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‘War’ and ‘Peace’ in Tamil
separatism The ‘war’ in Sri Lanka, against the LTTE is not a war in the real sense. It is not a civil war, nor is it a war of aggression into alien territory. The Sri Lanka army has been deployed to regain sovereign territory illegally occupied by a separatist movement. The north-east is a part of the independant state of Sri Lanka and comes under the control of the Sri Lanka army. In trying to dislodge the LTTE from the North-east area of Sri Lanka, the army is simply discharging its expected function. The Sri Lanka army is not a ‘Sinhala’ army. There are Malays and Moors (Muslims) in it too. Therefore references to it as a ‘Sinhala army’ should be strenuously contested. V. P. Vittachi, in his book ‘’Sri Lanka what went wrong’’ (1995) gives us a succinct account of the origins of organised violence by Tamil youth. He points out that on the day that the 1972 Constitution came into effect, some youths sabotaged the electricity high tension wires at Murugandy. Two days later, says Vittachi, Amirthalingam openly said at a public meeting in Jaffna that the time would come for the Tamils to take up arms against the government. Hate pamphlets were published, and Jaffna youth were whipped up into frenzies of hate at public meetings. There was repeated violence and lawlessness. Dynamite, detonators, hand bombs started appearing. On the first anniversary of the 1972 Constitution, Amirthalingam organised a ‘hartal’ where buses were attacked, houses burned, railway carriages damaged and the national flag was burnt. In October, 1973 the Sri Lanka High Commission in Madras, and the headquarters of the Mahabodhi Society, also in Madras were bombed. Amirthalingam’s son was one of the three youths who did the bombing. They were charged in court and fined. (Vittachi p 36-38). The ‘Island’ condensation of Rohan Gunaratne’s book ‘’Ethnic conflict and insurgency in Sri Lanka’’ gives the following excerpt. ‘’Chetti Thanabalasingham, a well known criminal who escaped from jail, provided leadership to a group of politically motivated youth in 1974 in eliminating pro-government Tamils and police informants, and in robbing banks. Inspired by a traditional Tamil politician, A. Rajaratnam, they formed the Tamil New Tigers (TNT). After Chetti’s arrest, his deputy, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was hitherto associated with the notorious smugglers, Kuttimani and Thangadorai assumed leadership. Prabhakaran developed the TNT into a guerilla force and renamed it the LTTE in 1976. With the killing of Alfred Duraiyappah, the Tamil Mayor of Jaffna, the Tiger Movement became well known. The Tamil youth viewed Duraiyappah as an extension of the Sinhala dominated state. (Island. 8.7.98, p 16) Vitacchi however says that the name Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam came after the Tamil politicans established the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) (Vitachchi p 129). " The Boys " Rohan Guneratne continues: ‘’While the then leading Tamil party the TULF overtly campaigned for a separate state after the Vaddukodai Resolution of 1976, the Tamil militant groups covertly fought the armed forces and the police using hit and run: warfare. A section of the Tamil political leaders began to secretly assist Tamil youth to organise themselves militantly. In an effort to control the insurgent groups, TULF leader Appapillai Amirthalingam, who was also the Parliamentary leader of the Opposition supported the collection of funds for the insurgent campaign. While the TULF politicians spoke on their behalf in parliament, the TULF lawyers defended them in the court houses. ‘’The insurgents were called ‘The boys’’, as we all know (p 16). Therefore it is clear that the LTTE began as a cluster of rogues. They were actively supported by the TULF, led by Amirthalingam, who was Leader of the Opposition at the time. It is perhaps only in Sri Lanka that such a thing would have been allowed to happen. The LTTE have taken the position that they are a national liberation movement, fighting for the right of self-determination of the Sri Lankan Tamil minority. The theoretical basis on which this ‘self determination’ rests consists of non-existent imaginary Tamil rights, language rights, land rights, identity, history and of course, the Tamil homeland. These arguments have been challenged successfully by the Sinhala majority group. The LTTE argues that ‘’national liberation struggles of this magnitude cannot be crushed militarily nor undermined politically. The will power of those fighting for the independence of their nation, in their own homeland never, ever tires. Not a single national freedom struggle in the history of mankind has ever been defeated’’ (Tamil Guardian. ‘Sunday Leader’ 27.7.98 p 4) Adrian Wijemanne reinforces this approach. In his article titled ‘Jayasikurui’ in Pravda Vol 5(3) 1997 he declares that this war will end in victory to the LTTE. He says ‘’No one in the whole of Sinhala society can understand that the conflict is only in its earliest stages and is set to last for many decades into the next century. The war is actually the Tamil nation’s struggle for independence and self rule in the large areas of its domicile. A nation cannot be militarily extinguished. A war against a nation lasts as long as that nation lasts — a true war of attrition. Wars of attrition have never ended with the collapse or extermination of the challenger to the state. They always ended with the challenger intact, in possession of his arms and territory and as a partner with the state in the peacemaking process. When wars of attrition end, the settlement necessarily produces a new state. They were ended by the emergence of new states which satisfied the aspirations of the guerilla. That is how this type end. Their duration varies but the end is always the same. There have been no exceptions.’’ (p 19-21). This could be described as wishful thinking — also as propoganda. The Tamil militants soon split into rival movements. In addition to the LTTE there arose the Peoples’ Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) the Eelam Research Organisation (EROS) Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and the Tamil Eelam Army (TEA). Vittachi suggests that 1978 marked the beginning of organised violence by the Tamil militants. A police party was ambushed and killed. By mid 1979 President J. R. Jayewardene stationed a full brigade in Jaffna under the command of Brigadier Tissa Weeratunga, Chief of Staff of the army and ordered him to wipe out terrorism in Jaffna within 6 months. By the beginning of 1980, Weeratunga reported that he carried out his orders and all was now well in Jaffna. Vittachi points out what actually happened was that the LTTE went off abroad to get some training and put their act together(Vittachi p 88). Uma Maheswaran and his group obtained training in Lebanon, the rest went to Madras. Thus the original rag tag army of about 50 persons, was gradually tranformed into a fighting guerrilla force (Sunday Times 16.8.98). They were able to arrange training in Tamil Nadu, because Tangadorai and Kuttimani were smugglers, with a good knowledge of the underworld of Tamil Nadu. On their return, in 1981, they robbed the Peoples Bank in Neerveli, and also killed two Sinhalese policemen (p 89). Their initial targets, apart from Tamil politicians, were policemen. They killed 3 in 1977, 8 in 1978 and 8 in 1979 (Vittachi p 88). In 1981, during the preparations for District Council elections, the LTTE shot at four policemen and killed two. ‘A large number of police brought to Jaffna for the elections mutinied and ran amok. The Jaffna library was burned (Vittachi p 90). Let us digress for one moment to talk about the Jaffna Public Library. The only account I could find about this much published library was by Kamalambikai Kanthappu in ‘’Library News’’ 17(2) 1996 p 3. This library was apparently started in 1837, and by 1933 held a collection of rare books and ola manuscripts. Famous persons were invited from Tamil Nadu to plan a modern library, the library become "one of the most renowned libraries in Asia’’. However there is a problem. There is no mention of this renowned library in the library literature. It is not mentioned in either ‘’Libraries and People" (1975) nor in ‘’Roads to Wisdom’’ (1980) both edited by Ishwari Corea, then Librarian of the Colombo Public Library. H. A. I. Goonetilleke does not list the Jaffna Public Library in his list of libraries used for his magnificant ‘Bibliography of Ceylon’’ He lists the Jaffna College Library as one of the 7 Sri Lankan libraries used. This library was re-opened in January 1998 with much publicity. Minister Kadirgamar also stated that it had been one of the finest in the whole of Asia. Its burning was not an act of mischief. It was intended to demoralise and humiliate the Tamil people. (‘’Daily News 15.1.98 p 1, 16). Actually, this was not Sinhala racism, it was police lawlessness. The police, apparently had done the burning. (Vittachi p 90, 119). Far greater damage was done by the LTTE attack on the Central Bank, which also destroyed the Central Bank Library, but there is no outcry over that. From 1981 onwards, the LTTE steadily gained ground in the North. They came down as far as Vavuniya and also had a presence in Anuradhapura. During the rule of President J. R. Jayewardene ‘’the security forces abandoned large areas hitherto dominated by them and retreated to camps. Their movements were restricted and later curtailed with the insurgents seeding land and anti-personnel mines around these camps. (Gunaratne Island 14.7.98 p 8). However in 1986 the army started gaining ground. Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Mannar had been cleared. Then came the Vadamaracchi Operation of 1987. Valvettithurai, Thondamannaru, Point Pedro and Kankesanturai were brought under control. But before Vadamarachchi could fall into army hands, India intervened and stopped it. (Sunday Times, 1.3.98 p 7). In addition to J. R. Jayewardene, the Tamil militants also had a friend in India. This is well known and needs little discussion. J. R. Jayewardene bungled his diplomatic relations with India. From late 1983 to mid 1987, the leading Tamil militant groups were trained, armed, financed and directed by the Indian Intelligence, known as RAW. TELO, PLOTE, LTTE, EPRLF, EROS, TELA and ENDLF cadres trained both in Tamil Nadu and within covert military establishments in Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. This training helped them to effectively checkmate the Sri Lankan security forces. (Gunaratne, Island, 14.7.98 p 8). Once the Indian Peace