Written by Vilhelm Konnander · comments (1)
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‘Aid workers forced to leave Sri Lanka under strict new visa rules‘ says a Timesonline report dated June 3, 2009. While access to many IDP camps are still not possible for the international journalists and aid workers, and the information are being suppressed, it is hard to hear the voices from these IDP camps.

IDP Camps in Sri Lanka, Image by Foreign and Commonwealth Office, used under a Creative Commons License

Regini David, a human rights, women and workers' rights activist, has been working with vulnerable people for the past 23 years. In her blog, ‘Unheard Voices‘, she has started writing about the very unheard voices from Sri Lanka, voices of the people she worked with. Her extensive experience includes her work in ‘Poorani Women's Centre', Jaffna, Sri Lanka. She chronicles one of her personal experiences in ‘Our lost dark nights of war in Sri Lanka: Women and rape‘.

One day Pat Ready and I went to the army camp and informed Captain George that we are a non-violent group and his soldiers should not come to our centre, especially inside without permission. Pat told him that she will be traveling to Colombo and asked him to tell his army to not to come to our centre or frighten the women who are living there. She informed him that if proper action is not taken, she would report to the International Community. He agreed and came to see and toured the centre.

The day Pat left, Captain George came to our doors at late night, drunk with his gun slung over his shoulder. We had hired a new administrator from Jaffna University. As soon as we saw Army Captain and his gun, many women and my sisters who came to visit the centre on that day and my grandmother hide themselves under the bed and in rooms. The administrator and two other women tried to talk to him while the Tamil armed group who came with him waited outside. I hid myself behind the front door. The administrator started to talk. George was asking all the questions as he pretended not to know any information about the centre. He requested her to take him to show the place that we are going to use for nursery which was filled with bushes and was dark. The administrator started to shake and cry but her feet were moving. I know why he asked her and what he wanted. I came out and said “Hi Captain George! Why do you want to see again. You came here before and were informed that you and your group cannot come here. Why are you here?” He was startled to see me there. He said that he was just checking to see if we are all safe. I said if there were any problem, we would inform and requested him to leave. He left. Even though I was so terrified and shaking, I had to do this to save our sisters and me. I felt very strong at that time even though I did not belong to the same status as Dr.Rajini and Pat and was very young at that time. I spoke out for the first time against an army and have never seen even my mother or neighbours challenge the army.

That night, we slept in one of our neighbor’s house. The old woman had asthma. So many boots walked in the SARUHUKAL (dry leaves) and kicked Poorani’s doors throughout the night. The sound squeezed our hearts. The old women, our neighbour’s asthma started acting up and she could not breath. She was making so much noise, we had to hold her mouth and block her breathing on and off to save all of us. That night our eyes did not close. I can not explain the fear and sorrow till the boots and the smell left us that morning.

She continued:

We learnt when we hide we get assaulted, so we decided to stay together but they the terrifying men selected us by the look of our body and asked to go to the rooms for check up with them. With their gun inside our mouth they tested if our breast are bombs or if we carry guns in our vagina. Our voice were blocked inside the gun barrel stuck inside mouth. Our body become the frozen ice as blood became frozen inside our body as our eyes were looking for help. There is no rule or hands to wipe our tears of blood. We let our entire body to be frozen. There are so many tests happened to my friends and sisters like this but we keep quite and only told our mothers.

Worse is that these women will continue to be affected by their experiences, says Regini:

It did not stop. We, as women carry the dirt feeling and effect with us everywhere we go. I have counseled many women who do not want to let their husbands touch their bodies. And their voice is again buried within themselves as they were afraid that they would be abandoned by their husbands and society.

Washinton Post's Emily Wax wrote ‘Privacy Goes Public in Sri Lanka - During Military Checks, Modesty Is a Casualty‘ in March, 2009 confirming about these violations in the name of control. Alex Crawford of Sky News, UK wrote of ‘Claims Of Abuse In Sri Lankan Refugee Camps‘ on May 21, 2009 with an accompanying video.

Regini David, in her post titled ‘Buried for years in our backyards: Stories of Rape, Hunger, and Death from SriLankan Tamil Women‘ talks about her personal experience in a camp in the childhood and how these stories are buried:

I became an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) when I was just 13 years old. Our house was bombed out. We did not know where to go. We ran and ran. The stench of corpses was everywhere. They were not just dead bodies. They were my uncles, sisters, friends and neighbours.

