The land of tears !!
I happened to read an article by Gnanavel(titled the same way) on the remains of war.Here are some excerpts…
The author goes to the refugee camp in Rameswaram and finds Rathinavel, a victim of the cruelest aspects of war.
He lived with his wife , and four children happily, in SriLanka. He had three daughters and a son,(whom he claims to have been blessed by
Lord Muruga of Kathirkamam.)And the child did look like his avatar , resembling how Lord Muruga was described , in beauty and intelligence.
His wife , on the middle of a lonely night was raped by the soldiers of the army. The next morning he could only see her dead , hanging herself.
He decided to leave the country and sold his house for a much cheaper price and using the money obtained , gets on board on a boat with his four children.They were nearing rameswaram , and before they could reach , the boat stuck and they were told to swim for life.
His three daughters didn’t know to swim , nor could he save them.He finally decided to save at least his son as his daughters told him they would go to their mother.He grabbed his son and swam for a long time , and realized the shore was far away. His son became unconscious , nor could he carry him and swim anymore.He had no other go than to leave his son , to save himself.When he left him and moved forward , he reached the shore in 5 minutes.
Then , he realized, he could have carried him along a little more and went back to water , searching for his lost son , in vain.The war has thus crushed the family of six into only one.Had he not lost his mental balance , he would have killed himself as well.
The author narrates Rathinavel’s story, and strongly puts forth the cruel faces of war. He says , “Soldiers who die become patriots, rebels who die become brave hearts, but the people ??”.War is always a crushing force , one which is trying to hoist the flag of victory over the innocent people’s dead remains.
It’s pathetic. It reminds me of the line I read in my Higher Secondary English book.
“War is the negation of truth & humanity” — The Discovery of India.
saikrishbe
December 16, 2008 at 11:46 am
True.. Read “Kanneer Desam ” by Gnanavel, he raises voice for such affected people.
krithikasubramanian
December 17, 2008 at 5:54 am
yet another human right abuse!!! People have to think that women are angels of heaven but not bundles of flesh..
I dont know how many rathinavel’s are there in sri lanka..and how many gnanavel’s are going to come up to write these stories
Annamalai
December 18, 2008 at 8:03 am
Yea, unlike the situation in India, terrorists are the least of Sri lanka’s worries. Most of the senior and mature members of the Sri lankan army are dead at the hands of the tigers, and their army now is a bunch of very young people forced to take up arms. Without education or people to control them, kids always go berserk. Its just sad what’s happening to the country.
sahasranaman
December 18, 2008 at 2:31 pm
http://www.keetru.com/vizhippunarvu/dec08/kamaraj.php
sivendran
December 27, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I thank you for your post.Eelam Tamils have been facing systematic genocide since1956 state sponsored pogrom.I hope article published in tamilnet.com is relevant to this matter. You can find more details in Kalasuvadu link which is given below this article.
Voices of 1983: Basil Fernando’s poem remembered
[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 July 2008, 10:18 GMT]
A poem, based on an eye-witness account of an event during 1983 pogrom captures the determination of a Tamil father at the time of his agonising death. The poem by Basil Fernando, a Sinhala lawyer, encapsulates the impelling spirit of the Tamil struggle of the post-pogrom years. Mr. Basil Fernando is at present the Executive Director of the Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission.
The poem is reproduced here with courtesies to the author:
Yet Another Incident in July 1983
Burying the dead
being an art well developed in our times
(our psycho-analysts have helped us much
to keep balanced minds–whatever
that may mean–) there is no reason really
for this matter to remain so vivid
as if some rare occurrence. I assure you
I am not sentimental, never having
had a ‘break down’ as they say.
I am as shy of my emotions
as you are. And I attend to my daily
tasks in a very matter of fact way.
Being prudent too, when a government says “Forget”
I act accordingly. My ability to forget
has never been doubted, never
having had any adverse comments.
On that score either. Yet I remember the way they stopped that car,
the mob. There were four
in that car, a girl, a boy
(between four and five it seemed) and their
parents–I guessed–the man and the woman.
It was in the same way they stopped other cars.
I did not notice any marked
Difference. A few questions
in gay mood, not to make a mistake
I suppose, then they proceeded to
action, by then routine. Pouring
petrol and all that stuff.
Then someone noticed something odd
as it were, opened the two left side
doors, took away the two children, crying and
resisting as they were moved away from their parents.
Children’s emotions have sometimes
to be ignored for their own good, the guy must have
thought. Someone practical
was quick, lighting a match
efficiently. An instant
fire followed, adding one more
to many around. Around
the fire they chattered
of some new adventure. A few
scattered. What the two inside
felt or thought was no matter.
Peace loving people were hurrying
towards homes as in a procession ….
Then suddenly the man inside
breaking open the door, was
out, his shirt already on
fire and hair too. Then bending,
took his two children. Not even
looking around as if executing a calculated
decision, he resolutely
re-entered the car.
Once inside, he closed the door
himself . . . I heard the noise
distinctly.
Still the ruined car
is there, by the road-side
with other such things. Maybe
the Municipality will remove it
one of these days to the Capital’s
garbage pit. The cleanliness of the Capital
receives Authority’s top priority.
The poem was initially published in New Ceylon Writing, Vol. 5
The poem mainly features in an article ” The Agony and the Ecstasy of a Pogrom, Southern Lanka, July 1983″ by Michael Roberts, a Sri Lankan sociologist in Australia. The article and the poem were translated into Tamil by R. Cheran, in the July 2008 issue of Kaalachchuvadu, a magazine published from Tamil Nadu, India.
External Links:
Kalachuvadu: E’n'niththu’ninthea eduththa padukolai (http://www.kalachuvadu.com/issue-103/page27.asp )
sivendran
December 28, 2008 at 9:12 am
சமீபத்தில் படித்தது
http://chinthani.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-post_13.html
Sateesh
September 19, 2009 at 10:37 am