Musings from Raj in Ceylon aka Sri lanka

The Kidnappers!

2006-09-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

About a fornight ago, a prominent tamil jeweller was kidnapped along with his son,bundled into an escapading vechicle which cascaded towards 'that' thin veil between darkness and light.Sometime later, a demand of ransom was made to the family in question, and monetary value with a calibre of around 150,000 dollars- 300,000 dollars changed hands, the exact amount is yet to be determined by methods of poignancy.the settlement has not still released the captives in question, and their fate lies to be determined by the cruel altruistic urges of a morphed society.

who are responsible for this sweeping exophilic kidnappings of tamil business man, the figure i have says around 25, but it could be more, many could have kept in secret their lives diversions.the target though seems to be the same, prominent tamil business man and the demand is usually centered towards large denominations of currency.but who is responsible ? and more intrinsically why?

Sometime ago i came to hear a story from a friend with good credentials,for claiming as such, that the JVP is believed to be somehow involved in the scheme of things and the police in some way or another in cahoots with it.this is a serious allegation and the sycophants of the government, who before even having their morning tea, pray allegiance to the instruments of the state will most likely establish this without debate as another 'one' of pottu ammans propaganda percolating from the jungles of vanni to the cool chandeliar filled environs of colombo. as a side dish i would like to say , if the sycophants are to be believed,that these days pottu amman seems to be working overtime, one could say like the goddess kali with many hands sowing destruction, and all the opprobriums , which the tamils have to suffer from, are laid by the sycophants simply in the alter of LTTE forgetting in their drug induced sleep of ignorance that the state actor does not have hands made of clay like the iqbals and seniveratnes claims..

yes , some of yourl will and could say that my friends story is a facile fabrication.well for those of yourl with tin ears , the most consistent and impeccable human rights activists and documenting group the UTHR, in their latest bulletin posted on the 14th of september have laid to bare the governments devices, around 3-8 kidnappings in jaffna,masked man and that famous innuendo of white vans in tamil minds, plonging along the voiceless roads of the north east taking their pick as and when they please. here are some notable qoutes from the bulletin

These are just a sample to indicate the pattern of numerous killings in Jaffna running at 3 to 8 a day. Killer units of the state go about in white vans and with masks on motorcycles and are by now unconcerned about hiding their affiliations. This is now part of a widespread pattern everywhere in the North East. The impunity with which state groups and their affiliates function was recently in evidence in the spate of abductions and killings in Colombo.

The category of people being targeted by state killer units is extremely broad, seemingly determined by little but Tamil ethnicity. This communalised mass murder is the terrible and unsurprising result of the reactivation of Southern Sinhalese extremism brought about by appeasement of the LTTE under the CFA

State killer groups are today targeting these very people: auto drivers, minibus drivers, tailors, etc. Going by the practices of these killer groups, a substantial part of the Tamil population are now potential
targets for elimination

http://www.uthr.org/bulletins/bul41.htm#_Toc145954927

The UTHR also lays copius amounts of blame on the LTTE in human rights violation, but we have to regonise the differentiation and the demarcation between a state democratic actor with all its privledges and a facist resistance group,answerable to no one.

the killings in mutur,trincomalee,in allaipiddy and the most horrendus crime imaginable, the mutilation of a family in mannar all carry the hallmarks of security forces. the government it seems is embarking on courses of action,like what the defence advisor told some time ago kobeniiya-cock, that tamils will be attacked if the LTTE if found in provacation, this is hardly the responsible attitude from a government which says it is democratic ,represents all communities and thereby seeks to destroy that fungus of terrorisum.one is aware of the fact that this exercise might indulge itself in more dream hopping than others.

now, the state actor and its affliates have jumped ontowards a more lucrative scheme, the kidnapping of tamil businessman. i would say, the breaking of the backbone.

