Research through imperial eyes

Research through imperial eyes
By: S. Jeyasankar - Focus
Northeastern Monthly November 2004


“Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits, which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the ‘banking’ concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits. They do, it is true, and have the opportunity to become collectors or cataloguers of the things they store. But in the last analysis, it is men themselves who are filed away through the lack of creativity, transformation, and knowledge in this (at best) misguided system” (Paulo Freire 1973: 58).

The system of education in Sri Lanka today is mostly theory-oriented, didactic and problematic on several issues, namely gender, ethnicity, caste etc. and education is treated as ‘knowledge and information packages’ not as a process of identification of problems, search for solutions, or invention of solutions.

Education today could be described as a tutorial-loaded and competitive examination-oriented system, conducted in class or lecture rooms that are matchbox-like wall-bound spaces, where the teacher or lecturer stands on an elevated space in a position to ‘give’ and the students are in a position to ‘take.’ In brief, the current education system is a monologue of the teacher and not a dialogue with the students.

“In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. Projecting an absolute ignorance onto others, a characteristic of the ideology of oppression, negates education and knowledge as process of inquiry” (Paulo Freire 1973:58). The relevance of the subjects and information imparted in most formal curricula is remote from the practical life of students and to the day to day life of Sri Lankans especially the Tamils. This type of exclusion and alienation from the environment will not allow the teacher and the student to imagine, to think or to create. To make a success of the current system of education we harness ourselves like racehorses. The image of racehorses is well suited to our students who are in schools or in the universities. Preparing for the exam is a penance. Like a saint, a student must shed off all his or her connections with the outside world where he or she is living.

The purpose of the current system of education is to produce service personnel because it is not an organic system. It was a system designed and imposed directly by the colonial powers when they were ruling this country, and later by neocolonial powers indirectly through ‘loan schemes’ and ‘aid programs’ aimed at a developing country.

In Sri Lanka, though we have considerable experience in running a ‘modern’ education system and despite a number of reforms to it, acute and unresolved problems remain in every sphere of life in the country. Dependency on aid and expertise from overseas should spur us on to reflect on the crises in the system.

Most of the people in power often boast of the country’s high literacy rate but they do not connect it with the problems in this country. What do they mean by “literate?” A person who can write his or her name on a piece of paper is literate, while someone who has skill and knowledge but without letters is illiterate!

The important questions are: what are we learning? And what is happening around us? This will lead to another question - why are we learning or what is education?

“Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry men pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (Paulo Freire 1973:58).

History and our experience with education systems and reactions to education reform in Sri Lanka will reveal to what extent we are genuinely liberated from colonial and neocolonial hegemony. The statement, “we will produce nurses and develop tourism and let them send satellites” made by a top person from the Education Reform Program, guided by the World Bank, at a meeting of the community of the Eastern University, Batticaloa, is a typical example of current thinking in the country. We are totally under the control of western and now American cultural imperialism.

If we scrutinize the writings, statements and the speeches of the people in power at present, we can realize to what extent we are part of a liberated education system or in the process of creating an organic education system.

A person with only a basic degree from a university can function as an adviser to people with a long experience in their profession or field. “We will teach them” is the motto of their mission. This motto informs academic forums so pervasively that there is no space for the motto “We will learn from them” or “We will learn from them also!” We academics listen to them only when they answering our questions. This is the irony of the modern education system.

Academics in universities doing research are mostly influenced by conventional ‘scientific research methodologies’ without questioning their validity and applicability to particular situations; they practice it as a mere intellectual exercise. The amount of unproductive research work in university libraries and the unresolved problems of the outside world clearly reveal the relationship between creative and productive academic work and society at large.

“Disciplines are based around a framework for understanding the subject matter of the field. Students are trained in the standard way of thinking. If researchers work in a university setting, they are influenced by colleagues. If they want to publish scholarly papers, they have to get referees, who are usually established members of the field, most of whom expect research to follow the standard patterns.

“Referees and editors expect authors to be familiar with standard ideas and publications in the field, which requires a considerable investment of effort to comprehend. All this prevents outsiders from waltzing in to make a contribution to the discipline. To use another metaphor, disciplinary expectations operate like strong tariff barriers against moving very far from one’s own training and previous research output” ( Martin Brian 1998).

For the intellectuals in our society, methodology is an unchangeable and eternal thing! They are bound and determined by ‘international research standards’ and ‘requirements.’ Their ultimate aim is to publish a research article in an internationally refereed journal in an international language that is, presumably, in Standard English. It’s very rare to hear a voice about the usefulness of such research to society.


“Social activists often express great frustration and annoyance with academics who are in such a good position to help a cause, but do so little. A tenured academic has job security, a good salary, flexible working hours and a great deal of control over areas to research, not to mention, in many cases, specialist knowledge and considerable skills in writing and speaking. Such a person could be a tremendous asset to a hard-pressed activist group dependent on volunteers and without the capacity to carry out in-depth investigations. While quite a few academics sympathize with environmental, peace, feminist, antiracist, and other social movements, very few become heavily involved. Hence the frustration” ( Martin Brian 1998).

In my considered view the faith in ‘scientific research methodologies’ is merely a barrier to look into matters around us in depth and to evolve solutions. This is due to the university system, the education system and research methodologies that are practiced by us being constructs of the colonial establishments; they are not organic forms or structures designed by the people who live and struggle for the betterment of their day-to-day life in their own spaces.

Colonial construction of the education system and neocolonial impositions and influences on educational reforms have led to the alienation of the people, especially the intellectual community, from their own environment. If we study the syllabuses of schools, teachers training colleges, colleges of education and the universities, we could verify the truth of this statement.

In the various aspects of research, intellectuals treat the local environment and local people merely as resource bases but not as problem-solving spaces or spaces for change. These resource bases are not the beneficiaries of conventional research or academic work and in most instances are not even aware of the final product of the research.

This is due to researchers being usually unwilling to take back the final outcome of their work to the people who are subjects of the research, or the final product is in a language that cannot be easily communicated to ordinary people. The language, the size and format of books, journals or academic papers, footnotes, references, academic jargon, quotations etc. are tedious and sometimes overwhelming for the ordinary reader to understand the work.

For example the academic work on kooththu performances in Sri Lanka has a history of at least 50 years but the people who have been performing the dance for generations have very limited knowledge of it. Any person who works or at least speaks to kooththu artistes will acknowledge the truth of this reality.

Why is the relationship between academic work and the performers or practitioners so weak? It is because if the relationship between them was strong the authority of the academics to make pronouncements on kooththu would diminish to a position equal or inferior to that of the performers. They must share their authority with the performers. How could an ‘educated’ person share authority with the ‘uneducated’ one? How could a ‘literate’ individual share his authority with an ‘illiterate’ one? These are the politics of a colonial system of education. Segregating theory from practice is the consequence of introducing theories of the conquerors or the colonialists as ‘modern’ theories. The introduction and influence of colonial theories of imperialist conquerors, the segregation of theory from practice, treating theory with reverence and honoring research paper oriented academic works over all others will lead to a gradual death of practices of ordinary people and the vacuum filled by colonialist practices labeled as ‘modern.’

The other question is to what extent the academic works on kooththu genuinely represent or reflect the kooththu performances and the community that performs it. A person whose familiarity with kooththu is confined to merely reading about it faces strange and incomprehensible experiences at a kooththu performance set in a kooththu community theatre. It is like the depiction of traditional doctors as witches in colonial descriptions. The politics of this kind of depiction and description is obvious – it is another type of aggression or conquest.

Imperialism works by conquering or colonizing the land first and with help of the colonial establishment conquering or colonizing the mind. Conquering or colonizing the mind will pave the way for a long rule of the conqueror or the colonizer.

The regular arrival of experts from the outside world to solve domestic problems is a clear mark of our position in our own spaces. We were designed and are being designed by colonial and neocolonial powers as subjects and consumers. A clear proof of this argument is to look at contemporary development programs planned and implemented by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.

Linda Tuhiwai Smith identifies and critiques the intersections of imperialism, knowledge, and research. According to Tuhiwai Smith, dominant, mainstream, western cultures conceive of research as intellectual activities grounded in broader, popular and legal discourses that distort or silence other ways of knowing and being. One consequence of such research for indigenous peoples is what she calls “research through imperial eyes” – knowledge largely useless for native kinship communities and too often useful for further colonization.

In this background we have to raise questions regarding the purposes and functions of research: Why do we do research? Who benefits from it? Who uses the information we gather and what for?

Vadamody kooththu and reformulating Batticaloa’s community theatre

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Vadamody kooththu and reformulating Batticaloa’s community theatre
Source: Northeastern Monthly - July 1, 2004
By: S. Jeyasankar



Kooththu is the traditional theatre of the Tamils of Sri Lanka and is currently practiced in different strata of the society. Though the war affected people much at the community level, which is the bastion of kooththu, the dance form survives with its traditions unharmed.

The modernization process has shifted the kooththu to be used for different social functions. At one level, kooththu is being used as a showpiece in cultural festivals (luckily it is not extended to shopping complexes and five star hotels and tourist resorts as in Sinhala culture). War in the northeast had functioned as a barrier for the commodification of cultures and cultural artifacts.

In another level, kooththu is being modified to fit it into a new context or framework, which is conditioned and constructed by modern political and artistic concepts like modernization, national identity and cultural identity etc.

In the background of the post-colonial concept of hybridization, the blending of the traditional and the modern elements to counter the colonial hegemony in the cultural and in the political spheres is regarded as a political act in national politics.

But the politics of hybridization has been criticized as an appropriation of the pre-colonial space to fit into the colonial space. Colonialism is not a “POST” or “PAST”, it’s continuous process in different ways in different times. At present it’s in the name of globalization of the market forces.

