We have been talking about sustainable agriculture more than a decade. Many scientific meetings have been held to discuss these themes. It appears, however, that up until now the results have been rhetorical than practical. Hundreds of papers have been published on potential damage which chemical fertilizers can do, while the mass media have been warning the public that the continued heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides will lead to catastrophe. However, there is nosign that the use of agrochemicals has declined. This may reflect the fact that as far as these issues are concerned, there seems to be a big gap between the ideal situation people talk about and what can be done in practice.

In this situation what is the contribution of 'Plant Genetic Resources' for sustainable agriculture? Almost everyone who knows something about agriculture seems to have an opinion on Plant Genetic Resources. For agricultural development to be sustainable there is a need to conserve and manage the biological resource base, much of which has unknown potential. More specifically plant genetic resources provide a base to manipulate and create plant materials that are necessary to fit in any situation, particularly for a situation of less use of fertilizers and pesticides. An important question is how are we going to safeguard the diversity of genetic resources?

Genetic resource
World interest in plant genetic resources has grown rapidly in recent years because they represent both raw material used in the production of new cultivars for sustainable agriculture and a reservour of genetic adaptability that acts as a buffer against harmful environmental changes.

It is far well realized that the erosion of genetic material severely threaten world food security and there is an urgent need to conserve and utilize plant genetic resources as a safeguard against an unpredictable future.

Land degradation, deforestation, land clearance and the rapid spread of improved crop cultivars have resulted in significant losses in domesticated and wild biological resources. There is an urgent need to conserve and manage these resources much of which has tremendous potentials. Future needs for crop breeding and diversification cannot be predicted in the face of changing climates, new agricultural production systems and future need for food, feed stuff and industrial applications. Not only has the man lost part of the genetic resources base, he is also subjecting the production system to high risk by selecting to use few varieties with narrow genetic backgrounds for many of the important crops and neglecting the traditional and progressively evolved varieties over the time.

The conservation and storage of genetic resources is primarily a service to development of crop cultivars for sustainable agriculture. For major crops, varieties are normally bred for controlled inputs and can be used over wide areas. Genetic uniformity of crops has given rise to fears of 'Genetic wipe-out' - massive losses from pests and diseases spreading on a uniform variety. A major aim of the use of genetic resources is to broaden the genetic base to sustain agricultural productivity.

Domestication
The idea of centre of origin and domestication of crop genetic resources mainly associated with the pioneer work of Vavilov in 1935 who was one of the first scientist to collect plant genetic resources on a scientific basis. Several decade later, prompted by Harlan (1970), Frankel and Bennet (1974) and other scientists began to study the diversity of natural populations. After early work using morphological characters, isoenzymes were used to carry out studies on several species. Significant progress in genetic resources has been made in the last two decades. The number of fully operational gene banks has grown exponentially and now numbers well over one hundred. Protocols have been developed for the maintenance of tissue culture and more recently cryopereservation using liquid nitrogen as a storage medium.

There are more than three million genetic resource samples stored in world collection, with a range of coverage depending on the importance of the crop, for example wheat and rice collections are very large and usefulness of samples (primarily wild relatives in breeding programmes). Major collections were initially built in developed countries. However, emphasis is now being placed in developing countries and a wide range of collaborative crop network has been established by International Bureau for plant Genetic Resources in Rome, and the larger national programmes such as National Bureau for Plant Genetic Resources in India and Plant Genetic Resources Centre in Sri Lanka.

Germplasm
There is a broad division made up of countries which are germplasm rich and lack of technology to utilize the resources - they are mainly developing countries and germplasm - poor countries which have an advanced crop research capacity - mainly developed countries. This has given rise to restriction in the movement of genetic resources. This would threaten sustainable agricultural production globally, as constant input of genetic resources, particularly the wild relative of crops are needed to compansate breakdown of resistance in improved varieties which often have a narrow genetic base.

Genetic resources can be maintained in situ that is in natural or managed ecosystem or ex situ that is seed stores and gene banks or as tisssue culture samples. Duplication of samples is recommended for storage security. The preservation and conservation of a large base of genetic resources are important for future development and genetic enhancement.