Why? .The government has undertaken itself in a course of war, this was known from day one when MR knowing the fickleness of the LTTE undertook himself in a course of duplicity, saying something to international media like the wall street journal and saying something to his voters in the pot holes of sri lanka. the sri lankan army has been more in benefit of the CFA than the LTTE, \unlike what iqbal athas says,he shows what a true idiot he is, because this is a proven fact, the state actors accomplish more in the military sense than the non state actor during cease fire periods ,examples abound ,the case of phillipines and the farc rebels in venezuela comes to mind, the LTTE has also been diminished in conventional capability with the defection of karuna. all these reasons plus the buddhist extremism which MR seems to be following, more in action than in words,seems to be putting the sri lankan state towards a path of asymmetric warfare, without a regard for the victims in the tamil populace.

By kidnapping tamil businessmen in colombo, the state in its overall capacity can achieve three things, first it can keep its thugs and cohorts happy by filling their coffers,second, the so called myth of tamil business domination(in the minds of the sinhalese;forgetting harry j and ceylinco) can be effectively broken with the passive encouragement of the sinhalese, all these businessmen and others with prominent stature will undoubtedly leave the country and settle elsewhere fearing their safety, third it can achieve a more subtle form of ethnic cleansing and break the will of the tamils in colombo without raising the eyebrows of international actors.

i know these are outrageous claims, but im left with no option, all evidence point to this, the lack of accountability in investigations in pesalai,trincomalee etc. giving the two fingers to the abductions of tamils, and no real political alternative being offered all have made me think in these terms.

maybe since JR's government in the 80's, we have a government, prepared to go to the dearth of things to achieve its results. As for the tamils, bad times lie ahead..real bad times, the state is no longer accountable to the wishes and plights of the tamils. a war is being conducted and it is being conducted through unjust means, which is not acceptable for a democratic entity, if things go from bad to worse than the tamils will have no choice but only the choice that calls for doom.

The thrust onto Sampur

2006-08-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

so, i have been proved correct, and dimwits like sitting nut( i mean it), who by their articulation have been proved that they dont understand a morsel of political and military strategy. sitting nut for instance in his funny prolougues argues that the govt is Taking defensive action.(a big LOL)MR made it clear in the donors conference that he conceives sampur as a threat.

sampur has immense strategic value to the tigers, and they will not let it go easily , without the devolution and for the first time, a demarcation on political devolution(as argued by prof peiris,DJ and a host of others), the country is being taken into war(with possibly bad consequences). i think the govt is hoping to offset this hiatus by bringing in immediate minority parties like CWC. this is a fools hope, i know thondaman quite well, his grandfather and mine were chummies, and our links go more than that,but i wish not to articulate on that matter. thondaman will not hesitate to turn over, if the situation so asks for it.(ill go more into this matter and the pakistan in an essay im writing , ill post it as soon as i finish)

the question is what will the tigers do?, my guess is that they will defend sampur , open a front in weli oya (possibly) and mayb more, i dont know of now.

A beautiful sunset in Sri Lanka

2006-08-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

a sunset, the man , their ,was doing his exercises appreciating the myriad minded sky.

Edouard Manet

2006-08-20T04:13:00.000-07:00

I think i first discovered this genius around my middle school years, when a well thumbed history book ,came into my hands ,passed on by cousins who had undertaken the journey of learning much before me.

So as i browsed through the pages, i discovered a painting ,which still maintains to be a great exponent of modernism and art ,Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (The Luncheon on the Grass).For a boy from a family and a society in general with an explicit intent towards conservertism, it was a provacative painting....but can i say that it was amazingly provacative, if those two words can be joined together.it amazed me with its audacity of female expression, the nude female being fully comfortable in the presence of two fully clothed gentlemen with intense looks . I knew i was smitten then and im still am.

Though im not a student of art,neither a serious observer. I do here and then like to keep myself in the loop so to speak. Edouard manet is a painter i appreciate, so are rembrandt,monet,titian,carevaggio,tagore,hussein..........Edouard manets masterpieces contributed to the impressionist movement , one could say he was one of the founding fathers.His subtle expression of contrasts and physical relationship show a very profound knowledge of the human order and works like luncheon on the grass or the execution of maximilian contribute to a certain dynamism that shape culture and art, the two prerogatives of human excistence.

