Where Are Those Tamils?

I’m disturbed by Tamils. No. I’m not disturbed by everybody. If you are a Tamil gentlemen live in Canada or somewhere else in the world, who subscribed to “One cyanide capsule per a child” program runs by LTTE, them I’m not mad at you. If you are a hip-hop star who has not visited Sri Lanka since puberty, but talk about Sri Lanka like you know everything, then you cool. I’m not mad at you either. If you shamelessly steal credit card at the pump for LTTE, you are smart. I have no reason to mad at you since you have not stolen my credit card yet. If you are in a hunger strike to force the government to stop the offensive in north, I’m not mad at you at all. God bless you all.

But if you are not any of the above, but a proud Sri Lankan Tamil, then I am extremely mad at you. Why is that you asked? Because you people honestly don’t care about your own people. You live in relative safety in south, complain (rightfully) about all the difficulties you have to go through in south, but you don’t have empathy for the thousands of innocent Tamils LTTE caging inside the war zone, for their own benefits. You didn’t bother to open up your mouth and say, “let my people go”. Or at least write a single blog about it. Just a one blog. At least a comment. No. Nothing. You don’t care.

The only Tamil person who care to say something about that is Mr. Ananda Sangari, that I start to admire more and more every day. But other than that, I hear no voice at all, like when LTTE do things to Tamil people; it does not hurt them for some strange reason I’m not capable of understanding. I see, I hear so many Sinhalese passionately talk, argue, blog about misconduct of the government or injustice happened to Tamil people. Worry about collateral damage. But haven’t seen any Tamil person say anything remotely opposed to the conduct LTTE deliberately putting Tamil people in harm’s way and using them as human a shield.

Sometimes this not so pleasant behavior of moderate Tamils makes me thinks, I may be wrong. May be all Tamils are terrorists. May be they all single mindedly support and sacrifice for LTTE. That is why they never ever say anything against LTTE, no matter whatever they do to Tamil people. Because they all assist LTTE. But, I want to be wrong.

Journalist Murder Mystery & Stabbing Upali Thennakoon

They said it is Sirasa who attacked themselves. Well, it sounds sort of like a lie I used to tell my mother when I was a kid, after breaking stuff she specifically warned me not to touch. “It is not me. A cat walks in, broke the sugar jar, eat two chocolates, and run a way”. But then again, it can be true too. May be it was a cat. Maybe it was Sirasa who destroyed their own premises. Well, if that is the case, I can’t blame them either. Have you seen some of their programs? Sometime even I entertain thoughts of destroying my own television box, when I see some of their programs. But I always have my remote-control next to me and with a press of a button I can turn it off and go read a book.

Then I heard the news, they kill Lasantha. And I was upset. Not that I read anything he wrote. Because he was part of the surrounding I grow up in. I think, I felt just the same way we all suppose to feel when someone we know got shot on the head on the way to work, Thursday morning. Upset. Tell you the truth; I didn’t know how I’m supposed to feel like in such an occasion. But now I do. We don’t know who did it. Governing party say it is the patriots, and the opposition say is the government. Patriots say it is the opposition. I don’t know who to believe, because it is not their job to investigate such activity in the first place, it belongs to the noble institute call Police. I assume our Police busy these days with other important activity like cleaning up moonshiners or catching cat-burglars, and as soon as they succeeded in that, they will look in to this matter with most interest. Till then we have to wait.

But meanwhile they went on stabbing, another journalist, Upali Thennakoon, on his face. Now I can’t really think who did it or why they did that sort of terrible thing. Mr. Thennakoon is a deferent journalist than Lasantha. I think. He even don’t have wikipedia page. He was the Divaina Editor, if I remember correctly; he helps this government quite a lot. And Rivira is not a controversial newspaper like Lasantha’s newspaper either. That is fairly decent newspaper and he is a decent journalist. May be it is a conspiracy to make the government look bad as they say, so they stab an unbiased journalist too. But that’s the same thing government said when it was Lasantha, a critic of this government too. Now I’m confused. Don’t you?