Taking Sri Lanka as an example, the development of an agricultural country like Sri Lanka is heavily dependent on the sustainability of agricultural development which is dependent on breeding of new varieties. Breeding is intern dependent on the genetic resources available. At this junction, one must focus the attention towards the management of genetic resources in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is divided into dry, wet and intermediate zones and ecological environments differ according to the region. This results in a diversity of ecotypes and various wild and indigenous species exist. However as a result of extreme condition, some genetic resources have been eradicated. Hence exploration and collection is required to breed regional and indigenous varieties. These varieties can be utilized locally and exchanged with foreign countries when necessary arises. In Sri Lanka, there are regional research stations considered as regional gene banks and are responsible for regional specific collection, evaluation, multiplication and temporary conservation. All information collected will have to be communicated to main gene bank which is the Plant Genetic Resources Centre established in Kandy. The main gene bank is the central organisation for management and research on genetic resources. It provides long - term storage facilities and the recording of all data are being carried out in the main gene bank.

Genetic manipulation
Genetic resources are a treasure to the plant breeders. One of the most powerful tools to improve the performance of the crops under a set of farming system is genetic manipulation and selection by the utlization of genetic resources. The ability to modify plant characteristics or select plants within the desirable characteristics, or both has enormous implications for the potential productivity of a crop, the sustainability of an individual crop and the cropping systems in which the crop is grown, as well as the sustainability of the agro - ecological environment as a whole.

Genetic manipulation of other biological elements in the crop production system such as soil bacteria associated with nitrogen fixation or pests especially insects and to some degree pathogens and weeds, also is a tool that can be used for enhancing sustainability.

The breeding of improved crop cutivars is invariably orientated to addressing specific constraints and conditions. One common parameter is to improve the yield potential per selection and stability of yield in a specific environment or in a range of environments. Breeders have developed many procedures and technologies which are well defined. Breeders exploit genetic resources within a crop species to incorporate genes for the required characters. Through the development of plants more adopted to ecological conditions, the sustainbility of production is increased.

The characteristic known generally as mineral use efficiency is likely to receive more attention for breeders in the future when attempting to breed more nutrient efficient plants to prevent excess fertilizer application that lead to environmental contamination. This would not be possible unless the genetic resources are available. One of the most common activities in plant breeding is to identify and incorporate genes for important diseases and pests which can reduce or no use of chemical based pesticides.

Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a major nutrient for plant growth. It is abundant in air and through symbiotic relationships between some crops (mostly legumes) and specific soilborne bacteria, it can be made available for plant growth, development and production. For nitrogen fixing legumes, most of the effort in the past has been to exploit the genetic variability of the bacteria associated in the symbiosis, and concentrated application of beneficial bacteria are applied to soil rhizosphere. There is also an important variability in the plant for nitrogen fixation and exploitation of this variability is presently receiving more attention from plant breeders.

Plant breeders have generally worked on a crop as a centre of focus. However, it is becoming clear that great production with enhanced sustainability is possible by examining the entire production system for eg. organic farming and modifying the individual crop to better fit within the overall cropping pattern. Change in plant maturity and plant architecture are common considerations. This approach is relevant also to integrated nutrient and pest and water management, key components of research management for sustainable agriculture.

By and large, the genetic manipulation is possible and enhanced through proper utilization of genetic resources that are to be protected by all means.

One of the grave consequences of human over-population of the world is the heavy bearing it places on other living creatures, irrespective whether they live in human habitations or in wilderness. The constant encroachment of humans on animal habitats for their food and living has virtually shattered the tacit understanding animals had with them for times immemorial. With the fast dwindling of forest cover, many species of animals are brought to the point of extinction. It is a proven fact that human efforts bring about the ruin of ecological equilibrium of the world in a tangible manner, resulting in an irreparable damage to its natural beauty and harmony.

