Gajalakshmi Paramasivam – 28 November  2015

Children of Thunaivi

Common Karma v Common Sense

I was talking to the old person who takes care of our garden here in Thunaivi-Vaddukoddai, when we are away. I was explaining to him as to why I got upset  with a member of his family through marriage. The old man did not respond. When it came to minor problems about others – he was quick to passionately criticize them. As I said recently to our coordinator – a young father – when he criticized some young boys for swimming in our temple-well – that one who is not able to find fault with one’s own does not qualify to be a Common judge.   Our coordinator failed to recognize that the workers hired by him who said they had to first get the approval of the women’s association – before carrying out the simple task of removing a part of the fence – were in breach of their agreement and were acting as if I was the one at fault. In this instance I became the parallel of the Sri Lankan Government against whom the LTTE recruited the likes of the workers who said they needed to check with their women’s association. In fact, local authorities above the level of the women’s association fear to establish their offices in this area – despite us donating a block of land for such purposes. A member of minority group in the area becomes the target of such groups where only a few achieve enough grades for Tertiary education. Unless therefore one had some kind of common cultural base – one cannot successfully lead such groups. They carry the genes to form natural coalitions with groups such as the LTTE. President Sirisena is reported to have stated at CHOGM 2015 that – ‘Common values are important and not the power of wealth’. But how are those Common Values developed – at the level of the individual as well as a group? Faith is the express highway through which one could develop Common Values with less educated groups.

An eighty year old Australian Tamil complained that his projects were failing in his area in Northern Sri Lanka – due to lack of manpower. To my mind, it was simple logic – that Northern Sri Lanka which lost considerable percentage of elitists to emigration in the name of war – would be lacking in human resources even for National projects, leave alone Global projects. Trying to squeeze money-rich projects in current Sri Lanka is like trying to pass a thick thread through a needle with a tiny eye. The old Australian Tamil said to me that the locals were cheating him. The question is whether the locals think that they are entitled to the benefits they freely ‘take’. This is the problem with money driven joint ventures without firm agreements. The old Australian Tamil wanted to raise funds for a big project and this is yet to happen. I said I was more with small projects that become policy contributions through investment in security and self-sufficiency through good conduct using existing resources.

It’s not easy getting there. The moment we ‘show’ money they ‘see’ a need as per theory/hearsay. Only resources pooled to be Common would produce Common outcomes through which each contributor could read her/his own outcomes. Some of these outcomes may show ‘losses’ at money level but the ‘gap’ would go direct to policy / Common value.

The Tamil Political prisoner issue was one in which I also invested from my angle. The other is the celebration of  Great Heroes day on 27 November by LTTE supporters. Here in Thunaivi as well as in Vaddukoddai town – there was no sign of any  celebrations. No one seemed to even remember – not even the war widows. I was on my way to the Australian Tamil Management Service Training Centre when I met one of the mothers of school children. I asked her why the children had not gone to school and she said it was because of death of a student. It was later when I was returning home after a long day of training that the young lady at the local shop said to me that as per the papers the young student had written a note connecting his death to the political prisoners. None of the men gathered there criticized anyone. Most expressed their feelings for the parents of the young guy.

Registering this good order of thought – I was wondering why the schools were closed. It was this morning when I read the Sri Lankan news that the penny dropped – that yesterday was also the Great Heroes’ Day for the LTTE. I felt that the Government had actually been helped by this young student to close the schools and thus prevent student protests which have become common pathway in Jaffna.

I felt also that when we are passive – including for the purpose of passive resistance – our natural forces manifest outcomes as per the pathway of Truth.. When we are Active we manifest the outcomes and to the extent they are not as per our Truth – we become instruments of others. Majority student activists are thus instruments of others – especially rebel politicians. Young ones without the actual ‘experience’ would tend to be emotionally driven and hence become victims of selfish politicians/rebels. Then it becomes a question of student v political activist  or  parent v politician in taking care of the student. In the case of young Rajeswaran Senthooran the politician won and the parent lost,

I thought about my discussions with the old gardener and what happened in the family even while we were discussing. We heard raised voices and it sounded as if one was beating another. The old gardener rushed out of our gates towards his daughter’s home next door. The voices continued and young kids tried to get a close look out of curiosity. I chased them back to their homes. Later the gardener came back to inform me that the TV of  his granddaughter who influenced her husband towards celebrations out of our money without completing the job – had fallen to the floor due to mishandling by her younger sister – causing damage to both – the TV as well as the floor. The old man explained that the money had come from an expatriate friend of the guy. Like in the case of Mr. John Howard – former Prime Minister of Australia – I connected the damage to be return karma for damaging my investment in developing the infrastructure of Thunaivi – so they would not become instruments of those looking to show quick outcomes through arms and/or money. Karma never fails. Where our purpose is good and we stay within our Truth – we become the pathways through whom Truth manifests Itself. The time and place of such manifestation is the real Commonwealth that all who believe in that place and/or its people would be empowered by.