[..]

The Sri Lankan Government told the world that my uncles are safe… The Sri Lankan government told the world that my sisters did not get raped. They told the world that it was not true. But the truth is they are all gone.

Our stories are buried in our backyards, but our nights are full of these stories.

Protesting the silence of international community Britain's Tim Martin, a former aid worker has been on a hunger strike for the past 15 days in London, which has gone almost unreported in the mainstream media.

The war has ended but threats to free speech still persist in Sri Lanka. A reputed journalist Sunanda Deshapriya quotes ‘Reporters Sans Frontiers' in his post titled ‘Journalists trying to cover fate of Tamils threatened, obstructed- RSF‘. Meanwhile, J.S. Tissainayagam, mentioned by President Obama in a statement released on May 1, 2009 in honor of World Press Freedom Day still languishes in jail.

Another Sri Lanka journalist, ‘a Sinhalese this time was attacked‘ says CPJ - Committee to Protect Journalists. A Sri Lankan rights group had also received some threats the day after the journalist was attacked. ‘Stark warnings for those seen traitors in Sri Lanka‘ says Reuters.

Innercitypress ‘reports that‘ UN was unhappy with the reporting on Sri Lanka by the press, particularly Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Inner City Press and planned to take actions.

So do all these impact on the normalization of the situation? Udara Soysa comments that the Sri Lankan Govt's conduct on IDPs will determine the future Sinhala-Tamil relationship‘.

Written by Mathy Kandasamy · comments (55)
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From Rakwana in Sri Lanka, a temple car festival in photographs by ‘Irakuwanai' Nirshan. One of the focal points of the festival is the temple car - “Temple cars are chariots used to carry idols of Hindu gods. The car pulling is usually on festival days where many folks pull the cart.”

Surekha, in Tamil Nadu, India, across the Palk Strait blogs about the small time merchants who peddle their wares in festivals such as this. Temple festivals, are as much about the local economy as they are about religious festivities. He captures the moment with photographs and short poems in Tamil. A rough translation has been attempted here.

கிளி எடுத்துத்தரும்
சீட்டைப்பாத்து
கிழவி குரலில்
டேப் ரெக்கார்டர்
பலன் சொல்ல,
வண்டியை போத்தியிருக்கும்
வாசகங்கள்
சிரிப்பை வரவழைக்க
பக்கத்துக்கடைக்காரர்
பீட்டர் இங்க்லாண்ட்
வாடிக்கையாளரை எதிர்பார்த்து..!
(அவரிடம் ஒரு சட்டை வாங்கினேன்)

Parrot Tarrot predicts the future
in an old lady's voice
from the tape recorder,
Wordings on the sheet protecting
the vehicle brings a smile,
while the sales person on the
next stall awaits a customer
accustomed to Peter England shirts.
Bought a shirt from him.

திடீர்க்கடைகளில்
திடீர் பக்தியும், திடீர் படிப்பும்..
சிறந்த நெட்வொர்க்கும்!
(இளையராஜா பாடல்கள் வாங்கினேன்)

Instant devotion and instant knowledge
from a here today, gone tomorrow store.
Though an excellent networking spot.
Bought Ilaiyaraja's book.

இந்த கோபுரங்களுக்குப்பின்னே
எத்தனை
கடன்கள்,
கவலைகள்,
எதிர்பார்ப்புகள்!
கோபுரங்கள்
அழிந்தால்தான்
வீட்டில்
மகிழ்ச்சி வரும்.
(சீனிக்காராச்சேவு வாங்கினேன்)

Trailing behind these towers
are much sorrow,
expectation and mortgages.
Destroying these towers
would only bring happiness
in many households.
Bought some sev.

சத்தியமாய் எனக்காக இல்லை!

வாழ்க்கை மீதுள்ள இவர்களது
நம்பிக்கைக்காக!

But certainly not for me!
Just for their devotion to life!!

Written by Mathy Kandasamy · comments (6)
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Anuratha from Chennai, India is one of them. She starting blogging in July 2007 and has only blogged 33 entries so far. She has shared her experience in battling breast cancer. Each post contains valuable information and she emphasizes the need to ask questions. And to keep asking them.

