It's the independence day here. Its been a long time and I was wondering “independence from what?”, when basic human dignity is taken away, when you are robbed of your wealth in broad daylight, WTF is the independence you are celebrating?
If any Sri Lankan is reading this, I have one thing to tell you: YOU have brought this upon yourself.
I can go on to blame the ignorant, corrupt, thuggish, politicians here for everything, but the sad truth is these people will never vote for you if you even had a modicum of good qualities. The idiot British are to be blamed for this mess really. They had cast this curse of universal franchise, upon a bunch of people who were not ready for it. Societies progress slowly (just read how it was when HRH Queen Elizabeth I was ruling England!), and when you push things on them prematurely, they tend to wither away. This also considering that unlike India, Sri Lanka had no solid cultural backbone when the British rule took over. So people simply did not have a compass of moral guidance to tell them where to go from there.
Now pundits of the “Purity of Sinhala-Buddhist Nation” clan will call out for my blood for writing this. “What about 2500 years of history?”, “What about these great artefacts of our ancestors here?”, they will crow on. I have one question for the: Show me one single custom, menu, dress, furniture, anything, that is uniquely ours.
The truth is our culture fell centuries ago. Like all the other cultures, like Buddha himself preached, impermanence had dealt us a severe blow. We fell. What we call culture today is a very recent invention, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Sinhala-Buddhism that we so proudly crow about.
Don't need to go into deep scientific arguments, just look at how and who you vote for! Do you suppose anyone with an iota of a deep culture and a set of values will do anything remotely resembling that? A cultured society has one single factor that sets us apart. They got their priorities right. Its not silly dances and customs that make you a cultured populace, it's getting your religion and priorities right.
Long time ago, someone asked me to go on (political) canvassing with him. So I went. As a matter of protocol, we asked (rather I) what members of the electorate wanted from our candidate whence he came into power. Their answers sickened me to the pit of my stomach and I wowed never to have anything to do with these people or their politics. There is simply no way an honest man can go into politics here and if one did, the system (read as electorate) will make sure he is corrupted beyond recognition. So I never blame the politicians for this mess. After all they are only human, aren’t they? I could never understand what is it these people wanted. When the recent war was won, the current president (or one of his henchmen) put out a sign in front of a government office. It read, “I did as I promised. Now its your turn”, implying that the officials do their level best just as the president had done with his duty. The result? The bunch of idiots in that office were worse off than ever! Performing any form of duty was the very last thing on their agenda, and this is with euphoria of victory coupled with an appeal from a president who was riding very high on popularity to the level of being worshipped by the masses. If this is the reaction the president himself is getting from them for a polite request, what the hell is the chance of you and I getting anything from them?
I have to be careful here, because sometime ago a humanities professor had done some work on this issue and published an article on it. Now the details of this are quite sketchy in my mind, partly because it was intended for light reading, and mostly because I did not pay great attention. He had shown that the Sinhala race originates from a part of Rajasthan in India. He points out that the populace of this are to be composed of very lose alliances of different tribes/clans. Not having a common goal is the trademark of that society, and uniting them in any list of common priorities set had so far failed. But when the real need and right leadership comes, they all unite as one, he points out. Further he goes onto say that once the task is accomplished the people will again go their separate ways as if nothing happened! According to him, it's not that we do not have a strong cultural root, but its the strength of this cultural root that keeps us apart! He further clarifies that no one, he means no one, will ever unite this nation as one with a single long term goal. It will always remain disunited as we see now, garnished with utter selfishness and contempt towards others of our own. But when the time comes, they will stand alone as one, only to disunite later on.
Looking at my life experience, and reading from our history, I can see that this man had a point. Maybe its the erratic point of view I (and some others) hold towards this whole affair that is at fault. So pundit type exclamations about virtues and priorities have little meaning. Unbeknownst to us, the masses have got it all in right order! So it is not a ship of fools as some of us think, but the outcome of a very ancient set of values that are ingrained into the very psyche of people here.
I very much hope that this professor guy is right......
Now go out and get some fun. Its your birthday today.
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