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| Sunday, 26 February 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Where have all the kiri ammas gone? by Afreeha Jawad "Where have all these Kiri Ammas gone? Long time no see" Ah! Haa!! that assuredly is an improvised version of the evergreen hit - "Where have all the flowers gone" - not to forget even yesteryear's Kiri Ammas that had the floral aura about them.
For the fortnight I spent in my ancestral Wayamba retreat, the whole topic of Kiri Ammas came on talking to Piyadasa - an elderly villager - eight score years - an old timer whose heart, nerve and sinew is ingrained in this province - particularly in the Kurunegala district. He and his family were units of a whole, the dry zone lured some sixty years or so ago - a migration pattern that deposited large numbers in this once dreaded malarial province. Apart from the large scale jungle clearing and development projects that later became an investors' paradise, which Piyadasa describes as 'Visaala Venasak' or big change setting in, he feels sorry for what has come on, by way of social change - particularly today's Kiri Ammas that romp about in, frock, skirt and blouse, inviting disrespect. The villagers many of whom feel uncomfortable in offering Kiri Daney or alms to such modern Kiri Ammas, now make their offerings to the locality's devale as though a traditional Deva's merits following such offering is far greater than what would come off the skirt/blouse clad Kiri Amma of modern times. Piyadasa's observations however do not end there. Lamenting over village girls' preference of trousers and 'T' shirts, over the traditional cloth and jacket, and their reluctance to carry the traditional water pot, he said. 'Dan kalaathurakin unath Redda/Hetta andapu gehanu lamayek dakinna nehe. Kalagediyak ussanney nehe. Kalisan vitharai andinneth'. Out there in the fields, the constant whirring of tractors replaces the conventional buffalo driven chorus 'Juk, Muk, Pichak, Ho, Ho, Ho'. The Pin Thaaliya or water pot, the Ambalama or wayside inn that quenched the thirst and rested the weary traveller are no more. Elopements - a common occurrence have ended. Today, neatly printed invitations precede any marriage, and what's more Kurunegala town's up and coming hotels are heavily booked, so much that, couples are compelled into postponing their 'big day'. Invitees no longer adorn their traditional attire. The Arya Sinhala costume has ceased to be. Recently Piyadasa was an invitee to a wedding of a girl whose father evolved from labourer to rollicking businessman. Mama vitharai saramak andey. Okkama tie pati kalisan walin avey," he said in fits of laughter, recalling how he was the only sarong wearing guest - the rest preferred lounge suit. "Even Siri - the coconut plucker was dressed that way," said Piyadasa with a quaint smile and eyes downcast. Down most village roads food outlets with big name boards read 'Sortis here' (for short eats) and 'Daily bufet lunch' (for buffet). That's not all. "Fitness coming here. Power horse centre" - reads another board. What could that be I wondered. Ah! Haa! Colombo's fitness centres have caught on here in remote Maddegama - a once sleepy village, not far from the Deduru Oya. Modern three tiered houses more in the shape of old castles are seen in lands on which rested only a mud hut. May Minussunta Kohenda Ochchara Salli?, asks Piyadasa. Meyka loku rahasak - Piyadasa may not have formal qualifications in sociology but unwittingly dabbles in it. His native ingenious is at work all the time. Ada Noyekuth Salli Hamba Kireemey Krama Thiyanava Neda? he asks hinting at the liberal markets multifarious opportunities coming people's way as money spinners. But the saddest part is this, that draws Piyadasa's overwhelming concern. The fact that these people today do not even know what edible green leaves are - one time so much part of the villager's menu. Lunch in fact was incomplete without such. This then brought to the columnist's mind what Colombo University's Professor Ramani Jayatilleke had to say in the course of teaching post graduate students. She was part of a team researching into contemporary rural life. "It's sad but true. Many do not even know what Gotukola is". |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Come morning - more so in the wee hours - at the crack of dawn so to say,
one could see them through the mist clad in spotless white walking through
the village in single file to keep an appointment of an invitee to partake
of some Dana (alms) following a sick child's recovery or some old man's
recuperation. 
