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People and Events
A regime's cruelty to a sorrowing wife

by Nan
Not enough publicity has been given in the local press and the international on the latest act of cruelty by the ruling junta in Myanmar.

Michael Aris was dying of prostrate cancer and wished to see his wife, Aung San Suu Kyi, for a last time. He applied an year ago for a visa to visit his wife but the government of Myanmar refused the visa in spite of Cambridge academia and diplomats urging the Myamnar government to be humanitarian. They refused the visa on the apparently solicitous grounds that medical facilities in Myanmar were inadequate and the government could not be responsible for a worsening of his condition if he came to Yangon.

The rulers of Myanmar however, were more than willing to give Daw Suu Kyi a visa to go to Britain to be with her dying husband. The lady refused the offer. The government promised to allow her to return to her homeland if she did not use the visit abroad for propaganda purposes.

She was wary and justifiably suspicious so she opted to stay back though it meant not being with her dying husband. Not only was she afraid she would not be allowed to return but she feared for the safety of her party members while she was away. The opposition is already greatly weakened. She was sure they would break it in her absence.

One reads about this incident but cannot share an iota of the anguish of the wife and husband and two sons. Michael Aris died on 27 March, his 53rd birthday. Suu Kyi would surely have had a terrible time deciding whether to give in to personal needs and natural wants or to stick with loyalty to her country. The frail looking woman has been steel again and we admire her. Maybe she was denied even constant telephone contact with her dying husband.

Academia mourns the death of the explorer and writer on Tibet and the Himalayas. The world mourns the death of the husband of the fighter for democracy in Myanmar.

Buddhist Rites a news item says that Daw Suu Kyi gave alms and robes to 53 monks, in the presence of a thousand of her friends and supporters, on the seventh day of the death of her husband. The most poignant sentence for me in the news snippet was that she was minus her trade mark flowers in her hair. How very lonely she may be feeling now and surely wondering whether she did right in not taking the risk to go to Cambridge. She knew best and placed loyalty to country before personal loyalties, love and duty. She is, the paper said, the one beacon in the gloom of Myanmar.

Be Warned

Governments can get so inhuman, so petty, so revengeful and so unconcerned about national and even world opinion. This bitter and utterly sorrowful incident descends to the sordid since it is an act by a government. It is a warning to us. We'd better be on the look out that our government which should look after us, the citizens of the country, does not put its verbal vindictiveness to practice.

We did have a taste of discrimination when it came to travel abroad. No one like you or me or even those who could afford education abroad or were invited to seminars in foreign countries were allowed to go. Even the very few who did go went with no foreign exchange. OK, since the motive was to improve our foreign assets or prevent our money being drained out. Actually not an economic necessity but it was Sirimavo Bandaranaike's government policy so we had to bear it. But there were the very lucky few who went to oxford at the time and to the Sorbonne. In true blue Sri Lankan style we accepted the discrimination.

A ray of hope shines forth. A couple of sincere vigilante groups have been formed - vigilante minus guns and goons but with political clout and the people's blessing - to monitor what's happening, and by rousing public opinion to stem the rot.

Even the skys were crying I braved the thunder, lightening and the rain to slosh and wade to the polling booth to cast my vote. I even ran the risk of being struck by lightening since my umbrella has a sharp point at the top. Each time a flash occurred and a peal of thunder followed, I gasped and so did my ever faithful domestic. She offered to carry the pointed umbrella saying my life was worth more than hers, to which I gave her a sermon in return on equality etc.

Well, we waded along our flooded lane and then mucked it through the mud and oozing lawn of the polling booth only to find we had not been registered. This in contrast to the folks living in the ground floor flat, who share the same address. The electoral register showed some curious lapses; many complained about their names being left out.

The rain was coming down in sheets by now and so we stood and waited, our presence kindly tolerated. Everyone was very polite and the atmosphere calm. We saw a leader of a Tamil party lodge some sort of a protest and an ex top shot of a bank looking round, I swear, as he voted hoping his civic act would be duly documented by a TV cameraman. Ladies came soaked to the skin. There were those who could barely walk and were almost carried in. A couple who shared our fate were more determined. They were going to Barnes Place, and this in spite of the lady having the flu.

All this is heartening since it proves we are civic minded and do want to exercise our vote. The fervent hope as I write this on the 6th at 1O.OO a m is that in all other booths too the same sort of orderliness prevails. But unanimously we express fears and doubts about a peaceful and fair poll. Which should not be. When will things go back to what they were when we voted in peace and had confidence that the results would be what they should be - fair and square.

Another absurdity. People have cleaned out the shelves in stores by over buying. Everyone, barring the over-optimistic, expects a curfew to be declared. Even I am rushing through this article since I feel we may be housebound for a day or two. This curfew business, like rigging and thuggery, is also an expected follow up to elections.

Cries From the heart

Again I cry: when will sanity prevail; when will we be allowed to live in peace. When will elections fall into proper perspective. A loud voice replies: not until politicians become true servers of the nation; not until they think about the country and their fellow Sri Lankans and not about themselves and their power.

There are a few such contesting the elections. May they win and may they be able to clean out politics and thus save this once beautiful country of ours!

Post Script Well, no curfew was declared for the entire day after the polls. The elections seemed to have gone smooth and fair in comparison to the widespread murder and mayhem of the Wayamba fiasco. Where did all the buses go? Electioneering?

There is hope for us Sri Lankans and for our country!

Vidane's daughter - a novel
by Dr. Garvin Karunaratne

by K. Godage
For many generations have we been associated with the Nuwara-kalaviya in the North Central Province of the country, and its capital - that noble city, the cradle of our civilization - Anuradhapura. In the circumstances, a reading of Dr. Garvin Karunaratne's novel, 'Vidane's Daughter', was a delightful experience in nostalgia.

Dr. Karunaratne, who served as Assistant Commissioner, Agrarian Services, in the early sixties, following the tradition of the old British Civil Service, writes with first hand knowledge of conditions in the life of the rural NCP communities. He captures, for the reader from every other province of this country, a world unknown, for the social and economic structures and conditions prevailing in the NCP, are not present elsewhere. Even this unique social structure, with its isolated single caste villages, the irrigation reservoirs or village tank and the temple - and its own particular value systems, is fast giving way to new somewhat urbanized less isolated communities with adulterated values. Hence Dr. Karunaratne's book takes on a special significance, for it captures a period in the life of the community, that is fast becoming a thing of the past.

There are those who claim that the present district of Anuradhapura had been abandoned to the jungle, and was bereft of people, because of malaria and the marauding hordes from across the Palk Strait. The capital may have shifted to Polonnaruwa and beyond to escape the marauders, but there is no doubt that at least some people remained. For example, the Sacred Bodhi tree, was never abandoned. The people of the seven 'viharegam' or temple villages, (off the present Puttalam road), who held land from the Maha Maluwa or the Sri Maha Bodhi temple, rendered various services from ancient times and do so even today. Likewise the people of the purana villages of the Nuwara-kalaviya continued to live in their remote villages, and eke out an existence, surrounded by jungle and wild animals. Insecurity in all its forms pervaded the community. They lived in the depths of superstition, ignorance, prejudice, impotent in many respects and above all in fear. There remained also a certain innocence and a sense of justice and fairplay. Even after the British, particularly after Bell, Burrows, Cave, Codrington and others, 'opened up' the NCP to the rest of the country, this region remained in many respects stranded in a time warp.

The 1940s onwards witnessed increasing control over malaria and the rebirth of the Nuwara-kalaviya. The lifeblood of the people being water, the tanks were restored and the jungle cleared and life began anew, not just for new settlers in new settlement schemes, but also for the purana villages and their inhabitants.

Dr. Karunaratne's novel is about real people, their lifeblood - precious water and its management and cruel officials. Even to those with a casual knowledge of the NCP village, his characters come alive. The novel relates to real situations, this is its strength. To a person from the NCP, it is not fiction, but a true story. He brings home the fact that the very existence of the people is dependent on the tank. With this dependence, comes exploitation by corrupt officials, absolutely mindless to the poverty of the helpless peasant. The petty officials who work far away from their control centres, resort not merely to corrupt practice but also indulged in all manner of exploitation of the poor villager. Garvin Karunaratne brings home this situation with great impact.