Keeping Force, IPKF, came into Sri Lanka in 1987, they also set up the Tamil National Army. General Ranatunga recalls. ''General Kalkat had the cheek to as me to give arms to the Tamil National Army. I said I won't give a single weapon.'' (Sunday Times 1.3.98 p 7). Despite the IPKF and despite a joint naval blockade, arterial surveillance and coastal observation posts, the LTTE traffic between South India and northern Sri Lanka continued. LTTE boats transported injured cadres to Tamil Nadu for treatment and returned with military supplies. They improvised explosives and devices and anti-personnel mines (Island 14.7.98 p 8). However it is on record that though India appeared to be fighting the LTTE, it actually maintained contact with it and the other Tamil militants. The LTTE continued to maintain a network in India assisted initially by the DMK. (Island 9.9.98 p 16). EPRLF, ENDLF, TELO and EROS functioned openly as Indian lackeys. (Sunday Leader 21.9.97 p 4) The LTTE was thereafter helped by a third person - President Ranasinghe Premadasa. President Premadasa cut a deal with the LTTE and provided it with a huge arsenal of military weapons which belonged to the army. General Cyril Ranatunge, then head of the Joint Operations Command and Secretary to the Defence Ministry, objected. "You cannot arm a terrorist group." Premadasa had replied that he did not need General Ranatunge's advice. (Sunday Times 1.3.98 P. 7) weapons were either issued from government stocks from the armouries or were specially imported for the LTTE. The weapons handed over included RPG guns, mortars, self loading rifles, automatic rifles, and hand grenades. Former Secretary to the President, K. H. J. Wijedasa, former Defence Secretaries General Sepala Attygalle, General Cyril Ranatunga and General Hamilton Wanasinghe gave evidence on this matter, before the Lalith Athulathmudali Assassination Commission. They admitted that the weapons were given to the LTTE on specific orders of President Ranasinghe Premadasa. (Daily News 21.2.98 P. 1) The President had wanted this supply of arms to be kept a secret. (Daily News 25.2.98 P. 1) The Kobbekaduwa Assassination Commission elicited evidence as to the actual transfer of weapons. The LTTE had come into the army camps and picked up the stuff which the army been ordered to hand over without protest. (Daily News. 7.3.98 P. 3) The soldiers had been aghast. President Premadasa it is suggested gave the LTTE arms and vehicles to the tune of 190 million or more. (Island. 25.2.98 P. 15) He thereafter surrendered vital military bases, police stations and other security installations. The LTTE as we know, used all this against the state army and police. (Island 22.4.98 P. 11) The Athulathmudali Commission records what happened thereafter. It records that on June 1990, the LTTE surrounded the police stations in Batticaloa and Ampara and asked the police to surrender. The government too have the same instructions. The LTTE thereafter killed all 362 police officers. The report further stated that even after such gruesome events, the Premadasa government continued to deliver weapons to the LTTE. (Daily News 21.2.98 P. 1) LTTE cadres were transported in security force vehicles and aircraft to attack the pro-Indian groups. (Island 25.2.98 P. 15) We thus see that the Tamil militant groups were able to entrench themselves in Sri Lanka, only because of the very considerable support given by four heads of state. President J. R. Jayewardene, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Three out of the four were subsequently assassinated by the militant forces they dealt with. All four leaders had tried to rule their democratic states as absolute rulers. Not only did they lack political acumen and statesmanship but they seem to have been prize bunglers as well. The fun started with President Jayewardene, who failed in his primary task of maintaining good relations with India. He annoyed Indira Gandhi, by apparently saying idiotic things which no sensible statesman would utter. Thereafter, he blundered further, by having dealings with countries with which India was having problems, China and Pakistan. Thirdly, he further blundered by offering the Trincomalee oil tank farms to an American firm. He completed his foreign policy bungling by voting in contrary directions at the United Nations. Apparently, Sri Lanka's foreign policy views were greatly respected at the level of the UN during his predecessor, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike's time, but after the ascent of Jayewardene to the throne, nobody took any notice of Sri Lanka at the UN. Indira Gandhi, it appears was a lousy Prime Minister. She was dictatorial, and started by dividing the Congress Party. Her incompetence at handling sensitive issues was shown last of all, in her attack on the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the Sikhs most revered shrine. She set up separate departments in the Indian Intelligence, to cover activities troublesome in Indian states such as Kashmir and Punjab and a separate department to overlook Sri Lanka. This was in the 1980s. This department liasised with the Tamil militants of Sri Lanka. Later they financed and trained them. (Vittachi P. 126) Rajiv Gandhi who succeeded her, had neither the training nor the inclination to succeed as Prime Minister. He imposed