A few days ago, Anuratha wrote about visiting her son in Singapore. And just recently on October 23rd she wrote about her health at that time. After listing a few troubles she was facing, she confidently continued to talk about her mental state. Anuratha was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2003. And she tells us how shocked she was and how ignorant she was at that time.

Here's what she says..

Anuratha continues with her experiences in meeting several people who were diagnosed with cancer and others who help those diagnosed with cancer. Anuratha had also started writing about her experience in magazines.

Anuratha also talks about what she learned from other women. She talks about the need to keep things secret. Anuratha shares anecdotes of neighbours and others avoiding women diagnosed with breast cancer. Some women did not share their diagnosis and their interaction with the society did not change. But some of their families especially husbands started avoiding them. Anuratha continues on sharing others' experiences and blogs about her decision not to share information about her illness with others.

Anuratha might have decided not to share with the people she comes in contact with in person. But she has been very generous in sharing information about her fight with cancer online.

Anuratha presently in Singapore is facing health problems now. She has been to visit the doctors in Singapore and has been in touch with her doctor back in India. She is taking some medicines now. But she is finding it difficult to talk. Most of the time she was only able to talk one or two words. Her most recent post was written on November 11, this Sunday with her husband's help. She is going to leave for Chennai as the medical costs in Singapore are quite exorbitant compared to India.

Tamil Blogdom has come together and is continuing to leave comments full of encouragement and prayers.

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These were the photographs of his five colleagues who were also killed in the raid launched by Sri Lanka Air Force against a meeting place of Tamil Tiger leaders in Kilinochchi.

Prominent journalist, broadcaster and cricket commentator from India Abdul Jabbar met Mr. Thamilselvan in 2002 in Sri Lanka. Thamilselvan professed to be a fan of Abdul Jabbar's radio program broadcast from a radio station in London, UK. Abdul Jabbar spent some time with Thamilselvan and visited a few places in Vanni, Sri Lanka before meeting Prabhakaran. Abdul Jabbar says that he did not see Thamilselvan after that. But, he continues, Thamilselvan always conveyed his regards whenever he could via others. Abdul Jabbar says, “There are people in Colombo who hate the very word ‘Tamil Tigers'. Even among them, Thamilselvan has earned a good reputation and respect. A particularly vehement Sinhala leader uttered a line about Thamilselvan which stayed with me. He said ‘aiya hontha minisu ekkanaik'. ‘He is a good person.'”

Natkeeran calls Thamilselvan, a template of a Sri Lankan Tamil Warrior. According to Nakkeeran, the death of Thamilselvan is a victory for war-minded people while a setback for peace-seekers and for those seeking political solution.

Malainaadaan, Switzerland translates Rete Uno's (A Swiss public broadcasting organization that handles radio and TV programs in Italian) radio broadcast. He attended a condolence meeting organized in Zurich, Switzerland and shares photos and an audio podcast.

Aaru blogging from Toronto, Canada remembers seeing regularly in Jaffna during the 90s when he was around 8-10 years old. Like everybody else, Aaru also remembers the pleasant ever-smiling face of Thamilselvan. Aaru says that in the past decade he had cried only twice. The other occasion was when his friend was killed in front of his own house, three months ago. Aaru who has also lost his father shares his anger too.

Kuruvikal who regularly writes science related posts write another post about thermobaric bombs. There were speculations that thermobaric bombs could have been used in the bomb blast which left Thamilselvan and his colleagues bodies unscathed.

Sinthanathi, India has a post with a timeline of 40 years old Thamilselvan's life since he joined LTTE in 1984.

Condolence meetings are taking place all over the world. And Ko.Sukumaran, a human rights activist from Pondicherry, India blogs about a condolence meeting in his town with photos.

Praba, Australia lost one of his blog readers in the bomb blast. He has shared a mail he received a few weeks ago from Major Mihuthan.

Sent: Tuesday, 18 September, 2007 12:28:35 PM
Subject: mail from miguthan

வணக்கம் பிரபாண்ணா

தங்களது பதிவுகள் பார்த்தேன்
மிகவும் மகிழ்ச்சி

Major Mihuthan died on November 2nd along with Mr. Thamilselvan.