The Vidane is perhaps the most important 'official', if one might call him that, in a village, where the rice fields are irrigated by water from a tank. In his ability to enforce the unwritten rules, lies the success of the cultivation and the prosperity of the village. He supervises the distribution of water, ensures that the irrigation channels are cleared, ensures the fencing of the 'Yaya', arranges the watch (the cultivation must be protected from cattle, the wild boar and last but not least the elephant). The Vidane also ensures the maintenance of the all important tank (every farmer who holds land under the tank is required to cut a certain number of cubes of earth to strengthen the bund). The 1958 Paddy Lands Act introduced by Colombo based Marxists and put into legal form by legal minds who knew nothing about rice cultivation in irrigated areas, abolished the Vel Vidane system, claiming it to be a relic of feudal times. Rice farming in the NCP has yet not fully recovered from the neglect that followed.

Garvin Karunaratne's novel is a moving story of life in the NCP village, as related by the Vidane's daughter, Kumudu. It is easy to recognize in Kumudu, the typical NCP village lass - uncorrupted by the ways of the town or city, brought up to respect elders and imbibed with those values which have made the city dweller romanticize life in the village. In Punchi Banda, the 'Tank Overseer', we meet a worthy son of the soil, the type of whom Longfellow wrote:

"His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whatever he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man"

(from "The Village Blacksmith")

Garvin Karunaratne does not create fictitious characters, he merely gives fictitious names to real people. When I 'met' the Vidane, in the book, and read of his experiences, it was all very real to me. I had met Dr. K's characters in flesh and blood, during my years in the Nuwara-kalaviya. The book has been written with a sensitivity known to one who related closely to the people and was involved in their problems. What the Vidane goes through at the hands of a corrupt Cultivation Officer, is sadly not fiction or some isolated instance. The abuse of power at village level, was common in those times. The manner in which Dr. Karunaratne records the intrigue, which was also commonplace and then tugs at your heart strings with a tender love story, are worthy of appreciation. Dr. Karunaratne deserves commendation for this novel, which I hope would be made into a film some day.

Gilding the Lily - woman's most popular pastime

by Cecil V. Wikramanayake
How much does a woman, the average woman, spend today on cosmetics? And how much time a day does she devote to trying to improve on what her maker had originally intended ?

Born with the gift of a natural eye for beauty, this writer has, in his declining years, spent considerable time wondering about the questions he has posed above. Perhaps he has time now to do so, because he has reached the 'seventh age of man ' a-la Shakespeare, and is now 'sans teeth, sans everything'.

But he has found this an interesting subject for the grist for his mill. He rang up several beauticians, chatting them up and asking questions which some of them found rather too embarrassing to answer.

Even in the lowest income groups today, women are enthusiastic about adorning themselves, particularly their faces.

What fascinated him was the fact that his little son Gautham, just over two years old, has been improving the shining hour by watching Nirmala, our neighbour's young daughter, who has just got married, at work on the job of gilding the lily.

She is quite a pretty thing, is Nirmala, without the make-up on her face, but she insisted, shortly before her wedding, that she could look even prettier.

Little Gautham, who spends quite some time in her home, had been watching her at her favourite pastime, and only the other day I observed him holding his mother's hand-mirror on front of him and rubbing his eyebrows - the wrong way of course - with a match-stick.

He would then take his step-brother's bottle of face-cream, squeeze out some of the contents on to his palm, and then daub the mess all over his face. He sure is fast learning what comes to women naturally.

So I ask the question again, how much time, energy and money does a woman spend on cosmetics ? How much time does she devote to gilding the lily ?

A well-known personality in the Western world, Germaine Greer, in her latest book "The Whole Woman" says that every woman knows that, regardless of all her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful, and that she is also aware that whatever beauty she has, is leaving her, stealthily, day by day, as time marches relentlessly on.

That has been true of womankind from as far back as the day when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and followed her discovery of the "knowledge of good and evil" by adorning her most vital possession with a fig leaf.

This brings to mind an old song that is still perhaps remembered by the generation now in the departure lounge. It went:

"Long ago, years ago, said Eve to Adam 'I want a dress'
Said Adam, 'My dear madam, as sure as my name's Adam,
The trees are bare. I can't spare
The cash to pay for the leaves you wear.

Go round behind the barn.
Your fig leaf you must darn.
In these hard times, you've got to put up with anything
In these hard times you cannot pick and choose.

When things have come to such a pass
To talk of fig leaves is a farce
You're lucky to get a blade of grass
In these hard times !

Adam still sings this song to Eve in every home. Only he uses different words to say it.

Even if a woman, any woman, is as freakishly beautiful as the supermodels she sees on billboards and advertisements around her, she is still not satisfied. She is not beautiful enough. There must be some portions of her anatomy that she feels can be improved on - her knees, her feet, her hands, her buttocks, however calipygous they may be, her breasts.

However little body hair she has, it is too much. However little and sweetly she sweats, it is too much. If she is slim and like the models that parade on the catwalk, she considers she should be a little plumper. If she is plump and well rounded, especially on the arms and legs, she thinks she ought to be slimmer. If she has small breasts, she yearns for bigger ones. If they are large and well rounded, she wishes they were smaller. There is no satisfying her. She just has to improve on her maker's handiwork.

Perhaps it is due to the fact that god has been depicted as being a male. Had it been the other way round, who knows, she may have been content with what the female god gave her. And perhaps it would be man who would not be satisfied till he had improved on what the she-god had done !

Which is perhaps why my old and still revered 'guru' the late Robert Ratnasingham Breckenridge once told me when he started me on my "Commonplace Book" in the late nineteen thirties:

Vain is the hope by any force or skill
To stem the current of a woman's will.
For if she will, she will, you may depend on it.
And if she won't, she won't, and there's an end on it.

This preoccupation of women with their body would be termed pathological behaviour if it were found in a mere man. A bald man who wears a wig is considered a ridiculous figure, but if a woman who is bald refused to wear a wig she would be considered a 'nut-case' to use an expression typically Sri Lankan.

Scientists have a phrase for this preoccupation with the 'gilding of the lily'. They call it Body Dysmorphic Disorder, or BDD.

But would anyone dare to tell a woman who puts herself through the agonies of trying to improve on what god has given her, that she is suffering from BDD? One might, perhaps, agree with her that she is suffering, but certainly not with anything specific like BDD !

Such insecurity has been instilled into women over generations, and we have not made any headway in trying to dispel it. Women's magazines over the years have continued to exploit women's anxiety about "unwanted hair".

And if a woman escapes from that, she is bound to fall foul of 'cellulitis', a subcutaneous fat which keeps women warm and which softens the contours of their bodies, sometimes building those dimples that we men adore in woman.

Some women have tight, smooth fat and some have softer fat which droops and dimples, even on their knees and invariably on their bottoms.

Many years ago, such women who had rounded, soft flesh, with or without dimples, were admired. But in the twentieth century marketing experts, particularly those who market cosmetics, have rendered this disgusting. They call it 'globular fat cells' and 'poor lymphatic drainage', and 'toxins that have solidified', when in fact it is all cynical rubbish.

Women were meant to have dimply fat and no amount of massaging, vibrating or pounding will have any effect on it. No cream, whether made of placenta or the brains of aborted foetuses or ground glass will break down cellulitis.

Manufacturers of creams, exercise equipment, skin brushes and dietary supplements all make a packet out of women's carefully cultivated disgust with their own bodies. One British industry is said to take nearly ten billion English pounds out of women's pockets, and magazines financed by these beauty industries continue the 'good work' by persuading teenager girls, and even those in the pre-teen years that they need make-up and train them to do so, thus establishing their lifelong reliance on beauty products.

This writer's sister Rita, who is now in her late sixties, still has a complexion that has been described as a "schoolgirl complexion". From the time he can remember her as a little child, he is aware that she has consistently refused to use any kind of cosmetics, not even face powder, confining her face and body to simple soap and water.

The writer also knows a woman a few years younger than Rita, who, from the time she was a teenager, persisted in using all kinds of make-up to make her look more beautiful - and she was quite a beauty by any standard without all that muck on her face. Today, she looks twenty years older than she is, with a face all wrinkled. She has become an addict to make-up, for without it, no one would give her a second glance !

A long, long time ago, this writer read somewhere a poem which he cannot remember in full now, more than sixty years later. But he remembers the two lines that ended each of the several verses. They went "Pray before that fond embrace, Darling will you wash your face ?"

Step in to arrest this moral decay
MARCH POYA SERMON - 31-03-99

Bhikkhu Professor Dhammavihari
It is my intention today to share this Full Moon day sermon not only with the Buddhists, but also with the leaders of all religious denominations in our country. In their alphabetical order, the major religions here could be listed as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. In the field of Indian studies, world scholarship does not imply by the term Hinduism the whole range of Indian religious thought as represented by the Vedas, Brahmanas and the Upanishads. It is generally agreed that Buddhism appeared on the Indian scene contemporaneously with the early Upanishads, i.e. about the sixth century B.C.