The concept of post-colonialism was replaced by the concepts of decolonization and reformulation. Instead of creating a hybridized world of ‘Thirisanku,’ re-inventing the pre-colonial space and reformulating it into a people-oriented space to counter the globalization process of the market forces are the politics of decolonization and reformulation.

The decolonization and the reformulation processes also have a global aspect. It is the globalization of integrated forces, which experienced colonialism and experience neo-colonialism that is the globalization of the market forces.

The inventions of modern technologies are the electrifying forces of imperialism and neo-imperialism. Industrialization paved the way for imperialism and information technologies paved the way for neo-imperialism. These two conquering ideologies have differences in a single aspect that is geography. Imperialism has geographical demarcation but not neo-imperialism. The protests against the globalization of the market forces in the countries, which function as the womb of the globalization of the market forces, are the clear evidences of the difference. Because of this difference the concept of decolonization has been surpassed by the concept of reformulation.

The modern concepts of development and technology are machine oriented and those who control the machines will rule the world. Invention of technologies shifted the power from the people to a group of people who control or who own the machine. And the concept of development was constructed according to that rule. Profit-making is the ultimate motto of this trend. People and the environment become the resources of this modern technology-oriented development process.

The popularization and implementation of new forms of development programs under the banners of “Development with a Human Face” and “Sustainable Development” are the proof of its limitations and disadvantages.

Re-inventing the people-centered functionalism from machine-centered industrialization and computerization is the politics of reformulation. Redefining or reinventing the concepts of development and technology is the pre-requisite for this process. It is basically liberating the human beings from machines and re-connects them with Nature.

Fundamentally human beings are also elements of nature but not the element of nature, with the power of modern technology to control nature or the whole universe for its own benefits. But modern man with his electrifying powers created the world for a few and gave destructions to the rest, even to the pest.

The concept of reformulation is a process to unbind the man from mechanization and make him a human being to live in a world of equality where differences are being celebrated. This will be achieved through different ways and means in different levels.

The process of kooththu could function as one of the means to formulate a people- oriented activity in the creation of a world of equality where the differences are celebrated.

Kooththu is not only the art of the individual artist in the modern sense, but also reflects processes within a community. The basic process in kooththu is learning by doing it collectively, and the primary source for the performance is in collective memory. These aspects make the kooththu process primarily a practice-oriented one.

Modernization and commercialisation of kooththu alienates the people who own it and have been practicing it for generations. Traditionally kooththu was considered crude, unsophisticated, primitive and the art of the illiterate and drunks. This was because those who were involved in the kooththu process in the community were not educated in colonial institutions nor did they consume imported spirits.

The politics and aesthetics of modernization played a vital role in the construction of kooththu in modern times. This construction made the ‘educated’ to think of kooththu as medai kooththu (kooththu on the proscenium arch stage). kooththu was dislocated from its original space and appropriated to a new space introduced by the colonial powers. A community-oriented performance art was reduced to performance-oriented art for an audience in a colonial building and made to appear modern.

In the initial stage of my career in theatre, I perceived kooththu as a modern art form. Theatre education at the advanced level and at the university, as well as knowledge and experience of modern kooththu gave me that perception. But my relationship with the kooththu community and the kooththu performances in traditional spaces made me think differently.

My story will reveal this clearly.

My interest and engagement in modern drama led to my contact with kooththu. The writings on the modernization of kooththu, the debate on the formation of a national theatre and incorporating elements of kooththu into modern drama are popular topics in modern Tamil theatre studies. My experience in modern Tamil theatre and the influence of the debate to which I was a contributor constructed my perception.

But the view of Sinnathamby Master alias Peking Sinnathamby was different. He believed that kooththu did not only involve dances and music set for performance, but that it was integrally connected to the performers and the community too. The dialogue with Sinnathamby Master opened up another door in my search.

I learnt the dances songs and techniques of Vadamody kooththu in detail from Professor S. Mounaguru and my relationship with the Vaddukoddai performers began under the guidance of Sinnathamby Master. This relationship spread gradually towards the kooththu performers in the north, east, up-country and now it extends towards southern Sri Lanka as well.

With this background, I began to involve myself very actively in the debates and work connected with the modernization of kooththu. It taught me two things: elements of kooththu are suitable for incorporation into modern drama (Tamil and English) for easy communication; sustainability of kooththu is only possible with changes in the community that had been performing it for generations.

The reformulation of kooththu becomes complete and whole through changes in the thinking of the community that practices and preserves the art. In my belief, the ideological and social change in the community that preserves and performs the art is very necessary in the reformulation process of kooththu.

Therefore, the duty of the theatre people does not end with the introduction of kooththu with its shortened version suited for urban elite audiences, or by bringing in new interpretations and new spaces. Their duty extends beyond these limits.

What is required at present is to struggle with traditional ideology, grapple with new situations and to make efforts to understand whether traditional theatre has the capacity to carry forward changes. It is also to think about the possibilities of expressing the present experience fully and in a practical manner in order to ensure this process continues. This process does not relate only to theatre but also involves the whole community against the background of contemporary global trends.

The ways to confront such situations also differ. We have to integrate closely with the community that performs kooththu, relate to the performers with friendship, share ideas and objectives with them and extend respect to each other as equal partners. This is vital to move forward towards the next phase in this effort.

These processes take place in the traditional kooththu environment and gradually expand to other areas. These experiences will provide a hitherto unknown dimension to the new or ‘modern’ drama too. They will enable us to firmly root ourselves in the past and aim at the future by bringing together our contemporary experiences and developing the concept of localization.

Up to now, whenever kooththu served as a source of research, kooththu performers were used only as providers of information – as informants. Further, the output of the research did not reach the performers. Dialogue with performers of kooththu will serve remedy this shortcoming.

Views of the community of kooththu performers – especially the annaaviar and others associated with the staging of performances – were not taken into account in the debate on the modernization of kooththu. The academic work available in the past 50 years on kooththu and the modification of kooththu serves to underscore my argument.

The authority of academic institutions such as universities, which are functioning as colonial agencies, has played an important role in formulating systems of modern knowledge, especially through commissioning and sustaining research. Research is a ‘scientific academic exercise’ that is usually conducted by specially trained people in an academic institution. The knowledge manufactured is authorized due to the scientific component in the research exercises. This is the basis for manufacturing modern knowledge.

Designing systems, methodologies, formulas etc. and imposing them on other territories through power derived from imperial rule and making those rules ‘standard and international’ is the politics of the imperialism.

The colonial system of knowledge treats traditional knowledge systems as ‘unscientific’ and claims that only through modern research methodologies could traditional knowledge systems be appropriated and authorized as knowledge.

As I mentioned earlier, the authority of modern academic institutions and research methodology reduces people who possess traditional or pre-colonial knowledge into mere informants. Further, modern knowledge serves to dislocate people from their sources of traditional knowledge and forces them to perceive such knowledge as unscientific and the product of uneducated or illiterate peoples.

It is the same story with the modernization and research on kooththu. Because of this, kooththu earned the epithet naaddu kooththu (country theatre) from the intellectual community.

Deconstruction of modern knowledge and my relationship with kooththu performers and their community made me search for new ways and means to study and understand this art form. It led me to select this area of study for my MA despite being aware of the impediments of doing so within a conventional university system. It was important for me to work in the selected area of study while it was equally important to work within an authorized academic structure and institution.

I thought this would provide me with first hand experience of how individual intellectuals the intellectual community and the institutions and community ‘outside’ would react to the project. This was the other side of the coin of my work. It would help to initiate the reformulation process at another level of the community.

With this in mind I started to think about making the performers as partners for my research. My reading on educational and community theatres and the writings by Paulo Freire, Augusto Boal and the application of their techniques of theatre and close acquaintance with kooththu performers and the community, gave me the confidence and opportunity to take forward participatory theatre action research.

I felt strongly that conventional research methodologies were not suitable for this kind of work and searched for alternative methodologies. The internet search opened up a new path with information of the Maori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s ‘Indigenous research methodologies’ and through an Australian scholar, Ian Hugues’s website on ‘Participatory action research” and other approaches and theories. However, they all united in decolonising and democratising modern knowledge and research methodologies to dismantle the authority of neo-imperialism.

In this background, the Tharmapuththiran kooththu (Son of tharmam) was reformulated into Simmaasana por (War for the throne) with the participation of the community of kooththu performers at Seelamunai, Batticaloa. The transformation of the traditional prologue reveals the character of the reformulation process.



Traditional Prologue
Oh, Elephant- faced god,
Your protection we implore
To sing the story of Bharatha,
The fearful war of destruction
How it was wagered and fought
How it was lost and won
With the grace of God
By the princes five thus:
Sahuni, the King’s counselor,
Deceitful, treacherous and full of vice,
Invited the princes five
To play a game of dice
Defeating them by sleight of hand
And disrobing the damsel in public
Banished them to jungle life
For two and ten long years
Incognito and in disguise



Reformulated prologue
A story depicting Pandavas as the sons of dharma
And demeaning Gauravas as sons of adharma.
A story dharma and adharma told for many, many years
But one of unjust war fought for rule over others.
Those that are great failed to extirpate enmity in the hearts of youth
Boasting the valour of the five and portraying the others as knaves.
The nobles and the great ones, why did they remain speechless
When the damsel stood helpless crying for justice.
Kannan the embodiment of good, born to destroy destroyers
How many ruses he resorted to in the name of dharma?
It was people who became dice, people who died in the war
Fought brutally and vainly in the name of dharma.
We the players have come before you to sing the story
New-created raising several thought-provoking questions.
Protection to human beings, protection to all living things
Protection to live on this earth in happiness, affluence and peace.