the Indo-Lanka Agreement on Sri Lanka. Apparently the Gandhi family political base was in South India, particularly the support of the DMK in Tamil Nadu. The DMK was at this time kicking up a row about the situation of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Rajiv Gandhi encouraged the Tamil militants. He was assassinated by them. President Premadasa also displayed gross ignorance as to where his primary duty lay the proper handling of Sri Lanka's foreign policy. Instead of having constructive discussions with India, he decided to challenge India, by supporting the LTTE. After some time, and after entrenching themselves nicely in the North, the LTTE bumped him off. In all these actions one seems megalomaniac tendencies of a surreal sort. Even in medieval times kings managed their affairs of state better than this. It also alleged that once the PA came to power, the LTTE were allowed to move freely in the Eastern Province and entrench themselves there. The UNP had cleared the East of the LTTE. (Island 15.7.98 P. 16) The LTTE has an extensive world wide network. It operates through bases and front organisations in foreign countries. In Canada, there is the World Tamil Movement (WTM) and the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils (FACT), The Tamil Eelam Society (TES) is its front organisation. (D. B. S. Jeyaraj Island 14.1.98 P. 13) In Britain there is the International Federation of Tamils, Federation of Tamil Associations, Bolton Tamil Association, Medical Institute of Tamils, United Tamil Lawyers Association and the Tamil Information Centre. The LTTE headquarters is, apparently in 'Eelam House' in London. (Daily News 29.1.98) P. 16, (Sunday Leader 5.10.97 P. 1). In Australia there is the Australian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA) and the Australian Human Rights Association (AHRF) which is a front organisation of the LTTE (Island 17.12.97 P. 3). The other location for LTTE activity is Switzerland, as the Scandinavian countries, particularly Norway. In these countries, the LTTE gained some notoriety by engaging in street fights. The latest cluster of LTTE organisations is apparently, South Africa. The support for the LTTE there is minimal. The organisations are: Tamil Federation of Gauteng, Dravidians for Peace and Justice, People against Sri Lanka Oppression, Tamil Eelam Support Movement. However, Indians are disliked in Africa. They held intermediary positions under the British, they looked down on the native Africans who in turn hate them. Idi Amin chased them out of Uganda. Tamils in South Africa will find it move prudent to lie low, stay in low profile and look after their individual interests in South Africa. (Sunday Times 20.9.98 P. 10) The LTTE engages in a wide range of activities, virtually all of which are illegal. They are said to engage in narcotics trafficking and ofcourse arms trafficking. Also in illicit smuggling of refugees using forged passports. They engage in extortion and apparently collect millions from the Tamil expatriates in Canada, Britain, Switzerland and Australia. They also operate gas stations, restaurants and small shops around the world. They have bank accounts in Netherlands, Sweden, France, Germany, Denmark, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Britain, Norway, and they do not fail to launder their money when necessary. They have roamed the world looking for arms to buy. They have bought arms from dealers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Lebanon, Cyprus, and from governments including those of Ukraine, Bulgaria and North Korea. The head of the arms purchase outfit is one Pathmanathan, who armed with several forged passports, roams the world, Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, Mexico, Belize, Djibouti, South Africa, Sudan, and almost all South and Southeast Asian countries. They have established links with organised criminal groups in Russia, Lithuania and Bulgaria. They obtained American Stinger missiles from Afghanistan. They have also bought arms from the outlawed Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. (Island 12.3.98 P. 8, Island 23.9.98 P. 15, Sunday Leader 30.11.97 P. 4, Island 23.11.97 P. 8) They are also involved in copying and selling Tamil compact discs and videos often illegally. In Germany the LTTE had set up a network of bogus companies, 'cultural societies', hundreds of kindergartens and schools which are fund-raising and controlling apparatus of about 650 LTTE officials. (Daily News 23.10.97 P. 20) The LTTE has direct connections with the Sri Lankan underworld. The underworld is used for arms procurement and also for the distribution of drugs smuggled into the country by the LTTE. The LTTE was able to smuggle large quantities of explosives into Colombo through the underworld. (Sunday Times 26.4.98 P. 6) The range of criminal activities the LTTE engage in are well known. We know that they are terrorists, that they attack innocent civilians. They have engaged in ethnic cleansing as at Kent and Dollar farms, and in Weli Oya. * At Aranthalawa they massacred 34 samanera monks. Canada has now charged several of them with illegal entry into Canada. (Island 23.9.98 P. 13) Switzerland clamped down on their activities and Canada and USA followed. The LTTE is not very bothered. They had long ago set up a series of support groups