At any rate, all these four religions hold sway in the world today as major religions. As far as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam are concerned, we know through historical records, that they appear in the world in succession time wise, one after another, in different parts of the world, with almost five hundred year intervals in between. History also shows us their sway over the world, at different times in different places, with different records of their achievements and performance.

At the very outset, I wish to briefly deal with the issue as to what place religions, as social institutions, should occupy in the lives of people in whose midst they spring up and experience their growth to full maturity. As Buddhists, we are inclined to say that history of man precedes the history of religions in the world. It should also be true to say that religions primarily have their origin among humans to provide answers to questions which they have to face in their day-to-day living. Anything that was difficult to explain, even as simple as the presence of the sun and the moon in the sky, needed an explanation. According to some forms of religious thinking, they were either divine beings in themselves, deva and devata, like Savita or Surya sitting there in their own right, or were placed there by another divinity who was greater than the rest, and consequently came to be viewed as the creator of all.

In early Indian religions, like the religion of the Vedas, a principle called rita governed the whole of this cosmic relationships. Great and powerful gods of the times like Indra and Varuna safeguarded this law. Hence these gods came to be called Ritasya gopau. Indian religions like Jainism and Buddhism upheld that all life in the universe, of man and animal, was life to be respected by man. And therefore not to be assailed or destroyed by man at his own sweet will, with or without divine sanction.

This respect for life and therefore non-violence or compassion came to be upheld as the ultimate ethic in life. They went even further and insisted that plants were living things too. Out of a sense of peaceful co-existence, the Buddha went along with the Jains so far, and insisted that at least the monk order in Buddhism respected this concept and refrained from causing damage to plant life.

Centre

There are other religious systems which uphold that man is the centre of the whole creation and that all other life here is for his utilization and was created for that purpose. But a third new generation of modern scientific thinkers in the world now put forward the view that all life, both macro and micro are all inter-related. They speak of eco-systems and bio-diversity, and in works like Biophelia Hypothesis speak of the need to respect and safeguard all forms of life for sake of man's own survival on earth. In the destruction of one lies the destruction of the other, they maintain. That would be the doom's day.

Thus a blue print for religion did not precede the presence of man on earth. It evolved out of a need for man's guidance. Guidance, so that man may himself live well and also live well along with others in whose midst he finds himself. This harmonious living alone should pave the way for happiness for men and women in this life and in a life beyond this. Let us straightway say that history has played a stupid role in justifying, i.e. if they ever did, justifying bitter and wild fighting by warring groups, sometimes by different religious groups and at other times by sub-groups within the same main stream religion, for religious expansionism and the establishment of religious domains on earth down here.

This harmonious living is historically the position which we would expect religions to play in moulding the lives of the people in the world as they live here. But this ideal does not appear to have been lived up to in history. This is what has led religion in the world to being called the 'opium of the masses'. Inter-religious relationships in Sri Lanka has deteriorated far too fast in recent years. Empire-building and territorial expansion by each religious group, specially by the contending so-called minor ones has led to a great deal of unethical behaviour, both as defensive and offensive. We have lost sight of the island-wide breakdown of morality, sex wise and age wise which is taking place all around us. We believe a greater part of this is due to the wide spread use of many high potent drugs by everybody in every age group in the country, both male and female. Does anybody ever stop to ask where do they come from or whoever brings them here. The answers are too well known.

Common problem

This is why we stress the need in Sri Lanka today for all religious denominations, large or small in strength of numbers or world resources they can harness, to unite for the fulfilment of a local need, through loyalty to the land where they literally belong and have acquired their present stature. They need to retrieve and stabilize the moral tone of the country which unquestionably is descending to its lowest depths, whether it is use of drugs, sex offences or other violent crimes. It is not a problem only of the major religion. It is indeed a creation of everyone,

Depending on the soundness and strength of thinking in different religious traditions, man assumes different levels of prestige and positions on this earth in relation to the other components of life around him like men, animals and plants and even other resources like water and air. In some cases, unfortunately though, man has secured authority to utilize all other forms of life and assumed superiority as chosen people.

At this point, let me digress for a moment and point out both to the Buddhist and to the non-Buddhist researchers who attempt to bring forward a fantastic new theory for the twenty-first century that Buddhists cannot afford to drink even cold water because it contains living organisms. Please note that it would be more than ridiculous to think of re-educating the Buddha himself and Buddhists and attempt to regulate their life style outside their own perimeter of thinking.

Back to our subject of world religions and their message to mankind for healthy growth and peaceful co-existence. These religions have had their origins at different times and in different climes, sometimes far removed from one another. When both these factors of time and place are put together, a period of five centuries between them is of considerable importance.

In the sixth century B.C., if you remember right, the Gangetic plain in India nurtured fairy peaceful agricultural communities. The family names of the Buddha's ancestors are all related to rice or odana as in Suddhodana, Dhotodana and Amitodana. True enough, one hears at times of destructive plans like that of Ajatasatthu, scheming to overrun the neighbouring republican territory of the Vajjis. But they were hardly part of the racial unconscious.

Elsewhere, in the more desert like lands, one hears of constant tribal wars all the time. The spirit of the community had to be to bond all membership together to fight the enemy and secure survival. The larger the community, the chances of survival were better. One had to get more and more members over to one's side, winning them over religion wise or ethnicity wise, particularly in the face of constant enemy attack. It had to be in their spirit to kill and destroy those who thought differently from them, invariably to safeguard the chances of survival. If they did achieve victory, and in the process did survive, then they had to offer thanks to those above for their victory in battle by killing some of their fattened animals.

Thus we are not surprised that the cultural milieu in which a religion grows up determines the nature of the ethics which it nurtures for its people. Even in India, during the period of the Brahmanas when the priestly hierarchy had ascended to power, to a point of almost sweeping away everybody else from the scene, including women and those of the lesser classes, animal sacrifices had reached its high.

It needed powerful and uncompromising protestant movements like Jainism and Buddhism to fight against this inhuman and meaningless massacre of animals in the name of religion. For the first time, the Jains waved the Banner of Peace across India with the words Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah inscribed on it. Buddhists rightly launched their moral build-up or sila with their first precept of 'abstinence from destruction of life' or panatipata veramani.

This not only prevents the Buddhist from killing for his table, for his daily meal, from out of his newly promoted backyard pond or his poultry pen, but also encourages the development of love towards all living things. This is clearly laid down in the second half of the first precept quoted above as panatipata veramani. It specifies that one lays aside all weapons of destruction - nihita-sattho nihita-dando. And positively promotes love towards all living things as sabba-pana-bhuta-hitanukampi viharati. These words and their meaning must be live and vibrant on the lips of those who preach in the name of Buddhism and equally well a living reality in the hearts of those who flock in large numbers to hear those who preach.

But how lamentably time has stolen on us in Sri Lanka today. We do many things now we are not expected to do within the framework of our culture and religion. We do so, blindfolded perhaps. Or more positively due to the cultural denudation that has come upon us through centuries of colonial rule and unguarded cultural intermingling which the Sri Lankans have miserably accepted with open arms. With this indiscretion and lack of awareness of our own worth, and I say our multi-cultural worth specially in terms of Hindu Buddhist assimilation, we have admitted into our midst many vicious items which are internationally recognized as sources of corruption.

We maintain that Sri Lanka holds a very enviable multi-ethnic and multi-religious composition which it derived through history over the centuries. If times and circumstances were watched diligently and with magnanimity and sympathy, one would have expected the delivery of a healthy baby out of this, quite some time ago. Even a village midwife could have done it, as in the good old days. But unfortunately, it did not happen, not even through a Caeserean.

One good example in this direction is the degree to which the nativization of the Christian church in Sri Lanka had proceeded since the days of Sri Lanka's independence.

Even Virgin Mary appearing like a Sri Lankan lady. Church architecture and church ritual accepting a great deal of native garb, with gokkola and pun kalas and many others. This did please many of us who loved a mixed community life and we were respecting one another from where we stood. So was the sharing of Hindu and Buddhist religious rituals, in a moderate way with Ganesh, Saraswathi and even Skanda considerably assimilated, without any sense of loss to either party. There never was a feeling of plunder, or stealing or tearing away on any side.

