Tiny Little Fractures

I’ve always hated those phone calls, the ones that jerk you out of consciousness at times when the world should be sleeping. Ever since I was nine, those calls for me have been bad news, harbingers of death and grief.

This Wednesday was no exception. And now I find myself in the last place I would have expected a month ago, 30,000 feet over Japan waiting for this never-ending flight to end in Hong Kong, after which another flight will take me back home. A home that is now bereft of the most influential person on my upbringing, the closest person I have ever had to a father. 

I don’t think the shock has sunk in yet, that what was a fairly standard hospital visit (at least in the last few years) suddenly, catastrophically turned into heart failure. I usually love that early morning drive from Katunayake to the house, the anticipation of seeing family, friends, fun. Now I’m dreading it, I’ve managed to hold myself together while everything around me went to pieces, managed to ensure the cousin’s needs were met with social security numbers, plane tickets, food, etc; managed to make sure all the loose ends at work were taken care off, all the action items listed, everything filed to ensure easy access so none of my projects gets derailed in the two weeks I am gone.

All that I’m waiting now for is the meltdown and that will come, when I see my arcchie, when I see the empty chair, don’t hear him complaining about my hairstyle, my clothes; I’ve been on the edge of sanity and the abyss awaits at the end of that drive. Thankfully the boys being around in LA and the hectic work schedule helped keep my mind off things. But that abyss was always an unguarded moment away. 

I and the whole family will miss him more than any words can express. He was the one we always turned to when we were wounded, hurt, for guidance. He and I had a rough relationship at first, understandable when you think the generational gap was so much larger than a normal father and son relationship. It did end with a healthy respect towards each other though and I learn’t to love him for what he did for me and not what he didn’t. As the people at work said if he had that much influence on me he must have truly been a good man. I have to agree, my good qualities are all because of him, my bad are my own.

I just hope I can live up to what he expected of me, what he did for me, for which I will be eternally grateful.

The posts ranged from hysterically blaming the government for the blasts to equally ridiculous postings that the country has reached a morality level of lunacy. To the people who seem to think the sky has fallen…well…it hasn’t. Yes these blasts are terribly but there is a context to these attacks. Either these people do not remember the late eighties and nineties or just weren’t in existence then. For fuck’s sakes we had an insurgency in the south, a terrorist group in the north and an invading army from India in the country and we are still in one piece. Sri Lanka has endured worse, much worse. And to those who say I say this while being comfortably out of the country…fuck you. Almost all my loved ones are still in Sri Lanka as is all my heart and most of my head. It is a matter of time until I come back for good and I would like to have a country to come back to.

As for blaming Mahinda, it seems a bit strange to me. Are those same people wiling to point fingers at Ranil about the bomb blast that happened in 2004? Or have they forgotten that already? I think Mahinda is an idiot; I am under no delusion about his and his cohorts’ inherent corruption. But Ranil is an equal idiot. They are all fucking idiots and have always been. To the people who blame Mahinda, please do explain your reasoning. The way I see it we don’t really have a choice but to fight this war. Granted it’s easy for me to say that when I don’t really have to fight it but I can have an opinion. 

No peace is possible with Prabhakaran. He is not simply the leader of the LTTE he is the poor delusional fools’ God, the Sun God. With him alive, you can negotiate until you are blue in the face, but all that will happen is you will die of asphyxiation.

Feel free to blame Mahinda for the rising cost of living, blame him for the blunders of our foreign service, for the waste and corruption, the lack of a coherent political package for the minorities. Blame him for all that, because he deserves that…and more. To blame him for the blasts however is ridiculous. There is only one man to blame for that, Prabhaharan. His obstinacy, his delusions of divinity, his inability to comprehend a life without bloodshed, an existence without bloodshed is what caused those 20 odd innocent people to lose their lives in Colombo. It is what makes negotiations impossible and every day of his existence causes more death and destruction.

What a strike for the Sri Lanka Air Force, barely a few weeks after apparently their intelligence capabilities were decisively destroyed, a bunker buster was landed directly on the ‘smiling’ Tiger’s head. Of course the pro-Tiger media and the subservient sections of the Tamil Diaspora are all up in arms that a ‘moderate’ and a ‘peace negotiator’ was targeted by the Sri Lankan government. Seriously, who is dumb enough to take that in?

For one thing Tamilchelvam was never a moderate and there has never been evidence as far as I know that he was one. He was miles away from Balasingham who had to his detriment actually voiced some moderate views, Tamilchelvam was just a smooth operator monkey, trained to jump when Prabhakharan wanted him to. The people who are claiming that this one act is a ‘death to the peace process’ don’t seem to understand that there is no peace process, there has never been a peace process. Prabhakharan has never been and never will be interested in peace, negotiations and settlement. His very existence is built on blood and the spilling of more blood. Without that he loses his power and he will not any under circumstances want that. 

Killing Tamilchelvam strategically was a brilliant move. He was exceptionally dangerous with a smiling visage gave the Tigers the briefest veneer of respectability. You could almost see the naiveté of the foreign dignitaries who met him and gushed giddily about how sweet his smile was. Surely someone with shiny clackers like that could not condone the killings of thousands for one man’s twisted dream, could not be a proponent of suicide bombing? If only Osama had learnt from Tamilchelvam I’m sure he would have been more accepted in the West. He should have flossed and shaved instead of looking like a particularly deranged Father Christmas in his calls for Jihad and he would have had the Norwegians and Canadians cooing over him.

Tamilchelvam was a terrorist, short and sweet and he got what he deserved, which in the world we live in is a rare thing. Targeted assassinations are the way to go, this war can be won, this peace can be won only by eliminating the old guard in the LTTE. Prabhakharan, Pottu Amman and the others who have nursed a nascent struggle for liberation and rights and twisted it into a bloodthirsty battle for one man’s supposed divinity have to be eliminated. Hopefully a somewhat moderate leadership will arise in its place and that combined with a political package aimed towards devolution, minority rights and economic development of ALL parts of the country might stand some chance of achieving peace.

Whoever said life is weird wasn’t kidding. Work’s currently bollockingly hard, I mean ulcers, stomach churning hard. But the weird thing is I like it, I like getting those billables  out (heck I even made it to the top three in the company in my fourth month) and I like learning about buildings and land use policy and geology and the other myriad of things I have to learn and apply to get my projects through. The life of a consultant is full of stress, but at least for the next couple of years should be interesting.

On a personal level life has taken an upshot as well. For one thing the photography is getting more and more interesting. What was an inkling of a fascination has turned into a full blown obsession. All I seem to think about now is aperture, f-stops, composition and the other bewilderments that play a part in trying to capture that perfect image, you know the one ‘where the whole world holds its breath.’