and premises, which run campaigns which do not bear the LTTE name. The LTTE have all along made sure that their criminal links are hard to detect, and they have also got a team of lawyers to rush to their aid. Continued tomorrow Delhi Letter NEW DELHI, October 23: Forty years after Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar took the world by storm with his music, it’s now the turn of his daughter Anoushka to make waves in the music world. On October 20, the 17-year-old actually went to school in San Diego (California) even as her debut CD hit music stores in the United States. "It was no big deal. The record ing was the real thing, not the launch," she explained to a perplexed reporter who wondered why she wasn’t celebrating. But, apparently, it is a big deal in the music world, even in the US. After all, it’s not every day that the one-time guru of the Beatles launches a disciple, who is a female sitarist and also his daughter! The teenager’s CD, simply titled "Anoushka" was released by Angel Records. Said Angel’s Vice- President Gilbert Heatherwick: "We see her as an artist of the future...You never know where her talents could take her." Says her proud father, now a sprightly 78: "She is a true Gemini. She really can switch over between Indian and western music and each has her full concentration. Not everybody can do that sort of thing. But some people are blessed by God and have that special gift...My heart fills with such love for her that it almost hurts." Born in London to Ravi Shankar and Sukanya, Anoushka began playing the sitar when she was nine and performed the first time in 1995 in Delhi, the Shankars’ home in winter. Since then, she performed with him all over the world, alongwith such dazzling stars as Zubin Mehta, Alice Coltrane, Jean Pierre Rampal and Zakir Hussain, among others. Says former Beatle and family friend George Harrison: "She could play the banjo and it wouldn’t matter. She is the music!" When she performed alongwith her father in New York’s Carnegie Hall before Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee last month, The New York Times’ music critic gushed: "When father and daughter played last speedy melody together, she kept up with him note for note until he broke away to harmonise with her. Mr Shankar’s daughter is no means his equal, but he seemed proud both as a father and a teacher." The 60-minute CD, due out in India in early February, has the young sitarist playing her father’s compositions. The ragas include Charukeshi, Bairagi, Tikkasham and Kirwani. Bollywood stars go nude on the net It had to happen sooner than later: When Internet makes a big splash, how can pornography be far behind—-even in India ? "Nude" pictures of almost all top Bollywood actresses are now being displayed on an Internet site (www.desibaba.com). There’s one of even actor Shah Rukh Khan! The 60 pictures that have made it to the site boast of Bollywood heroines such as Aishwarya Rai, Urmila Matondkar, Raveena Tandon, Pooja Bhatt, Pooja Bedi, Sonali Bendre, and Kajol. In addition, the site offers similar material on more than 200 Indian women. There’s even a section on Indian girls studying in foreign universities. "If they are not breathtak- ing, they won’t making it to the site," proclaims the write-up on the page. The site also lists "nude" pictures of actresses working in Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi films as "coming attractions." It allows free access, and the only warning is: "You can view this site only if you are 18, 21 or above. If you are a minor, please exit." A reporter who hit the site says it also offers links to www.cineindia.com, an online shop for Indian pornographic video tapes, claiming to be the largest of its kind on the Internet. There was no immediate reaction from the conserva- tive Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to this brazen spread of pornography on the Internet. Sushma Swaraj had banned telephone sex lines when she was minister for information and communications in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s cabinet. Now that she has been shifted as Delhi’s chief minister, it will be interesting see who will take on the mantle to clean up the Internet, and how. India to make informing spouses about AIDS compulsory Persons afflicted by AIDS must inform their spouses or sex partners about their disease, according to a law India is proposing to legislate to prevent it from spreading. The national AIDS policy, now awaiting the union cabinet’s nod, also stipulates that, if the person is unwilling, health workers and doctors must inform the spouse or partner about the danger he or she is exposed to. Says JVR Prasada Rao, director, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and an additional secretary in the union health ministry: "Partnership notification has become a neces- sity because most Indian men are reluctant to confide in their wives that they are HIV-positive. We understand that every individual has a right to privacy, but we cannot discount the right to life." Since the disease is spreading fast in India mainly through heterosexual activity, the government now feels the need to keep the housewife informed. Rao estimates that the total number of people carrying the virus is anywhere between three million and four million in the country. This is about 0.3 to 0.4 per cent of the population. From the
