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| Sunday, 19 January 2003 |
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The phoenix rises : Jaffna bustles with life, as nature too salutes for peace by JAYANTHI LIYANAGE
Visiting Jaffna is a loss and a gain. You lose what is presumptuous. And all that is superficial. The encounter is a naked reality of life. And the power of earth and nature to revive life, from the mere shadow of dust and fragments. And the human endeavour to endure against all odds. For life, peace and normalcy. What is absorbed here is not something you can easily forget. If the skeleton of the Naavakkuli Bridge at Jaffna's doorway invokes a tragic sense of history, it is appeased by the smooth blades of grass swaying to the rhythmic breeze on the floodplains and green fields spanning along to the lagoon. The horizon closes, as a fringe of Talipot Palms watch with sentinel eyes. An astonishingly rich, feathered life nudges alive the calm of the rolling plains. Ducks cavort in pools. Hunched storks sit, brooding. Migrant aquatics patrol the sky, a wing raised at the bright strip of azure peering through the grey shroud of clouds. What is invoked is an immense sense of our bondage to the rejuvenating power of mother earth. The nature's salute for peace. And a reminder to humans, "Be like us!" Jaffna town is a maze and a gridlock of streets, lanes and alleys. It gives a strong sense that one is back in Colombo's Pettah. Smiles and acknowledging nods, as one meets and forges an acquaintance with vendors and passing-by men, women and children.
The orderly lines of shops bustle with a multitude of produce and the trade is brisk. The morning begins with the town being swept, cleaned and shops unlocked for the day's sales. Through the receding rubble of war which is over, shops rise from the ashes. An elderly woman, draped in a sari, peddles to join in the vast brigade of cyclists and mo-bikers roaming the city. "Buy King Jam (Rasa Walli) tubers," prods a vendor as one jostle the buyers at Jaffna market. "Boil and eat with sugar. And Puuvalu plantains are going at Rs.25 a kilo!" One also discerns a glut of imported luxury goods, with even some "Saiva Hotels" displaying Toblerones and Cadburies.
Lorries, staggering under the weight of essentials, furniture and pots and pans, ply into Jaffna, bringing in produce from the South. An omen auguring well for the intent of Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Ravi Karunanayake, "To establish in Jaffna a centre for exchanging goods with other parts of the country, with chillies, onions, potatoes, vegetables, grapes, fish and prawns of Jaffna trading out." The city's first Sathosa in six years opened at Kasthuriyar Road, aimed at easing the consumer burden and doling out local and imported fare at an affordable cost. What lacks in new Jaffna? Perhaps, electricity for Nirveli and Uttur. And as Raghavan of "Thinnakkural" newspaper points out, the burning need is to build accommodation to house the large influx of sight-seers, business community and others, since at present the town offers only Thuraiappa Stadium and Central School Grounds as a night-stop.
The night the famous duo, Pushpavanam-Kuppusamy, sang in Jaffna was proof that no matter what tribulations the human may undergo, the human heart can still renew itself to smile, laugh and have a roaring time. Song, jest and entertainment clears doubts and wounds and refreshes and heals the mind for a new day. The long unlovely night is over', the huge care-free crowd filling the Hindu College grounds seemed to say. From the caverns of recuperation and restoration, the Kraken of Peace is learning to live. |
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