Since we are playing the conspiracy game, I’m at liberty to make my own conclusions. So, maybe it was the government who killed Lasantha, and then stabs Upali too, just to make it looks like it is someone else. I have seen that sort of storied in detective dramas. Or maybe it is the LTTE, freely roaming around our capital city, stabbing and killing people as they wish, while we are busy north part of the country looking for them. Or maybe it is the UNP, because they have nothing else to do these days.

No matter who is doing this, this need to be stopped. This is not helping anyone. If it is a conspiracy as government says, they have full responsibility to produce conspirators front of a Jury. But I don’t have much hope about that. So like we always do when we are in trouble, we look above and beg for help, from Europe. So I strongly suggest all the remaining journalists, pursuit your happiness elsewhere, apply for political asylum you are rightfully deserve. Don’t try to be noble like Upali Thennakoon and stay in this country, a scar on your face or a big parade to your funeral not worth it.
So friends, Run.

You might be a Sri Lankan

Here VIC wrote a very good post about Sri Lankan identity. If you have not already done so, I strongly suggest you to read that and join the spirited debate going on there. Why should I read that, you asked? Because that is a very interesting investigation to elect Sri Lankan identity, if you are interested in that sort of things. But I felt VIC had left out most important pointes, in the process of writing a sober post. Therefore here I intended no to be sober and write as much as pointes he missed out. If I miss anything too, I hope you will write it down in the comment section for the future generations.

- Have you ever entertain the thought of dating your cousin-sister? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you have list of things you would like to do, “if you are the president”, Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you had Hoppers for breakfast, Dosa for lunch and Chinese for diner? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you discuses Buddhism (or any other relevant philosophical topic) while you are getting drunk? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you urinate by the main road side, along side of your friends who doing the same? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you stopped your vehicle and check out what other group of people looking at by site of the road? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you accused fellow driver who just passed you, engage in sexual relationship with his mother? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you hate Sri Lankan Police, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you ever ridden a bus without paying? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you ridden the train, on the footboard? Then you are a Sri Lanka.

- Is one of your neighbors, a asshole? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you think only Sri Lankan offer seat to pregnant woman and elderly, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Has one of your relatives disrespect you vigorously? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you lied on your child’s school admission? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you bribed a cop with more than the ticket cost? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you dine in a restaurant, while vigorously chasing out flies with one hand? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you strike a homeless dog? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you engaged in a celebration for a first menstrual cycle of a young lady? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you got beaten up constantly when you were a child? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you hate one or more TV channels, but still remembers prime time schedule by hard, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you a female-fashion critic, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you enjoy the smell of Maldive Fish, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Are you always late? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have your mother ever publish an advertisement in Sunday paper looking for a doctor or a lawyer from Australia or Canada to be your life partner? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- Have you called a girl, a prostitute, because she had more than 2 boyfriends at deferent occasions in her life span? Then you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you think rich people are evil, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you born in a government hospital, educated in government institutes and engage in government job, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you wear bathroom slippers outside, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you refuse to wear a Sarong outside, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you don’t know the Sinhala or Tamil word for “Litter”, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you use the horn more than the break paddle, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you could not stop yourself wanting to take a public bath in any tank or a lake you pass by, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- And when you do so, If you bath wearing all your cloth on, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you accuse someone who not necessarily agreeing with you, suffers from erectile dysfunction, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you note down grammar and spelling errors, while you reading an English post, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you call anyone well dress, an uncle or an aunty, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you learn about sex at your wedding night, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you happy because number of LTTE carders killed in action higher than number of soldiers killed in action (or vise-versa), you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If your full name does not fit in airport embark form, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you have to prove the reason prior to visit any country in the world, (except Singapore), you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you have to light crackers to express your joy, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you force your visitors to eat biscuits and drink tea, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If you can find a distance relationship to any stranger you met outside your home town, you might be a Sri Lankan.