I’ve also rather encouragingly met a couple of buggers who are fun to hang out with, real chilled out island boys. The type that can drink, joke and take a joke (unlike these pesky, tootsie Yanks).  I still miss my boys, R and his jokerness, which is probably only matched by me, CP who is getting married and will be going down that road of housewifery, Evil, Bounty and PV. Not to mention the girl, who seems to be intent on mentioning coming down to SL every time I’m in touch with her. The lack of communication is more a survival mechanism for me than anything else. The fact that I really don’t have time to text at random hours, etc does in a way help my cause. My take on that is blind faith, if it’s meant to be circumstances and timing will make it happen. If not, well that’s just the way things were meant to be. 

Where my enjoyment really hits a clunker is with the family, speaking to the grandparents is something I try to avoid as well. Again that self preservation instinct kicks in, it’s just too tough to hear that they miss me, especially considering the fact they are old now and I don’t know when I’ll be home again. That I’m thousands of miles from the only family I’ve ever been close to, really close is something I try not to think about, just for the sake of my sanity. The plus point is that my relationship with the sibling is a lot better, which considering the growing pains we had a few years ago is nice.

That’s the trick actually. Everything has a plus point. I look at myself in the mirror and I don’t have to trick myself to be happy, I actually am. Life’s active, fun, I managed to somehow download the new Band of Horses album, there’s plenty of pictures to take, sites to see and friends to drink with. Yet at the same time I miss the grandparents trying to tell me how to live my life, R’s brotherhood,va certain pair of smouldering eyes and the looking glass light of home.

I guess this is what bittersweet is.

Mamme being taken for a walk (from here)

 I’m leaving the floor open to anyone who can come up with a funny caption. The funniest one gets a bottle of Old Reserve on me in Lanka in Dec ‘08. Alternatively if you come over here  I’ll take you to Disneyland and drink a bottle of my latest addiction with you (I would offer a bottle but at nearly $30 a bottle, I need some as well).

My humble contribution:

 Its like the buffalo leading the buffalo (rather obvious play on the blind leading the blind)

Politicians eating out (from here)

That’s what I think every time I read about the grinning fool and his idiot brigade of 200 munchkins wandering around China, New York and LA wasting our money, or when I read about how the nitwit with anger management problems is waltzing around Colombo in fine Italian sports cars.

Of course as it turns out its not only the Lankan government that feels like the public’s money is there to fiddle away with whenever they feel like it. It turns out the US Feds are just as bad, wasting a spectacular $146 million (that’s a gadjillion, trillion rupees at tomorrow’s exchange rate as I predict it) on premium business class travel. This is where my 30% Fed tax goes!!? Fucking business class tickets for a bunch of nonces? To think I’ve started to despise local governments (after dealing with them day in and out) now I despise the Feds as well. I have to save up for yonks for this beauty of a lens so some prick at the Pentagon can get champagne on his flight!

Fucking wankers.

I’ve come across some interesting posts and reactions to posts recently that really got my wheels clinking on the subject of Sri Lanka as a failed state and how we would be so much better if we were still a colonized country. This theory of course ties into the view that we are a ‘failed’ state. I personally do not buy into either theory. This is not to say that there is a lot and I mean a lot wrong with the country, evidenced by the fact that I am currently not living there (again that has its reasons which I will elaborate on later). 

To me the view that if we were colonized that things would be better is a form of running away. It is the old adage that ‘someone else’ can take care of our problems for us. What these people fail to appreciate is that democracy and a mature country is not something that comes up overnight. The British were very good at producing infrastructure; they left us with a network of roads, railways, national industries that were once amazing. What they unfortunately did not leave us with is institutions, which are the fabric of civil society, of law and order, of political management. Infrastructure at the end of the day is relatively easy to build, some money, raw materials and labourers and you have a road, or a dam.

It is institutionally that the colonial powers that be failed miserably, the vacuum left by the colonial countries leaving have been filled either by the political panderers as in the case of Sri Lanka or rebels who have little idea of mature governance as in the vast majority of African countries that had to fight for their independence. Institutions and mature governance do not spring into being overnight, anyone who thinks America has been the (flawed) democracy it is now for the last couple of hundred years is a fool (just google George Bush). The Constitution may have been signed into being in 1787 but that was not democracy. A true democracy is a country where everyone is equal and has an equal say in the country’s governance. The US wasn’t even close until recently, don’t forget segregation was a reality until only around 40 years ago. The US is still a scarily racist country, just look at what happened in Jenna. 

Similarly the Magna Carta may have been signed in 1215 but England was far from a democracy until recently. What people don’t seem to understand is that democracy is a process, an evolution. Some countries such as England and the US have had a hundred years in which to develop the institutions to uphold law and order and ensure equality for all. And it is still very much in evolution.

After all look at how these countries treat their indigenous peoples. Those ‘bastions of democracy’ such as Canada, Australia and the US are the very countries that refused to sign the Indigenous People’s Rights Bill passed by the UN recently. Their reason – that the bill gave ‘excessive property and legal powers to indigenous peoples’  . These are the same countries that have for hundreds of years exploited and abused the indigenous people. So even in these ‘developed democracies’ the fight for equal rights is very much an ongoing process and indeed a battle.

Where does this leave our sunny isle? Well we’ve had almost 60 years of independence and we started off hobbled. We were handed leaders, the Bandaranayakes, Senananyakes and Jayawardenes who at their best were sycophants. A generation of leaders who knew the ins and outs of sucking up to whoever gave them benefits. Such a mindset was never going to provide us the political maturity and will to drag us forward, witness the infamous 1956 policy. Whatever gave them power they would do. And it is a rot that runs deep and will take time to prize out. A similar situation can be seen in some African countries such where leaders came who were essentially bush fighters and military commanders, ill-suited to the sheer responsibility of being a democratic leader. 

So what is the solution? The easy way out, the way of immaturity is to cry out for someone to take charge, for the colonials to take over again. For one thing this is flawed because the British were ever only interested in what they could take from us. This mindset is still present, aid is tied and nothing will be given to us if it means a real sacrifice on the part of the West. And that is why we must take responsibility; we have to fix the problem. We have to grow up and evolve, it may take a hundred years but it is a fight that we have to fight, not expect someone else to dictate to us. Never forget that in the Western countries that we look up to as ‘shining examples’ of democracy those institutions did not spring into being overnight. People, usually of minorities had to sacrifice had to die for what they have today and are still doing so.