When the process began, I was concentrating only on the performance. But as the process went on, I became conscious that kooththu in practice was evolving into a place of meeting of the community, a place to relax, a place to recreate, a place to remember and recall, a place for playing games and learning, a place for dialogue and a place for sleep.

Kooththu is a process that integrates many disciplines that are put forward in modern knowledge as separate entities. It is an annual event connected with the seasonal order of nature, and the livelihood of people; it is connected with the ritual ceremony of the gods and goddesses of the community.

During the three to four months it took to be put the performance together, I was able to observe and realize that the practices in the kooththu process were part of an organic community theatre of the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

The reformulation of kooththu and changes in the community are intertwined dialectical processes. Changes in people’s lives influence change in kooththu and changes in kooththu change people. The handling of the issues such as caste, gender and other oppressive socio-cultural values is evidence for this statement. The reformulated performance at Seelamunai in Batticaloa, the innovative performances of individuals and the community of Seelamunai are evidence of the process.

Kooththu: more than merely a mirror unto nature

Cover story
Kooththu: more than merely a mirror unto nature
Source: Northeastern Monthly
By: J. S. Tissainayagam


“Usually, neither the players nor the audience understand why something is happening when kooththu performances are staged. If you ask a spectator why such-and-such a thing was going on, he would say, ‘ask the annaviyar;’ the annaviyar, stuck for an explanation, would maintain dogmatically, ‘that was how things are traditionally done,’” said S. Sivanayagam.

A more enterprising annavyiar would however interpret the text in an entirely subjective manner leading to further confusion due to multiple, and sometimes absurd, explanations put forward. “The basic point is: if the annaviyar finds it difficult to make sense of the script, how the audience can be expected to do so,” said Sivanayagam.

Sivanayagam is an edttu annaviyar, or a script writer-director, from Seelamunai, an eastern village traditionally renowned for kooththu. He is among those who are passionately involved in efforts to reformulate kooththu to make it more relevant to contemporary times and avoid situations where the director blindly appeals to tradition as his guide for structuring a kooththu performance in a certain way.

Sivanyagam says however that it was not only ignorance that dictates the rigidity of the script; it is also the power relationships theatrical performances such as kooththu sought to reinforce through captive audiences. He says that though the annaviyar might understand what was taking place, he was powerless to do anything about it because there were strong social sanctions against changing the script. All the annaviyar could do was to change the rhythms or the beat of the music, but not the lines, making even an independent-minded annaviyar think twice before tinkering with the script.

Kooththu, is community theatre, not folk art. “Folk theatre is, ritually, intimately linked with the environment from which it springs. Kooththu is different. Its origins are in seasonal rituals in temples. I believe koothtus deliberately used the Ramayana and Mahabaratha for the project of Sanskritising Tamil society,” said S. Jeyasankar, a theatre activist and lecturer in drama and theatre, at the Eastern University, Batticaloa.

Jeysankar says that traditional kooththu, which might have had folk origins, was quietly displaced when the poets (pulavar) used the kooththu form but foisted on it stories from the Sanskrit epics.

Though projecting a value system and worldview of the upper castes, kooththu was degraded as uncivilised by that section of society that considered itself as refined and economically affluent. Therefore kooththu became identified as an entertainment of the lower orders and associated with drunkenness and general disorderly behaviour.

“The traditional kooththu reflected Brahminic values and referred to women and the lower castes in derogatory terms,” said T. Gowriswaran, a final year student in fine arts at the Eastern University and a kooththu artiste.

Such portrayal of women, promoting caste differences and using obscenities in the script, when played before contemporary audiences that were changing from the experiences of war, exposure to the media, and general education, led to disenchantment with the content of kooththu performances.

Realising that blind repetition of the lines in a script and watching performances portraying archaic values were leading to audience disenchantment, a movement began to gather momentum that tried to look anew at performances, scripts and the impact of social experience on kooththu.

The way forward therefore was not conserving the traditional kooththu, but reformulating it in a way that it reflected the concerns, aspirations and suffering of contemporary audiences, and thereby engaging their attention.

“Kooththu is community theatre. Therefore it is intimately linked to society. I realised that any meaningful research for reformulating kooththu had to be community based and participatory,” says Jeyasankar, pivot of the movement for reformulation.

“Therefore if kooththu was to be reformulated, there had to be extensive participation in the process by the community. There had to be a symbiotic relationship between research in drama done through an academic institution like a university and the practitioners of the art,” Jeyasankar continues.

As in many parts of Sri Lanka, in fact in the subcontinent, traditional arts and craft are associated with geographical locations and social formations within them. Kooththu is no different. In Batticaloa among the villages celebrated for kooththu performances are Seelamunai and Kannankudah. And it is to Seelamunai that our focus now turns.

“In the past, there were people who came to Seelamunai saying they were doing research on kooththu, but they never consulted the annaviyar. And neither the village nor the community benefited from the research,” said Sivanayagam.

But with the objective of reformulation capturing the imagination of artistes and audiences, a series of discussions began in Seelamunai that not only involved those traditionally connected with koothtu such as performers and/or the annaviyar, but also the general public and the researchers. The idea was to find out what lay behind formulating an art form to be performed in a particular way.

Among the debates that figured during these discussions was a reappraisal of the Sanskrit epic Mahabaratha, which is the source of well-known kooththu performances such as Tharmapuththiran. Among the questions asked was on stereotyping the Pandavas as noble and the Kurus as evil, while others brought up the question of the moral depravity of Yudhistra for losing Drupathi for a wager.

These questions led the way to deepen the discussions. “Yudhistra gambling away Drupathi was a wonderful opportunity to begin a discussion on gender,” said Gowriswaran.

“It is only when you get involved in such projects you realise the depth of knowledge possessed by people who are not conventionally well-educated,” said Jeyasankar.The reformulation and its product – a script incorporating amendments the community wanted – brought into the process strong female participation in the performances. Traditionally, men played the role of women on the pretext that they (women) did not have energy to dance throughout the night. However, the actual reason was ritual un-cleanliness associated with menstruation since the kooththu was performed in the precincts of the temple. But this has begun to change and the reformulation movement used women and girls as much as possible to increase participation.

At the end of the reformulation exercise, Tharmapuththiran kooththu, based on the Mahabaratha, was transformed by the collective wisdom from the discussions at Seelamunai and renamed Simmasana por (Battle for the throne). This kooththu is known as the ‘fount of Vadamodi kooththu’ (thai kooththu) because it encompasses all aspects of a kooththu performance.

A significant aspect of the kooththu debate was the appropriate venue of its performance. In the 1950s, important kooththu performances were played before urban audiences, when it was for the first time trans-located from its traditional roots in the village to the metropolis. It was a time of cultural revival, which saw the birth of Sinhala national theatre, alongside which kooththu was performed as Tamil traditional theatre.

During the reformulation however, the appropriateness of performing kooththu on the proscenium arch stage, where it is now usually performed, was raised. To some critics the fullest theatrical experience of a kooththu performance could be got only in the vattakalari, or theatre-in-the-round on which kooththu was, and is, traditionally performed in villages like Seelamuniai and others in the northeast.

“Kooththu performances reflect the motion of the earth revolving of itself and at the same time rotating around the sun. This concept is brought out best when staged in the vattakalari,” said Gowriswaran.

He says when kooththu is staged in the conventional proscenium arch theatre there is a feeling of confinement and restriction, both for audiences and performers, which is not there in the vattakalari, which is usually set up in the village square. “In a conventional performance the interaction is only between the performers and the group of theatre goers who have come to see the play. In the vattakalari you involve the whole community,” Gowriswaran said.

Kooththu artistes are also concerned that the proscenium arch stage ignores the centrality of the annaviyar to the performance. As the director or stage manager in a conventional western play is away from the footlights, kooththu performances in a proscenium arch theatre attempts to ‘hide’ the annaviyar.

“In a traditional performance the annaviyar is absolutely central. He monitors the performance all the time. If the footwork of the dancer goes awry for some reason, the annaviyar can do a subtle change of the beat to accommodate it. Or if the performer misses a line the annaviyar can prompt him unobtrusively,” Gowriswaran said.But kooththu artistes emphasise this does not mean they devalue the performances of kooththu on the proscenium arch stage. They say such theatre has come to stay and undermining it is not their project.

“All we are saying is that performances in the vattakalari should go side by side with those on the proscenium arch stage. It is just that the performances in the vattakalari are a different experience and will take kooththu to a new stage in its development as community theatre,” said Gowriswaran.

“Performances in the proscenium arch theatre and at the vattakalai could learn from each other: they could complement each other,” says James Thompson, director, Centre for Applied Drama Research, University of Manchester.

Though controversial and potentially dangerous, contemporary politics found its way both into the discussions during the reformulation, as well as in the casual conversations about the performances. Tharmapuththiran or Simmasana por, based on the epic Mahabaratha, which is set against background of the contest of two royal houses for supremacy – the Kurus and the Pandavas – set the stage.

Tharmapuththiran or Simmasana por is about power and sovereignty, which is what the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, is all about. It also demonstrates the futility of war because of the suffering it brings about. But its greatest contemporary relevance perhaps is astute manipulation by Krishna, who is essentially an outsider to the conflict between the Kurus and the Pandavas, to fulfil his own agenda.

The performers and audiences give positive accounts of how the revival of kooththu through the reformulation project has impacted on their daily lives. For one, its revival has given greater exposure to kooththu artistes and accorded honour due to a skilled performer.

“In the old days, though there were many people who performed the kooththu some found social recognition because of their skills in performance. So much so they came to be known as penn pillai Sinniah or mirthangam Sellathurai,” said T. Muththulingam, an edttu annaviyar.

Both Muthulingam’s father and grandfather were well-known kooththu artistes in their time. His father Sinniah, became known as penn pillai Sinniah because of skill in taking women’s roles or penn kooththu, in the performances. “Penn kooththu is the real test for an artiste and if you are famous for playing such roles you have to be really very skilled,” said Muthulingam.