We guess and would love to believe that there never was then an urge for any ethnic or religious group in this country for empire building, felt from within or pressurized from outside. The church then undoubtedly was the bastion of the ruling class. But there were great gentlemen of the church then who are now dead and gone. So was the saner leadership in the minor ethnic groups of the time. We use the term minor here in no derogatory sense at all, except to indicate their relative percentage strength, then as well as now.

Neros

But we do remember and recollect the early rumblings from within and know very well what underground pressures pushed them to the intensity of present violent quakes. Leaders then wished to be insensitive to them. Politics in the Asian region, in India, Pakistan, Burma and other areas was highly infected and disruptive. Division of well-knit units into disintegrating fragments was rapidly taking place. We were not sensitive enough to feel the need for immunization against these and welding ourselves together and consolidation. Let us be honest enough and ask ourselves whether there were Neros here then in our midst who kept fiddling while Rome was burning.

Leaving these grim stories now to a forgotten past, let me put before you a few points of view from Buddhism. We look upon human life from two distinct angles. First from that of the society to which each one of us belongs. For the most part we are what we are because we belong to a particular social set up. We need to respect it and safeguard it. Everyone within it should feel safe and secure. That essentially depends on the way we conduct ourselves within it. The way we think and the way we do things should bring no threat to the lives of those who live with us. This is the respectful relationship in which humans shall hold the others in society. So should their attitude to others' property be regulated. Of course, both these are taken care of at world level under fundamental human rights. But we are sad that it is only on paper. Very few countries in the world have enough nerve to implement these.

This is what requires the Buddhist to observe the panca-sila in his everyday life, in order that there is peace and harmony in society. Its observance takes out of society what is called the five fears or panca bhayani. It is also remarkably well observed that when humans inflict this on society, they are also building within themselves the most corrosive elements called the five angers or enmities called panca verani. They are five in number because they relate to the five offences listed under the panca sila. We could not imagine there being any Buddhist who does not know them. Buddhists as well as non-Buddhists should be knowing equally well their social desirability, whether it be respect for life, respect for genders or need to safeguard one's sanity against drunkenness.

Therefore we call upon all Buddhists to review their attitude to the observance of panca sila and not garrulously talk in schools and homes and that in the company of children that silas are good but difficult to observe and to keep. Think of the irresponsibility and the extent of the damage you cause by talking like this. Please think of the societal relevance of the panca sila and think of the better world of love and generosity we can build thereby for our fellow humans, without too much begging and borrowing, even from the IMF and the World Bank.

I should also seriously remind you that while panca sila plays such a desirable role of social correction for bringing about collective peace and harmony, is also basically the bedrock for building up personal and individual character. The very motivation for social well-being, is in itself a corrective measure for ego-reduction and altruistic motivation. These are the bases of social building. We should constantly remind our children of the worth of panca sila in society. Parents must be an example of their regular observance, not of their breach, whether it be the mother or the father.

But this is only the foundation. This not at all sufficient for graduation in the school of Buddhism. We do need to graduate. It would be shameful to discover too many drop-outs, particularly among the grown ups. We should, in the course of our living as adults, be able to push this up by three more items of senior silas. This brings us to the region of seasonal silas like the ata sil which we take upon on special days of the moon, observing the lunar calendar. Please note with adequate seriousness that English Buddhists at the Amaravati Buddhist Centre in England have already returned to the lunar quarters or the four poyas of the month.

Let us learn for once what each one of us wishes to do by observing the eight precepts, or those three additional ones. It is a wish to be adults or grown ups, with a desire for self-determination and self-maturity. We wish to check our ability to forego a meal and starve once in a while with fair regularity. Have we the strength and determination to undertake such a small thing as that. Or are we miserably incapable. The precept by which we pledge to undertake the fast is what we say in the morning as the first of the ata sil saying vikala-bhojana veramani. Do you and the monk who gives it to you, both know what you are saying? Even in ignorance do not be guilty of deliberate lying. You do not want to be accused so. So please be honest. Do not claim to take ata sil frivolously or having taken them, do not breach them.

The next refers to entertainment and self beautification for a single period of twenty-four hours. How much of will power or resolve have you? I dislike to have your reply as 'none at all'. The last of the eight silas is the comforts of a night's sleep. Imagine you are camping out somewhere, sleeping in a hammock. No hot-water bottles and no teddy bears to hug. That experience is fully worth having. You may soon be completely denied of them.

With the third millennium round the corner, do feel you are already grown up men and women. Acquire some healthy resolves and firm determination to be smarter than you are, for your sake and for the sake of the world you live in. Be ye regular and honest ata sil observers, once or twice every month.

May all beings be well and happy. May there be peace on earth and goodwill among men.

Going Bananas Growing Bananas
'Are our scientists going bananas growing bananas at Bundala?'

Given the natural affinity of elephants to bananas, would you not try to avoid having a large banana plantation in the middle of elephant country where farmers are already troubled by elephants? Apparently not so, if you are one who hails from the academic community.

Bundala-better known as a bird sanctuary, was upgraded to a national park not so long ago. With the rapid reduction in jungle cover, elephants taking refuge there have also become a major attraction at Bundala. The area has had an uneasy balance between conservation and development - elephants and agriculture in particular. Wildlife officials have been slowly developing the park infrastructure and working towards a long-term relationship with the local communities who had traditionally used the areas now within the park for grazing cattle and fishing. Since being upgraded from a Sanctuary, Bundala National Park is bringing in a steady flow of local and foreign tourists with increasing income for the State's coffers running into millions, and a spin-off benefit to the local communities from the increased traffic, patronage of local guest houses, hotels, tours, local produce, souvenirs, food stalls etc.

Now enter an academic in the person of Dr. Hirimuregama of the Botany Dept. of the University of Colombo. Apparently endowed with a generous grant, the lady has championed a 350-acre banana growing project ostensibly to help uplift the local community. An expensive air-conditioned building has already been constructed to nurse a test plot of only half an acre. The land directly across the road from the Bundala National Park adjacent to its entrance, is apparently owned by the Irrigation Department and bull-dozers of the Department are rapidly scraping away the scrub cover typical of the coastal environment of the area around Weligatta.

According to Fauna International which has prepared a draft Elephant Management Plan for Sri Lanka, elephants regularly use these areas for movement between Bundala and adjoining areas and their preservation is important for other environmental reasons as well. As expected, elephant "depredation" has already been experienced by the project. Now the Department staff have received letters from the lady appealing to them to curb their elephants who are apparently trampling and eating her bananas (and no doubt threatening to drive her bananas!)

Fauna International reports that steps are apparently being taken now to erect an electric fence to protect the Colombo University Banana Project. Having been in the forefront of the national campaign to save the Handapangala elephants, Fauna International has expressed concern that initial calls for chasing elephants could very well degenerate eventually into a drive to rid Bundala of its major attraction. It is a course environmental organizations are all too familiar with. They point out that it has happened elsewhere.

Accordingly the question that is asked is why scarce funds are expended on such projects in the name of development and social service. It does the academic community no good to get embroiled in such projects when the cry is heard all too often that they are expected to have some practical input to the development effort. Would not the money spent on an air-conditioned building for Colombo-based academics have been put to better use providing modest dwellings for a number of families of the area? If social integration is the idea, then city types could do well to learn to adapt to local living conditions for their occasional visits to the field.

According to department staff monitoring this area, elephants regularly use this area extensively for feeding, and now the cover is being scraped away for the project. Development in such buffer zones adjoining national parks is not permitted. It is not clear how this project was able to override these restrictions and the wildlife and environmental authorities. When asked for his views on this matter, Mr. Ravi Algama, Chairman of EFL (Environment Foundation Limited) which is active in environmental law matters, said that areas within one kilometre of a national park are sensitive areas, and that it was illegal to have started the project without an environmental impact assessment. In his view it was preposterous to have a banana plantation in there and EFL was taking action to arrest the process. It was not clear why the Wildlife Department had not acted earlier.

Project boards carrying the name of the University of Colombo are plastered around the site and the New Vice Chancellor would do well to have such projects carefully reassessed and reviewed prior to their approval. It appears that like the proverbial ostrich, some academics have their heads in the sand and are oblivious to the experience of Pelwatte and Handapangala, Sevanagala and Uda Walawe, being destined to raise controversy and compound local situations where they go. The good they mean to do may inevitably be for themselves, and result in more harm to the local community and addition of yet another burden to an already troubled administrative system.