book 'The Palm of His Hand' by E.C.T. Candappa
The days passed as days would. He returned to work and that rhythm possessed him. It was a rhythm in a broad sense because daily there was a waking and a pattern of working. The news editor's diary determined most of the day's activities along with one's own commitments, rounds had to be serviced, contacts met, stories followed, developments from the afternoon and rival papers chased, people arriving in the office from near and far had to be interviewed by one or another of the reporters. But invariably, what made newspaper journalism so unique was the occurrence of the unexpected. Fires that broke out, politicians who got assassinated, floods, earthquakes, death of popes and other potentates, birth of celebrity children, murders, riots, cabinet reshuffles, plummeting stock markets, all that was part of the rhythm. It was more a swell and subsiding of the great ocean of life within the hour of waking and the hour of rest, both uncertain. * * * He had a letter from Rienzie one day. It bore good news. His broken arm had healed. It had been mended by the ancient art of Ayurveda. "My father took me to an Ayurvedic physician who first said there were two fractures on the arm. He first closed his eyes and took my pulse, then he very gently massaged my arm with his thumb and forefinger. He did that for about five minutes. Then he wrote a long prescription. Their writing is so complicated that only some people can read it. We took it to the medicine shop and there they ground some leaves and herbs and oils together and tied it round my arm. They told me to keep it on for a week and never to let it go dry but to keep it damp with a special oil they gave us. After that we went to see the physician again. He took off the bandage and took my pulse again, and again massaged my arm. He told me I should repeat the treatment another week, and after that he told us it was healed. Of course my father got the arm X-Rayed and they found it had joined perfectly." Raj could never get around to see Miss Hapangama at the NTS. His fractured days and her well appointed rostered off duty never met. He did write to her, and she did reply, brief, bland notes at first, then they grew longer and more informative and more friendly, but never warmer. Raj correctly surmised it was her difficulty in communicating. Her writing, from the point of calligraphy, was that of a rural educated person, not with any strength of character or elegance. The expression was hardly above average and of a level that could be expected of one of her background. He doubted whether she could have written better even in her native Sinhala. But then it was unfair to expect her or anyone of her literary attainments to reach up to his own. He was more than a journalist. He was a discerning reader and cultivated the art of writing. In the months to come, he would have a thick sheaf of her letters. He did not visit old Haniffa in his gambling den, and he never saw him again. He did visit the RAF male nurse, the simple rustic, in the officers' quarters where he bought Raj a couple of beers. It was a subdued kind of hospitality. The officers sat at a further end of the room and conversed in loud tones. The nurse was evidently not comfortable in these surroundings. They parted promising to meet again, but never did. Raj did go to see Mr Jayawardene at the Health Ministry, but in the huge bureaucratic hive, he was low in the hierarchy. At that level he was no good for news, and out of the hospital atmosphere turned out to be pretty dull and insignificant. Miss Gunawardene invited Raj to her wedding a year later. Raj was unable to attend, but he sent the couple a handsome gift by post. The couple paid him a visit some months later, and that was that. Old Mr Weerasinghe was finally discharged after a record stay of nineteen months, and lingered on in pain, and in an unyielding cheerfulness. Chapter 43 Dekker was the resident architect of the Clarion building. A light-skinned Burgher, he was gaunt and bent, his skin a parchment yellow, and the expression on his face suggested that his thoughts ranged mostly over death, decay and demolitions. He had joined the establishment in its fifty second year and in the third year of his practice. Its basic structure was already there when he arrived and it had been then an elegant building on the edge of the city. It had been raised on a foundation of tested stability considering the swamp from which it rose. It had also the stability of the noblest ideals, of helping to wrest from the tenacious British freedom for the thrice subjugated island and of building on that new-won freedom a virile democracy based on a vigorous and free press. The founder, Dekker reflected, had been an architect of ideas and what a grand edifice of idealism he had built on his publishing house. Besides being a visionary he had also been endowed with great sagacity in the choice of talented men and the gift of wringing prime performances from such talent. Dekker, a Burgher at the cultural level, was sensitive to change. He had witnessed the passing of the giant, the collapse of his vision, the degeneracy of his multi-faceted architecture and the slow and insidious growth of corruption. Giants, too, he reflected ruefully, yield in time to