Kooththu, its admirers say, is an education by itself. For one, the performer has to be absolutely physically fit. But this is not all. Kooththu is a good way of banishing stage fright among the young and due to having to commit large chunks of material to memory, a sound way of activating the mind.

The discussion and community involvement in the reformulation exercise infused the desire for community participation in other aspects of existence as well. “I remember during our kooththu discussions someone asked, ‘If you can discuss kooththu why can’t we discuss our economic problems?’” said Gowriswaran.

Kooththu’s immense contribution in relieving mental anxiety, especially in a population as in the east that was caught up in cycles of violence is also acknowledged. Not only could watching a performance be a cathartic experience for troubled souls, but also the collective, participatory effort allows the community to share the individual’s trauma, anxiety and loss.

“Watching and participating in theatre and ritual helps in restoring mental well-being,” says Thompson, who is a participant, observer and commentator on the reformulation of kooththu going on in Seelamunai.

To the artistes, the academics and annaviyars the sustainability of the reformulated art form is very important. Fortunately, a group of young people seem to be interested. “Like in the case of cinema, continuous exposure has kindled in them an interest. As in any craft, one or two of them who were helping around, but have now begun taking on minor roles,” said Sivanayagam.

Another test of sustainability is whether performable scripts are generated from the community. Here again the response appears positive. “We performed Simmasana Por. We are now in reformulating a new one – Avimanju Illakanan vathai,” said Sivanyagam. “Kooththu is a participatory exercise and touches the life of the entire community. I am hopeful its multifarious aspects will help the development of the community in Seelamunai and other adjacent villages to live a community-oriented spirit,” said Jeyasankar.

Unidentified Homeless People

Unidentified Homeless People

People were talking about us
When we were displaced
Because of War
And to a certain extent
We were relieved

People were talking about us
When we were displaced
Because of Tsunami
And to a certain extent
We were relieved

Nobody is talking about us
When we are being displaced
Not because of War or Tsunami
But because of rehabilitators
And we weren’t relieved

We lost our houses
Without differences
Or discriminations
To the power of war

We lost our houses
Without differences
Or discriminations
To the power of water

When our owners of the houses
Have decided to shift
From their storied mansions
To their miniatures
We lost our rented houses
To the power of dollars and pounds

We are the displaced
And homeless people
No one will call us refugees

We are the displaced
And homeless people
No one will call us displaced
Or internally displaced

We are the displaced
And homeless people
No one will call us street people
Or people in the street

We are the unidentified
Homeless people
Or people without homes

S.Jeyasankar
18.08.2005

Why are they manufacturing this and that?

Why are they manufacturing buses?

To treat you as a citizen
And make you to travel easily.

Why are they manufacturing trains?

To treat you as a citizen
And make you travel easily too.

Why are they manufacturing cars?

To treat you as a citizen
And make you to travel comfortably.

Why are they manufacturing water cannons?

To treat you as a mob
And stops you democratically

Why are they manufacturing battle tanks?

To treat you as an enemy
And blast you into pieces

S.Jeyasankar
11.08.2005

Has Civilisation Died?

Dear All,

The Women’s Coalition for Disaster Management, Batticaloa has written a statement against the rape and murder of a woman in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka last week. Please circulate widely and raise this issue in different forums. WCDM is distributing a Tamil statement in Batticaloa on Friday (12.08.2005) morning. All organisations of the women coalition have taken the responsibility to distribute it.

Has Civilisation Died?

Stop Violence against Women

Last Wednesday, 3-8-2005, the body of a woman who was raped and murdered was found at the Batticaloa Methodist Central College Hall.

This brutal incident of gendered violence is part of the continuum of broader violence in our society today.

This incident raises many important questions beyond those of who perpetrated this violence and what the identity of the victim of this violation was.
Is there no protection for women in this 21st century, when it is claimed that humans have achieved large scale development and progress?

Is there no end to brutal acts like this, which violate women’s rights?
Why do these violent acts happen again and again?

Our society raises questions and takes action when injustices are carried out in the name of ethnicity and religion, but why is it silent when this violence happens against women?

Social and political violence and rights violations specifically against women are continuing. It is usually the case that when an incident takes place it will be given attention and publicity for a while – but this it will diminish over time, until another brutal incident takes place.

All individuals, groups and organizations working for the welfare of the society, for peace and for human rights, should condemn this incident. They should take action to stop these incidents from happening again.

All parties who are negotiating for peace should pay full attention to bringing justice to this incident. There should be a complete investigation and the perpetrators should be brought in front of the law. There is no peace without justice.

All people who want a society free from violence should make it clear to their children, families and neighbours that incidents like this are unacceptable. Such violence cannot be allowed to be quietly forgotten.

As individual women, and organisations working for women’s rights,
We strongly condemn this incident.

We also pay our respect to this sister who was buried anonymously
without any ritual, respect or tears.

Create a society where violence against women is not tolerated.

STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN!

Women’s Coalition for Disaster Management, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.

Stop Violence Against Women

Stop Violence Against Women



Last Wednesday, 3-8-2005, the body of a woman who was raped and murdered was found at the Batticaloa Methodist Central College Hall.

This brutal incident of gendered violence is part of the continuum of broader violence in our society today.

This incident raises many important questions beyond those of who perpetrated this violence and what the identify of the victim of this violation was.

Is there no protection for women in this 21st century, when it is claimed that humans have achieved large scale development and progress?
Is there no end to brutal acts like this, which violate women’s rights?
Why do these violent acts happen again and again?
Our society raises questions and takes action when injustices are carried out in the name of ethnicity and religion, but why is it silent when this violence happens against women?
Social and political violence and rights violations specifically against women are continuing. It is usually the case that when an incident takes place it will be given attention and publicity for a while – but this it will diminish over time, until another brutal incident takes place.

All individuals, groups and organisations working for the welfare of the society, for peace and for human rights, should condemn this incident. They should take action to stop these incidents from happening again.

All parties who are negotiating for peace should pay full attention to bringing justice to this incident. There should be a complete investigation and the perpetrators should be brought in front of the law. There is no peace without justice.

All people who want a society free from violence, should make it clear to their children, families and neighbours that incidents like this are unacceptable. Such violence cannot be allowed to be quietly forgotten.

As individual women, and organisations working for women’s rights,

we strongly condemn this incident.

We also pay our respect to this sister who was buried anonymously

without any ritual, respect or tears.
Create a society where violence against women is not tolerated.

STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN!

The Mobile People

The Mobile People

I’m not talking of people
Who are not talking among themselves
While walking in pair

Or
I’m not talking of people
Who are not talking among themselves
While staying together

But
I’m thinking of the dangers
This engulfs the communities
In a different form of epidemic
May I call it an e. epidemic?

This will alienates the human species
Not only from the environment
But also from themselves too

But here
I’m talking of a different kind
A different kind of mobile people

As a Thamil in Sri Lanka
With a readily packed hand baggage
I had the experience of mobile life
Because of Army
Because of differently barking dogs
Because of unidentified gunmen
Because of rumors
Because of dreams
As a Thamil in Sri Lanka
With a readily packed hand baggage
I had the experience of mobile life

But this is entirely a different story
There are no differently barking dogs
Even though haunted by dreams and rumors
But this is entirely a different story

Like a darkness moves in the night
Without making signals of warning
Dogs are vanishing from the scenes

Oh! What a great tragedy!
The experienced mobile people
Are in turmoil now
Not because of the helplessness
In the hands of nature
But because of the restlessness
In the hands of neo invaders
Who came with their own prescriptions
And pills to relief us
And with differently designed
Dissection tool kit and microscope
And surely with pots of gold
In order to reconstruct us again
According to them in this neo global order

S.Jeyasankar
08.08.2005

Peaceful Times



When war crumbles the Earth, Peace rebuilds it.

And when corrupts our minds,

Peace restores it.



By: Thomas Ramanan Paul

"THE FLIGHTLESS BUTTERFLIES"

“THE FLIGHTLESS BUTTERFLIES”

A WORK – SHOP PLAY

PARTICIPANTS

A. RAJEEVANEE FRANCIS
A. LALLINI TISSEVERASINGHE
MYTHREYE SOMASUNDARAM
PREHASHINI JEEVARETNAM
K. HARIHARARAJ
W. DHARMENTHIRA
BRITTO ITHAYARAJ
P. VIJENDRAN

WORK – SHOP FACILITATION AND STAGE CREATION
BY S. JEYASHANKAR

SCRIPT IN ENGLISH: S.M. FELIX

SCRIPT IN THAMIL: V. GOWRIPALAN

ADAPTED FROM A THAMIL SHORT STORY BY
V. GOWRIPALAN.

JULY – AUGUST 2000.

WORK – SHOP ORGANISED BY:

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING UNIT.
EASTERN UNIVERSITY, SRI LANKA.

SCENE ONE

(Ambi is on the Bound. In the background is heard tank–related sounds: sounds of breaking waves on the bound: sound of a cool breeze: the “tuk, tuk” noise of woodpecker pecking a tree, etc, this goes on for a while. It is followed by a rendering of the verses from the stone inscription of the tank)
(The voice is heard from the behind the scene.)

A hoe of eight fold directions
To cut down a tree of seven span
Tapping with a foot to topple,
Yet, before it fell
A tank he built on earth,
And therein filled roaring waters,
Oh, virtuous king.

Ambi: Marvelous, Oh, the King Kulakottan, marvelous. Cutting the earth on eight directions: cutting down the trees of seven spans, tapping with a foot to topple: and yet, before it fell, you built a tank on the earth: filled, full with water. Oh, Your Majesty, how could I praise your patience?