The geographical data maintained by those who keep track of the wanton destruction of natural forests reveal that the denudation of wooded lands takes place at such an alarming rate that the day would not be far for our fascinating green planet to become an arid brown one devoid of its charm. With all the scientific advancements, man will somehow find means of overcoming the difficult conditions he himself has created, or may even migrate into other planets, most probably to Mars, which by then would be made habitable by the scientific marvels of the future, thus making the dumb community the worst affected by his indiscreet motives.

Resources
Though many countries have been successful in controlling their birth rates, the ever-increasing population will further tap on the already stinted resources of the world, as man will not hesitate to exploit all what he finds around for his existence, and will least respect the 'Live and let live' policy in this process. This sets a remarkable contrast to the rate at which animals are made to increase, in perfect harmony and equilibrium, by the flawless master plan of the mother nature. Also, this makes it apparent that while the births of all other creatures are being so systematically controlled, as they had always been since their inception, only man is allowed to proliferate without restrains, burdening the world and making life equally difficult for himself and other living beings.

Gross injustice is done to animals in this regards by man who considers himself a superior creature. With his ability to reason and understand, humans should have been more considerate about other species with whom he shares this world. But, sadly, with his much exerted egoism, avarice and inhumanity, man has become even more primitive in his ways than animals at present.

No other creature except man has depleted the natural resources of the world and done irreparable damage to the environment. The so-called widespread development, which is a prime concern of mankind for their well-being, has done immense harm to the world, with a multitude of noxious side effects. Can we hold any other species responsible for causing holes in the ozone layer? Causing greenhouse effect? Making the world warmer? Disturbing the weather patterns? Raping virgin forests? Unfortunately, all these have adverse effects on poor animals who have not contributed to this ruin in any way but have always been in harmony with nature. If some other creature has been responsible for such damage, certainly man would move heaven and earth to put an end to it. This further proves the callous attitude of man towards the suffering he has inflicted on others, his selfishness and his indiscretion, which he has inherited as congenital cancers.

Sri Lanka
While the dispute of man and animal takes different forms in different lands all over the world, let us see what is happening in relation to this in our country. It is obvious that whatever relationship we have had with animals has now become tenuous, as we hear about more and more ruthless crimes committed on innocent animals for the paltry gains of humans. We boast ourselves being a Buddhist country, where the doctrine of Lord Buddha is followed in an active manner, with state patronage through a Ministry. Buddhism is mainly based on compassion and loving-kindness; but one may wonder whether true values of this doctrine are respected, especially when they are seen against the way poor animals are treated in this country. Not a single day passes without a letter in the press from a concerned person making an exposure of cruelty to animals. When such atrocities are considered, we should be ashamed of our hollow pride of being a Buddhist nation, as essentially we are barbaric in many of our ways.

We often hear and read gruesome stories of gassing stray dogs by the dozen by municipal authorities, brutal slaughter of cattle, transporting animals meant for food in the most inhuman manner in suffocating vehicles, penning them in tight enclosures which hardly permit free movement, poaching in animal reserves. As commonly found in the Third World countries, Sri Lanka, too has no concern whatsoever for animal rights. Sri Lankan mentality is such that animals could be treated in the most inhuman manner, whether they are meant for food or otherwise. This is indeed a pathetic situation, as these poor creatures die a thousand times at the cruel hands before their actual death to appease the hunger of ungrateful humans.

Not only domesticated animals but those in wilderness too are not spared when it comes to human cruelty. Though Sri Lanka is proud and blessed of having majestice elephants as part of her fauna, the value of this rare inheritance is grossly overlooked at present. The constant encroachment of humans on elephant habitats for settlement confines these beasts to much less jungle area which causes severe shortage of food and water. This compels elephants to roam into human settlements in search of food and earn the wrath of people who are affected by this intrusion. The eventual result is their untimely death by infuriated humans who fail in realizing that they occupy the very terrain meant for such beasts.

Aggravates
This situation is aggravated by the ongoing war in the north, which causes elephants and other large wild beasts like bears to abandon their natural habitats and roam into villages not familiar to them. In this process many of them perish, falling into pits, hit by passing vehicles while crossing roads, and shot by hunters. Many such instances are reported in the daily papers with grim photographs of the helpless victims, pathetic enough in bringing tears into the eyes of readers.