Detractors will say that I sit comfortably in the West and talk about Sri Lanka not being a failed state. True and I will admit to that. But at the end of the day I am not here because I enjoy it, there is knowledge to be learnt and skills to be sharpened that just cannot be done in Sri Lanka. There is however a significant body of people, expatriates who mean to come back, to fight for what is ours with the skills we have to build our country. Yes they may run into the Malakas of Sri Lanka and get the shit kicked out of them but they will keep coming. At the same time every person who speaks up against the stupidity, the corruption and the fools who run our country is striking a blow for democracy as is every person who just comes back and carries out his/her job responsibly. It is literally one small step blogging about the idiots of today but a giant leap for the country (apologies to Neil) that people are willing to do this. Just look at the tremors that the Burmese junta is feeling with the protests and the publicity the bloggers are bringing to them.

Democracy has always and will always be an evolutionary process and Sri Lanka is evolving. Crying for the white man to come and make it better is foolish and will never happen. We alone are responsible for our country.

Is pretty bloody steep…and P and I have been in the thick of it. Little did we know that his innocent comment to me at Lanka Fest when we met only for the second time, asking if he could assist me at my next shoot would have lead to where we are now. 

From a small outing to Santa Monica for some street shooting we moved onto an abortive attempt at being ‘official’ photographers for the Lanka Day at Santa Monica. Though this didn’t go as planned we still had a blast, P especially got some winning shots with N’s Xti and my 70-200mm F4 L. Then through the usual Sri Lankan randomness we got our first ‘gig’ which we initially thought was to assist the photographer handling the Iraj and Ranidu concert in Long Beach. We were both perturbed to turn up and be told by A that he was too busy with organizational headaches and we were essentially on our own. A conundrum since I had never shot with a flash before and P hadn’t either. 

Some pointers, much experimentation and a Canon 5D in P’s hands and we were off, working the crowd, running around in front of the stage, behind the stage and all sorts. It was all learning on the fly as never before…in the deep end with nary a life vest to be seen. P came off the better man and he got some absolutely amazing shots, I seemed to lose my mojo somewhere as the cheap batteries that had come packaged with my 430ex started packing up. A desperate rush to get workable batteries threw me completely off my dial and though I managed a few decent shots I washed out. But then one must fail to learn to succeed I thought as I consoled myself with the few good shots and admired (a bit enviously to be true) the brilliant stuff that P had shot.

What neither of us had really bargained for was the vast amounts of post-processing, backing up and watermarking that producing the final package that was required involved. Also once the ball started rolling it didn’t stop with a party starter friend of mine calling me up and requesting my presence at a club in Sunset to shoot Lucid Dreams for a 30 minute set. With some valuable lessons in mind such as shooting in RAW, a greater understanding of the M mode and some high capacity batteries the two of us headed down to the Roxy last Friday, P with my 17-40L in hand and me with my 50mm 1.8.

Never have I had such an adrenaline filled 30 minutes (well I have but not for awhile). Once the boys got on stage and started rapping both of us were in the crowd, on stage, ducking and weaving, composing, recomposing, chimping, changing shutter speeds, dialing up and down on our flashes and shuttering away. I still have little idea about what their music was about because I was on my own high. Over 300 pictures in 30 minutes and my arms were aching from constant moving around trying to get that perfect image, Paper with his hat on, the girls in the crowd, Love crooning away, everything had to be immortalized.
 

The crowd going wild

There was a moment of humour once their set was done, I took a picture of the above two fine young ladies and moved over to have a quick chat. The Asian one asked how she could get copies of the pictures to which I graciously responded by handing her my card and telling her to drop me a mail. As I was going to take a few more pictures of them and close the deal P bumbled in like an eager puppy, tongue practically lolling out, handing out cards and flashing like crazy. Kids I tell you, completely ruined my set-up…but eh…not a big deal and it gives me something to take the piss out of him every now and then. 

Of course as usual post processing was a bitch and has to be stuck in between work, gym, getting my car maintained, a sorry excuse for a social life, recovering from hangovers and of course sleep. We finally got some pictures out to C today and he wants us for another show in Malibu. On top of that we have other gigs on the way, the Red Bull Air Races on Saturday in San Diego and all kinds of fun things in the pipeline.

When the ball is rolling, gotta keep it going.

A millisecond later and this would have been an absolutely beautiful image. I still like it though!

I’m talking about none other than His…erm…”Excellency” Nimal Siripala jowls de Silva. He seems to have a fairly decent background, as in he wasn’t brought up by wolves or bonobos or anything like that which might have warped his sense of reality. Of course his comments at the recent International Congress of AIDS in Asia and the Pacific belies any possibility of him having any semblance of a reasonable worldview. I could come up with a number of erudite, meaningful reasons for why old jowly should retire but I think it’s pretty simple to sum it up in a few words (I’m also tired and lazy).

He’s an idiot.

Fuck off that is. What an absolutely bloody miserable day at work. Or was it a really good one? I’ll be buggered if I knew. For once when I needed it to be a crazy day it wasn’t. It’s bad enough that R keeps badgering me to come back in Dec and akks is starting to get on the same train, but the two couldn’t shut it for a bit. And off all the things I needed as I rolled into work was a text from the very reason I don’t want to go back this December (well 55.99% of the reason I don’t want to go back). 

I don’t know whether to be bummed or strangely elated to be missed. Like I needed my head fucked or fucked again if I go down for three years in a row. I’d much rather freeze my ass off with a bottle of rum and a blonde, mindless sudhu badhuwa when the winter season comes around. Get drunk and have mindless sex. Hopefully at her place so I can get the hell out the next morning without that breakfast awkwardness.

What pisses me off is I still don’t know if I’m pissed or happy. Fuck.

A philosophical hobbit, but I’m just better looking…much better looking (from here)

Well dogfight detagged me, but RD, indyana and Pissu tagged me (I think that was it). So umm…here goes. Of course seven facts barely make up the convoluted individual that I am, so feel free to judge or even condemn.