About a year back , i brought a book of manets letters which included some of his notable paintings. Manet too lived during a war, just like we are living through one, but the notable thing being or the point of poignancy being that he actually fought in the war. A parisian, he defended his city from the prussians sent by the iron man bismark. He avidly describes 'the situation' of paris to his wife,suzanne manet, who is safetly away from paris, in his regular letters. During those war days, the cuisine of the regular parisian was constrained towards horse,donkeys (which were exorbitantly expensive) and 'yes' the one or two cats which dissapeared from their owners sight.He calls the prussians 'bastards' first, but later onwards as the war reaches its conclusion, he notes that the prussians are very much like them,'scared and humble'. Throughout he maintains a sepucharel consistency highlighting the futility of wars and the destruction that emotes from them. The destruction of limb and spirit.

Manet was a great painter. From his rememberences one could also note the fact that he was a great human being.Edified by his simplicity,his love for his wife , his cognizance of the futility of wars,but most of all by the canvases where he immortalized the human spirit.

Reformist?

2006-08-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

yours truly

For what my views are worth, i have always maintained that the ethnic connundrum in sl if resolved through the process of peace towards permanent peace(because i believe that war conduits can bring only temporary respites or advantages),can be done only if it is acknowledged as a confluence of two identitys, a sinhala identity and a tamil one.To the paper smooching acolytes (the daily newspaper types), iwish to say that it was the thesis of sinhalese nationalism, (which gave birth in the early 20th century and became well established by the 1972 constitution),which gave rise to the anti thesis ,tamil nationalism, which became the spear heading movement after the 1983 pogram.

To give a few mental blocks towards this confluence (on the part of the southern state),i wish to highlight two deadlocks.First one is the unhealthy tendency in the south to the view devolution , as something which is given from the sinhala people towards the tamils, this is the wrong path to take. Tamils have habited this land as long as the sinhala race as, i could say since the time of the ancient tribes.The tamil in sl has also evolved a distinct identity seperate from their brethen in tamil nadu, therfore it is their right to get devolution, it should not be seen as somthing which the sinhala race is parting away with.Second, the name of eelam seems to anger many sinhalese folk, but what they fail to realise is the word eelam has its roots in the name sinhale, and when a sri lankan tamil says he is from eelam , he simply is translating that he is from sri lanka.

These mental blocks along with many others, have antagonized the peace process and the just devolution that needed to be accorded. I would say the b-c pact to the indo lanka accord(when jvp reared its ugly head with the support of the south)succumbed to the paracholistic vision of the saffron clad politcos. This made the tamil movement head towards the extremist viewpoints, the LTTE took charge with separatist objectives(some could say separatisim occured way back in the vaddokodi resolution, but it did not have concrete support among tamils).

Even today the government of mahinda is intransigient on the issue, by electing , the head of the APC , a man who is well known to oppose ,even the minimum amount of devolution acceptable to the tamil people. By showing a lack of understanding, paracholism(the proposed de-merge? even opposed by karuna)they strengthen the hands of the LTTE and their concerted campaign.As elegantly established by the vice regal analyst dayan jayatilleke, the ball is in the court of mahinda , its his to play, bullock cart devolution proposals and saffron clad poojas will not work , what is needed is concise , consistent action, an action towards uninterrupted devolution.This serves the double purpose of quenching the thirst of the tamils and harnessing the LTTE.

Rambukwella, a man of myth

2006-08-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

Kehiliya Rambukwella , the defence spokesman of the govt, the green pachyderm (UNP) who switched sides to horn a blue beret, is a first class *trumpet*, sorry actually... third or fourth class, since unlike the other spinmasters who habit the govt's of u.s or israel, his blatant prologues can be dismissed without extensive investigation into utter oblivion.

his coterie and curriculam vitae of errors include many of varied hues, from extra judicial killings of activists to defence related excavations. but let me just point one notable mishap ,very recently, an incident or a relation of incidents , that have had the dubious distinction of hugging international headlines.