(tuk, tuk: the sound of the woodpecker pecking the tree: sound of the horses’ hoofs in the background.)

Mullai rides the Royal Chariot – passes Ambi. Ambi, startled, turns his head towards
the chariot and cries aloud.

Ambi: Stop, stop the chariot. Mullai stop I’m Mulivannan, your husband. Stop the Chariot. (runs behind it.)

Chariot stops. Mullai alights from it, waves her hand at Ambi.

Ambi: Ah ha! this indeed is the greatness of a wife. May you be glorified – you who in my absence is the charioteer of the King.

Mullai moves on. Ambi gives chase. Mullai runs Ambi runs behind.

Ambi: Oh, Mullai the Princess of the Forest. Where do you run? Stay, ahead is the forest. Stop don’t run. (Mullai leaves the stage.)

Soliders: Stop, stop, Don’t run Duwanda eppa. You’ll be shot.
(Ambi runs. Soliders give chase – catch Ambi. They struggle.)

An officer (enters): What’s happening? Who’s he?

A solider: Sir, he’s come to blast the tank with bombs. He tried to run away when he saw us. We had to give a chase before we apprehended him.

Officer: Put him in the bunkers. We’ll see later.
All exit.

SCENE TWO
Ambi’s house: Amma is ironing Ambi’s shirt. Father is painting Ambi’s bookshelf.
Ambi: Amma shall I iron my shirt?
Amma: What? How many times I’ve told you not to talk such nonsense. Do you want to burn your fingers? Do your studies, instead.
Father: Has Ambi started minding other’s business? ( to mother) First he asked me whether he could paint his bookshelf. I warned him to mind his own business, He doesn’t learn,(to Ambi) Why don’t you do your home work? Or revise your lessons?
Ambi (reads); The King Kulakotan lived during the 14th century. History records that King Kulakotan built the famous Koneswara Kovil and the tank which is presently known as the Kantale tank.
Ambi: Amma, my Sigiriya Trip? Tomorrow the last day for giving names. All my classmates are going.
Amma: That subject’s closed.
Father: What’s it?
Amma: Ambi’s class’s going on a trip to Sigiriya.
Father: Sigiriya? You’re only in year ten. You ‘re too young to go there.
Ambi: But….. Amma all my classmates are going.
Father: I don’t care about your classmates. You’re not going.
Ambi (reads): King Kulakottan had a trusted charioteer by the name of Muhilvannan. Muhilvannan and his beautiful wife Mullai occupy a special place in history as loyal servants of the King Kulakottan.
Ambi: ( to himself): How lucky, my friends, they must be getting ready now.

Chorus in the backstage.
Where’re you going my friends
Where’re you going?
We’re going to Sigiriya, Ambi,
We’re going to Sigiriya.
Why go there my friends,
Why go there?
To see the majestic rock in its splendor, Ambi,
Majestic rock in its splendor.
What else you see there my friends,
What else you see?
Damsels painted on walls, Ambi,
Damsels painted on the walls.
Have a good trip, my friends,
Have a good trip.
We pity you Ambi,
We pity you.
Mother and Father talking to each other.
Father: These days it’s not safe to send children anywhere. I don’t understand why schools organize such trips. Who‘ll guarantee the safety of our children? I must talk to the principal.
Mother: Talk to Ambi’s class teacher too. Even sending the children to school is a risk, leave alone the trips. I’m on pins until Ambi returns home from school - explosions of bombs, round – ups….
Father: Identification parades in front of hooded men …… what and what responsibilities we parents have. ( after a short pause) We’re giving Ambi the best we can. It’s been the same always. Do you remember (Ambi listens) when Ambi was seven years old?
Mother: Yes, yes. He wanted to go to the “ther” festival with the children of the neighborhood. Those young boys wanted to go all by themselves. I clearly remember you refused to allow him. How he cried the whole evening! He even refused to take dinner.
Father: But, then I took him myself. I’m sure he enjoyed it. I even bought him an ice-cream and a toy gun, AK 47.
Ambi (to himself): Enjoyed? Holding my father’s hand, being dragged behind.
chorus
Who goes with you, Ambi
Who goes with you?
That’s his father.
That’s his father.
Why hold his hand, Ambi,
Why hold his hand?
For his safety, of course,
For his safety.
What see you there, Ambi
What see you there?
What shows his father
What shows his father.
You see ther, Ambi
You see ther?
(Ambi): Father in between
Ther and me, ther and me
Father: (turning towards Ambi): Ambi run up to the corner shop and get me two panadol and a ginger beer. The smell of his paint causes me migraine. Take this twenty rupee note. Two panadol - three rupees, ginger beer thirteen fifty. That’s sixteen fifty, the balance is (Ambi’s getting ready to leave) three fifty.
Wait Ambi change your black shirt. There’re army men all over the place.
Mother: Go along the side of the road. Look on both sides before you cross Don’t stand on the road, talking to your friends.
Father: Don’t go in your jeans, wear shorts. You look small in that.
Mother: Ambi looks too big for his age.
Father: He can get his I.C. only next year.
(Ambi is about to leave with an empty ginger beer bottle).
Father: You wait. The army convoy usually passes at this time. You better do your studies.
(Father leaves with the empty bottle)
End – Scene
1 “Ther” – A chariot on which images of Hindu gods are placed and drawn by bullocks along streets during Kovil Festivals.


Scene – Three
(A/L class settings)
Teacher: Our next topic is the life cycle of the butterfly. We’ve already dealt with the classification. You should be through in that section.
Five marks are awarded for classification and ten marks for the life cycle. You can’t afford to lose any marks on this. Now the life cycle of the butterfly. There are foyr stages; the egg the caterpillar or the larva the chrysalis or the pupa, and the adult, that is the butterfly.
If you have any questions you may ask me. Only up to this point.
Student 1: Miss do all insects have this type of life cycle?
Teacher: No, not all. This is not a characteristic of the class insecta.
Ambi: Miss, swarms of butterflies fly towards Kathirgamam in January every year. Is it part of their life cycle?
Student 3: They go on a pilgrimage, if you like you too can join them. (All students laugh)
Teacher: Silence. That”s out of point. Nobody is going to ask this question on the exam. I have studied the question papers of of the past five years. And I’m sure there ‘ll be a question on butterflies this year.
Student 2: Ambi’s always like that Miss, asking questions out of the syllabous.
Teacher: Your time is short, but the syllabus is wide. You must pick and choose what’s necessary for your exam.
Student 3: (to Ambi): ask that question again. (to teacher) Miss, Ambi wants to ask a question.
Ambi: Miss, what I want to say is …. Butterflies are beautiful…..
Student 1 (to Ambi): Shut up don’t start your T.V. serial again. You should have studied in the Arts stream.
Student2: Ambi wanted to join the Arts stream Miss. His father only put him here.
Teacher: That’s immaterial. Now you’re here, you must work hard. (to all students) Your parents want you to become doctors. It’s your duty to fulfill their ambitions. How many of you will enter the university, that I have my doubts.
Student 3 : (quietly) Archimedes is going to ask an important question.
( to Ambi): Miss has not answered your Kathirgamam question, ask her. (To teacher Miss Ambi wants to ask a question.
Teacher (to student 3): Ramesh, you’re spoling Ambi. Are you his mouthpiece.?
Ambi: But, miss, butterflies…
Teacher: I’ve told you a number of times, passing the A/L is not enough.
It’s the aggregate marks that counts. Whatever you study, you must memorise. If you don’t memorise, then don’t expect to enter the University.
Student 1 : (to Ambi): You and your butterflies.
(to teacher) Ignore Ambi, Miss he lives in fantasy land. (to Ambi) Because of you.
A lot of time has been wasted.
Teacher: All right. One of you read these notesw aloud, others take down, Do it quietly. (teacher hands over the note book to Ramesh and leaves)
Ramesh; Ambi, read these notes aloud. Come to the front. (Ambi comes to the front)
Ambi, butterflies, beautiful,
Very beautiful, aren’t they?

Ambi; yea Ramesh, they’re beautiful,
The petal like wings, Lovely hues of different shades,
So soft and smooth,
Aon each of which a pattern stands.
With lovely pink and purple spots,
See how thy glide,
Flapping their winfgs
So gently,
Like a ballet dancer.
(Ambi is absorbed in his thoughts. Students mime the actions.)
Students: Wa, wonderful, your’re a philosopher, Ambi.
Student 3: Ambi, once more.
Ambi: (Continues)
Hundreds and hundreds of butterflies
On their way to Kathirgamam.
Their shadows like clouds
Covering the green fgrass below
Like the souls of the departed
Flying in the clear sky.
Oh, how I wish
I were there.
All studrnts: Eureka, eureka, our Archimedes has done it again (all laugh).
Student 3: At this rtate, Archemedis’ll become Mendel.
Student 1: Mendel or Mental.
Student2: Not only Ambi, all of us will be flying like butterflies. ( mine the action)
Student 3: Who knows? Ambi’ll become a mental doctor, one day.
Stuent 2: To treat us. (all laugh)
Ambi: Mahes….
Mahes: Oh, leave us Ambi. We’ve better things to do than listen to your Mini Ramayana.
(They take the note book from Ambi and leave)
Ambi: (to himself): How happy you must be
Oh, butterfly.
How I remain,
So lonely, dejected,
No pme tp sjare
My feelings with…
Voice: how he remains,
So lonely, dejected,
No one to share
His feelings with….
Chorus: But thje water of the lovely tank
The gently breeze.
The butterflies
In their thousands
Drifting over the woods
So dark and deep,
The call of the birs,
The far horizon.