1. I appear to have this knack of making people laugh, mostly girls. Don’t ask me why but I’m not blowing my own horn here (that would be one-handed as opposed to two handed) but its something I constantly get told. It’s also strange because my humour is, well, fairly offensive. I reckon its because I tend to talk more to random girls than guys (though after our last session at Bob’s diner R may digress with me on this fact). I do love those moments though when something happens and the perfect comment comes out of my mouth and the results have everybody rolling around on the floor, even the subject of the joke.
2. I detest people who think that their worldviews are somehow better than mine. Now don’t get me wrong, if I have a notion that is wrong and someone points this out to me and provides me with supporting evidence I have no problem admitting my mistake. Hey every day’s a learning experience isn’t it? Let me provide an example to make it easier, if someone doesn’t believe in pre-marital sex that’s fine, I respect that. I believe in it and attempt to engage in it at every opportunity presented (which to be honest is not saying much). If someone however thinks that they are superior to me just because they don’t engage in it then that’s a load of bollocks. Personal belief vs. arrogance. 
3. Everyday I wonder what I missed out in life by not having a father, seeing my mother a handful of times in nine years and my sister once in the same time period. I might be a different person now and I just wish I knew how I would have been different.
4. I’m a pretty calm person, I rarely panic or get angry (I bitch and get loud, but not angry). I’ve fallen into rapids and kept my nerve, I’ve had a car crash at 80mph and kept my nerve, last night there was a 4.5 Richter earthquake here. I made sure my Lanting print didn’t fall off the wall onto my head and then went back to sleep. If you do piss me off though don’t be surprised if I try and stomp on your head until it splits or crack you over the head with the nearest bottle (two things incidently, that I have done).
5. I love to read and (this is rather eerily similar to Pissu) I have a love for South Asian authors, especially Romesh Gunasekera who’s Reef is probably my all time favourite book. I’m not sure what it is but there is something hauntingly familiar in a good South Asian’s writing. It’s sometimes difficult to see that we have meaning in our lives and reading stories like Reef lets us to look into ourselves in way I guess. That said I also love Tolkien, maybe I’m just a philosophical hobbit in denial. 
6. I’m still trying to figure out whether I’m doing the right thing by not moving to Sri Lanka right now. I know what my dream is but either I’m scared of following it or I’m slowly working my way to it. I’m not really sure, I guess time will tell.
7. I’m an island boy at heart. There’s nothing more enjoyable to me than sitting by a warm tropical Indian ocean with a cold Reserve and coke in one hand, Bounty scratching his bald head and sweating copiously, R adjusting himself and pouring huge drinks, CP mumbling unclearly, Evil being Evil and R akki saying something silly to entertain me. Also a nice, slim, dark, brown baduwa would be nice to put line to as well. Oh yeah and a spectacular sunset. And a camera, to take lovely candids of the aforementioned brown girl. That would be nice. 

So yeah that’s seven random, somewhat deep, somewhat irreverent things about me. I didn’t dwell on my flaws because…well…if you read this blog then you know them already.

Hmm…there’s really noone left to tag is there? Well lets see, Darwin, Evil, Spectral, Cerno, drac (hehe…I couldn’t resist), Manshark and Nirmal.

Now I’m no Pradeep Jeganathan, nor do I have the skills of the Domestic Goddess, but I can cook…a bit…

On 07/07/07 as part of a Flickr initiative I wandered down to Santa Monica and Venice Beach with P and A to take some hopefully arty pics. While my primary focus was initially the farmers market in Santa Monica I ended up instead getting most if not all of the pictures for the pool from Venice Beach. 

I did however pick up these nifty little multi-coloured potatoes from the farmers market, together with some delicious blueberries sold by an equally delicious looking young lady (what, I can’t help myself sometimes!). The potatoes were tiny compared to the genetically modified behemoths one usually finds at the supermarkets and they were obviously descended from the multi-coloured brethren found in the Andes. I had a pleasant chat with the potato selling man who had a farm in San Luis Obispo, took some pictures and bought myself some teeny taters.

Potato selling man (unfortunately selling carrots in the picture)

After contemplating on whether I want to wander around my neighborhood zoo in the mid afternoon or do some cooking today I decided, taking a squinted peek outside that I would do the latter. I have a tried and tested method for making my ala thel daala. I grab a bowl, chop up an onion, cry a bit and put it into the bowl. On top of that I add some chillie powder, curry leaves, bit of cinnamon, turmeric and some chillie pods broken up. I also add a dash of my grandmother’s curry powder which is smuggled into the country regularly for the family’s benefit.

Spice bowl 

I then boil the potatoes in the microwave and chop them up as so.

Boiled, chopped potatoes

The rest of the procedure is very simple, a bit of olive oil in a saucepan, high heat, throw in the spice bowl, cry a bit from the resulting mini nuclear explosion of spices, regain composure and start stirring the mixture. After everything’s nice and fried, I throw in the potatoes and go back to stirring with the avidity of a Macbeth witch.

Into the frying pan 

After a while I take a deep sniff, clear the sinuses and tap a couple of the taters to make sure they are good and cooked (I actually forgot to do this on this occasion, hence the potatoes are a tad hard, but nothing a good microwave zap can’t fix). Add some salt to mix, give it a vigorous stir, which results in some turmeric flying out of the frying pan onto the pristinely white t-shirt I always somehow end up wearing when cooking and voila!

Mult-coloured ala thel daala

P.S. I apologize for the shoddy food photographs; I was too lazy to switch out my 70-200mm lens and ended up taking pictures from a couple of miles away.

Whoo! I’m absolutely knackered and for some strange reason have sandpit in my ears. It was a pretty hot day at Woodley Park where I for the first time was an official event photographer and carrying around my gear, running hither and dither from 9.30 in the morning until 7.30 in the evening really poofed me out. Lanka Fest was an awesome event thrown by a non-profit called Paalama. I was very excited and hugely nervous about having for the first time having to fulfill someone’s expectations in a largely uncontrolled environment and drove to the ground with my stomach churning (my head was spinning a bit as well but that was probably due to waking up at an ungodly hour on a day off).

The day itself was a blast, cricket both softball and leather and some lady’s (cricket that is) thrown in there as well, food stalls, including one thrown by Ruki from the ever dependable Curry Bowl and performances by Dancers for Sri Lanka (I think that’s what they were called) and a lovely young lady called Kavi (oh yeah why you’re reading this click here and vote for the girl on the list!). I spent a lot of time running around, had a run-in with P and G which resulted in an uproarious session of laughter over a slightly inappropriate but unwitting comment I made to an uncle about his (at the time, 3 years ago) 15 year old daughter without knowing the connection between him and her. I also made a few friends, a couple of photographers and some people who are in the in on the local volunteer scene. 

I learnt some valuable lessons. For one never, ever experiment with new technique on a job. I tried to use a bit of fill flash but my inexperience with going full manual (a necessity when using fill flash) made it unfeasible in the completely uncontrolled situations I was in. I still trust my in-camera meter too much and don’t check histograms enough. I also do silly, stupid things like forget to switch the autofocus on my lens back on.