Not far away, at Uda Walawe, banana cultivation is well-established by local people engaged in the practice for several decades. Their counterparts nearby could easily benefit from that expertise. If the idea was that applied scientific research is to be conducted, would a site in a well-known banana growing area have been better? Is it one of those cases of landing a project with jobs for the boys (girls?). If the goal was to supplement local communities, would some incentives and self-help schemes have sufficed, or is there some special scientific reason that warrants the intervention of academics like Dr. Hirimuregama from Colombo and her project to leave an adverse environmental footprint and muddy the local scene?

(Based on a Fauna International Field Report).

No threat to jumbos

There is no threat posed to elephants of the Bundala area as a result of the banana growing project currently activated by the Colombo University to uplift the local community of the area, the University said.

Dr. (Mrs.) Hirimuregama of the Botany Department, Colombo University, chiefly involved with the project, said in reply to the allegations made by Fauna International that no such threat was posed to the elephants and that the project was begun after sufficient environment impact assessment. " The project acts as an outreach programme to the Sri Lankan community which is simply one of the key functions of a University", Hirimuregama told "The Sunday Island" adding that the project carried out in 350 acres of land in the Hambantota area aims to build novel agricultural technology and to train farmers of the vicinity in the specific technology usage. Nearly 40 farmers are being trained, she said.

"The elephants attacked the banana plants a year ago when they were first planted", Hirimuregama explained, "but there has been no threat either way since", she said. At present, only half an acre has been utilized in a test banana growing project. "The 350 acres would include medicinal plants and other fruits such as grapes and papaya", she said. She also said that the project not only utilizes the skills and abilities of the youth of the area but also makes good use of the opportunity afforded by the natural resources of Sri Lanka at a time when agriculture awaits a great boost.

Hirimuregama argues that it is up to the Wildlife officials to control the elephants of the Park in area restricted to them as other community development projects too must carry on and must be given due importance.

Swiss national to enters the Sangha

by Kirthie Abeyesekera
The 'Sunday Island' story (Nov. l, 1998) - 'First Canadian Buddhist Monk,' has inspired a Swiss national to enter the 'Sangha.'

James Glaus had been in Sri Lanka when he had picked up the story. He quickly contacted the Canadian layman, Thomas Heritage, who received ordination in Toronto last October as Bhante Ariyawansa. In a letter to the Canadian monk, Glaus says he has been studying the 'Dhamma' for two years. "And now," he writes, "by reading the article, I know that it is time for me also to take my refuge in the Triple Gem."

He says he will turn 35 next September, and that by then, he "wants to be a member of the 'Sangha."' Rev. Ariyawansa celebrated his 40th birthday, a few days after his ordination. Says Glaus: "The article in the newspaper was the hint to me to stop thinking and move one step ahead." Congratulating Rev. Ariyawansa for the step he took, Glaus says, "So, you see, there is already someone to follow your example on the path."

Commenting on the letter, Ven. Ariyawansa, in an editorial contribution to 'The Wheel,' the newsletter of Toronto's Westend Buddhist Centre where he is now in residence, says, "It is so great to see the 'Dhamma' spread like this by example rather than coercion. The 'Dhamma' is truly universal and needs only to be studied and put into practice to be really appreciated and understood. It will then be realized as the only true path to Liberation, to the end of suffering and to a greater happiness?

Ven. Ariyawansa, in his article titled 'My new beginnings on a new Path,' quotes Verse 290 from the 'Dhammapada:' "If a man who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the better."

The monk comments that "renunciation is a choice - an Intelligent decision made in order to attain a greater happiness." He says that when he first started to seriously study the Buddha's great Teachings on a full-time basis last year, he knew he was on the threshold of a greater happiness.

Recalling his October 18 ordination last year, Ven. Ariyawansa observes that "To wrap myself in the robes for the first time that day, was like wrapping myself totally in the Buddha-Dhamma, and it raised my whole practice to a beautiful new level."

The new Canadian monk has still to gain a colloquial knowledge of Sinhala. He says he now spends almost all his time studying the 'Dhamma,' "reading, reflecting, learning the Pali chants and practising, at every opportunity." He says he enjoys the solitude of his own little room, apart from the main building. He wants the Centre's 'dayakas' to know that he is available to them to "enjoy a good Dhamma discussion at almost any time."

Ven. Ariyawansa is modest in saying that "most of you have far more experience with the 'Dhamma' than I do, and I think there are many things I can learn from you." But, he reflects, that as he develops and builds the foundation of knowledge, he hopes he will have the opportunity to talk more often, and "hopefully, I can give you something from my perspective that is a little different and useful to you". In the meantime, he adds, "we can share our experience of the practice and help each other move to a higher level on the spiritual path".

An appreciation
"Rhythm of the night"
Performed by The Dance Works Centre

What wonderful and refreshing entertainment ! What absolute enjoyment ! Two hours of free style dancing and ballet at its best, performed by all Students of Kanthi Ranchigoda's DANCE WORKS CENTRE in "Rhythm of the Night".

It is difficult to imagine three year olds, "Babies", performing to the precision of various dance forms and rhythms in concert with their seniors but they did- of course with a few twists and sweet smiles at the packed audiences, in their attempts to locate loved ones, and had to be egged on and prompted to concentrate with the task at hand.

Performances commenced with excerpts and adaptations from previous musicals staged by the School. In a magnanimous gesture "The Workshop Players" comprising mainly of Josephian artists, contributed handsomely to enhance the quality of the performances. The final Skit of the talented Josephian duo of an asylum scene, meant to buy time for the Curtain Call, was hilarious and kept the audiences in roars of laughter. In between, short takes of popular musicals kept everyone enthralled, especially the hundreds of disabled soldiers who demonstrated their appreciation and enthusiasm by cheering loudly and commenting agreeably during the scintillating performance of "Cabaret". The parents and well wishers of the students of the dance Works Centre made a generous contribution to a nominated disabled Soldier, to defray the costs of construction of his own house.

Kanthi Ranchigoda should be congratulated for staging such a brilliant performance of varied dance forms and rhyth practically single handed. Clare de Silva must be given all credit for her versatile direction of the evening entertainment. The packed audiences trooped out of the hall firmly convinced that there would be repeat performances soon, for at least those who missed out on a superb evening entertainment. It was obvious that the children enjoyed themselves most as was manifested in their dancing. The glamourous and appropriate costumes worn by the cast complemented the hard work, deep thought and meticulous planning that must have preceded such a delightful and memorable presentation.

B. L. de S Wijeyaratne

Kitchens and cars don't mix

By Niresh Eliatamby and Chittaranjan de Silva
Warning: the next time you have a traffic accident, the car that hit you could blow up and engulf you in flames.

Sounds scary, doesn't it? An exaggeration? Hardly.

An Island investigation found that far more people are using gas cylinders meant for kitchen stoves to power their cars, than the state-of-the-art tanks marketed by licensed gas conversion companies. The very cylinders whose manufacturer, Shell Gas Lanka, says may catch fire if used improperly.

The ad looks so innocent. "Auto gas conversion with safest Japanese system car cylinder 28,000/= or domestic cylinder 17,500/=," the ad in the classifieds section of the Sunday Observer beckons.

Just like any of the hundreds of ads which dot a newspaper.

But wait a minute.

"Domestic cylinder" for 17,500/=? Is this the same one which Shell Gas Lanka Ltd. says shouldn't be used in vehicles?

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen. We have converted more than 1,000 cars using domestic cylinders," was the staggering way in which we were reassured by a helpful lady named Mrs. Siribaddana, when we called the phone number in the ad, and asked whether it would be okay to use a domestic cylinder.

Was that a lot compared to the number of vehicles they converted using the "safest Japanese system they also had," we asked.

"Oh, only about 15% of our customers choose the Japanese system," said Mrs. Siribaddana, speaking in Sinhala. "We encourage people to use the domestic cylinder."

By "domestic cylinder," did she mean the one in the kitchen, we asked.

"Yes. You have to bring a cylinder for us to connect," was her reply. "We attach it to a high pressure connector which feeds the liquid to the engine."

How soon could we have our car converted, we asked.

"There's a waiting list. First you come to our office and pay Rs. 4,000/= for the booking. Then it will take a few days," she replied.

Domestic cylinders were better for vehicle users since the gas costs only Rs. 13/= per liter, while having gas pumped into a vehicle gas tank costs Rs. 22/= per liter, she explained.

But what about insurance, we asked. Would local insurance companies cover a vehicle which uses a domestic gas cylinder? And would the insurance company pay for damages if the cylinder caught fire?