Are all yours, Ambi.
Your world
Is your Own Ambi.
Scene – Four.
(Ambi’s house. “Ambi is seated, lost in his thoughts. A knock on the door is heard)
Ambi’s mother (from another room): Ambi, see who’s knocking on the door. I don’t know what you’ve been doing from morning. Sitting there and just brooding. You’ve been doing this for the last four years, since you failed you’re a/L.
(Ambi rather reluctantly walks to the door and opens it. Rasathi comes in, holding a weekly in her hand.)
Ambi: (forgetting himself): A….i, Mulla….i.
Rasathi: Stop this madness. Call me
Rasathi. Here read this “Thinamurasu” without idling all the time.
Ambi: (takes it, then after a second thought – what’s the usee? Everything is over for me.
Rasathi: You’re in a dull mood, Ambni. Are youbnstill worryi8ng about….. about that proposal? Forget that. Why do you want to take it so seriously?
Ambi: (getting lost in his thoughts)
She was so beautifuyl.
Smiled at me so lovingly.
Moved like a swan,
Clad in rainbow colours.
Mullai waiating ready to embrace Mu;hilvannan,
Bsedie the “Ther” on the banks of the tank.
Butterflies in their thousands.
Heralding the good news.
Of like …. So sweet.
Rasathi: Bniut, uyoiur mother didn’t like her.
Ambi: Oh, how she longed to talk to me.
Frasathi: You talked to her Ambi?
(Mother overhears the conversation as she enters)
Motherm (angrily): Talk toher, Ambi didn’t d\go there to talk to her. We went there to see dthe girl. …. Whether she would be a good daughter - in –law for me. But she wanted to talk to Ambi. What a disgrace?
We, the elders were seated talking about dowry and donation…. She wanted to take Ambi to aside and talk. Shame. Decent girls don’t do that.
Rasaathi: What did Amni do? Aunty?
Mother: What’s there for him to do? Ambi’s not brought up in that manner. I told him then and there, in the presence ofll: “Ambi is is not the girl for lyou. Let’s get out from her.” I left the place immediately talking Anbi with me.
Rasathi: Ambi’s very much worried aunty.
Mother: Worreid? (noticing the weekly in Ambi’s hand) You gave him that? (getting angry) How dare you give hin this and that do entice my son? I don’t like the way you talk to him. Why do you want to talk to hium about his marrige? You have no business with him. Girls of lyour age shoul lhave modesty, trying ot hang on to my son.
Rasathi (getting anghry): Oh, your son is Salmon Khan, for me to go behind him. Everybody knows about your son, he cazy he is, uyou thik he’s still ababy. He’s twenty five years. You still tell him what to do, what to eat, how to dress and to walk. You’ve never given him a chance to decide on anything. It’s because ofyou, he’s like this. You compelled him to do Science subjects in A/L, how much he wanted to do Arts subjects. When he failed the exam, you put the blame on him. Aunty, now the world’s different. Ambi belongs to this words, our worlde, and not your world. Remember that , oh , how I pity khim.
Mother: you needn’t tell me about my son. And we don’t need your pity, either (grabs the weekly from Ambi’s hands and throws it at Rasathi.)
Let this be youyr last visit to this house. Never step into this house againg, never.
Rasathi: (gathers the Weekly) (to herself) These people never change. Poor Ambi. (She leaves)
(Ambi turns the pages of a book aimlessly.)
1 – Thinamurasu – Weekly magazine.
Scene – Five
Ambi is on the Chariot, waiting for the king.
Mullai appears on the balcony, Ambi is excited, He waves his hand at Mullai. She waves at him back. Ambi jumps down from the chariot.
Ambi: Oh my princess,there on the balcony,
Mullai,Mullai.
(tries to climb up the balcony,but his feet slip. Ambi tries again searches for Mullai up in the balcony)
Ambi: Mullai, Mullai, where did you go? My angel, my princess, my goddess.
Ambi searches for Mullai, running here and there, excited. Policemen enter, catch Ambi, hold him tight and take him away. Ambi murmurs: Mullai, Mulla…I
End Scene five

Court Scene
Lawyers, Ambi’s father, mother and others rise when judge enters Ambi is in the box.
Judge sits and others follow suit.
Court Mudaliyar : Case No: PC 1316 Kantale.
The accused is Nathan Vadivel alias Ambi.
Arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
(to Ambi)
Repeat what I say:
I say the truth ….., and nothing but the truth.
Ambi: Your Majesty, I know nothing, but Mullai.
Mudaliyar: (getting angry) Repeat only what I say.
Your majesty, sh….. no, no….., my Lord,
What I say is the truth ……
(grabs Ambi’s hand, forces him to take oath)

State council : My lord, the accused is charged under the Prevention of terrorism Act, with
An attempt to poison the water in the reservoir. Which serves hundreds and hundreds of villagers.
Judge: Are you guilty or not guilty.
Ambi: Your Majesty, I was searching for Mullai in the balcony, when the guards brought
me here.
Judge (to the lawyer) : What does he say?
State council : My Lord, the behaviour of the accused has been found abnormal, this
Medical report (submits) supports my statements, Under these circumstances,
The state wishes to withdraw the case against the accused.
Judge (after reading the medical report): According to this report, the accused suffers from mental imbalance, he needs psychiatric treatment. I dismiss this case and order the accused to be released to the custody of his parents.
The court is adjourned. (Judge leaves.)
End Scene Six

Scene Seven

(Temple setting)
Voice : Konesweram Kovil
On the hill top
The sky above
And the sea below,
Serene atmosphere.
Images of gods
Showering Blessings
On crowds of devotees,
Chanting prayers.
Koneswaram
Koneswaram.

Ambi : Ah, ha.
Marvelous,
Oh, King Kullakottan
Your service is noble.
How this enchanting atmosphere
Mesmerises me.
My cuckoo bird of the garden of flowers.
Mullai,
Where have you gone?
Konesha Kovil
Festivity at its peak,
Where have you elude me,
My Mullai?
(V0ices of women are heard)
ah,that’s the voice
Of the angel of my heart
It’s the melody that lingers
Long after the cuckoo bird
And the mynah bird have sung.
(A group of women go past Ambi)
Woman 1 : hey,come quickly,the pooja’s about to begin.
Ambi; aai, MULLAI.
I’ m here. Where do you go ?
( Ambi pulls the hand of a woman. She slaps him.)
Woman 1 : He’s mad. Why did you slap him?
Woman 2 : Nonsense.
Ambi: Ai,Mullai.
You slapped me?
( Ambi tries to go near the woman. Guards of the temple assault Ambi.)
Ambi : (loud) Oh,King
Is this your royal justice?
You removed my Mullai from me.
And allowed your guards to assault me.
Is this your justice?

End Scene.

‘Annaviyar’ Palahappodiyar of Kannankudah, Batticaloa is one of the prominent Masters of the art of Kooththu, the traditional Theatre of the Thamils of Sri Lanka. He is skillful in both styles of Kooththu, the ‘Thenmody’ and the ‘Vadamody.’ These two styles of the traditional theatres of the Thamils are prominent in the Eastern part of Sri Lanka and popular among the Thamils of Sri Lanka.

‘Annaviyar’ Palahappodiyar’s knowledge and skill in Kooththu is tremendous and he is one of the living resource bases of the indigenous knowledge and skills of the Thamils of Sri Lanka. His support to the Kooththu Reformulation program of the Seelamunai, Batticaloa is commendable.

‘Annaviyar’ Palahappodiyar is one of the energy bases of the art of Kooththu as a living art in the Eastern Part of Sri Lanka in the contemporary world. His consciousness and contribution to the future of Kooththu is also appreciable.


S.Jeyasankar

Politics of Reformulations.
Reformulation of Community Theatre based on Kooththu*.
(*Traditional Theatre of the Thamils of Sri Lanka)
The politics of Reformulation is a shift in the paradigm from machine-centered Industrialization & Computerization to one that people-centered. Redefining or reinventing the concepts of development and technology is the pre-requisite for this process.
It is basically liberating the human beings from machines and re-connects them with the nature.

Fundamentally human beings are also elements of nature but with the power of modern technology to control the nature or the whole Universe for its own benefits. But the “Modern Man” with his powers created the world for a few and brought destructions to the rest.

The concept of Reformulation involves a process of unbinding Man from Mechanization and make him a human being to live in a world of equality where difference is celebrated. This will be achieved through different kinds of ways and means at different levels.

The process of Kooththu could function as one of the means to formulate a people oriented activity in the creation of a world of equality where the difference is celebrated.

Kooththu is not only an art of the artist in the modern sense, but it’s mainly a process of a community. The basic process of the Kooththu system is learning it; by doing it collectively and the primary source of it is Memory. These aspects made the Kooththu process primarily a practice oriented one.

Modernization and Commercialization of Kooththu alienate the people who own it and practicing it for generations. The pre colonial nature of Kooththu is considered as crude, unsophisticated, primitive and the art of the illiterate and the uneducated because those who involved in the Kooththu at the community level are not educated in the Colonial Education Institutions and are not the consumers of imported spirits.

The influence of the politics and aesthetics of Modernization played a vital role in the perception of Kooththu in modern times. This perception made the “educated” to think that Kooththu as Medai Kooththu (Kooththu in the Picture Frame Stage). Kooththu was dislocated from its origin and appropriated to a new space introduced by colonial power. A community oriented performance art was minimized to performance oriented art for the audience in a colonial building and the audience was made to think, it’s modern.

Sivagnanam Jeyasankar
Department of Fine Arts,
Faculty of Arts &Culture,
Eastern University Sri Lanka,
Batticaloa,
Sri Lanka.

'Annaviyar' Sinnaiah Gnanaseharam of Seelamunai, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka played an important role in the Reformulation of Kooththu(Traditional Theatre of the Thamils of Sri Lanka)
process as an organic form of Community Theatre , which was initiated by S.Jeyasankar in year 2002 for his Masters program in Seelamunai and later developed into a continuous program by the THIRE EYE Local Knowledge and Skill Activists Group in Seelamunai and extended to other villages to counter Global Culture.

