Great
commentary. On Jaffna.
A
fantastic transformation.
jksw
Forwarding.
I do not know Lalin. He has done
the trip I have been doing many times since 2010. A wide angle view.
Except for a few errors, it is a
honest commentary.
Yala type tourists will not have
time to observe these.
In 2011 I told my friends there, in Jaffna’
Take photos and video all you can now. You will not see these in 4 years.” And
so
It has turned out.
With travelling to Jaffna in just 7
hours in a luxury train it is
great for holidays.
I
have not yet used the train, preferring my Toyota and the knowledgeable
friends I moved with. We gather and move with local friends so
much.
The late Dr. Padman Ratnesar ENT surgeon
went there with me twice. Till his last day, he was helping his Alma
Mater St. Johns College and the northerners in a big way. May he rest in peace.
Note that most expats kept supporting their relations in the
peninsula for the whole war era.
Actually, on my visits near
10 trips so far, I am put up by his relations in one of the two houses he got
built.
I have not moved with the authorities, preferring
to move freely to watch and learn. It is land I knew as a teenager.
At Delft and Kandarodhi near Chunakam,
there are bases of ancient Viharas, flatter and made more of coral stuff.
No artifacts at Jambukola near Keerimalai. Other
artifacts are at the Jaffna museum.
Did you know that there is a stone tablet about 4
ft x 3 feet in Nagadeepa with clear writing from Parakramabahu? Instructions to
sea traders? Can be read by archeologists.
It was in the museum house half way between
the temple and the Kovil, 200 meters inland. Lying neglected on the floor
in a corner I searched for it and took photos in 2012. I have them!
I knew abut its existence , recalling a photo of
it in a newspaper 60 years ago.
But last trip there 2013 I found the house
had disappeared.
jksw
TRAIN TO JAFFNA - a must do at your
next visit
Lalin’s
Column:
Sun,
2016-05-08 07:47 — editor
By Major General (Retd.)
Lalin Fernando
The first time I visited Jaffna was
in 1961 for Captain, (later Major General) George Thevanayagam’s marriage to Ms
Sanders.
He was in the Sinha Regiment like
me.
This January (2016), we went with a
close relative from the USA and her friend in the crack Chinese ‘Blue’ express
train to Jaffna.
Its comfortable compartments are all
air conditioned. The seats, which are all reserved, can be turned round to face
each other.
The lavatories were spotlessly
clean. Bookings can be made on line or at given stations.
The train leaves Mt Lavinia at 5.10
am with quick stops at Dehiwala, Wellawatte and Bambalapitiya to Colombo Fort
from where departure is at 5.45 am .
It runs express to Anuradhapura
(A’pura) to which the ticket costs Rs 1,000. Beyond A’pura it costs Rs 1,500
and from A’pura either way it costs Rs 500 .
There was a restaurant section but
it was not much patronized as the commuters were well prepared with
refreshments for the 7.5 hour journey.
The train was nearly full. As it was
silent, dark and comfortable most slept until about 7 am .
“And now
this soldier, this Lankan soldier
Will wander far no more and soldier far no more…
He’s seen the glory, he’s told the story,
Of battle glorious and deeds victorious,
The bugles ceased now, He is at peace now
Far from those green hills of home”
(Remembering
the men and women of the Armed Forces and the Police who sacrificed their lives
to bring peace to Sri Lanka, and all others who died in the 26 year old
conflict). With apologies to the author of ‘Green Hills of Tyrol /Scottish
Soldier)
Many in the train were expat Tamils
eagerly looking forward to seeing Jaffna after many years in self exile.
I spoke to a pleasant self employed,
IT qualified young Tamil from London.
His thinking about SL was not about
recrimination, blame games, cheap political stunts, gimmicks, demands and
preference for diverse forms of government.
He acknowledged the appalling cost
of war was due to the evil of racial politics.
He did not blame any side.
All he wanted was the guarantee of
equality in law.
He had played cricket and was
interested to know that rugby was also being introduced to schools there.
