To Jaffna with love

by Kalakeerthi EDWIN ARIYADASA

‘A road is a route or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance ...’

Salute the roads.

They take us to the destinations we intend to reach.

They bear the burden of our vehicles.

They patiently accept the heavy weights and rapid speeds we impose upon them.

Enduring untold – unspoken pains and pangs, roads witness the ups and downs of human history.

Roads do not weep or wail. Nor do they smile or laugh. But, with stable and unshaken equanimity, they record the continuing fluctuations of human destiny.

When you travel the road to Jaffna, these sundry reflections flood your mind endlessly. Your memories swiftly shift back to those troubled and tortured days, when, journeying to Anuradhapura seemed a hazard. The ordeal of those travels, was compounded by the disastrous state of the road.

Peace

But, today, the 75 km road-way from Puttalam to Anuradhapura is a veritable celebration of what peace can achieve. The repulsive pock-marks are all gone.

The puddles that dotted the road, like unhealing wounds have now been totally eradicated.

The road at Nochchiyagama, takes on the appearance of a sophisticated highway in Colombo. Its structure parallels, the sophisticated modernisation of road construction, in any advanced urban location. As you move on towards Jaffna, travelling along lengths and lengths of road, passing places, whose names still ring and echo with the grisly memories of the ugly conflict, you are overwhelmed by a massive operation”, pursued with an impressive earnestness.

But, this is entirely and solely, an “Operation of Peace.” The end-aim of this committed ‘war-effort’, is the building of an advanced, sophisticated and fully modernised road-system.

The dedicated officers and men, do not seem to relax even for a moment. We pass groups of dust-coated men, taking their mid-day meal by the side of the road.

Roads

The leaves of the trees are thick with an overlay of fine brown dust.

The state-of-the-art road construction equipment utilised in the building of these roads, is an unerring index to the state prioritization placed on the building of modern roads for the North and the East.

The functional presence of this advanced machinery, rarely seen even in Colombo, drives home to you, leading to a marked surprise, that, the government is totally and uncompromisingly immersed in the effort to rehabilitate this regionfully and comprehensively.

We travel to Jaffna, immediately after the break of dawn.

I travel, at the kind invitation of Rev. Fr. Benedict Joseph, the well-known communicator. The three of us (Rev. Fr. Benedict Joseph, Anton J. Fernando – Co-ordinator OIC and I) are on our way to Jaffna for a seminar.

As for me, this was my first visit to Jaffna. I must confess that, some misgivings lurked within me. After the national traumatization brought about by the prolonged conflict, would there be some residual hesitations in this region?

I must add a pleasant note here. During my brief visit to Jaffna, I was impressed by the cordiality, we receive. It was subdued but genuine.

Sights

While we were travelling along, some of the sights on either side of the road, came to be “coloured” by my own subjective qualms. In the light of the early morning, a clump of dwarf palmyrah palms, crowded together, seemed to me, an array of over-tall armed men, in camouflage! Some derelict houses, with their doors and windows all gone, appeared as if they were standing aghast, their eyes open and mouths agape, shocked at the violence that travelled along the road.

Road of Jaffna

Some areas on either side of the road, are cordoned off, as the danger of land–mines is still present.

When we arrived in Jaffna, it was mid-day. Schoolchildren were on their way home. Most of them were on push-cycles.

We were graciously greeted by Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundaranayagam Bishop of Jaffna.

Cordiality

In the course of our travels in Jaffna, we were able to feel the cordiality of these persons we met. The young religious personalities, with whom Rev. Fr. Benedict Joseph and I, had discussions displayed a charming eagerness to learn and to understand us.

Rev. Fr. Rohana took us along to see important sights and to meet some outstanding personalities.

The urban bustle associated with most big cities, is fairly subdued in Jaffna. Never did we see, in that city, thronging crowds, loitering about aimlessly. Those who went about, seemed to be bent on some purpose. The ubiquitous vehicle in Jaffna is the bike-pedalled or motored.

Well-dressed women even those who seem nuptially attired – travel around on motor-bikes. City – vehicles are parked at a slant, at the centre of the road.

The agricultural pursuits in Kopay area, are heart-warming. How Kopay farmers, get the recalcitrant terrain to yield, is quite admirable. They assiduously grow chillies, carrot, beetroot and banana.

The forests of banana in Kopay are a tribute both to the fertility of the soil and the endurance of the people.

The bottomless well of Puttur and the legends associated with it are immensely interesting.

The harbour at which Ven. Nun Sangamitta arrived with the sapling of the Bodhi Tree is Jambukola Pattana.

The site is well-preserved and protected making it a sacred destination. We visited this site in the night.

Jaffna, is awakening into a new era. In this newly arisen age, peaceful co-existence will be the collective goal.

The people of Jaffna, cherish peace and harmony.

They esteem wholesome traditions. People are not allowed into the Public Library, in shod feet.

The Sri Lankan Security Forces, contribute substantially towards the harmony, that is being strengthened in the post-conflict era. Major Ranjit Mallawarachchi, in Jaffna, met us in the Public Library, the staff of which looked on him with a perceptible affection.

Again I feel the need to return to the theme of roads. In a year or even before, sophisticated roadway will be fully functioned, to link the South with Jaffna.

Silk Route

Our endeavour should make this raod – a highway paralleled to the historically renowned “Silk Route”. For ages culture, amity, trade and religion travelled along the Silk Route.

Could we make the new road to Jaffna a Metta Mawatha – a road of ‘compassion and understanding? Roads have to be built into the minds and hearts of people, to establish lasting peace and harmony.

Trade is stirring along the Jaffna road.

The felled Water Tank, in Kilinochchi monuments an era of hate.

We should build edifices of Metta, alongside the New Jaffna road.