The other despicable war waged on wild elephants in our country is the one launched by some business companies that have encroached on the lands frequented by elephants, especially for sugar cane plantations. It was appalling to read the story under the banner headlines in The Island of 7th March 1998-''Gradual Annihilation of the Herd''-that Pelwatte Sugar Company which started a 20,000 acre sugar cane plantation in 1986 along a traditional elephant corridor between the Handapanagala Tank and the Yala National Wild Life Reserve has already killed 136 elephants! The writer Sakuntala Perera goes on to reveal even more gruesome details of the killing of the poor beasts. ''According to reports, the past 5 years alone had seen the killing of approximately 50 elephants in a bid to protect the plantation which had induced the animals in the first place''.

She further reveals that enormous amounts of money spent on driving elephants has been an utter waste of funds and harm to animals, as the funds have been embezzled. At this massive rate of killing, it is apparent that Sri Lankan elephants, who have already become an endangered species, will be extinct in the near future. This is a clear example of indiscreet decisions taken in terms of development, especially by those who have no concern for national heritage of the country, but solely interested in pecuniary gains that come in the wake of such projects.

Buddhism
As mentioned earlier, Buddhism places a heavy emphasis on love and compassion. Being a Buddhist country where such virtues are inculcated in the minds of Buddhists from their early stages of life, it is difficult to understand how such cruelty is inflicted on animals. In no way this can be refuted, as many of those who harm animals are so-called Buddhists who can be classed as unprincipled and ruthless. When this tendency is compared with the Western world where Buddhism is followed to a lesser extent, a striking contrast could be found in their love and concern towards animals, even if the animals are raised for food. While effective laws prohibit animal welfare associations play an active role in safeguarding the rights of dumb ones in these countries. What do we do here?

When wild and domestic animals are equally put to such plight by heartless humans, it is comforting to note that we still find at least a few who are genuinely concerned of the suffering these poor creatures undergo. They try to bring to the notice of others a genuine cause grossly overlooked, but it is doubtful how well this message is received and the outcome of it, as many who read or hear it tend to forget it in their next breath. The few animal welfare societies in Sri Lanka, too, are handicapped due to want of funds to play a greater role in this regard. The other major impediment is that we do not have adequate laws for the protection of animals. Even the number of veterinary clinics seems to be sparse, and the services expensive.

Protection
We see that individuals and animal protection groups are raising a cry to put an end to the torture of animals. This is now heard louder and more often than ever. They request intervention of the government to bring some relief to the helpless animals by introducing more stringent laws for the offenders-a cry in the wilderness, as nothing has happened yet? The present day politicians who are in power can only be activated if some monetary perks are in the wake. Sadly, this is a situation where thumping commissions could not be assured to them due to meagre financial resources available for such charity. They never wish to be engaged in social service, if it would not bring them returns. Nevertheless, humans, with their inherent selfish nature, do not wish to part with a few rupees to see an animal liberated from its suffering. So fund-raising for this project is truly a difficult task. This is one of the reasons why the few animal homes find it very difficult to operate at present, which eventually deprives the provision of comfort and hope to another few needy animals afforded by such organization.

One way of addressing this problem is to cause as much awareness as possible, on all levels, so that this message will get into the pulse of people, as presently being done for environmental protection. Formation of animal welfare societies at district or village level will enable closer monitoring of animal-human conflicts and to put greater pressure on the government to amend the present laws to suit the needs. The other more important measure is voluntary contributions meant to alleviate the suffering of animals. What a massive relief is brought by the news that an innocent bull or a cow has been freed from the gruesome death on the block by a person who finds his money better spent than for his selfish motives. How complacent would be in seeing an innocent animal roaming about, whose new-born freedom he has bought with his earnings!

Chapter 11

About the author
E.C.T. Candappa was one of Sri Lanka's been feature writers in the mid-fifties till the seventies. He was an outstanding journalist at Lake House and distinguished himself as a reporter and feature writer. He is now domiciled in Australia but still very much interested in his country of origin. He visited Sri Lanka last year and interviewed many of the personalities featured in this book.