Did he know that SL’s first rugby
international was a Tamil who played for Scotland about 20 years ago?
After Anuradhapura the red tiled
roofs of hundreds of newly built sturdy brick houses dotted the sprawling and
verdant country side.
There were huge ponds full of water.
Hardy looking people were seen in
the fields with women bustling around attending to household chores.
Everything was green, pretty and
pleasant - the benefits of peace.
All the Northern railway stations
were shining new, spic and span.
Banks and companies had donated many
of the amenities.
Arrival at Jaffna was greeted like a
home coming with many relatives and friends to meet the travelers.
The station was large, imposing,
tidy and clean.
The local people showed proprietary
pride in it.
Apparently it is the second biggest
in SL,
like the airport at Pallaly was,
until Mattala came up.
We reached KKS spot on time,
incredible for SL Railways.
The warm reception organized by
Thalsevena, the popular Army hotel about 100 yards away, began at the
Kankasanthurai (KKS) station platform.
Everything to do with Thal Sevena
was well planned, organized and managed.
It has a beautiful vista taking in
the KKS Light House, a calm blue ocean, a clean white sand beach and jogging
track on the side.
The rooms, some with 2 ACs were huge
and comfortable.
Being a Sunday the hotel was filled
with groups of mod young folk from Jaffna town intent on having a good time and
a grand lunch.
The hotel served a splendid and for
us unexpected Mongolian buffet for lunch.
The table manners of some of the
youngsters however caused the staff some sweat.
Salt content in the Jaffna water
meant that drinking water was all bottled stuff.
We had engaged a van using a Holy
Family Convent Colombo ‘Old Girl’ network. The 46 year old, tall, lean driver
knew all the roads very well and was well informed.
He confided to the ladies that he
had been a commandeered driver for the LTTE. We did not probe.
His services were not cheap. Peace
dividend for 4 Sinhalese and one Tamil.
We drove past the Jaffna Fort to the
resurrected Jaffna library, arisen from its ashes.
Memories of its burning in 1981 by
Government goondas continues to haunt.
It was always our first stop on
recent trips to Jaffna. Donations were welcome. However there was strict
enforcement of a rule restricting most areas to members.
In 2013 it was more relaxed and the
receptionist understood English.
We learned that it was too late to
visit the Nallur Kovil as it is not open after 6 pm except on festival days.
We walked the streets which were full
of conservatively dressed and polite people.
No one banged into you as you walked
by. T
he road traffic manners could
improve but were nowhere near the recklessness of the South.
The shops were full and the streets
well lit.
We toyed with the idea of having a
Jaffna crab curry dinner but a call to the master chef at ‘Thalsevena’ made us
postpone that delight for one of his.
The next morning we set off for
Mullativu via Killinochchi after an early breakfast.
It was pleasantly dry and cool. We
saw the ubiquitous Jaffna girls on their bicycles riding abreast to school as
in the ages past.
It was a reminder of a unique right
of way, Jaffna tradition that will not change yet.
We stepped into Fits Margosa in
Chunakam, a renovated ancestral bungalow now fitted with AC, and a well run
holiday home.
The obliging manager, an old girl of
Chundikuli Girls School showed us around.
The bungalow is set in a garden with
an expanse of green lawn lined with tall trees.
Many other such houses were advertised
to meet a rising expat and local tourist demand.
Bungalows cost about Rs 20,000 a
day.
We did not notice many people or
traffic on the streets and the main roads.
In any case Northerners do not
loiter and gossip on the roads.
We maintained a steady 70 clicks on
the A9. Road manners were good.
We stopped at Elephant Pass to stand
a moment in silence at the monument to the troops who died in the many battles
there
and saw the damaged LTTE ‘armoured’
bull dozer that Rifleman Gemunu (Hasalaka) Kularatne PWV climbed onto and blew
up with grenades before being killed.
At Killinochchi the remains of the
huge water tank that was blown up is a stark reminder of the wanton destruction
caused by the LTTE.