- If your racial differences starts after you cross the shore, you might be a Sri Lankan.

Please. Mr. President.

Our president gloriously said today “Buddhists can soon visit Solosmasthana without fear”. It is wonderful. Fear is always a bad thing, if not the worst. It is always a fearful thing to drive in Kandy road or any other road, to Solosmasthana or to grandmother’s house, Monday or Sunday. I’m delighted to hear; soon I can drive toward any direction of the country without been scared of a TATA bus run me over at the next junction or a VIP convoy pass me by at the speed of light without considering whatever happen to me or to the old lady across the road holding her three year old grandson. But most of all, most of us like to call Sri Lanka a "Buddhist country" and it is wonderful now not only my grandmother, but all the Buddhists around the world, and beyond, able visit those places without fear and enjoy a cold glass of “pol-pala”, we sell front of those religious places. It can refresh you any time of the day.

Since we are at it, Mr. President, could I kindly request you to be kind enough to grant visa to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to visit Solosmasthana too. It must be awfully bad feeling for him to be rejected again and again, all these years, by so call a Buddhist country, for him to visit temple of tooth. As far as I know, he have the all the three mandatory requirements to visit the temple. He doesn’t have headwear on. No footwear on and his legs are all covered. And if it not, still we can provide him a sarong, just like how we do with all the fat old retired white people and those Japanese tourists in shorts. So why Sri Lankan Buddhists keep on rejecting him visa to visit Temple of Tooth? Not to talk politics or anything that sort. Just for him to visit Temple of tooth, have lunch at Awanhala if he like and take a photo front of the baby elephant and go back to his place. Mr. President, You end the war. You brought peace. So let one of the most peaceful men in the world visit Solosmasthana too. Please.

මෙන්න මගෙනුත් බ්රේකින් නිව්ස්! ඔය ගොල්ලොත් බ්රේකින් නිව්ස් ලිව්වැයී?

මේ දවස් වල බ්රරෙකින් නිව්ස් කියාපු නැති ගොයීයලාට අම්බානට කන්න හම්බු වෙනවා නොවැ. මනුස්සයෝ උන්හම අනිත් අයට වුනු අතුරු අන්තරා දැකල පාඩමක් ඉගන ගන්න ඕනෙනේ. ඒ නිසා ඕන් මමත් බ්රේකින් නිව්ස් එකක් ලීවා. අනේ හත්තලාමේ ඔන් ඔය කවුරු කවුරුත් මට අඩත්තේට්ටම් කොරනවා එහෙම නොවෙයී.

මෙන්න බ්රෙරේකින් නිව්ස් !!!
සිරි ලංකා හමුදාව ඔන්න බෝලේ අලිමන්කඩ අල්ලාගෙන. ඒ නමය පාර සම්පූර්නයෙන්ම හමුදාව සතුයී.

දේශද්රෝහී නොවෙන හැමොටම බ්රෙකින් නිව්ස් එකක් ලියන්නයැයී කියලා මම මේ කියන්නේ. එහෙම ලියපු නැති බ්ලොග් කාරයෝ ඔක්කොම දේශාදෝහීයී කියලා අම්බානට පලු පැලෙන්න හම්බු උනදාට ඕන් අඩාගෙන අපේ ලගට එහෙම එනවා නෙවෙයී.

ඕන් එහෙනම් ඕය ගොල්ලන්ගේ බ්රෙකින් නිව්ස් කියවන්න අපි සිහලේ ගැන කැක්කුම්ත් තියෙන හැමොම බොහොම ආසාවෙන් බලාගෙන ඉන්නවා.

Anagarika Dharmapala - A Kalu-Suddha.

Kalu-Suddha is a common term in Sri Lanka which has the same meaning of Twinkie or Banana in Chinese culture, yellow outside and white inside, or Oreo in the hood, black outside and white inside. And it has the contrary meaning to "Marmite Sandwich" in urban language - White outside and black inside. Direct translation of Kalu-Suddha would be "black-Caucasian". An insult to any none-Caucasian fan of Caucasian society or Caucasian ideology. And Anagarika Dharmapala used that word a lot.