"No, they don't cover if it is a domestic cylinder. So, just don't tell them at all that it runs on gas. It's easy because most insurance companies don't inspect the vehicles they cover," she answered, very matter of factly. "It's not dangerous, so nothing will happen, and they won't ever know."

It's easy for vehicle owners too, because they just have to take the cylinder out by hand and pop in a new one.

Shell Gas Lanka Limited, the only supplier of LP gas in Sri Lanka, disagrees.

"The domestic cylinder is designed and tested only for domestic use, and not for automotive purposes," said Desmond Diaz, Safety Manager at Shell Gas Lanka.

Domestic cylinders have a valve which automatically releases excess gas if the pressure inside gets too high due to a rise in outside temperature. But this safety feature is designed to operates when the cylinder is in an upright position, and not sideways, as it is in a car.

"Small quantities of the liquefied gas can give rise to large volumes of vapor and thus leakage could cause considerable hazards," says Shell. "There are special tanks that are designed and tested for the safe use of LP gas in automobiles.

"It is very dangerous to have vehicles on the road using domestic gas cylinders. If even one blows up, many people will be injured," warned ASP Ananda Bandara, of the City Traffic Headquarters. "If we catch any vehicle with such a cylinder, we will prosecute."

But there have not been any such cases so far, he admitted.

The law is ambiguous about the use of domestic cylinders in vehicles.

"All gas powered vehicles are technically illegal, since only diesel and petrol can legally be used to power a land vehicle," said G. Hewagama, Secretary of the Ministry of Transport. "The law doesn't discriminate between the type of gas tank."

This is due to a peculiarity in the law. The Ministry has actually licensed companies to convert vehicles to gas using proper tanks. But the ban on using anything but petrol and diesel automatically makes nonsense of this license.

New laws are being drawn up to legalize gas use in vehicles with proper tanks, but they have been several years in writing.

Insurance companies are going by the practicality of things, recognizing that gas cars exist in large numbers and are a significant part of the motor insurance business, while at the same time steering clear of domestic cylinders.

"We only insure gas driven cars if they are converted by companies which are approved by the RMV Commissioner," said Niranjan Manikke, Technical Manager of CTC Eagle Insurance Co. Ltd.

So far, there have not been any incidents where gas driven cars have caused dangerous accidents and leakages. But CTC Eagle would soon take up the matter with a technical committee of all insurance companies.

The General Manager of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation echoed his colleague's policy.

More and more petrol vehicle owners are turning to LP gas to power their vehicles, as the soaring cost of living bites all around.

But converting to gas is expensive. The well established gas conversion companies all charge 45,000 rupees to convert a car, expensive for most people.

This has spawned a huge business in converting domestic gas cylinders into vehicle tanks. The companies doing the conversion get more profits by converting with domestic cylinders, too, since the cost of parts is negligible as there is no tank to install.

No-one knows how many vehicles are out there already, using cylinders meant for the kitchen, and threatening other motorists' lives. But it's only a matter of time before we see dangerous results, if not deadly ones.

Book Review
'Journey to the source of the nile'
By Christopher ondaatje
Publishers: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.
Hard Cover, 384 pages - illustrated - $ 39.95

Review by: Kirthie Abeyesekera
This book, recently launched in Toronto (Sunday Island, Feb.-l', is not just another book. It is a 'Golden Treasury' embellished with Ondaatje's own dramatic photographs - some 130 of them which tell their own story. Within its pages is a wealth of geography, history, archaeology and politics. The author also brings out forcefully, the human element in the multitudinous tribes that inhabit the vast regions of Africa. There's also an abundance of wild life - another of Ondaatje's pastimes.

This is an armchair treat of traveller's tales told by a man gifted with the ability to take the reader along with him.

Christopher Ondaatje, I venture to say, had missed his vocation when the best years of his life were spent in making his millions. He is an enchanting story-teller whose love of adventure eventually compelled him to abandon his 'finance' career about a decade ago and take to the road.

'The Man Eater of Punanai' took him to the jungles of his Homeland. Now, he literally, follows in the footsteps of the early Victorian explorers searching the source of the Nile - the world's longest river. Here, in this exhaustingly researched book Ondaatje gives further insights to the lives of his European predecessors of the 19th century - Richard Burton, John Speke, James Grant, Samuel Baker, David Livingstone and Morton Stanley. "These were the pioneer explorers whose footsteps I had chosen to walk," he writes. He says that in leaving their homes to explore a world as different from their own as Africa, "they escaped the rules and constraints that weighed on them so heavily " Indeed, it might be said that Ondaatje himself, was escaping from the ivory tower of his financial empire to take a look at the real world. And, what better place than the depths of dark Africa. 'The Toronto Star' Editor Emeritus, Haroon Siddiqui says, "Ondaatje and Burton are kindred spirits - restless, inquisitive and adventurous. In his own time, Ondaatje has been a great adventurer and conqueror."

Ondaatje says his "modest goal" was to recreate the journey Burton, Speke and the other explorers made. He does this in his inimitable style. This 'modern explorer' takes us to Zanzibar, the Spice Island, better known as a slave-trading centre where Christian missionaries have built cathedrals on the sites of former slave markets.

Ondaatje stands near a tree under which Livingstone, the missionary, preached - the very tree to which slaves were chained and whipped. Livingstone is said to have "thrown himself into African life and fought against slavery. Ondaatje also visited the Livingstone Memorial in Ujiji. In his research, Ondaatje found that more than a river had been born in the 'geological cradle of the Nile.' So, he vowed to explore this idea too.

"In a way perhaps, I felt that understanding the difficult puzzle of the Nile's source might also give me some insight into a far more challenging riddle: the turbulent, complex, paradoxical enigma of Africa itself."

So, off he goes along with his Tanzanian travelling companions, Thad Peterson, Joshua Mbewe and Senyseli Pollangyo. The two Land Rovers take them through towns and villages with such exotic names as 'Ulaya' - meaning Europe and 'kazi-kazi' (work-work). The man who has mansions in Toronto, Bermuda, Halifax and London, now, on his African Safari, sleeps in a tent at night, pestered by mosquitoes and tsetse flies. The once corporate big-wig, accustomed to being waited upon at Toronto's Royal York hotel or Colombo's Galle Face Hotel, now survives on 'Ugali,' a type of lumpy, bread, "that could be eaten with almost anything," washed down with 'Waragi,' a strong beer made from bananas. He bathes naked outside, beside the waters of the Nile.

"I did not want to miss the essence of what I was seeking to understand - the sights, scents and sounds and even the tastes of the explorer's life on the trail."

Ondaatje reproduces diary extracts from Burton and others, and claims that his own disoveries crossed the lines of the early Victorian explorers. He speaks of Samuel Baker, the 'archetypal Victorian explorer who rescued a beautiful Hungarian woman from slavery, and made her his second wife. Baker, a famed sportsman had visited Ceylon in 1848, lived there for some time and is credited to have founded the town of Nuwara Eliya.

In Zanzibar, Ondaatje visited the palace of Sultan Bargash (1870-1888), who had 99 wives and three swimming pools. "From his balcony, he picked his three beauties for the day's pleasure."

At Kigoma, a woman was selling 'dawa ya kiume' - "a medicine (aphrodisiac) for maleness." He visited Idi Amin's Uganda which Winston Churchill called 'the Pearl of Africa.' Forty tribes are still in existence. Travelling through rebel territory in Ntandi, Ondaatje, stood beside a pygmy who was up to the six-footer's waist. The author says that "For me at least, the knowledge that comes from books is not to be scorned, but the knowledge that comes from experience is more solidly satisfying." He classifies his Africa journey into two parts: (1) the exploratory journey in which he was trying to replicate parts of the trips of the Victorian explorers; (2) a sort of journey of summation.

Ondaatje sees Africa as "the cradle of the human race." He says Africa was not discovered by Europeans. "It created them." He dispels the Burton and Speke theory that Lake Victoria is the source of the Nile. He asserts that the two of them had also disagreed about Lake Tanganyika being a source of the great river. Speke had said yes, Burton, no.

Of course, Ondaatje's journey in modern times, was far easier than that of the early explorers. For instance, Burton and Speke, in 1858, took seven and a half months to travel from Zungomero to Lake Tanganyika. Ondaatje 'telescoped' it into eight days. And, he had all the modern facilities.