We were provided with a liaison
officer from the Army to guide us.
Iranamadu tank with a tree line in
the background, held us in awe with its breathtaking vastness and the sheer
liquid beauty.
It holds the key to Engineer
Armugam’s still ignored ‘Water for Jaffna’ plan, given in minute and exhaustive
detail in his over 500 page book.
Armugam’s plan was to channel the
flood waters that spill over the Iranamadu and other tanks every 4-5 years to
Jaffna via Elephant Pass.
Killinochchi still awaits the
promised Mahaveli waters.
We quenched our thirst with
delicious kurumba at an army camp close by and proceeded.
The itinerary covered the Sea Tigers
training swimming pool, the LTTE boat yard with its incomplete submarines among
other boats, the now depleted weapons museum
and the disappearing and stark
remains of the LTTE hijacked merchant ship SS Farah. It is being professionally
and illegally stripped for its metal.
Prabakaran (VP)’s 4 floor
underground bunker is no longer available for public viewing.
A hero cult and God status was being
cultivated and sponsored by some Northerners.
The Air conditioning was
disconnected about 3 years ago. The place is now dank and smells horrid.
However we were allowed to view it.
The vestiges of the protective 3
layer perimeter defence fence system, each manned for security reasons by
cadres from different villages, could be seen. The viewing room for VP to pay
his final respects to selected dead ‘hero’ cadres remains but tenuously.
These exhibits could be double edged
and therefore may soon disappear.
Breakfast was at Vishvamadu army
camp and lunch in a novel tree top dining facility in an Officers’ Mess at
Puthukudirippu. The food was delicious.
The interior roads that had been
just bullock cart paths earlier had been converted to gravel tracks by 2013.
They were all now, smooth black top.
It made the journey effortless.
This time around it was not possible
to see Sea Tiger chief Soosai’s house. We were told this was because his wife
was now in occupation.
HR high priests should note that it
is the SL forces that make sure that her privacy, despite being the murderous
Soosai’s wife, is respected and protected.
Were al Quida’s Bin Laden’s
surviving wives treated as well?
We then went to Nandikadal lagoon
where the Victory Monument and the Memorial to the troops who died in the final
battles are located.
It is a stark reminder of the cost
of war, the sacrifices made and the hope it never happens again. There was no
marker now to show where exactly VP died.
Our next stop was Mullativu. I
remember my first visit in 1950 with my father who was the circuit district
judge from Anuradhapura and my brother and climbing the Light House.
The army had cleared large areas of
mines, made super roads and built good houses in well planned projects.
It had earned the affection of the
people.
Sadly however, Mullativu has far too
many ill educated and unemployed people living in dire poverty.
Politicians apparently appear from
time to time to make rousing speeches and disappear, to live to deceive again.
We visited the not so well known
Vattapillai Amman Kovil at Mullativu.
It was barely recognizable as
extensive renovations were being done.
About 500,000 devotees, many of them
from India, gather here for the annual festival in May.
Apparently VP was not welcome here.
The high caste Poosari had then apparently vanished.
We were warmly welcomed by the
Security Force Commander to a splendid high tea in his imposing residence.
He said the Army had built 1,000
houses for the people but quite a few were reluctant to come into residence.
This had raised questions at high
levels. He had probed into it and found out that the intractable issue of caste
was the main reason.
High castes did not want others
living in the same complex with them. Another was that the 40 perches given to
all was not acceptable to some who had owned bigger plots of land previously.
He was sorting it all out but it would take time in a deeply conservative
community.
We left as night fell. It was a very
fast run, skirting the very long Nandikadal lagoon and then skimming along on
the broad, superbly carpeted main road back to the A9 at Paranthan.
In 2013 the ground work to convert a
rutty clay track into what it was now was being done by men working very hard
against the clock with machines in sweltering conditions.
We noticed that between Killinochchi
and Jaffna on the A9 only about a dozen vehicles went past us.