I learnt that in a situation like that be aware of what I am good at and do that. Shoot wide open and concentrate on working the shots. Oh yeah I also really need to interact with people more and give them more direction when asking them to pose. A note to self to bring extra batteries so I can let my subjects ‘chimp’ a bit and help build a dialogue up. Well I guess there’s always another chance, I just hope I got some photographs that will fulfill the organizer’s requirements and I get to do it again soon.

A picture of one of my family friend I took on break (the rest of my work belongs to the organizers. Absolutely adorable, adorable kid!

Seriously! Can someone please put a muzzle on Keheliya Rambukwella! His latest statement that he would “love to hire some hackers” is by far one of the stupidest things he has said. Yes we know you should be doing that in a strategic sense but the last thing you want to admit in public is that you are contemplating engaging in cyberterrorism. Please someone tell me that neither Keheliya nor Gottabhya have children, because the prospect of these stupid genes being propagated puts me in a depression.

My future vision of Sri Lankan politicians, neutered

As Drac so insightfully pointed out it’s only a matter of time until I get branded a subversive and an enemy of peace. So I figured I might as well accelerate the process. Currently we are waging an undeclared war against the LTTE and I’ve had to ask myself whether I support it. In truth I do. Why? Because in the short term that is the only option open to us. Some people are of the opinion that we should be angrier with the government for the alleged human rights abuses, the plight of the displaced and the general condition of the country than the LTTE.

To me that is utter nonsense. While I believe the oppressive nature of the Sri Lankan governments in times past is to blame for the rise of Tamil militancy, a cause that I have sympathy for as I have sympathy for the core reasons the JVP began their agitations there is only one group to blame for the current situation and that is the LTTE. Sometimes it is hard to see the wood for the trees, the LTTE has been given unprecedented opportunities to step up to the plate and really win the rights for the Tamil people as equal participants in Sri Lanka’s future progress both in 1996 and in 2002. Both times they singularly failed to engage in any meaningful measures to participate in any kind of process to win Tamil ‘self determination.’ 

Let us leave aside the Rajapakse regime for the time being and look at the measures Ranil’s administration implemented in 2002 as part of the CFA. The economic embargo to the North and the East was lifted, international monitors from a country amenable to the Tigers was invited and allowed complete access to areas occupied by the Sri Lankan forces. The Tiger’s were allowed to open offices in SLG controlled areas, the EPDP, etc were disarmed, Tiger emissaries were given Sri Lankan passports and their baggage was not checked when they entered the country after trips abroad. Conspiracy theorists might even brand the exposing of the Deep Penetration Units and their subsequent disbanding as part of Ranil’s appeasement approach, but that’s up for debate.

What the Tigers do in return, they started killing political opponents and intelligence officers in broad daylight in Colombo, prevented monitors from entering certain areas under their control and were singularly opposed to any discussion about the very matter of self determination that they have shed blood for decades over. Instead the acceptance of the ISGA proposals was a precondition for talks, yes people claimed that it wasn’t but that’s about as true as was the claim that the LTTE dropped their demand for a separate country. The LTTE’s ambiguous claims that they were open to discussion of the ISGA’s and that they had dopped their claim for Eelam was just that, ambiguous. Of course to this long list has to be added the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar and the posturing they engaged during the last attempted round of talks. The LTTE, just like in 1996 simply used the ceasefire to rearm, retrain and realaunch the conflict, that’s the truth, short and sweet. 

So in short I support the war effort now, do I think the Rajapakse regime is corrupt and tramples on human rights? Yes, but not anymore than any other of the regimes we have had in the fifty plus years of independence. The amount of money that is spent on any war invites corruption, just look at Bechtel and Halliburton’s roles in the Iraq war. War sucks, the wrong people get rich and the wrong people die while the silent majority looks on from the sidelines aghast. But the way to tackle it is not to keep asking for peace, because as nice as peace would be, with Prabhakaran at the head of the LTTE peace is impossible. War is the lesser of the two evils to tackle the short term problem, that the LTTE is intransigent to any solution that does not give their demigod his own country to run as he wants. To me Prabharan is no different from Hitler, both rose from environments of injustice and both have demanded and received unquestioned obedience and in the process have bathed themselves in blood. Trying to talk peace with Prabhakharan would be as futile as Chamberlain’s attempts to talk peace with Hitler.

So what should we do as the silent majority standing on the sidelines? I believe that instead of mindlessly agitating for peace and abstractly bemoaning the morality (or rather lack of) executing a dirty war we should be agitating for a real solution, even on paper that will look towards achieving the desires of Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslim, Burgher and anybody else who calls Sri Lanka home. A true set of devolution proposals that will give a voice and empowerment to the silent masses who have been deprived for so long in this country, that is the only way we achieve long term closure to the conflict we face now. 

In the short term we should be agitating for greater transparency in military purchases, a more pointed objective of beheading the Tigers by killing Prabhakaran. We should be agitating against the purchases of MiG29s to destroy the propeller driven pieces of crap the “Flying Tigers” possess, the overt support of Karuna (covert in my opinion is fine, after all this is a guerilla war) and turning a blind eye to child conscription the latter two which hurt us immeasurably internationally.

We have to negotiate with the Tigers, make no mistake about that, we have to bring them into the political mainstream but the only way that is ever going to happen is if we eliminate the current leadership. And for that we need in the short term, an effective, ruthless response to the Tigers. After all that is what worked for the JVP and for all the horrors that Premadasa’s response to the 1989 insurrection at the end of the day it worked. Rohana Wijeweera the charismatic leader was killed and the JVP for all its wrongs and moronicness is cavorting in Parliament rather than bumping people off in the street.

Just a point aside, before anybody accuses me of being a heartless bastard who has no issues with killing I would like to point out that I find it very hard to reconcile what Premadasa did to crush the insurrection with the end result. Especially since I have seen first hand the effects of what he did and deal with almost every time I am at family gathering. Yet the fact that it worked and crushed the military will of the JVP to me seems to me less a price worth to pay but the only option available. 

To be honest I’m not even sure what I am trying to say in this post anymore, the last thing I want is a war in Sri Lanka. I get no pleasure from the idea of carpetbombing the Wanni or the loss of young lives on both sides, lives that could contribute so much to what is truly a blessed country. Yet at the same time all the posturing for peace is not going to get us anywhere until we truly ask ourselves what price and what needs to be done to achieve that peace. The price will be the horrors of a short, intense war to remove the leadership of the LTTE and weaken them to the point where a military option is not sustainable for them. And that is a possibility if we don’t have corruption and we take the Tigers on in their own terms.

