Post Tsunami Lake Side of Maddakkalappu(Batticaloa), Sri Lanka!

Photos of R. Suboja of Thirdeye Local Knowledge and Skill Activists Group.
R. Suboja is specialist in Children's Theatre and Photographer.

S.Jeyasankar

Post Tsunami Lake Side of Maddakkalappu(Batticaloa), Sri Lanka!

Photos of R. Suboja of Thirdeye Local Knowledge and Skill Activists Group.


R. Suboja is specialist in Children's Theatre and Photographer.

S.Jeyasankar

Naveena Pasmasuran or The Ashen Touch

Naveena Pasmasuran
or
The Ashen Touch






Ho! Ho! …………….
Oh! The peacefulness of the mountains, the loneliness of the rivers!
Ho! Alfa………
Ho! Beta………
Ho! Gama…….
Ho! Neutron …….
Ho! …………….
Ho! …………..
Oh! The wind, the sound ……
The ocean of antiquity ………
Oh! Fire the symbol of justice
Ho! …...Uranium ………
Ho! ….. Plutonium……
Ho! ….. Deuterium …….
Ho! ….. Ho… Ho…

Pasmasuran is doing penance
Pasmasuran is doing severe penance
He is lying on hedges.
He is standing on one foot with the arms stretched out.
He stares at the Sun with his naked eyes.
By the power of his penance the world of Indra has lost its pomp.
Devas in fear have hidden in dark dungeons.
He has chained the wind.
The guards of the eight directions have surrendered to him.
The queen of the oceans was incarcerated.
The stars have lost their sight by the power of his penance.
The sons of the mountains have lost themselves to him.

Danger…… Danger………
Oh! People of the earth……. danger…….
(Ho….. ho……. ho……)

(God Shiva appears)
God Siva: I’m pleased with your power of penance.

I’m so pleased with your penance. It’s fit to shatter the three worlds.

(Pasmasuran bows to God Shiva)

God Siva: What boon do you want?

Tell me! It shall be given.

(Pasmasuran sings)

Came you for me my Lord
To give me a boon
Came you for me my Lord?

Pleased by my penance
To give me a boon
Came you for me my lord?

Bless me with a boon my lord – oh lord
Bless me with one my Lord

To swoop the world and Keep in my hand
Bless me with a boon my lord - oh lord
Bless me with one my Lord

God Shiva: what boon do you want?
Ask it shall be given.

Pasmasuran: All that I touch should become ashes my lord.
I want that ashen touch my Lord.

God Siva: Here, have it. Whatever you touch shall become ashes!

(The chanting of E= mc2 rises up high in the air)

Song:
Here comes the King Pasmasuran
Here comes the one blessed with the boon.

Pasmasuran is our great King
He did great penance and got many boons
In arrogance he changed the boon to curse
And did perish in the end.
Here comes the King Pasmasuran
Here comes the one blessed with the boon.

Scientists the greatest scholars
Through penance got the boon of nuclear power
The nuclear power of Science is creative
But in the war it’s immensely destructive.

Here comes the King Pasmasuran
Here comes the one blessed with the boon.

Pasmasuran is our great King
He did great penance and got many boons
In arrogance he changed the boons into curse
And did perish in the end.

Here comes the King Pasmasuran
Here comes the one blessed with the boon.

With one big bang
Came the holocaust
Babes and birds
Wailed and wept.

Here comes the King Pasmasuran
Here comes the one blessed with the boon.

Pasmasuran:
Got the boon to raze the world
I'm the King of Kings unrivalled
Is there anyone to challenge me?
I'm the leader blessed ever to be.

Pasmasuran:

I am the one who got the boon of "Ashen touch".
I know all the secrets of the nuclear power.
I know how to create a world without human beings.
Only buildings will remain.
Trees, bushes, creepers, grass, animals human beings everything will perish.
Every thing will perish.
One and only one bomb would do.
Our Sun will be dead.
Darkness of death will shroud and devour us all.
All our stars will fall down burnt.
Our entire river will be poisoned.
Our seas will freeze to immobility.
Smoke will rise up like a giant mushroom
Under which will exist my rule.

(Song)

The hero of heroes I am
The almighty King
The all powerful scientist I am.

Mightiest the most fortunate
Mightiest the most fortunate

The fittest survive
The non-fits perish

Mightiest the most fortunate
He who owns the nuclear power
Rules the world for ever.

E equals mc2 …. E equals mc2 …

Song:

The hero of heroes I am
The almighty King.
The all powerful scientist I am!

Pasmasuran: There is atomic bomb in my possession. Summon God Shiva.

God Siva: I'm here Pasmasura. I am present everywhere at any time.

Pasmasuran: Come near me. Let me test the boon first on you.

God Siva: Wait Pasmasura….. Wait' don’t make the boon a curse.
Don't be in a hurry
Don't become arrogant.

Pasmasuran: Nay, I take it to my advantage.

E equals mc2….. E equals mc2….

(Pasmasuran leaps at God Shiva. god Shiva runs away. The chase continues.
Chanting of the lines is heard in the background.)

Hiroshima Nagasaki
Nagasaki Hiroshima
Acid Rain Acid Rain
Acid Rain Acid Rain
Hiroshima Nagasaki
Nagasaki Hiroshima
Nuclear leak of Chernobyl
Atomic disaster in North Carolina
Even in the space the menace spreads
Subcontinents too face the threats.
All over the space the missiles hover
Impact of radioactivity the world over
Hiroshima Nagasaki….
Nagasaki Hiroshima……
Hiroshima…. Nagasaki…..
Hiroshima…. Nagasaki…..
Black Rain… Black Rain….
Black Rain… Black Rain….