It appears from what we also saw in
the morning that there is little need in the foreseeable future for widening
the A9.
The introduction of a couple more
‘Blue trains’ would be wiser.
We got to Thal Sevena for a novel
dinner. It was in a disused but well kept railway carriage overlooking the sea.
Our ‘first class railway tickets’ were checked by a ‘conductor’. Recorded
sounds of the engine starting up, its whistle blowing, severe shaking of the
carriage and platform announcements reached a crescendo making conversation
impossible when the noise suddenly abated.
A super fish dinner was served. The
waiters were dressed as restaurant car attendants of yore. There was a bar with
wine too.
The next day we visited Nagadipa
(Nainativu) 50 kms away. We travelled fast along miles of vastly improved
smooth surfaced causeways connecting Jaffna and Kayts island to Punkudutivu.
Fish traps, unattended but in no
danger from man, could be seen in many places. We took the public ferry from
Kurikaduwan.
Wearing life jackets was mandatory and strictly but inoffensively monitored.
We visited the temple, the kovil and
even a church. The island was very clean. The behavior of the devotees and
visitors was exemplary. We returned at speed in a Jet boat courtesy of the
Naval Officer on duty there.
On the road back we stopped at a
church identified on our way out. Except for two non barking dogs there was no
one around although the vicarage was co located. We went inside. The two
Catholics offered prayers.
It was one of many dotting the
landscape, very old, fairly big and impressive as Catholic churches always are.
On a hot day it was very cool
inside. The entire premises appeared not to have suffered any damage during the
conflict.
We then got to the Green Grass hotel
in downtown Jaffna for the authentic Jaffna crab curry lunch we had promised
ourselves before leaving Colombo.
There were many diners there but the
numbers were nowhere close to the throng at Thal Sevena on Sunday. Later we
went walk about in the Jaffna market.
At the Palmyrah Board outlet we
bought locally woven baskets and mats and ‘thal hakuru’.
We then finally made it to the
magnificent and massive Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil (Temple) built in 1749. It too
was undergoing renovation. Few outside Jaffna knew that it had not suffered any
damage during the conflict.
It had been a refuge for the people
whenever shooting and bombing took place.
Only the IPKF had attempted to
violate that tradition.
There were very many Tamil expats
speaking in many Western accents and some foreigners there.
A Canadian expat related the temple
rituals in detail.
The history of the original kovil
dates back to 948 AD.
Like most Jaffna expats, he was a
professional who had done very well abroad.
They were all unequivocally
impressed at the speed of rehabilitation and were enjoying their stay. They
felt there was an embracing air of reconciliation.
We were sad to hear that many of the
youth of Jaffna having had limited education and few job opportunities, relied
on remittances from relatives living abroad, and indulged in booze, drugs and crime.
We returned via the venerable and
stately Jaffna College Vadukoddai, the 1871 successor to the oldest seminary in
South Asia if not the region.
It was begun in 1823 before
Colombo’s oldest school,Christian College Kotte (1827).
Huge shade trees shielded us from
the heat as proud staff extolled its virtues.
I had been there with late Captain
Malik Deen, Sinha Regt, in 1981 to attend Major VG George’s memorial service.
Maj George had held the British
Empire’s schools age group (under 16?) long jump record at one time. The next
visit had been a family visit in 2013.
We next stopped a startled toddy
tapper cycling along to deliver fresh tapped Palmyrah toddy to a ‘licensed’
tavern, so he said.
He was incredulous when 3 ladies
asked to buy some. We tasted it with a little trepidation and being satisfied
and thirsty, drank some on the road side. We also filled a water bottle with a
little more to quench our thirst on the way. Some locals ‘passing’ by could
hardly recover from the sight of 3 elderly ‘society’ ladies sipping toddy on
the road side albeit with their male escort.
They advanced slowly to get a better
look at the adventurers. Hepatitis thankfully did not strike us down.
We went across to view Dambakola
patuna where it is said Theri Sanghamiththa landed in SL from India in the 3rd
century B.C with
Emperor Asoka’s gift of the historic bo sapling.