the killing, the cold blooded murder of 17(tamil) NGO activists, that occured during the confrontation between the govt and the LTTE, made rambukwella work overtime. his incorrigible mumbling made him make pronouncements ,including to CNN, that the activists had been killed by the LTTE, and that he has witnesses to that effect.after protracted international pressure , including from Bill Clinton , to bring forward the criminals, if the govt has witnesses, the govt intiated a probe which found out that their are no witnesses towards the incident,also a govt commitment highlighted that anyone of rank or file found to be complicit in the crime will be prosecuted,clearly indicating what many privately shared at luncheons and at coffee tables , that the army men were responsible. though i think that the govt did not intend itself to make a mistake on its communique of that effect, it was just another case , in a long line, of an incompetent govt shooting itself in the foot with its media bungling. the soldiers who were responsible obviously, knowing the well established past consistency,will get away scott-free, maybe with slight reprimands.

and as for mr rambukwella , he has proved once again , that he is a man of myth .

Look at this Flower

2006-08-12T03:19:00.000-07:00

things are heating up, ambulances, terrifying down the road,in couples.

look at this flower and cool down a bit!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajeevm/213066772/

Bomb in Bamba

2006-08-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

REUTERS/Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi

their was a bomb blast , right in bambas heart,dickmans road , the name of the place to be exact, the artery which connects galle road and havelock road, where odel first started and where , when the moon crops up and bats fly, the night owls come to play in the form of people with 2 souls and one body....

the fellow who was targeted was lucky, his van became mangled by the fury of fire ,but he escaped to be resigned to the white sheets , white beds , silent rooms and AC filtered ICU of colombo hospital,the chap in charge of the place qouted that the old fellow who was the chairman of a "tree board" was out of danger and all was well and blimey!

but their were some people who were not so lucky , not very lucky, a little girl and her mama died, passerbys, unknown of the messenger that came their way, the van was passing them when a white fire ball erupted and desired to consume them, the coroner stated that they died instantly, as in like instant koffee or tea i guess, quick and concise , almost like the smoothing temperence of monsoon on a dry dead land...

they were poor, not very much money, the mum and dad worked as servants for a mathiya nearby, the grandfather who is known to be an idle resident of the bus stand that habits the govt flats where thuggery runs amount, was known and heard mercifully to be very distraught, crying and shouting, beating his chests, though one wonders at the end of all schemes what can be beaten in them.

Imsai Arasan; a welcome change

2006-08-11T22:15:00.000-07:00

There was a lot of jovial expectation surrounding the release of this movie, i for one wasnt much enthused by the prediction of a *good film* from a vadivelu starrer....

Well, i was wrong i should say, the film with its classical tamil oratory was a welcome change from the usual run of the mill * kollywood masala*, it had its laughing moments, especially in relation to the narcissistic character of vadivelu(their are 2 vadivelus) who was also endowned with liberal amounts of cowardiness,lust ,greed and other vices. Nassers acting was the creme de la creme of this movie, it is such a pleasure to watch a person enjoying his acting.

Overall the movie was a good watch(the songs were unwarranted additions) , intrinsically the movies enthusiasm about an ancient tamil culture was a bit over the top, cultures have never survived by being closed in. however it is good to know that filmmakers in chennai have the courage to be adventurous, plus five stars for vadivelu and nasser, without whom the movie would have beenvery much poorer!

2006-08-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

a picture i took sometime back, near my home in bamba, did not realise at that time , that the sea and the train can become perfect partners

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajeevm/78951440/

War & Peace

2006-08-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

I read Leo Tolstoys war and peace about 2 summers ago, it was a hefty book ,innundated with historical pronoucements, but since i usually take to historical rememberences like a duck takes to water, i found the journey into russian gallentry and visage quite beatificius.

literature litigations apart , it seems that the island is on a course of another wr and peace*scenario , a sort of ethnic connundrum pervades the island in a misty gloom ,where pessimism seems to be taking root ,and where calculations of peace are being dismissed or are already dismissed with coldfury and apathy.

as always it is the poor and the most poorest who will be afflicted by the regular sojourns of the angels of death,whether they be the unemployed 20somthing who joined the army,the poor farmer grovelling in a parched soil,the mother who to feed the family camped herself in the middle-east, these and the numerous others who think twice for what some take for granted will become the victims of todays and tomorrows war.