Anagarika Dharmapala is a great hero; I learned when I was kid. Or rather they forced me to learn that just like everything else. He was born in a time Sri Lanka was one of the richest countries in Asia and there were rich elite group of locals, who own ships and even received knighthoods. Dharmapala belong to that privileged few. There is nothing wrong with that. It gave him chance to complete his grand tour in Europe and in the New World, and finally joined with a American NGO, goes by the name of Theosophical Society.

Theosophical Society is a racist organization that believed in root race call Aryans which originated from a place call Atlantis. They intentionally or unintentionally presented philosophical support to Nazi party and work toward to achieve supremacy of Aryan society.

King Asoka the great builds his empire using Buddhism. He didn’t control his empire with weapons or by law. Buddhism was his tool. He was so successful in what he did, his system control us Sri Lankans to this day and other so call "Buddhist countries" in Asia too. Buddhism never meant to have a leader or controlled by one. So no one had to take his place to continue what he started. That is the brilliance of it. But there were one weakness, just like everything else in the world. Regardless Buddhism never meant to have a controller, if someone take control of it, one way or another, that person can take control of the functioning empire Ashoka left. May be he knew it. Maybe that is why he makes sure his children will not take his place afterword him. It works, until Theosophical Society comes in, from America, and takes control of Buddhism.

It was a time white politicians rule our countries and white solders marched our roads. They did every thing possible to take control of every aspect our life. It was not that difficult for them to take control of Buddhism too. It never had a leader. All they had to do was, walk in, and take control. So they did. And they changed it as they wish. They injected all the western principles and values in to it, taught us what to do. And to this day, we call them Sinhalese Buddhist Values, and we are proud of it. Buddhism never had a flag or a logo, because it never meant to have that sort of things. But they created one anyway. I guess you have to have a flag if you rule something. While you at it, why wait, why not declares a new Buddha. Pope does it with his saints. So they did. They declared a Hindu lad as the new Buddha.

And that is how white man conquered king Ashoka’s empire. The same way he builds it in the first place. And Dharma-Pala (the Controller of Buddhism – which Buddhism never meant to have) did exactly his white master, who he worked as a translator, wanted him to do.

Sri Lankans were divided by castes, but we were never divided by racial grounds until British came up with their brilliant "divide and rule" policy, that creates problems every corner of the world to this day. Great people like Mahathma Gandhi understood the dangers of that and he did everything humanly possible to stop it. That old man walked on his barefoot, village to village preaching unity. Not just unity among deferent caste of Hindus, but unity among Hindus and Muslims and uncountable numbers of tribes in India. And he made been just an Indian a cool thing.

Dharmapala rode his automobile village to village playing his Phonograph, preaching Sinhalese to wake up and compete with other tribes. Until Phonograph, humans never heard of anything talks other than a living and breathing human. Talking machine was magic. In America, they charge a nickel to play this gimmick for a minute. And then there is this Anagarika Dharmapala playing the magic talking machine to villages for free. Doing exact thing what white rulers wanted him to do. Divide. And he was doing his part in a big plan. There were Tamil leaders doing exactly the samething as British wished them to do too. And Darmapala completed them. You need two sides to play ball.

This Sinhalese nationalist and Tamil nationalist (correctly, Sinhalese racist and Tamil racist) movement created by both elite Sinhalese and Tamil leaders, later on gave opportunity for Sinhalese nationalists to grab power. By people like Dharmapala creating race base movement, they silence deferent sort of uniting movement to grow in Sri Lanka. He made been a racist a cool thing. And he did that with American aid.

I don’t say Anagarika Dharmapala or his NGO no good at all. Indeed they did good things. Without them there won't be an YMBA, where we have annual shoe sales or strip malls. But he did so many things I wish he didn't. I wish if he was like Gandhi. But he was not a one.