INFINITE JUSTICE


In every sky there’s full moon reign
To hide in fear there’s no country foreign

The millennium and the New Year
Ushered in, rejoiced and did not yet wear
The prophecy of Nostradamus did ghost like appear
The major powers attempts to make it truer.

For the people, in the name of people
Under the names of states and institutions
Attempts of power of freakish men-.
Of swollen nerves and numbed muscles.

What name bear will the wisdom and prowess?
That fails to make untrue the prophecy
That revives shape and grimly shines
By sending chill through people’s spines

Will the wisdom of thousand years
Perish in the face of this utter nonsense?
If it does perish are we all still
People primitive and inhumane

Let swollen nerves their swelling dispel
Numbed muscles their numbness dispel
The angry passion its arrogance dispels.

In the heart, let kindness blossom
In the head, let wisdom glow
And with the lives on the earth let human live too.



By: S.Jeyasankar
Translated into English by: T.Kirupakaran
From THIRD EYE Little Magazine.*


*THIRD EYE Little magazine is the publication of the THIRD EYE English Forum.

Annual Temple Rituals and Cultural Programs of the Third Eye

Third Eye Local Knowledge and Skill Activists Group in collaboration with her affiliate groups, “Seelamunai Kalai Kalaham” and “Karunepamkeny Paadum Nila Kali Kalaham”
performed songs and dances (90min.) on 20th June and Kooththu (180min.) on 22nd June respectively at the “Vyravar” Temple, Batticaloa at 9.00 pm (near the Railway Station of Batticaloa) connected with its annual ritual ceremony 2005.

The performance of Songs and Dances with the accompaniment of indigenous instrumentals is the compositions of the affiliates of the Third Eye on different issues ranging from displacement to oppressions and resistance to celebrations!

The performance of third successive Reformulated Kooththu (Traditional Theatre of the Thamils of Sri Lanka) “Seethai Surpanahai Vathai” (“The Torture of Seetahi and Surpanahai”) is totally a rewritten version of the Kooththu Community of Seelamunai Batticaloa. The Kooththu portrays the sufferings and the voiceless ness of women in the epic Ramayanam.

Third Eye
Local Knowledge and Skill Activists Group

Treasure Island

Treasure Island

Forests of materials
Opened to anyone
With dollars in hands
Wealth of resources
Make dollars by the handful

Disaster made avenues
For research and experiments
An open field for practices
Country becomes
An Open University
But not for the natives
Who were caged into a
Disney world of
Academic Institutions
Making people suitable for
World Bank demanded
Wonder land of
Blue colored neo slaves

How to live as subjects
And to be specimens
Under the microscope
Forever in different forms

At least for a change
Shall we resist?
Or be happy
With eternal slavery

S.Jeyasankar
17.02.2005

(Republished from OPTIONS volume: 36, 1st Issue 2005.
OPTIONS is published by Women and Media Collective, Colombo, Sri Lanka.)

Children’s festival at Seelamunai-Some Thoughts

Who said flying kites is an easy task? Certainly not, in my humble opinion.
To fly a kite you need to have patience ;
To fly a kite you need to have a stable mind;
To fly a kite you need to have friends;
To fly a kite you need to have strategies,
That’s why children are good at it!

These were the thoughts that wandered in my lonely mind when I was at Seelamunai witnessing the happy children from Seelmunai, Kumarapuram Karuvepamkerny and Navatkudah celebrating the Children’s festival organized by the Third Eye Local Knowledge and Skill Activists group.

In the days old, children were treated as children in our society and there
was a space for them to explore and experience the real world full of
richness and variety. Due to globalization and its shadows on our culture and
society our children are being treated as robots and rote- learning remote
controlled devices .Their daily mechanical duty includes going to school and
tuition, doing home work and attend computer classes ,and doing well in
exams to please their parents no matter whether they are school-going
children or undergraduates.

Children who experience post tsunami trauma have had a space to vomit
their bitter past and rebuild their inner strength through festivals like this.
I was thrilled and indeed surprised to see the enormous talent exhibited by
the children through their own songs and games .

The festival also brought the traditional games which nurtured the children
and used as a tool to develop their personality and perception to the surface
once again.

Flying kites is all about making social relationships and boosting the morals
of children to be self- reliant and sustainable .

Congratulations to the winds behind the wings (kites).

S.Sasitharan, Eastern University, Srilanka

Third Eye Kite festival – Batticaloa, 15th May 2005

Third Eye Kite festival – Batticaloa 15th May 2005

Four groups of young people from Kumarapurum Seelamunai, Karavapunganai and Navatkudah met on a firey May Day for kite flying.

Children’s events in Sri Lanka are often fairly disciplined and ordered affairs. Along with the speeches of dignitaries, there are neat lines of children singing or dancing and it would not be stretching the point to suggest they often have a militaristic rather than creative ethos. This is not too condemn the organizers of these events as it is difficult to escape the assumption that in order to display the work of hundreds of children tight parading is necessary. Although it could be argued that the conflict has produced these disciplinary structures, I would argue that the well-marshaled shape of children’s festivals owes as much to a strict and authoritarian education system as it does to the context of war.

The Third Eye kite festival on a large playing field in the village of Seelamunai on Sunday May 15th was very different. In both structure and content it did not conform to the familiar shape I have seen in past festivals. I would argue that it was because the structure was in many ways its content that the event differed to such a degree.

A certain beautiful chaos ruled the afternoon. The children started – could only start – by flying their kites. Made from palm strips and colored tissue paper over the weeks prior to the festival, they came in different shapes and sizes – and were flown sometimes expertly and sometimes precariously by children of different shapes and sizes. And because the wind and other natural elements partly determined the success of this endeavour, the flying appeared in a range of contrasting forms. Young girls were seen twirling their kites behind them – barely a metre in the air – dancing joyfully in wild circles with the same randomness as their kite’s path. Other children stood in awe as their kites soared, high into the sun. They were forced to stand still, not daring to pull too roughly on the string or shift position too drastically hoping to sustain the precious flight. The franticness of some was therefore matched with the calmness of others. There were so many patterns danced by children during the evening, it is hard to capture them all. There was the solitary – as in the girl above – or the communal as several youngsters worked on the same kite. Also there were collaborations as adults worked with children to lift their constructions into the wind. A father clearly delighted in hoisting his (or his son’s) kite into the air.

So in structure this cultural event offered something different from the tightly controlled spaces that children usually operate within. It was not the strict format of school; it was not the militaristic parade. Children played free form, and that very freedom was a powerful counterpoint to many of the tensions and restrictions of the region.
Some observers might suggest that this event had no content as such – no agenda, no obvious theme, and no educational message. And that the lack of focus was not giving the children any direction, or any sense of a concrete learning experience. I would disagree. First learning to make kites in a traditional manner is worthwhile in and of itself – it provides a creative pastime, it links young people to a traditional activity and brings a joy when a personal creation seemingly develops its own power and flies. The activity brings children into direct connection with their environment and a concentrated awareness of the subtle balances required between weight and wind, shape and aerodynamics. Second the very freedom permitted by this gathering, organised and official, yet free and spontaneous, offered a rare space for these groups of children and adults. As well as the kite flying, children demonstrated songs they had made up and also the groups played some of the games they had been practising in their villages. The fun of the opening kite flying section of the event seemed to pervade these later sections and singing had a certain positive lack of organisation and the games a sense of abandon. This spirit created a space that by being uncontrolled, was a powerful response to the many factors and forces that control the spaces these communities, these children, live within. And they were spaces here that was planted firmly in a playground – but also soared high in the hot sky.
There was a story at the end of the day that there had been an incident in Batticaloa town, and a nervousness descended as the day ended. An important reminder that festivals might create momentary exhilarating celebrations, but the tensions of the context can quickly reclaim any spaces opened up. Kites are wonderful in their lightness and agility, but also fleeting and sadly fragile.


James Thompson
Professor of Applied and Social Theatre
Centre for Applied Theatre Research
Martin Harris Building
University of Manchester
Oxford RoadManchester M13 9PL0044 161 275 3357

www.inplaceofwar.net

May 2005

Silver flowers all over the sky

Silver flowers all over the sky

Silver flowers all over the sky,
No hands to gather them.
Refugee children all over the world,
No one to embrace them.

Birds chirp all over the open field,
No one to listen yearningly,
Voices of children on the way, on the streets,
No soul to feel compassion.
(Silver flowers….)

Shoals of twirling fish in the sea,
No one enjoy lovely sight.
Refugee children drifting in the boats,
No way to reach the coast.
(Silver flowers….)

Supreme justice all over the world,
With sermons plenty.
Night and day alternate,
No radiance for refugee children.
(Silver flowers….)

Poem in Thamil: M. Ponampalam

Translated into English: S.M.Felix

Children’s Festival in Seelamunai, Batticaloa,Sri Lanka

Children’s Festival in Seelamunai, Batticaloa(Sri Lanka) on 15nth of May 2005

Third Eye Local Knowledge and Skill Activists Group is organizing a Children’s Festival from 4.30pm to6.30pm on 15nth of May 2005 in Seelamunai Batticaloa. The Children’s Clubs of Third Eye in Kumarapuram, Seelamunai, Karuvepamkerny and Navatkudah will participate and perform in this festival.

Programs:
Demonstration of Traditional Children’s games and Children’s Theatre Games by the children’s who are involved in the Children’s program of the Third Eye with the Tsunami affected children from the 27nth of December 2004.

The special feature of the festival is the Festival of Kites.

Kites are very popular among people and very special among children. But now it is very rare to see people with kites or children are playing with kites.

Why it’s lost its popularity and what is the importance of kites?