The author evaluates the observations and conclusions of the early explorers in the light of modern scientific knowledge. Discussing the book which is rapidly gaining international fame, Ondaatje told me that "the reasons for the success of the book are speculative. But there is some thought that the subject - the Nile - and the treacherous adventure, combine to make a Rider Haggard story, very much in the vogue of King Solomon's Mines." Ondaatje says he pursued Baker's dreams (of the Nile), of drinking at the mysterious fountain - at that great reservoir of Nature, that ever since Creation, had baffled all discovery."

Ondaatje's African saga has come to an end. He gazes at Kilimanjaro, 5,895 metres tall- Africa's highest mountain. He is on his way out of Africa - first, to Amsterdam and then, home to England. He gives his travelling companion, Joshua, the last words.

"This has been the longest journey in my life," an emotional Joshua tells Ondaatje on the drive to the Kilimanjaro airport. They had made many discoveries. "But we found much more. We found ourselves. We are stronger and have more understanding - of the world, of the people - of you and me..."

"You know, Christo, we are all children of God. The rains come, the rivers start, the lakes form and bigger rivers flow - like the Nile. Like the lakes. Like the clouds. And the world goes on. You know, the source of the Nile, Christo? Up there, in the Heavens. God knows. That is the true source."

REVIEWER'S SPECULATION: The Victorian explorers of the Nile, Richard Burton and Samuel Baker were both Knighted. Are we seeing the emergence of a 'Sir Christopher Ondaatje?'

A vision for an integrated development of the built environment for the 21st century-Sri Lanka

by Elmore M. Perera,
BSc. (Cey); Dip PMD (U.Conn); TREND (U. Conn), F.C.M.A. (UK),

Continued from Last week

23. Sometimes the Human Development Index is misunderstood and/or misinterpreted deliberately or otherwise, to mean that there should be expenditure on health, education, social welfare, even at the expense of economic growth. However, it must be emphasized that economic growth and the generation of wealth are essential to pay for education, health and everything else in Society. As such the Human Development Index simply broadens the definition of development from a rather narrow definition of per capita. GNP to encompass a much wider definition of what we mean. It also tells us that at a given level of per capita GNP, it is possible to improve the level of development and demonstrates very clearly that some countries with a high per capita income have a low human development, whereas some countries with a relatively low per capita GNP have a relatively high level of human development. This does tell us that development is not purely the promotion of economic growth. It also tells how the wealth of the country is spent to better the lives and the opportunities of the people in a country and this is a very important refinement to the definition.

24. There is yet another refinement, pointedly referred to in the "Goal for the Vision" which we have to bear in mind and that is the concept of "Sustainable Development". It has been defined as "Development today which does not compromise the development of future generations". It has also been aptly summarised in an African proverb which says that "We are not giving the world to our children and our grand children, we have merely borrowed it from them". To be sustainable, the level of development must not be in conflict with the survival of the planet. It is submitted that environmental issues are necessarily a constraint but we must not lose sight of the fact that perhaps the greatest source of environmental degradation is, in fact, poverty itself.

25. There is a necessary third refinement to the concept of development that is taking place and that is the political dimension referred to as the Human Freedom Index. Some measurement of basic freedom in the world not limited to life expectancy, education and wealth, but also extending to basic political freedoms, are important to development. Human freedoms are highly subjective and are very difficult to quantify and compare, but undoubtedly plays a very important role in development and there is clearly an interplay between fundamental human rights of very many different varieties. However, the process of political decision-making, the right of people to change their Government, the right of people to maintain basic individual liberties are difficult to measure even though they are admittedly a very important component any definition of development.

26. Economists have traditionally measured the level of "Economic development" in terms of per capita Gross National Product or Gross Domestic Product as representative of the ability to create and to continue to create wealth. Serious doubts have been cast upon the validity of this yardstick. Many countries have had rapid growth rates of per capita GNP while unemployment and the level of poverty of the mass of the population have remained unchanged or even increased. Have Economists misconceived the challenges of the last quarter of the 20th century? In our search for "Development Strategies" are we missing the "real problem" viz. THE EVERYDAY BATTLES ORDINARY PEOPLE FIGHT, "JUST TO EXIST".

Fact: It is universally accepted that "Some minimum level of food, clothing, shelter and recreation is necessary before a person can be free to be HUMAN.

Strategy: Economic Growth (measured in terms of per capita GNP) approach to Economic Development.

Result: No decrease, but rather an increase, in poverty in the under developed world. A thin layer (getting progressively thinner) has prospered while the vast majority of the population sinks even deeper into the backwater of under development. The failure of the economic growth approach was almost universally accepted.

The challenge therefore is NOT "to achieve high growth rates of per capita GNP" BUT "to reduce Poverty, Unemployment and Inequality".

27. In any society the total annual production of goods and services could be divided into 2 parts as follows:

(1) The necessary subsistence of the population, and

(2) A (social) surplus that may be consumed or saved in the form of additions to the country's stock of capital.

28. There are 3 factors which affect the difference between the "potential" and "actual" social surplus referred to above.

(1) Part of the potential surplus is used to support the excess consumption of the upper income groups in the society.

(2) Development conducive output is lost to society because there are many unproductive workers in society, and

(3) Output is lost due to irrationality and wastefulness of the prevailing economic and social organisation.

29. Alternative strategies for achieving these objectives are:

(1) High growth/ trickle down, and

(2) Three variants of redistribution - radical,, - incremental, - redistribution with growth.

30. Can we afford to adopt the meaning of "development" given by the rich countries? Will we ever have sufficient capital to pursue and sustain that type of development?

Is it necessary to reallocate more of our resources from serving the rich to aiding the poor?

Are the existing and proposed strategies for development of skills and infrastructure consistent with our concept of Socio Economic Development?

It is conceivable that those in authority will voluntarily give up their vested interests in the status quo to promote socio-economic development?

Is it correct to say that development worthy of humans will come about only when the mass of people recognize their oppression and consciously act to change it? That is, a revolution in ideas and values must accompany a transformation of structures.

TOWARDS REALISATION OF THE VISION

31. "Much of the suffering endured by humanity during successive epochs of history has been the result not of evil or wickedness but of bigotry. The world has never been lacking in persons who were unshakably convinced not only that they were right, but that no point of view opposed to their own was worth a moment's consideration". Prof. G. L. Peiris Sunday Observer, 21st November 1993.

32. Donor interests and National Priorities are, more often than we would like, at cross-purposes. H. E. President Kumaratunga herself has recently called for reforms to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund saying the two 50-year old institutions were proving "less and less effective" in responding satisfactorily to modern economic challenges. Without being insensitive to donor interests, it is necessary for all of us here to be strictly "professional" in our assessment of National Priorities. (The term 'professional' as here used is 'one who is committed to standards of integrity and performance that cannot be altered to suit their paymaster's interests or the benefits they are likely to reap by so doing").

33. Socio-economic development, sustainable development, sustainable human development or whatever one may call it, needs to be "integrated development" which is an intricate process quite difficult to measure. It is highly interdependent, it has many facets and one whould guard against any over simplification which would invariably result in lop-sided development. It is still true that wealth in the world is incredibly unequally distributed. That the top 20% of the world benefit from or consume about 85% of the world's total income whereas the bottom 20% consume only about 1.1% of the world's total income. Address the Organisation of Professional Associations in late 1995, Prof. G. L. Peiris observed that the expenditure incurred on one roundabout in Colombo was more than the cost of a whole network of roads in a village.

34. Most development projects purport to be Integrated development Projects, but sadly, the so-called Integration is usually restricted to the title of the Project. No serious attempt is made to consider and plan for the necessarily connected aspects of the proposed development perhaps because the funding agency is only interested in one particular aspect of development. For instance, it is a common sight to see the same road being repeatedly dug up and rehabilitated for the purpose of drainage lines, water supply lines, power lines and telephone lines, at different times. Planning is disjointed and lacks vision.

35. It is in this particular aspect that the "Vision for Integrated Development of the Built Environment" stands out. It has not restricted itself to the area of buildings and it has been sensitive to and has incorporated the consideration of all other aspects related to integrated development of the country as a whole. This has been the outcome of extensive investigations and discussions with those directly affected and concerned, at the grass-roots itself.