pretenders, interlopers and pygmies. To Dekker the corruption of ideals was symbolised by the corruption of the building. From a well-conceived and neatly constructed edifice it began to grow like a cancer, devouring space in all directions and destroying all principles of aesthetics. People for whom buildings were basically and organically meant, Dekker thought with some feeling, mattered less and less and finally, not at all. Dekker had seen zoos better organised with greater consideration for their inmates. Whenever extra space was required it was Dekker's function to supervise the creation of a hole in a wall for an engineering excrection. In more expansive moments he was required to construct entire storeys on the sides of existing ones, steel and glass, without protuberances, grace or principle to serve the basic needs of space. Dekker's domestic felicity, too, was ruined as was his digestion by fuming over the creation of slums for the editorial departments which in turn metamorphosed laid- back journalists into snarling predators, preying on their own kind in their own space in the name of competitiveness and scoops over their own sister papers. He was also angry that stylish columnists and that rarest of species the cartoonists were penned in tiny, ill-ventilated cubicles; while those who planned triumphs on the international stage and at beauty contests lolled in air-conditioned, spacious, flunkeyed comfort. And the telephone exchange: did no one care? And the heights people had to scale in the course of the daily grind, the to-ing and fro-ing from the editorial departments to the presses, the peons, the humble, ill-paid orderlies who had to run up and down flights and flights of stairs. In none of the eight storeys were there lifts because those in power did not have to climb more than one flight of stairs. The aged and the ailing, well, who cared? Raj had never thought of the need for lifts until he returned to work for the first time after his surgery. He was inordinately concerned about the state of his surgical wound, the eight-inch gash across one side of his abdomen and reaching past his guts. Had he had time to let it mend at its own pace, he would not have cared. But he had to be well within three weeks. He had overcome this hurdle, the hernia was behind him, he was on his feet and he could cope with any other challenges. But he had to be careful. The Prime Minister was due to leave for New York on September 26, just twenty two days hence. He had not met him since his briefing on foreign affairs. He did not expect to meet him before their departure. Raj had a few imponderables with which to contend. He must ensure there were no post-operative complications. He must not carry any weight so heavy that it could open the surgical wound again. He must take sufficient exercise to facilitate speedy healing. He must not catch any infection which might bring on an illness that would cast doubts on his fitness. He must not meet with any accidents. In all these matters he was taking adequate precautions. But there still remained Miguel. And he was going to meet him head-on today. This was to be his first day back in the office after surgery. The first day since the passing of Auggie Gabriel. That emotional scar had not healed yet, either, and like the one left by the hernia, would cause a problem. He knew he had to have an emotionally clean slate to work on his greatest challenge as a reporter yet. He had to be fit in every way. He looked up at the steps leading to the building. They were gentle steps and he did not fear them. One at a time, he told himself. He took them nice and easy. He arrived at the landing and the reception area. He was hailed heartily by the man at the desk and by so many friendly smiles. No Miguel yet, he thought. Then the three sets of stairs beyond. They were steeper and more numerous. He had decided to climb them just once up and once down each day, and then take it easy. On the second landing, while Raj steadied himself against the wall Miguel appeared with the suddenness of a truck coming round a corner and with just about the same speed, just cleared Raj and jarred against his shoulder. His big bulk caught Raj off balance and the effort to steady himself brought a stab of pain in his groin. "Oh, you're back." That was all. No further greeting, no apology. Raj felt a thin sweat on his face. The battle was still joined, he surmised. But the worst was over for the moment. When he entered the editorial offices, camaraderie came out and clasped him like an outstretched hand. Enquiries after his health, expressions of concern for his well-being, and a few wisecracks about his fitness for future sexual engagements all served to assure him that he was back, home. His desk was dusted and waxed, the day's paper was there for him and the tray ready for work with a stack of copy paper. He picked up the phone and greeted the girls downstairs and received their own warm greetings. He was ready for another relatively active day. Phone calls kept coming in, contacts were ringing with greetings and good wishes. He contacted the Foreign Office. Everything had been taken care of where his personal travel arrangements were concerned. There was a stack of documents, including his passport and visas, a complete briefing kit, press cards, names and telephone numbers of overseas