Of course all will be lost if the long term issues are not fixed, a secular devolved state is what we should be agitating for, greater transparency and freedom. That is where Premadasa failed, the climate of the lack of opportunity that gave rise to the JVP and the LTTE is still very much alive in Sri Lanka. That problem however seems a lot less fashionable to talk about than human rights abuses that result from the war, white vans and the death of morality. A morality that in fact did not die with the Rajapakse regime but died eons ago when man started killing man.

I’m open minded, not sure I’m this open minded though

Thankfully this statement, generally delivered in a disapproving tone is rarely directed at me. Well it may well be directed at me when I’m not around but I sincerely hope not. The statement with its disapproving tone is generally uttered by a female friend or family member. What’s surprising when it’s uttered by the family members is that my family is internationalized to say the least, there are French, Welsh, English, Black, American members of the family as well as someone who I think is a Czechoslovakian, though I could be mistaken with religions ranging from Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Born Again (my personal favourites because of the utter craziness exhibited) and even a Muslim. 

But for all this UN-like multiculturalism, there appears one thing the ladies in the family have an aversion to and that’s Sri Lankan guys. This is especially true for the Sri Lankan girls who were born in Sri Lanka but have lived here for some time. And the aversion is also shared by a number of female acquaintances I have of Sri Lankan origin. I think it’s almost subconscious on some of their parts because they start bitching out the species in front of me and appear quite surprised when I, naturally, put my hand up and protest.

The sad truth is though, the reasons they give for their dislike seem to be true, that they are insecure and controlling. I personally have my doubts that this is a solely Sri Lankan attribute but I have seen a number of Sri Lankan guys who do fit the bill of controlling. They don’t like their girls dressing nice, going out by themselves, working, making more money than them or on some memorable occasions they attempt to hit you over the head with a pool cue for talking to them.

I’m a bit peeved with this though, both the generalization and the behaviour of the said chaps. For one thing the former means that a lot of brown girls simply dismiss me out of hand because I’m brown. Sure tell me to fuck off because I’m arrogant, cocky and have an inappropriate sense of humour (though this list is far from exhaustive) but at least let me piss you off with my attitude as opposed to the colour of my skin and the expectations that arise from it. 

Also I’m pissed with the guys, they need to chill out for one. I personally like an independent woman, one who works, has friends to hang out with and does her own thing. Primarily because I have so much crap going on in my life and don’t foresee that changing for the next couple of decades that I don’t have a lot of time to devote to a relationship. Also if she goes out with her mates then I can go out with my friends and I don’t really mind the gf flirting a bit, because then I can. 

The key element in a relationship is trust, she has to know that even though I may flirt (lets be honest, sometimes it helps getting stuff done, from getting tickets changed to real estate records recorded) I would never, ever do anything more (unless I run into Jessica Alba, then all bets are off), and I would expect the same for her. Else I wouldn’t be (hypothetically speaking) in the relationship. Also I prefer the girls I’m with looking sexy, for one thing I’m easily bored and the better she dresses the less I have to drink (I’m kidding, no I really am) and she can dance, flirt with anyone she wants, because at the end of the day she’d be coming home with me, while all the poor sods who thought they were getting some have to go home to their cold, lonely beds. The best part of course is that while she dances with some other guys that leaves me to have a chat with the buddies and try and deplete the national reserves of Reserve.

So in short I have two appeals, one is to the anal retentive guys (Sri Lankan and others), chill out…you’re giving guys like me a bad name and reducing my chances of getting hitched (or laid for that matter) to a nice brown girl. And to the girls, give a brown guy a break, I’m chill, I really am. Also I have absolutely, absolutely no problem with you making more money than I do…if you’re worried about that.

I have no idea what this picture has to do with the post, I typed sloppy reporting into Google and this showed up. Gotta love old Pete though…and miss the Libertines

I seem to hear a lot about the death of Mainstream Media and the rise of blogging as the new news medium. I personally don’t think there’s much to choose between the two, case in point were two articles I read on BBC and Fortune recently. The one on Fortune by Eric Ellis on the “Flying Tigers” did read more like a personal blog post or even a rant rather than a legitimate article. I was under the impression there was two types of articles in such magazines, “news” articles which should be accurate and dispassionate and “opinion” pieces which should involve more analysis and will obviously have some bias as a result.

Where does Ellis’s article fit into this? It’s certainly not dispassionate, nor does it involve a lot of analysis or even thinking for that matter. In fact he trots out that tired line about “the Tigers’ Eelam is a country, with all the accoutrements of state” not mentioning how the Sri Lankan Government and Sri Lankan taxpayers foot the administrative costs. Ellis displays an embarrassing lack of context, no more so when he titles his article “Eyewitness account of Tamil attack.” But then I guess he was just lazy and more intent on getting down the pool at GFH than thinking about what he was writing.

Another article that appears to include the most amazing cop out was this one on Muhammad Yunus dropping his aspirations for a political party in Bangladesh. One of the last paragraphs gave me pause for thought: 

“But correspondents say that many people questioned whether he had over-estimated his popularity in rural areas, where his bank’s high interest rates are disliked.” 

Eh? I could have sworn this was the same man who just got the Nobel Peace Prize for being the “World banker to the poor”  whose micro-credit schemes are available “even to beggars.” Also the Grameen bank is majority owned by the “rural poor it serves” so it’s not even Yunus’ bank. It just seems like some journo wrote up a third of that article, couldn’t come up with a valid reason why the chap was pulling out of politics (maybe he’s just tired of bullshit), really wanted to head down to the pub and just made something up.

Even I don’t…oh wait…there’s that bottle of wine left over from last night…

Or rather lack of. Check this article out here, especially the subheading, "plight of the Tamil Tiger community." To even type something like that really beggars belief with regard to stupidity. It’s reading small town hick papers like this that make me think that most journalists are idiots. Was the embargo not lifted on the NE during the ceasefire, is it not in fact true that throughout the war the Sri Lankan government has provided humanitarian relief to the conflict areas. Relief that has with relative frequency been Shanghaied by the Tigers. I’m glad god motivated Dr. John Whitehall to train Tiger medics, maybe his next step up should be funding some cyanide pills.

Gah, I’m just annoyed at the shoddy reporting in this article, the implication that the Tigers renouncing their demand for a separate state was the basis for the ceasefire. Patently untrue because first they never renounced anything, they just said some legal gobbledygook that made it sound like that (confirmed by the fact that Prabha said he still stood by his order that if he ever gave up the demand for Eelam, his troops should shoot him) and to be honest the Tigers never went into a ceasefire. Unless of course said ceasefires are characterized by hunting down political opponents and intelligence officers and gunning them down in the streets. Oh yeah and importing the odd plane and a few more weapons to enliven things. Piddleshit.

Oh yeah does anybody else find it odd that the photograph was taken by Ned Kelly?