36. Most of us here owe the expertise that we have to the free education policy introduced soon after Independence. Without fear of contradiction it could be stated that Sri Lanka is today blessed with expertise of the highest calibre in all relevant disciplines and fields. Out professionals are much sought after and have distinguished themselves in many foreign countries. However, it is tragic that here in Sri Lanka, the bureaucratic view, freely expressed by them and successfully impressed on their political masters, is that "technocrafts must be on tap and not on top" and if any project is to succeed, there must necessarily be at all levels foreign "experts", who are paid 10 to 50 times as much as the local experts. With rare exceptions, these foreigners are ignorant of and insensitive to local conditions, needs and aspirations. What they know best are "Hotels, good restaurants and clubs, airline schedules and the expiration date of their contracts". "They sit in their large air-conditioned houses waiting for their next duty-free liquor shipment". The tragedy is that local expertise, straining at the leash to give back to their beloved country what they readily acknowledge they owe it, are kept in cold storage with the "tap" securely locked whilst admitting a free flow of servile, malleable and self-seeking second-rate "experts". Large numbers of distinguished professionals have been compelled reluctantly, to seek job satisfaction overseas.

37. A further disastrous consequence of "tied aid" and of the free use of foreign "experts" is the virtual discounting of the invaluable capabilities of age-old institutions like the Survey Department, the Irrigation Department, the Agriculture Department, the State Development and Construction Corporation, the State Enginering Corporation and the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau, the denial of the opportunities for Professional development of our local experts and invaluable experience in construction activities, and the use of inappropriate technology at disproportionately high costs.

38. Unlike Singapore, Sri Lanka is blessed with a multitude of natural resources and for any meaningful planning all available and relevant information re; such resources must first be collected and collated. Apart from the resource maps already prepared in Sri Lanka, all of this information is available in and can be extracted from aerial photographs and Satellite Imagery, and filed verification by officers in the Survey department and other relevant agencies. Most of this information has already been documented in report form and/or in maps/plans. In the words of Confucius "One picture is worth a thousand words" and invariably all planning worthy of the name is based on maps/plans accurately compiled and prepared by the Survey Department and other agencies and individuals.

39. An examination of the relevant maps, plans, aerial photographs or satellite imagery can sometimes suggest an alternative which had not been envisaged prior to such examination as happened for instance in the case of the selection of the site for the present Parliament.

40. The importance of maps and plans in the planning process is the fact that it facilitates planning from the whole to the part. A serious flaw in many instances of planning is that planning is done on an ad hoc basis and is invariably based solely on the conditions prevailing in specified limited areas and makes no allowance for future plans in respect of adjacent areas. The development of parts of the whole or Regions of the country for instance, must be in conformity with an overall plan for the whole of the country.

41. With "devolution" imminent, any planning on an all-island basis must necessarily be restricted to an overall plan with guidelines to be followed by each region in the planning of development within the Region.

42. There is still no agreement or decision as to the "Regional Divisions" that are contemplated. It is submitted that in these circumstances, it is incumbent on us to submit suitable proposals for the demarcation of appropriate Regions.

43. In any division of the land to form regions, prime consideration has to be given to the resource of water. The sharing of the waters of some of India's major rivers has been the cause of serious disputes in respect to the riparian rights of states, internationally as well as within India. For some time after partition distribution of the waters of the Indus river basin ranked as one of the great issues dividing Pakistan and India until the Indus waters treaty was signed in 1960 declaring the common interest of India and Pakistan in the optimum development of the rivers in the Indus basin.

44. The waters of the Ganges has long been disputed between India and Bangladesh as well as between India and Nepal. Agreements between India and her neighbours have been signed to share equitably the waters of the Ganges.

45. The Cauvery river, also known as the Ganges of the South, rises in the hills of Karnataka and flows 500 miles mainly through the States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to the Bay of Bengal. Karunataka and Tamil Nadu have been the main disputants for many years in sharing water flowing through the Cauvery. In June 1991 the Water Disputes Tribunal directed Karnataka to ensure that a specified quantity of water was made available to Tamil Nadu's Reservoir. The monthly and weekly amounts to be so diverted were specified in the order. Successive governments at the center did not implement the scheme. In 1998 the Supreme Court acting under the Interstate Water Disputes Act, ordered the Central Government to notify the implementation of the scheme. The hurriedly revised scheme is now being supported by Karunanidhi and opposed by Jayalalitha of Tamil Nadu to achieve their own personal ends, even posing a serious threat to the very survival of the BJP-led Coalition Government.

46. In Sri Lanka from ancient times, man has traditionally respected natural boundaries. In the Arid, Dry and Intermediate Climatic Zones, it is not only land but mainly water controlled by the Principle of Riparian rights, that determines its development. In the Agricultural areas water plays a key role and any conflict in the sharing of is resource would lead to hostilities as in the Nations and States above mentioned. For this reason, the regions must necessarily be determined in such a manner that disputes re use of water are pre-empted.

47. The Organisation of Professional associations in 1991 organised a seminar on Development Oriented Administrative Boundaries and proposed that the major criterion for Divisions should be the watersheds of rivers. The management of forests in its catchment determines the water resources available in the river and they are mutually dependent. This demarcation is devoid of ethnic, religious or political considerations.

48. The above proposals incorporated in the proposals for Devolution submitted by the OPA in 1996 are shown in annexed map and schedule below as follows:

50. The areas within Ruhunu Rata and Yalpanam can be de-linked from the administration of the Mahaweli Authority without any adverse consequences for the reason that there is no connection between the water in the Mahaveli basin and those regions. However, the position in respect of Rajarata is different in that there is something akin to a prescriptive right that portions of the Rajarata Region have acquired by virtue of water being made available to such areas from the excess water in Mahaveli basin. However, the riparian rights of those in the Mahaveli basin must necessarily take precedence over those of the inhabitants of the Raja Rata Region. It will be necessary however to agree on an objective, rational and verifiable basis on which water should be made available to the Raja Rata Region as the release of such waters cannot be left to the pleasure of the Mahaveli Region.

51. The politicians would do well to take cognisance of the tremendous gains to be had from creating five regions based on the watersheds of the island's main rivers. The five-region concept consistently urged by the Organisation of Professional Associations is not just the only way out of the present conflict, but also the only way to ensure that there wont be even more brutal wars in future over the sharing of the country's water resources.

52. It is not difficult to imagine what would happen if political power is devolved to Provincial Councils and the major water resources, viz, The Mahaveli, Walawe and Gal Oya, are carved up into several regions instead of being included wholly within specific regions and administered as single units. There is nothing to prevent one regional authority in control of the upper reaches of a river from denying the agreed measure of water to the adjacent region into which the river flows. It would be foolhardy to think that water disputes between provinces will not lead to civil war. Worse still, the break up of the country in such manner will trigger an unending war.

53. Noteworthy are the benefits that would flow from a much larger region of Yalpanam, which will include the Wanni territory and all the rivers that flow into it. This is all the more significant, because the Jaffna peninsula has no rivers at all, and is totally dependent on ground water. If Yalpanam becomes a reality, some of the waters from the Wanni could be diverted to the peninsula to convert the brackish Jaffna lagoon into a fresh water lake, with all the benefits such a change would bring.

54. World wide, the sharing of waters flowing through several countries has been a major cause of conflict. Far from easing, these conflicts are due to increase and worsen in the new millennium. In the Asian Region, countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have, for decades, endeavoured to resolve their water disputes without resorting to war. Meanwhile, two Indian States, i.e., Karantaka and Tamil Nadu, have always had their differences over the sharing of the water of the Cauveri as mentioned above. In Sri Lanka, an acute water shortage by the year 2003 has been forecast.

55. There is still time - a mere breathing space, in fact - for Sri Lanka to heed the advice of the professionals and dismantle the existing provincial boundaries which are certain to bring disaster if the proposed devolution of power goes ahead on the basis of the said boundaries. 'One country, One people" is truer than we generally realise. Nature and environment, history and culture, bind all Sri Lankans together. If we scratch below the surface, this truth will be evident.

56. The proposals in the Colombo Metropolitan Regional Structure Plan have been made to accommodate and cater to an increase of population in the CMRS area from 4.6 million to 6.5 million as a result of projected rural-urban migration. However, in the "Vision" we are discussing "How to keep agriculture being viable and the people on the land so that they all stop trying to come into the towns and cities is dealt with very sensitively". This will need government to make sure there is enough employment that is viable for these people in the rural areas, by integrated development of service facilities such as Road & Rail transport, Health, Education, Agro Industries, marketing etc.

57. In conclusion, I reiterate the view of the Secretary General of the International Union of Architects that "It is clear that this is no ordinary report. The word "Vision" incorporated into its title says it all. All except one thing. That it is the product of a labour of love for one's country - a country with a glorious past, a country endowed with riches, a country forging for itself a new future" and submit that it would be essential to set up multi-disciplinary teams of professionals who are relevant subject matter specialists.

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