Education and Electronic Media cut short the leisure time of the people and especially the children.

Children are sitting in a class room (may be in a school or in a tuition centre) in front of a teacher and studying matters which are rarely connects themselves with their environment or in front of the television box and busying themselves with popular entertainments which were designed to make the people to live in a crazy world.

Time to free mobility is very limited for children now.

Reviving the entertainment of playing with kites among children is a kind of liberating children from their oppressive nature and provides them with creative atmosphere.

Playing with kites is an exiting entertainment and an energetic creative exercise.

Popularizing it among the children is another kind of Education.

The process of playing with Kites is an aesthetic experience, physical exercise and an exercise for concentration.

It will function as a tool to connect the children among themselves and with their own environment and it will function also as a tool to build-up gender equality from the childhood.

Third Eye celebrates the creativity and skills of the children of this world of domination and control.


Children’s Festival will be followed by screening of KITCHAN; a 26 minutes short film was produced by Neithal Media Vision. The short film was scripted and directed by
A. Vimalraj based on a short story Krishnapillai by Riyas Ahmad (Amritha A.M.)

This is Kitchchan…
Kitchchan is the story of a boy who has lost his primary education.
Our families are patriarchal centered.
When the male heads of the families became victims of war, a large number of families became women headed households.
In a large number of families, children were compelled to become breadwinners for the livelihood of their families.
Naughtiness and merriment at home, play and mischief outside,
Wandering timidly………..
Children – stars twinkling on the ground have become the carriers of unbearable burdens.
Law considers child labour as offence.
Law is reasonable.
But reality is complex, full of challenges.
To relieve children from their heavy burdens
is connected to facing the challenges of complicated realities.
Kitchchan is the manifestation to face these challenges.

(Translated By: S.M Felix)


Children’s festival of the “Third Eye” will be extended to the other villages with the support of the communities and friends.


The aim and objective of the “Third Eye” is to strengthen the self sustainability of the communities.

Let’s depend on our knowledge,
Let’s depend on our skills.
Let’s sow in our fields,
Let’s live on our yields.
Let’s awake by removing
Living practices that control.
Let’s revive
Ways of living in harmony
With environment.(Translated By: S.M Felix)


S.Jeyasankar

Hey Friends!
Why the changes in Mind Chemistry?


Hey Friends!!!!
It’s not a dream
Or it’s not an imagination
And it’s definitely not a rumor
It’s fact!!!!
Because it’s appeared on the news paper!
Words on print!!
Not from word of mouth
By the ordinary people

Hey Friends!!!!
Its words on print
And scientifically proved
By specially trained people
So, it’s truth
In the modern sense!

The English Daily captured it
On the front page,
“Sri Lanka to lose another Chinese gift?”

“It was a tall and huge building
With all modern facilities
Designed according to a total Chinese architectural model
But it was disapproved
Because a Chinese model cannot be accepted for a national building”

“Even our architects did not accept it
Because the building did not suit
Our traditional architectural styles”

“It’s rejection due to the absence of a national identity in it.”

Oh, my dear patriotic and nationalist friends
We will celebrate the power of National Identity
And will raise the national flags
To establish the country’s sovurinity

But our common sense asks within ourselves,
Authorities are being brave enough
To lose the “gifts”
To safe guard the national Identity
But, why are they behave differently
When dealing with economic issues?

Accepting and implementing the programs and models
Of World Bank and IMF and the new ally the WTO
Are universally recognized as
Negative social elements and elements of domination

What are the scientific backgrounds and
Especially trained qualities
Made the authorities behave differently?

Why the changes in Mind Chemistry?

Hey Friends!
Why the changes in Mind Chemistry?


S.Jeyasankar
(02.05.2005)

(Based on a news item appeared on Daily Mirror, Monday, April 11.2005)

JUST ANOTHER SCHOOL DAY

JUST ANOTHER SCHOOL DAY

Morning bell has rung,
morning roosters all have sung.
Happy kids flood school gates,
eager to learn, eager to learn,
eager to learn the lessons of life.
Master walks in. Books in arms, smile on face.
Master walks to desk, brown box, covered with lace.
They stand up, and say ‘Good Morning, Master,’
She replies with, ‘Thank you, thank you,
Thank you for saying hello.’
They sit down, smooth out their dress,
bright cotton white beaming from their chests.
Jasmine flowers flow in and out of pleated braids.

How perfect, just perfect,
How perfect to be right there, like that?
Master walks to blackboard.
Children take their blackboards.
Master takes white chalk, writes cat on board.
Children take white chalk, write cat, cat,
Children write cat for 50 times to come.
Master writes 2 x 3, 2 x 4, 2 x 6.
Children shoot hands in the air, waiting to see who
she picks.
Master says, ‘You!’ points to tiny girl.
Tiny girl stands, stands, stands,
tiny girl stands, brown feet on dirt ground, hands by
her side.
‘Six, master,’ ‘eight, master,’ ‘twelve, master.’
‘Well done, but do a little faster.’
Tiny girl stands and repeats,
repeats, repeats,
repeats with rhythm, and red beats on her hands.
Tiny girl sits, with smile in no sight,
Master goes on, with only sunlight.
Children stand up and sing their prayers,
prayers, prayers,
children sing their prayers of worship to achieve
happiness soon.

Master dismisses the children to home.
How fast these times must go.
As the crickets soon begin to chirp their night song,

it is my time to say, ‘So long,’
‘so long, so long.’
So long to this magical world of numbers and words,
which I wish to be a part of, as do songbirds,
and I leave this window of hopes and dreams,
dreams, dreams,
as I part from this window of hopes and dreams, and go
home.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXPLANATION:
This poem, ‘Just Another School Day,’ was
written from the perspective of a little village girl
in India, as she recounts the wonders she sees of the
‘magical world’ called school. As she watches through
the school window the exciting and fun things that
occur, she longs to be a part of it, however, she
unable to be a part of it because she needs to have a
uniform in order to have an education and go to
school. This is a situation that occurs frequently
around the world, especially in the third-world
countries, and needs to be addressed.

Damayanthi Paul

Economic Identity…What?! Noooo!!

Economic Identity…What?! Noooo!!

Cultural Identity… Yes!
National Identity… Yes!
Economic Identity… What?! Noooo!!

Is there any connection
Between Culture and Economy
Or
Between Economy and Culture

What about Marxist talks of
Super structure and base structure

Oh, let's forget it
Don't you know?
All that nonsense collapsed
With the Soviet Union and its blocks

Oh, what brave thinking?
By the way,
Do you know?
Sri Lanka is going to lose another gift?

It's a gift from the Chinese government
Like that earlier one, the BMICH*.

Authorities rejected it
Not because of the suspicious gift of Greece
But because of "The architectural design
Of the National Performance Arts Centre
doesn't suit the traditional styles"

"Chinese model cannot be accepted
For a national building"
And the Authorities added
"Even our architects did not accept it"

Oh, what great arguments!

Long live Cultural Identity
Long live National Identity

Oh, what about Economic Identity?

Sri Lanka hasn't an Economic tradition?
The economic models of the World Bank
Suits our Socio-cultural traditions?

Architects of the country
Running for the World Bank models
Because of its appropriateness
to the socio-cultural traditions of the country?

Cultural Identity… Yes!
National Identity… Yes!
Economic Identity What?! Noooo!!

S.Jeyasankar
(28.05.2005)

*BMICH: Bandaranyake Memorial International Conference
Hall.

**News Resourse: Daily Mirror, Monday, April, 11, 2005.

Privatization too is violation of human rights!

Privatization too is violation of human rights!
If privatization is unavoidable
Then violation of human rights too is unavoidable!
Because
Basic health needs
Water
And Education is human rights.
Privatization of basic health needs
Privatization of water
Privatization of education
Are all human rights violations
So
Do those who argue
Privatization is unavoidable
Say
Violation of fundamental human rights is unavoidable?
Third Eye
Local Knowledge and Skill Activists Group
01.05.2005

Text in Thamil by: S.Jeyasankar
Translated into English by: S.M. Felix

Guns, Condoms and Stress!

Guns, Condoms and Stress!
Or
Please give your ears to them
No
They are demanding vagina of women

Alert! Alert!! Alert!!!

A health alert!
Health alert for soldiers!!

Doctors sounded the alert!

Soldiers engaged in anti-insurgency operations
Struck by HIV
The virus causes AIDS!

Oh! What kind of war they are engaged in?!
And what kind of insurgency
They are encountering?

It's not the time for questioning
It's a time for reacting to a genuine cause
Keep silent and give your ears to them

"We're invariably stressed out
And monotony sets in
Working in isolated and hostile terrain
For a long period"

Oh! It's terrible! Extremely terrible!

"So the easy way to relax is to go for casual sex"

ya… but where?

"In most cases soldiers mingling with locals
And then going for unprotected sex
To fight stress and fatigue"

But it's too bad a...

Definitely Yes!
"The awareness level is very low among the soldiers"
"And they are ignorant too".

Awareness campaign with a host of celebrities
Including an actress and a bunch of politicians

As part of the drive
Soldiers were being given condoms.

Oh! What kind of war they are engaged in?!
And what kind of insurgency
They are encountering?

It's not the time for questioning
It's a time for reacting to a genuine cause
Keep silent and give your ears to them

It's not a problem to give my ears to them
But the problem is there demand!
They are demanding the vagina of women!!!
They are demanding the vagina of womanhood!!!

Now, they were given condoms too!!!

They are officially equipped with guns and condoms
They are officially equipped with guns and condoms
They are officially equipped with guns and condoms

S.Jeyasankar
(28.04.2005)

Note not a footnote: Based from news item and not an
imagination. People think that art and literature are mere
imaginations when reality seems to be beyond
imaginations.