or she was in the land of the living. What earthly use is there for such photographs? Surely they would lie in some dusty album for ages before the moths would do justice to them. I still believe relatives near and dear would rather like to look at a picture of their departed relation that was taken when he or she was hale and hearty. My colleague tells me I am certainly wrong and a bit old fashioned. The photo opportunities or video filming were not for posterity but for the moment - another sign of glory and pride. - the Sceptic |
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