Living in the Past or the Present?
This morning I wrote in my current book an account
of one of my experiences in Thunaivi, Vaddukoddai in Northern Sri Lanka. In essence
it was about a statement by a pro-government Tamil with London influence
claiming that by asking for self-rule Tamils, like Murugan have ended up with their kovanam
/ underwear – meaning indigenous power only.
The Hon Mano Ganesan has expressed his sentiments on
this issue in his Facebook posting of 18
June. To my mind, the honourable minister for National Dialogue seems to be
stating that due to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) not joining the Government –
there has been lack of progress in terms of Political solution nor economic development. I
on the other hand identify with the progress made by all common Sri Lankans
through the outcome in which Tamils have Equal status as the Governing Party
with executive powers in National Parliament.
Where such opposition is also of Buddhist Sinhalese
culture that structure is like minority status for the mother, relative to the
father whose surname is carried by the common family. Where the leading
opposition is different / diverse in culture – it is confirmation of Equality in
National level leadership. No one needs to ‘give’ it to us. Those who
contributed to this will be empowered naturally in any system of democracy –
including at family level where husband and wife are ‘seen’ to be equal.
My observation in relation to the Thunaivi comments
was that as per the philosophy demonstrated by that legend – Murugan renounced
his parental wealth before declaring his own rule with his capital as Palani
Hill. That Murugan has come to Nallur in Jaffna as Alankara Murugan (Decorated
Murugan). In Thunaivi also – those who renounced the benefits from their
Traditional culture – have migrated
to various parts of Sri Lanka and
beyond. The folks of Thunaivi are of toddy-tapper origin and it is not unusual
for some of them to be seen to be climbing up Palmyrah trees to tap toddy. They
say they feel more relaxed in that job than in others. The Tamil from London
probably was ‘attached’ to the Jaffna of his times and hence the comment. He
must have mistaken the ‘freedom’ that the kovanam confirmed for money poverty. That
was the zero base start that confirmed globalization.
My
attention was caught also by the following comments by Mr Sasanka Perera in his
Island article ‘ Meena Amma’s Line Rooms;
Anatomy of a Corporate Misadventure’:
If
one visits Sri Lankan hotelier, Jetwing’s official website, amongst what can be
set aside as ordinary promotions of local tourism, one specific ‘experience’
stands out for all the wrong reasons. Touted as ‘local living
in the highlands’, this package is marketed specifically as ‘Meena Amma’s Line
Room Experience.’ Line rooms are of course the horrendous living quarters
initially constructed by the British for the laborers they had mass-transported
from southern India beginning in the 19th century to work in Sri Lanka’s
nascent planation sector. Their journeys of mass-migration, pain, death,
relocation, living in squalor as well as their contribution to the national
economy and local politics are well researched. One of the most recent attempts
in this direction is Kumari Jayawardena’s and Rachel Kurian’s 2015 book, Class,
Patriarchy and Ethnicity on Sri Lankan Plantations: Two Centuries of Power and
Protest. If Jayawardena’s and Kurian’s work as well as that of other
researchers places in context, the unenviable ground situation of this specific
Sri Lankan ethno-cultural community, the discourse that emanates from Jetwing’s
promotions take this narrative to an altogether different and absurd level of
articulation.’
The parallel of the above is true of Jaffna also - where
also Jetwing has two hotels. I started staying there after our cottage in
Thunaivi was stoned because I reported some youth to the Police. This year I
rang to wish my brother on May 12th from Jetwing Jaffna, to wish my
brother on his birthday. My brother was born
in Jaffna hospital across the road and we shared that experience – especially our
mother’s challenges during that time. When I described not only Jetwing but the
surroundings, my brother said that Jaffna sounds very different to the Jaffna he
grew up in. My brother left Jaffna for Canada, in 1983, due to the war. My husband’s
brother was shot dead by the armed
forces near Jaffna hospital. That area was seriously wounded by the war. Yet, I
felt very much at home at Jetwing, Jaffna. I said to my brother that had I
stayed on in Jaffna, I would have resided in a home with similar comforts. That
confirms the structures that I have developed along the pathway. I now
contribute to that global standard as a customer. That is how I pay my respects
to Jaffna.
But now I do not keep in the front of my mind the
memories of the past – as they happened. The essence of it is registered to
motivate me to produce more like myself along MY pathway. I grew up in a home
not too far from the city centre. That was good then and Jetwing is its current version of my consolidated self.
Mr Sasanka Perera comments as follows on Jetwing
promotion:
[What more would one want? An ‘authentic’
meal with sit in extras from the extended locality to perform the choreographed
rituals of ‘authenticity.’ This is Jetwing’s corporatized understanding of
estate labor’s ‘simple pleasures.’
But the simplest
pleasure of many workers I have talked to over the years has been to escape
from the cycles of poverty to which they were bound in the estates, and to
ensure that their children had a better life away from the circumstances of
poverty they were born into. In this context of sharp contradictions, I wonder
what the ‘variety of traditional activities characteristic of their lifestyles’
that Jetwing has in store for us. Of course, to be reasonable, there could be
many options. But if the experience has to be ‘authentic’ as claimed, then,
over-consumption of alcohol widely available in the form of locally brewed
hooch as well as national brands in local taverns and listening to nursery
rhymes in dilapidated school buildings where the tin roofs leak in the rains
might well be part of the overall experience. We do know from research that
these are hardly far from day to day realities in many estates]
Like
the folks of Thunaivi who continue to be toddy-tappers – the residents of that
home that I lived in would continue to live in lesser luxury than myself. A
complaint of lack of sugar in milk cannot be directly related to the complaint of
one who complains of lack of salt in the soup. Each manifestation needs to be
taken in its own context. The boundaries are space or time.
Plantations
need the tourism income and the investors in tourism would know how best to
promote their investment in that area. Happiness of the plantation guy who
remained a plantation worker cannot be compared directly with happiness of the
likes of Mr Mano Ganesan who motivates those who seek to go national and global.
They are relative to each other within that community. Outsiders – be it
commentators or tourists – become trespassers when insider information is used indiscriminately
for their own publicity.
Jetwing is good for Jaffna and I feel Jetwing
in Hill-country is also good for
progress in that area. Within the local
electorate – time based relativity is used to measure progress. If time is the border that separates – then place
based relativity is the measure. Time measure should not be applied to the
person who has chosen the wider current measure of multiculturalism.
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