God Siva:
Kali Yugam….. Kali Yugam…..
The time when boons become curse…
The time when boons become curse….
World full of vices

God Siva:
Boons turn out to be curse
Boons turn out to be curse

God Siva:
Kali Yugam…. Kali Yugam..
Boons have become curse
Virtue has declined
Wisdom has deteriorated
Vision has dimmed
Voice your protests
Call for humanism,
Are we going to bear the unbearable?
Or to avoid it?
Lend your ears
To the call of intellect
Raise your protests
Call for benevolence.

To safeguard the good
To destroy the evil
To re-establish virtue and righteousness
I will be born age after age.

(The chanting of Sanskrit Slogan is heard in the background.)


Let a new world blossom up
Let another world burgeon.
If another world war breaks out
There will be no one in this earth
To sing Elegy
To erect monuments in memory
To raise protests
Or to wake up the awareness.

Let a new world blossom up
Let another world burgeon.

The survival of the Earth is
At the mercy of a few buttons…
The fate of this world is
In the hands of a few people.

Let the fire flare up
We invoke benevolence in it
We invoke freedom in it]
For the Earth and Sky to
Flourish and prosper!

(Song):

March forward will we
March forward will we
Getting rid of the nuclear arms
March forward will we
Devoid of power hunger
March forward will we
For all lives to live in peace
March forward will we
For the whole world to flourish
March forward will we.

Dialogue begins...
* A version for one person performance.

Full Legnth Play Written in Thamil By.M. Nilanthan and Directed by S.Jeyasankar

Translation in English by Mr. T. Kirupacaran

** Thirdeye is performing this play from 1992
It was performed in Thamil, English and as Bilingual (Thamil& English)

S.Jeyasankar

Different faces of Thappu, the Traditional Drums of Up Country Thamil of Sri Lanka!

Thappu is the dying art of the Up Country Thamils!!!




People are shy to identify with this vibrant art which connects them with their life cycles because its the art of the oppressed.








But few people are aware of its importance and working on it to reformulate it to connect people who are disintergrated by the electronic media culture of the Corporate World.








Kamalahasan of Nuwara Eliya is an young activist engaged himself to promote the art of Thappu.








Promotion of art of Thappu is a strrugle against oppression!

But DEFINITELY NOT Commercialization!!

S.Jeyasankar

Amma is just at home?!

Paintings from Mother Series by S. Nirmalavasan

AMMA IS JUST AT HOME? !

Hi kutti How are you Kutti? What were you doing?
I was dancing kumi just by the ammi – I was not idle
Hi kutti how are you kutti? What were you doing?
I was comforting the little goat - I was not idle?
Hi kutti how are you kutti? What were you doing?
I was brushing the teeth of the baby snake – I was not idle

(Folk song)

(Arrive in a procession singing the above song and form a circle by dancing)


Sangupithala saruhupithala
Engum eapadi raja kattalai
This is a command of the king
Will you listen?


Sangupithala saruhupithala
Engum eapadi raja kattalai
This is a command of the king
Will you look at this?


Sangupithala saruhupithala
Engum eapadi raja kattalai
This is a command of the king
Will you answer these questions?


Teacher: What is your name?
Student: Sivakumar
Teacher: What’s your father’s name?
Student: Kandasami
Teacher: What’s your father’s job?
Student: Carpentry
Teacher: What’s your mother’s name?
Student: Annaluckshumi
Teacher: What’s your mother’s job?
Student: Amma is just at home

Person 1: Does just at home mean, from the time she gets up in the morning until night she is sitting on a mat?

Person 2: or perhaps she is sleeping on a bench?

Person 3: If not may be she is sitting on a chair and swing her legs

Person 4: She is not just sitting at home she is doing something. All of us know that.

Person 1: Then, if we know she is not just sitting why do we say so?

Person 2: That’s true. We never say she works

Person 3: Why? She is not paid a salary for this work?

Person 1: If so, a work that is not paid for has no value?

Person 2: That is a mother’s duty

Person 1: Amma does these out of love and affection

Person 3: Can you account for love and affection?

Person 1: You need not account for love and affection, but try to account for the work she does!

Person: If we were to pay for the labour of Amma, how much should we pay?

(All discuss)

Person: Still not finished calculating? Lets go home, think well, consult others too and make a decision.



(Song)*

When I was a little girl
I did not see this world – I was ignorant
Suffering of women - I knew not
Then, I knew not

When Amma was at home she was never idle – when
my amma was at home she was never idle
She would protect us as the pupil of her eye
She made our meals even taught us lessons – but
there is no value for her labour – yet
no mothers are idle at home

Women are the revenue to our country
Developments are through women
Women working in the plantations
women working in the garment factories –
no end to their hardship and silent suffering – yet
never paid worth their toil

Many are the women we see
Standing tall – self determined
Striving to create a perfect society
This is a transparent fact, known by all – yet
Still why the suppression?

Person 1: Even if you cannot pay her, keep an account for what she does for you.
Only then, will you never again say that Amma is just at home.



Sangupithala saruhupithala
Engum eapadi raja kattalai
This is a command of the king
May I take my leave?


Sangupithala saruhupithala
Engum eapadi raja kattalai
This is a command of the king
Are you all happy?


Sangupithala saruhupithala
Engum eapadi raja kattalai
This is a command of the king
Will you forget the sum?


Sangupithala saruhupithala
Engum eapadi raja kattalai
This is a command of the king
What’s the sum?


S.Jeyasanker
2006

*Song: when i was a little girl

In Thamil by S.Vijikala

Translated by: Lallini Tisseverasinghe

· Kutti: Young women in Thamil
· Kummi:
· Ammi: Grinding stone
· Amma: Mother
· Sangupithala saruhupithala, Engum eapadi raja kattalai: Chorus of a children’s game played in Sri Lanka