Has bugger all to do with this post but is a beaut of a car

Mahinda mamme really outdid himself arguing the case for purchasing four MiG29’s at a total cost of probably around $60 million (or in Sri Lankan terms, a gadjillion Rupees, in layman’s terms, a whole lot of bloody cash).

Apparently it is not a knee jerk reaction (why would he ever have thought that?) but is part of a “planned development of the ADS” (Air Defense Systems to us laypeople)…err…then why pray tell did we spend almost $10 million on buying MiG27s recently?

Makes no sense to me, if I’m saving to buy a Porsche Carrera GT in a few months time, I’m certainly not going to buy a NSX to ‘tide me over.’ But then I don’t have a scarf cutting the blood supply to my brain, or in fact stand to make a few million from brokering the purchase of a NSX and a Carrera GT.

NB: all facts and the premise for this blog post were shamelessly ripped off from Iqbal Athas and his Situation Report.

It looks like there’s a bit of fraud floating around Sri Lanka and this time its two big alcohol companies that are involved one of them being DCSL. I personally am not that fussed with the allegations, for one thing they were defrauding the government which in a way is kind of ironic because it’s the government that defrauds us. Also the fraud was in a good cause, well at least a good cause in my books. Seriously don’t you think keeping the price of arrack down while giving less money to monkey Mervyn and his clan to buy Cayennes is a good thing?

What I loved about this article though was the last past. As opposed to a sting in the tail, the customs officer, Sanath Fernando, who was interviewed mopes about how high risk the investigation is and how “sad to say” they are “awaiting a response from the authorities to our request to send a team of Customs investigators to France for further investigation into this racket.”

I actually did snort some cereal through my nose when reading that sentence. Typical of our “trustworthy” customs officers that fraud happens in Sri Lanka and they want a team to go to Paris. Must be something in the water (or the arrack).

I’ve been intrigued by RD’s recent expose on Sri Lankanisms and I have one more to add, the long goodbye. I’m not entirely sure however whether this Lankanism is widespread or whether it’s just me and the lunatic asylum that makes up my family. My dad’s side is the worst at this though and any family function involves a ridiculous amount of goodbyes. There was one particularly memorable night when the whole clan was there, the half French cousins, the half Welsh ones, the arty aunt and the dignified aunt along with the Grandparents. The guests of honour were some old family friends and their two daughters (wonder what happened to them, they were quite delic back in the day). 

The first goodbye was said around midnight in the salé. The whole troop then moved to the front door of the flat and stood around talking for about 20 minutes before decamping to the front gate. More talking, half inside the apartment building and half spilt onto Havelock Road. More talking for about half an hour before the guests got into their car. Things approached a farcical level when the family continued talking to the departing guests while they sat in their car. I just wished we could have done this inside where I had been comfortably ensconced on a sofa. Another 15 minutes of talking and the night was finally over, a good hour and a half after the first goodbye was said.

I find that either because of my rapid ageing or genetics I do the same thing now. Even the online world is not safe, though in this case I wasn’t really to blame too much. As Sri Lankan’s I think a simply “bye” or in my case “laters” just doesn’t cut it a goodbye has to go on for at least eight lines!

N:  hey ive gotta run….mothers day..have to take the mater out for dinner and all that jazz

J:  hehe

J:  alright

N: mystery cleared up and im glad this was u! and not some random wierdo….catch u laters

J:  yeah me too

J:  ttyl

N:  tc and happy monday!

J:  keep in touch…

J: 

J:  tc

J:  bye bye

N:  will do..laters

J:  yeah.. laterz

I’m getting more and more disillusioned with the organizations that are supposed to be promoting righteousness and humanity in the world. For me whether you are fighting for the environment or peace credibility is key. For example having that monkey Mervyn Silva making speeches at a peace march automatically voids any semblance of credibility that the other participants in that march may have had as trying to bring peace to Sri Lanka. Similarly histrionic screaming about rainforests being cut down at an ‘acre a minute’ doesn’t really do any good, because if that figure is wrong (which some people say it is) then your cause is lost no matter how worthy it is.

And that is why I have finally lost any faith in Amnesty International. One would think that if AI was going to launch a huge campaign to get Sri Lanka to “play by the rules” that they would get their facts straight, but unfortunately it seems they were too sloppy to do so. The AI website states:

“Some 4,000 civilians are dead; over 300,000 people are displaced; homes, schools and places of worship have been destroyed, all since the fighting intensified in April 2006.”

I personally thought that 4,000 figure seemed a bit high and did a bit of digging. From the BBC site: 

“More than 4,000 people - troops, Tamil Tiger rebels and Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim civilians - are estimated to have been killed in Sri Lanka since late 2005 when a sharp escalation in violence began.”

The SLMM has this press release on the CFA’s status five years on which states "4,000 people".

Yes I know any civilian death is wrong as in fact is any combatant death when a ceasefire is supposed to be on but in distorting the facts like that AI has made a critical error. They in effect lied. And now they have lost all credibility.

So I was reading the SLFP’s devolution proposals the other day, yes I know not the most exciting of bedtime reading but I believe it is important that one keeps abreast of such things. After a 10 hour day at work (sadly the norm now, which is exceptionally difficult for someone like me who is a beach bum at heart to handle…but…oh well…what to do) I really don’t have the energy to rip this arse wipe proposals to shreds. There was however one item that really made me pause for thought, I initially thought my math must be off and if it is, someone please do correct me. The evidence is below:

“1.1: There would be a Chief Minister for each district”

“At present, though there are 25 districts recognized by the present Constitution, the number of districts could be increased to 30 by a Delimitation Commities on the basis of geographical and demographical factors.”

Hold on there Mahinda mamme, you want to add 30 more ministers? On top of the 150 odd (plus or minus defections/defecations) we already have!? Please tell me this is a bad joke…

There was one player and only one player that kept the teams apart, Gilchrist (and not Ponting as mentioned previously, thanks Sittingnut for the spot, my brain was completely fried at that moment) and what an innings he played. He won the match in the space of three balls and those three balls were right after Dilhara grassed what would have been a phenomenal return catch. Gilchrist won the mental tussle with Dilhara by attacking him for two fours and a six instead of playing safe to his near miss. I don’t think our bowlers really ever recovered from that pivotal moment. It really is those small moments in a game that make or break the result. Australia played power cricket to the ultimate and they were truly worthy champions, toss and condition advantages notwithstanding. 