We also saw the Keeramalai hot wells
which were undergoing renovations.
Renovations appeared to be going on
all over at a hectic pace, probably funded generously by the home sick
Diaspora.
As it was getting dark we decided
not to go to Point Pedro via Thonadamannaru and VP’s birth place Velvetithurai
to view the northern most point of SL.
We had earlier skipped going to
Casuarina beach due to pressing time and space constraints.
This is where the bolder of young
Jaffna ladies in the pre conflict days would plunge into the waters dressed in
sarees while the young bucks would perform to impress them with their swimming
skills.
After all Jaffna had produced
Navaratnaswami the first man ever to swim the 33 mile Palk strait between SL
and India (1954).
We did not also cross the 288 metre long, 2 lane Sangipuddy steel bridge that in
2011 replaced the ancient ferry built in 1937 off the causeway over the placid
Jaffna lagoon, connecting Karaitivu with Pooneryn.
It is the second bridge from the
mainland to Jaffna
and shortens the journey from the
South to Jaffna via the newly carpeted A32 from Mannar by 110 kms or 3 hours( 1 hour).
The Pooneryn Paranthan road had been
carpeted too making the East West journey that was a roller coaster spine
shatterer in 2013, a great relief and delight now.
The area’s entire road network had
been
transformed by men of tremendous
vision from the pathetic apology that existed without much concern or hope
before.
The next day we strolled along the
beach before having a late breakfast.
There was one Navy man making a
serious effort to keep fit on the jogging track.
An army mobile canteen set up shop
too for early visitors. After an early lunch we boarded the ‘Blue Train’ which
has just turned around, for the return journey.
At Jaffna station there was a
furious melee. Elders with proprietary interest climbed onto the train accompanying
long lost expat relatives. T
They helped
with the luggage of seasoned travelers and messed about with the seating which
in any case was reserved.
They were exceedingly noisy. The
train, now almost full, started off. It would appear this was virtually with
the permission of the elders who had dismounted.
The snappily dressed station master
would have been a credit even to the uniform conscious Deutsche Bahn (German
Railways).
The scene that unfolded far exceeded
what we had observed on the A9 or noticed while dozing on the way in.
Everything was luscious rolling
green with paddy on either side as far as an eye could see. Not even the rice
bowl of the Eastern Province offers such sweeping vistas. It looked like a
miniature of the wheat fields of the Punjab and the Isle d France.
It was inspiring, stirring and
stunningly beautiful. Nature had combined with enduring peace to bring manifold
and bountiful benefits to the Northerners.
That had been the wish of the
ordinary Southerners.
We knew we had left the revived
splendour of Jaffna when we saw the ramshackle railway stations from Vavuniya
southwards.
Each was an eye sore. The sight of
the soaring and lovely Ruwanvelisaya restored our shattered morale as even the
Anuradhapura station depressed.
We then sped and rocked back to
Colombo, again dead on time. A really crack train.
Jaffna is looking brilliant. It
needs Diaspora in addition to Government and private sector help to set up
industries and develop agriculture, fishing and build homesteads.
Its youth need to be better
educated, learn English and be trained to find good jobs.
Engineer Armugam’s ‘Water for Jaffna
project’ should be given priority if Jaffna is not to suffer a calamity sooner
than later as its ground water sources dry up.
Southerners will continue to top
tourist arrivals in Jaffna. No one hopefully still wants to divide SL but
suspicion is rife given the statements of mavericks.
Who then had craftily place a gun in
the hands of Sinnathamby from the North and Ariyadasa from the South who had no
quarrel to blow each other’s brains out the moment they saw each other from
afar for the first time?
Are they the same hypocrites who
talk blithely of reconciliation now?
‘For you take the A9 and I’ll take
the Blue Train
And I’ll get to Yalpalam before you
But you and I must never ever
Adi podu podu in the Wanni again.’
(With apologies to Loch Lomond )
- Asian Tribune -