Continued from yesterday

May first. International Labour Day. A public holiday. A low hum of excitement in the air. A hornet’s nest hum. Red flags everywhere. People trekking, trekking, trekking to the focal point of May Day mob oratory. The Galle Face Green.

That afternoon, Bill Wilberton knew fear. Not the fear of physical pain or of loss, nor the pain of a parting or of the hurt of an ill-spoken word, nor the hurt of a heart that has known the chill of neglect when a word or the warmth of an outstretched hand or a nod was all that was needed.

No, the fear that came to Bill that day was the chill that can grip the mind at the pace of a slow-moving menace, a tidal wave a hundred miles away.

He had lunched with a group of workers in a city pub, the Dominion, where the basic fare was the same as in any other place: the white, steaming pile of rice covered with curried beef or fish and several cooked vegetables, with the constant dried fish and pappadam. He had also partaken cautiously of a couple of drams of the fiery arrack which by now he had learnt to swallow, stomach and hold. He was in a cheerful mood when the sound of the procession insinuated itself subtly into their conversation. Bill pricked up his ears and listened. It was like the approach of a distant, clamorous wave.

What's that? he asked.

Ah, said one of the men, that must be the Communist Party procession. The China wing.

Bill was aware that the Communist Party in Sri Lanka was split into the Moscow wing and the China wing. This was a couple of years after the Communist revolution and the imagination of poverty stricken Asians had been captured by the success of Mao Tse Tung.

On the long, grey wall bounding the Port of Colombo on one side, pro-China graffiti prevailed. China today Ceylon tomorrow. The Bandaranaike era, with its liberal attitudes towards the Left and its open door foreign policy, had permitted wave upon wave of free and highly subversive subsidised Communist literature to crash upon the Ceylonese shore. It was the China variety that predominated.

This had often been discussed at YCW general meetings and at individual cell meetings.

Shanmugathasan, a diminutive trade unionist and Communist Party theoretician whose sincerity of intention and action was unquestioned, held sway with a large section of the workers in the port. He was a Tamil, not very fluent in Sinhala, and yet he had competed quite successfully with other trade union leaders with strong Leftist leanings active on the waterfront.

The Leftists considered it well below their dignity, and deserving only of the utmost contempt, any resort to sectarian communal politics. The so-called democrats practised that sort of politics, sharpening the petard on which they were to be hoisted with disastrous effects for the country less than three decades later. Fr. Grutzner had often squinted through the dense fog of his cigarette smoke to ponder the possibility of a Red Chinese take-over.

They are already well into capturing the minds of the workers and peasants here, he had often told them. They have nothing to offer but hope for the teeming, impoverished millions of Asia, and they are giving a lot of that.

The West can give far more than that, but they are not giving a d...er blessed thing. They are too selfish, too greedy.

It was with hope that Mao Tse Tung used to lead the terrible Long March. It is that hope that he, and the New Chinese regime, are sending out to Asia.

Can Communism deliver a better deal to the workers and peasants? Or will all those who march to the drumbeat of China become slaves of the State and become exploited by the State?

What sort of workers’ dignity will there be under Communism? What will become more important: the labour of workers’ hands or the so-called good of the State? We know what that means in Communist Russia. The workers and peasants are no better off than they were under the czars, but the ruling class, the elite, are well off...

Bill snapped out of the reverie as the sound of the procession grew in volume. People at the pub were gulping down their meals to go out to the front and watch from the top of thirty steps the procession go by. The heat from the hot tarred street steamed upwards hundreds of feet. Over the heightened hum of the hammering on the street, Bill could now separate other strands of sound: shouted slogans and stanzas of Red anthems.

Bill and his friends walked down to the pub's entrance. On the right the first banners were visible as they came round the bend of the street.

They were held on strong poles and stretched across the street and were borne by trousered, white-collared workers, representing the hordes of private sector employees from the banks, shops, warren offices from the mammoth structure of government departments.

