Seeing Things

Kumbi Kathawa Madilukal Ottamtullal Kathakali I have been away from this space for long, but I have been using this time constructively. Some of the cultural extravaganaza's I enjoyed in the last 2 months include Kumbi Kathawa or "the ant tale" - a Sinhalese musical performed by the Chitrasena Vajra Dance Foundation which through a children's story attempts to send out a message of mutual tolerance and forgiveness and sharing - powerful stuff; My first ever kathakali performance - 'narakasura vadham' organized by Margi in Trivandrum - another gripping performance; An Ottamtulal performance, which is a lesser known ancient dance form from Kerala which in laced with a sense of humour (just the way i like it) and a malayalam natakam (play), written by late Mr. Vaikom Basheer , a famous playwright known for fiercely sticking to his natural conversational style of writing. The nadakam I saw is called Madilugal (walls) - hair raising story and performance. Good f...

Is the fall of the LTTE leader a triumph of Sinhalas over Tamils? Or is it the triumph of a nation over terrorism? I know that the world over and in many parts of Sri Lanka, it is viewed as the former. However, I personally like to see it as the latter. As I see it there was one issue: Issue number 1 - subjugation of Tamils in Sri Lanka 26 years ago, Prabhakaran stepped up and offered to sort out the issue but only ended up creating an additional issue making things worse. Issue number 2 - terrorism converting the Serendib into an island of horror to foreigners So now, we had 2 issues. It was like giving cancer to a man complaining of a toothache, believing that the cancer would eventually cure the toothache. Today, the government has after 26 years sorted out the second issue. Now, it's up to the government and people of Sri Lanka, Tamils included, to rebuild on a foundation of equality and holistic patriotism rather than a Sinhala patriotism or a Tamil patriotism. Hopefully, ...