Where Do I Belong?

Passed miles and  miles
across mountains
to reach this flat land
to make life easier
where do I belong
a question
that requires an answer
more than a geographical location
"you have an interesting profile
but how can we hire you
you are from mountains
far away from us"
"No No Madam,
I am a skillful cartographer
I cleared the mountains
Now they are absolutely flat"
to make the business straightforward
I created a new map
chopped down the mountains
challenged the geographical confusions
a-n-d
chopped down the
myself

Palestine : Is it just a piece of land?

Palestine had to wait for 65 years to gain international recognition. For these 65 years was it just a piece of land? Why international recognition matters? Who constitute international community? How can they decide over the lives of Palestinians? Finally after 65 years of struggle it gained the status of a non-member observer state. 

“State”, the word means a lot of Palestinians. Traditionally a state is consisted of 5 major components. Territorial Sovereignty, a Government, Permanent Population, a Defined Territory and International Recognition are the main components that form a state. Palestine lacked the latter component. So, for that they had to suffer for years. It was considered as a “piece of land” that does not require recognition or protection under Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law.

Palestine was the testing ground of Israel weapons as it was just a piece of land. Any activity committed against them did not matter. 

I remember when we were asked to give a definition to the term “Defined Territory” in Sinhala we said it is “Bhumiya” or land. Our lecturer who was an expert of Sinhala said that it is a wrong interpretation. We can use the term “land” even for a land consisted of 5 perches or 50 acres. But states are totally different from this criterion. He stated that we should use the word “Bhoumikadikaraya”. Of course it made sense. This lecturer I mentioned was none other than Prof. Samantha Herath who has coined meaningful Sinhala words for many English terms. So Palestine had to wait to gain “Bhoumikadikaraya” –supreme control of their piece of land. 

Palestine was not a piece of land that we can buy from a land sale. It was a vast territory occupied by a Permanent Population. Thus the word “State” means a lot for them. It was a moment to rejoice.

It is important to note who in UN decide granting this recognition. Many countries opposed considering Palestine an entity. Yet, a few decided that it should not be a state. It provided a rationale for Israel to exclude them from following the basic rules of International Humanitarian Law, it prevented Palestine from filing a case against International Criminal Court. So we have a question whether “United Nations” is truly an organization of united nations and International Criminal Court a truly international body. Are not they quasi-international bodies if they cannot protect a particular state? I am Confused.

To Dibaba with Love,

A bony creature

Skeletons almost visible

Carrying the scars

Of a historical agony 

Suppressed, exploited for years

Descending from the

Land of Great Haile Selassie

The Messiah

She runs over tracks

The countdown begins

15 laps to go..

14 laps to go..

13 laps to go..

Still,

Thousands of laps to go

Go “Baby faced Destroyer”

Destroy all those baby faced destroyers

Ultimately she wins

Go girl

Carry this flag

Show the world that

“We still exist”