contact persons, backgrounders on all the heads of state they would be meeting. Would he come and collect it soon? Yes, he would do so tomorrow on his way to work. He breathed a deep sigh of contentment. Chapter 44 Bill gazed at the highly ornate wedding invitation card. So Pat was getting married, the sly old blighter. There was never a hint behind that grinning countenance in the seven months that Bill had known him. But then he had rarely met Pat outside the headquarters and even then only on business. And some business it had been at times. Like the day when Pat had intervened powerfully to save his life, almost, against a drunken Communist. It did seem strange to him that he had never been to see Pat at his home. He had assumed that being so dedicated to his work he lived in the city. Odd what a little people knew of each other once they got immersed in work. Should not happen among Christian workers, he reflected. People must not consider fellow workers in the vineyard as impersonal contacts. Was it that people did not have time or that they lost themselves, their selves, in their work? But surely Christ would not have been like that. He must surely have known the families of his apostles. He now rued the fact that he had never asked Pat about his personal life. And that Pat had hidden his personal life behind that mask, that grin. Bill was inordinately pleased and flattered that he had been invited to the wedding. September 20. Just a month away. This would be his first Ceylonese wedding. My word, that would be something to wait for, something, literally, to write home about. What colour there would be, what sartorial splendour, what culinary delights. Oh, he could hardly wait. Meanwhile, he decided to see Pat at his home in, heavens, he knew not where. He would meet him and enquire discreetly what sort of gift would best suit him. And that reminded him, what would he himself wear? He had not brought a suit to Colombo. Why, he did not have one even at home. Perhaps a suit would not be necessary. Then a great thought struck him. He would wear the national dress, the white cotton long- sleeved shirt and cloth. That would be the rage. He was grinning as broadly as Pat. Chapter 45 Things began to move at the pace of doom. After Bill had visited the refugee centre for the sixth time, he had been confronted as he left by two men clad in sarongs who nevertheless, speaking fluent English, had given him a terse warning: "Do not visit this place again. Your life is in danger." He was not certain whether these men were threatening him or warning him of a threat. Bill had asked them who they were and they had countered that it did not matter. They urged him to take the warning seriously. That afternoon he telephoned Raj and requested him, urgently, to visit him at the YCW headquarters. It was the first time Raj had been there since his hospitalisation. He looked almost affectionately at the drab building with its dirty grey walls plastered outside with posters, some peeling off, some fresh ones advertising Marxist mass meetings. YCW men left them there not seeking confrontation with thugs who were deliberately provocative. As usual, they had to wait until the last meeting was over, the last cup of tea had been served by the canteen, and the last visitor had left, and Fr Grutzner could smoke the first cigarette for the evening in a leisurely manner, savouring it, luxuriating in it, letting the smoke dispel the last of the day's toil and cares. Or so he had hoped. The moment the three of them were together Bill erupted into an uncommon fury and indignation. "Look. I'm frothing mad," he said. "What bloody business is it of anyone?" Fr Grutzner let the steam come out, let the man cool off. He said nothing. "Do you know," he said to the cautiously watchful priest, "do you know that some bugger told me not to visit the refugee camp again ? I ask you...Must be the bloody Sinhalese..." Fr Grutzner inhaled deeply and his huge chest expanded like a bellows. He said nothing but he was hugely amused inside. The very first remark that he had made when he met Bill, he recalled, was, "here comes the bloody Australian." Well, the coin had fallen on the other side. "Now relax," he said. Bill got up from his chair and began to pace up and down. In the pale light there was hardly a difference in the shading between his red hair, standing spiky straight in rage, and his ruddy, flushed face. His muscles rippled under the thin cotton vest. The muscles of his thighs and legs were taught. He was an angry warrior thwarted by an unknown enemy. "Sit down," Fr Grutzner said, this time an edge to his voice commanding instant compliance. Bill came back and sat. "Boss," the priest said as he did when he was very friendly, "I know more than you think and I talk less than I know. That's the best way in this business. But I will tell you a little of what I know...for your comfort. It seems you...and I...have got under Philip Gunawardene's skin. When the Minister of Food gets angry, his officials throw him someone to eat. This time they want to serve him some foreign flesh...a bloody Australian to start...as the first course...I, too, have been receiving some threatening phone calls...so relax. I may become the main course..." (c) E.C.T. Candappa (Continued tomorrow) |
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