They shouted in English the slogans the banners bore in English script. Long live the Chinese Revolution." "Long Live Mao Tse Tung. Down with capitalists. Down with US and British Imperialists

In the centre of the vanguard was the tiny bundle of dynamite, Shanmugathasan, rousing his ranks to revolution.

Further down were the banners printed in Sinhala and Tamil script proclaiming the identical messages with greater eloquence and vehemence. Adirajawaadi bungaweva. Dhanapathi bungaweva. These were borne by the cloth and banian comrades from the port and the factories and from the plantation sector, transported down to the city for the occasion: the fifth anniversary of the Chinese Revolution.

Bill stood and watched amazed as they came endlessly. It reminded him of the elongated and articulated paper Chinese dragon that crawled up Swanston Street for the Moomba festival borne on dozens of human feet. It was the source of great amusement to young and old.

Bill shivered with an unknown chill. This was not amusing at all. Behind the festive air and the light-hearted touches provided in part by women unionists dancing to the beat of drums, Bill was conscious of the loaded menace of a future Red government in Ceylon. Melbourne seemed so far, far away.

After nearly half an hour the last of the pocession, a straggling, almost disinterested band, went past. Bill watched for a while as it turned around at the clock-tower-lighthouse, the only one in the world which was located in the heart of a city, and meandered past the business houses, past the House of Representatives and into the Galle Face Green where the mass rally would be held shortly.

Bill was startled by the next thought that entered his mind, when, as it were, his guard had been lowered.

How soon before China gained control of the other Asian countries: Hong Kong, Japan, Burma, Siam, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and eventually Australia? Would Australia be the last or the first? What a splendid location Australia would provide to control the whole of South East Asia. Perhaps that was why Japan had eyed it during World War Two.

Chinese military hordes could easily populate the north and even come to the central deserts and, he wouldn't put it past those industrious people, further prodded by a ruthless regime, to make the desert bloom. Do you want to go to the rally? No, he said quite definitely, I'd rather not.

He felt he had seen enough and heard enou gh for one afternoon.

Chapter 12
The office of the Clarion was an architectural enigma.

The front elevation presented an ele ant and well-ordered two-storeyed structure, with four entrances, the fourth being a later addition.

There was a basement, but the rest of the sprawling edifice was a cluster of expedient excretions capitalising on the two levels on which it sprang. Thus the rear presented an elevation of seven storeys, mostly metal and glass, facing a marshland on which nothing wholesome grew, where things died and rotted and festered.

And inside the building, at its various levels, was the jungle.When Raj entered it at ten the following morning it was alive with labour and subtle lusts and the quest for power.

People in the news room were better dressed, by edict, than people in other sections of newspaper offices.They did not know whom they would meet in the course of their working day which included part of the night.It would not be unusual for a reporter or a photographer to meet, quite unexpectedly, a visiting prince, just passing through the airport, at midnight. Raj himself was sent hurrying once to meet Prince Aly Khan, the playboy son of the Aga Khan, one of the Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth's numerous husbands.

So they were required to wear cotton suits and ties daily, a physiological infliction in the tropical heat, and an economic burden given a reporter's beggarly pay.

* * *

With all that, the journalists carried themselves with buccaneering unconcern. They were constantly impecunious, quite frequently inebriated, but always ready for the next adventure.

Raj walked up the several flights of steps to the Editorial department. At the second landing he saw Tony Miguel, Auggie Gabriel's assistant and understudy.

They paused for an instant and a thousand watts of power crackled between them. Tony had the advantage. In addition to his superior height he was standing two steps higher.Raj's eyebrows came together with menace, expecting the blow.

Exactly whose boots have you been licking? Tony said, opening with a right without any preliminaries.Raj was prepared, but weaker. By rights, he was aware, the job of going to the United Nations with the Prime Minister ought to have gone to Ton , Look, he said, I didn't expect to get the trip, and I certainly didn't grovel for it.

He brushed past Tony at a brisk pace. There would be no point placating him over what Raj conceded was an understandable hurt because he knew Tony was not reasonable.

The only life he knew was his trade, and the only force that powered Tony was ambition. Raj felt pity for him and for the frustrations he must have suffered in sixteen years of single-minded pursuit of a place at the top.