I could not close the sluice gates of my eyes

They just flooded

Go Dibaba Go            

Kadda Education

It is my first experience at a Daham School, I have never been to such when I was a child as my mother wanted to bring up Malli and Myself in a more secluded domestic domain. I don’t have hard feelings on Ammi either, since her deeds were virtuous. She thought Malli and Myself will start some young age romance and spoil our education. It is wrong to assume that all the students who go to Daham schools end up finding partners which are not even permanent. Since two of us went to a boys’ and a girls’ schools she might have thought that sudden exposure to opposite sex would corrupt ourselves. However, my first day at a Daham School was not so bad. This is not my first experience of teaching since I did some classes free of charge for a young girl and two boys. Amongst them the two boys engraved very nice memories. Children are genuine and the youngest of these two boys was the most genuine child I ever saw. Their mother said that they did not have any other topic after coming from my classes other than talking about “Akka.” Akka mokadda ayye ada ara hina yanna kiwwe? Ayya what did akki say today which made us laugh? Aunty went on with what she overheard whenever she came to pick her two baby monkeys. Anyway the two brothers who were fed up with going to English classes liked English after coming to my class. Undeniably English is the most unpopular subject amongst most of the students and I do know why. The first reason is the teachers who do the subject are sometimes very boring and they do not know how to attract the students. Also they do not pay individual attention to students, so a predominant number in the class do not understand what she says. After so much of drifting I am going to recall my first day at the Daham school. There was one girl in the grade six class. She did not understand what I taught. I knew it. I asked her colleagues to help her. They did not know the correct way to help her to catch the lessons. They wrote everything what I wrote in the board on her book with gorgeous color pens. Then I asked them to read the letters to her and convinced that she herself must write on her book. Finally I started a grammar lesson, the boring part of English. But I have to do it at least to teach the basics. So I knew this girl would not understand. I personally went to many. Taught them individually. I went to her and taught her also. The most senior teacher in the staff saw me teaching her and came to me. Me lamaya kohomath wada karanne ne. Usually, she is not good at studies. She is a retired teacher. Her 40 or 45 years of teaching have not taught her the lesson that a teacher need not to have stereotypes about children. She is 70. I think she needs more maturity to understand the realities of Sri Lankan education and economic system to educate students from backward classes. The teaching went on. But I know she did not understand the lesson properly. Teacherge nama mokadda? Teacher labana satiyeth methanama wadi wenna oni. Teacher what is your name? Please sit here in the next week also. I just nodded my head. Then she gave her red pen to correct the books of others. Finally whilst I was ready to leave the most moving incident occurred. She came to me and worshipped me. I was surprised. Because I still believe that I am also a kid and I did not like kids worshipping me even when my nephew Sharon worshiped Avanthi nanda. It is my duty to psychologically prepare myself to face these kinds of future veneration and comprehend that I am now 24. (-16 days) Anyway I feel I am matured. This maturity in teaching methods might have intrinsically passed over to me since my paternal grandma was a very understanding teacher. Apart from that my two nandas were good teachers. But none of them have taught me and I did not know even an iota of their teaching techniques. It is Nazim sir and Kamani aunty who taught me English. All the classes proceeded without any verbal harassment coming on my way neither on other students’ way.  They were better than Disapamok. We know Disapamok the great Achariya who lived in Thaksala, trained kings yet punished them whenever they committed wrong. I was never punished. I was also trained to be a Queen. Only kind words were required. I know that girl did not understand my lesson. But at least she will not hate English and teachers from today.  

The non-globalized

For twenty three years
witnessing her grand daughter grows
my non-globalized Grandma
in her seventies
still dumping medicine
into the garbage basket
living in her simple world
kottamalli, bebila, katuwelbatu
sudu loonu, welmi, akkapana
the list goes on
ask those newly appointed nurses
to go abroad
heard she saying yester night
during the news bulletin

Her hair's getting whiter
just like a doll's hair
I have a fist of them
in my drawer
saved  for future

I see her
caressing the face
with water
cursing the Colombo heat
uprooted from serenity
placed on complexity
she has no complains
I am in this "atharamaga"
for the sake of my "minipiri"

Still spreading some chocolates
on my study table
after her shopping sessions
does she understand
her Minipiri blogging?
under the title
"Aththamma's Minipiri"
will have to spend minutes
for the explanation
after all she has spent
twenty + 3 years
explaining the world to me

NOSTALGIA

Accelerated by the speed of a flying bus

A pair of eye lenses

In its journey to every nook and corner

Across the streets

Capturing the images

Of a most celebrated event

Like a keen Cameraman

SUDDENLY,

Halted for a while

A "technical disruption"

You may call it

NO a mental disruption

An eye soothing image

Of two sprouting siblings

Sharing handfuls of biscuits

Two cups of tea laying aside

The dusk coated mat

Rings the bell of the interval

“Lantern school” comes into a standstill

Until the next customer

Drops on the street

To buy a colorfully fleshed skeleton

Mentally halted mind

Treads towards a lane of memories

Huge emerald bamboos

Meet the sharpness of a huge knife

Stick by stick stack aside

Hugging each other in one frame

Tied by strong white strings

The event two of us

Planning since “Aurudu” has arrived

Tender fingers running through

Six frames collected into one

A feast for popping eyes

An “atapattama” finally what we call it

Caul tissues neatly cut

Carefully pasted on each frame

Tapping on it slightly

Like two drummers beating on drums

Listening to the musical effect

Final creation with lavish decors

And a glistening bright light of unity

Comes into the compound

පියෙහි විප්පයෝගෝ දුක්ඛෝ

(Separation from the beloved is sorrowful)

I hear a distant voice of a radio

Enlightening me with words of Lord Buddha

Two wretched young souls

Live in two different worlds

Just spare one minute

To convey through digital lines

Whether the “Wesak” moon

With its silvery limbs

Touched our compound

Like in those heydays