In the end our boys have nothing to be ashamed about, led by a young captain with what is in reality a polarized team in terms of age and experience, Sri Lanka played an honourable game. They captured the hearts and imaginations of fans everywhere and they were simply magic. I see great things for this team in the future if we can replace Vaas and Sanath. Murali in my opinion isn’t as key to the success of our one day team as he is to our test team but the other two will be hard shoes to fill. More maturity, more experience and a strengthening of nerves and Sri Lanka will be a force to be reckoned with in the next decade. I can only salute what Mahela and the boys did, I just wish Murali, Vaas and Sanath had better swansongs, but then they already have been part of a Cup-winning squad.

Watching the match was a tiring experience. For one thing getting up at 6am on a Saturday was probably one of my least favourite things to do. And beers at same said time are never a good idea either. That said the company was good, N and some other chaps one of whom turned out to be related to me (seems to happen to me everywhere I go) and a girl to flirt, which made the experience fun (oh yeah I still have no mojo). A couple of byte Aussies at the pub also helped though in the end they were good sports (unlike a few others present). I also happened to get talking to a couple of Englishmen, one of whom looked oddly familiar. It was on the drive back that it struck me why…I had inadvertently had a chat with a B-List star those of us who grew up in Sri Lanka in the 90’s will remember all too well, Clive Robertson. Remember him? Sunset Beach? He was a Sri Lankan fan…but oh so random. The food left a bit to be desired at the Springbok bar, the sausages for breakfast and lunch looked like something that a rhino turded out but on the plus side it was cheap. My whole bill with a fair amount of booze and two meals came to around $30.00, which isn’t too shabby at all.

Of course what really left a bitter taste and killed all my interest in the cricket was the text from R about “attacks in Colombo.” Nothing really surprises me with the Tigers anymore but this was the moral equivalent of the Tet offensive. N left and the only reason I really hung around was because F pointed out I wouldn’t achieve anything by leaving and I thought I might try (unsuccesfuly) flirt a bit more and help my headache along with a few more beers. The dearth of information was scary as well and the fact my new phone (since the Schizo Shitzu ingested my old one) didn’t have any numbers on it made getting in touch with home tough, but thankfully I remembered Bounty’s number off the top of my head and managed to ascertain his and the family’s well-being. 

All in all a disconcerting, depressing day. This World Cup has left a lot to be desired, lets hope the next one in the subcontinent will be a better one!

 For Murali!!

 P.S. Do us proud, but don’t worry noone will even dream of burning any houses down if things don’t go our way!

Jayantha Dharmadasa, Upali Dharmadasa, Thilan Sumathipala and all those other clowns who have in charge of Sri Lankan cricket for the last ten years. This wonderful article on the fallout of the Cricket World Cup had the priceless paragraph

“Walking into the most exciting job in world cricket. There is a lovely balance between the old legs and new ones, the captain himself is beautifully poised in between and the team appears on the verge of big things. The board, though, is as crazy as they come in the subcontinent.” (bold mine)

Now isn’t that the truth. Very funny though.

P.S. there have been a few decent people like Sidath Wettimuny but they have been few and far between. It’s a wonder our team is so good with such nutters in charge.

I’ve read a couple of posts recently that piqued my considerable mental prowess and got it ruminating on the issue of a ‘national’ identity, primarily a Sri Lankan identity and what seems to be a never ending quest to find/formulate one. The posts in question included this one addressing labels and purpose and another one entreating Sri Lankans to join hands in preserving ‘traditional’ Sri Lankan music.

The first post I found intriguing in its critique of ‘labeling’ which though I feel is a valid criticism is to me pretty much unavoidable. I need to label people, not just with names but where I met them, their backgrounds, preferences, religious beliefs, etc. This is simply because I need a ‘context’ to the people that I know. To me it’s unrealistic to behave exactly the same with every person I know; knowing their ‘cultural’ backgrounds, personal preferences lets me tailor my behaviour to each person individually. The negligible minoritist made an interesting point about purpose, but it hurts my head to think of anything meaningful to say about that, but it does make for some interesting pondering.

The second post I read I wasn’t too fond off, especially because it seemed to make certain assumptions of what constitutes Sri Lankan culture based purely on the authors personal preferences and exhibited what to me is a somewhat ‘fishbowl’ attitude in a fear of all things ‘foreign.’ What I found even more annoying actually was the condescending view the author had that just because I left Sri Lanka when I was 18 and though being a regular visitor (well more than regular on some occasions) somehow I had given up the authority to discuss Sri Lankan culture. Actually a sentence that I found telling and a little scary was “…as a Sri Lankan, I’d love to request u to come home and spend some time here, see if u can find that old Sinhalese spark u’ve lost.” Funny because nowhere did I make the insinuation that I am Sinhalese and though being Sinhalese is for sure part of being Sri Lankan it doesn’t give me any more ownership over the Sri Lankan identity than anyone else. I in fact could not be bothered responding to the last comment I got in response to mine simply because I see no point in arguing with idiots, especially those with a ‘holier than thou attitude’ but reading the comment did spark a light bulb over my noggin when I thought of it in the context of the minoritist’s post.

Here’s the thing, I think barking up the tree of a “Sri Lankan national identity” is a mistake, especially when it seems to involve pigeonholing people into being Sri Lankan. I mean what makes a Sri Lankan, our ancestors landing here 2000 years ago from North India, coming in with the invading armies of Elara, evolving in Balangoda, coming to trade with the Arabs or being brought as slave labour by the British. There are so many people who do not fit into the traditional pigeonholes that have contributed so much to Sri Lanka in both traditional and non-traditional fields.

Are we to discount Bawa’s contributions to Sri Lanka’s evolving architectural heritage either because he was a burgher or because he spent time abroad being exposed to (shock, horror, gasp) foreign influences? Are we to turn our back on Arthur C. Clarke’s achievements and contribution to Sri Lanka’s literary and technical development just because he wasn’t born in Sri Lanka? Or similarly Romesh Gunasekera or David Blacker simply because they spent or spend significant time away from Sri Lanka or don’t fit what the ‘traditional’ pigeonhole of what being a Sri Lankan is?

I say fuck national identity. It’s enough being concerned enough about Sri Lanka to write, sing, take photographs, and think about Sri Lankan matters and issues. It’s enough to feel it in your bones that you are Sri Lankan. Who gives a shit where you’re from, what your genetic makeup is or any other of those insignificant little things that make us who we are on the exterior. I think we should be looking for a policy of acceptance, of people of all origin, colour, race, sexual orientation, etc, as long as they are proud of some part of them being Sri Lankan. 

P.S. If you like my ideas I might run for presidency in 2015, vote for me and I shall give you not bread but cake for five rupees a pound…and not just any cake, chocolate fudge cake…