He had all that was needed to be a successful reporter, a liberal secondary education, a willingness and confidence to meet people, and a keenness to learn. He was an ardent reader but only of newspapers and news magazines which provided him with the kind of background knowledge a good reporter needed.

And he had the advantage of a commanding presence: six feet tall, much higher than the average; darkly handsome features, well-sculpted nose and cheekbones, well-trimmed moustache and short beard through which his white even teeth shone when he smiled, which was rarely.

He was scorchingly intense in whatever he did.He was a hunter, a predator. He used every mean trick of the trade to win, to get scoops. He spied on his colleagues, calumniated them to their contacts, listened in on their telephone conversations, took messages he did not pass on but worked on them himself.

But whatever he won was soon dust ad ashes. Whatever gain he made was bitter fruit. Besides, no one trusted him for long. He was feared by friends and foes for his relentless ways, and held in contempt by all who knew him well.

Raj knew that until he went to the UN and long, long after that he would have to suffer the stinging hostility of Tony Miguel or fear his devious intrigues. Tony would avoid direct assaults because Raj now enjoyed the Prime Minister’s own patronage.

Another part to his enigmatic nature was his name. Although it would have been difficult to find a more aggressively demagogic Sinhalese chauvinist, who would have spat upon his colonial past, he bore two highly European names when he would have vastly preferred to have a name hallowed by native time and tradition.

The whole building seemed to have heard about the trip. Liveried peons seated outside the doors of executives rose from their chairs, smiled broadly and said: Sir, we have heard of your good fortune Buddhu saranam, Blessings of the Buddha be upon you And may the gods succour you. The news had spread among the profession, which was not surprising as the purveying of news was their trade.

The phone kept ringing. Hey, congrats. How did you fix it? In a land where most things are fixed, it was assumed that this too had been arranged with perhaps some palms being greased with oil or crossed with silver.

What did the old man say?

Ishak the news editor did not take his eyes off the paper on which he was writing in a large clear script. Raj addressed the big, strong head with the luxuriant cap of black hair sleeked with hair cream.He told me to go to the Foreign Office and get briefed on our policies.

Well, go and do that then, Ishak told him, adding in his customary gruff manner, I don't want to see your face around here. Mug up everything you can about Indian foreign policy. Nehru is Banda's hero. Also brush up on Krishna Menon. He glanced at Raj between the rims of his thick-lensed glasses and black, bushy eyebrows.

This is a big break for you, son. Go for it.

He bent down again and continued writing, probably one of the several columns he wrote for this paper and other sister publications.

Raj went to the editorial library first.

It was a small one for a group that printed and published over twenty five newspapers and magazines in English and the two native languages, Sinhala and Tamil. Apart from this stupendous output, it also published many annuals and a large trade and official directory, updated every year.

Half the space was taken up by a staff of about five, and a long table where researchers could sit and spread out files and clippings.

For the rest, shelving went up to the roof on all sides, holding large brown paper envelopes, crammed with clippings. They were all indexed and updated to within a week. All the daily newspapers were on file up to a month.

Another set of files held prints of photographs published, along with the corresponding negatives. The system worked, but the system was basically one man: a slightly-built, balding, bespectacled machine of a man.

For an institution that was rabidly rightist, he held views that were rebelliously liberal, though not Marxist. But even for these he paid the penalty of an ossifying stagnation.

Oh, by the way, his name was Silva, a nondescript name borne by thousands of Sri Lankans, as common as Smith in Britain but he was the librarian, the one who held the ultimate key to the mysteries behind the files.

Even the mightiest of the institution had to go to him or at any rate invoke his accumulated knowledge. He had seen them all come and go, seen them come as timid cubs, rise to become roaring lions, and then leave when they had lost all use, all fight in them gone, all teeth defanged.

Raj noted some of the topics on which he required files and handed them over to a clerk. A few minutes later, a pile of about ten files was placed before him. Through the windows he could catch a glimpse of the swamp, the tall grasses and brittle shrubbery and smell the arid dust about them.

(Continued tomorrow)