While there was mourning from both sides of the Palk Strait and elsewhere. There were also others with different opinions. Srirangan, originally from Sri Lanka residing in Germany, titles his post ‘Flies, not youth, would arise from Thamilselvan's blood!'. Boston Balaji originally from Madras, India quotes Wildred Owen's ‘Dulce et Decorum Est' and some pro-Sri Lankan Government media reports.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.*

*From the Roman poet Horace: “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”

Balaji while professing next-to-nil knowledge about the problems in Sri Lanka follows through with some questions. Comparisons of why the very same people who oppose a war on Iran by president Bush are leaving LTTE chief Prabhakaran out of the equation. Balaji drags Myanmar and Pakistan and questions the modalities. One of Balaji's questions was about Thamilselvan's past role in fighting (Thamilselvan actively fought against India's Indian Peace Keeping Force in Jaffna in 1987.) And whether he would have been given the same respect if he'd died fighting. He further questions about the sort of respect given by the media to the soldiers killed by Thamilselvan. Balaji goes on to draw parallels between Pakistan's Parvez Musharaff and LTTE's Prabhakaran. And alludes to collusion between the Sri Lankan Goverment and Prabhakaran while stating it would be profitable for Prabhakan if the whole issue continues in the same vein; just so he could continue to be the chief and continue bargaining in the world market. Needless to say, heated discussions are on in the comment section.

While all this is going on, Badri from Chennai, India analyzes the situation even handedly from an Indian perspective. The readers follow up with an interesting discussion in their comments on the post.

Written by Mathy Kandasamy · comments (5)
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According to Varavanaiyan, nakedness of the dead Tamil Tigers were more beautiful than the fully dressed observers surrounding them (as seen in the photos). Varavanaiyan also remembers a similar incident in 1995 where dead female Tamil Tigers' bodies were stripped and displayed in a similar fashion by the Sri Lankan Military.

Urupadathathu Narain titles his post ‘Abu Ghraib VS Anuradhapura'. In the discussions following the post bloggers compared American media and Indian (in particular Tamil Nadu) media. While the American media exposed the happenings in Abu Ghraib, the Tamil Nadu media, The Hindu in particular sided with the Sri Lankan Government on the Anuradhapura incident.

Osai Chella displays the photos of dead Tamil Tigers - both fully dressed and stripped down. He sarcastically demands if the editor of ‘The Hindu' Mr. Ram who was felicitated by the former regime with the title ‘Lanka Ratna' would write an editorial.

Julian compares two reports from India and wonders which one could have been the correct one. First report was from B.Raman of South Asia Analysis Group [link: Wikipedia]. Second from The Hindu. Julian has provided few sentences from both the reports with links.

Tamil Sasi also links to B.Raman's report and talks a bit about the past transgressions by the Sri Lankan Goverment. He compares the Anuradhapura incident with respect shown to the dead Sri Lankan military personnels' bodies by Tamil Tigers in the past.

While all this is going on, half way around the globe Hillary Clinton says ‘You can't lump all terrorists together' in an interview given to ‘The Guardian'. To a question whether terrorists have specific geopolitical objectives, she mentions Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka along with the Basque separatists of Spain and the insurgents in al-Anbar province.

Tamil Sasi and Vetri Kandaswamy respectively translate the specific bit from the interview.

Side Note: Nakkiran an Indian blogging from California, USA was temporarily displaced due to the ongoing wildfire. According to him, his move from his rented apartment was only temporary. Amidst wondering if the building would be intact when he returns and whether his beloved possessions would be safe, he thought about the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils. He thought about them trying to save themselves and the lives of their beloved. About them leaving everything behind. And was able to connect with them for a few minutes.

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Ketupat Rice Cakes

With festivals can food be far behind? .:Myfriend:. from Malaysia shares information about Ketupat, an integral part of Eid ul-Fitr in Malaysia.

The month of October also marks the beginning of the festival season for the Hindus. First comes Navarathri Navarathri literally means nine nights and the female deities are worshiped during this period.

Kolu

In Tamil Nadu, India special dolls are displayed in elevated steps named Kolu. Nanani from Tamil Nadu walks down the memory lane describing her experiences of setting up the display with her children. While Thulasi's pet cat Gopalakrishnan invites everybody to visit his home in New Zealand to view the Kolu.

Navarathiri in Sri Lanka

Navarathiri is celebrated differently in Sri Lanka. Selli, Australia writes in detail about how the festival is celebrated at schools predominantly. She says that there were no Kolu display in Sri Lanka but every morning would commence with prayers in schools, homes and temples. On the tenth day several special dishes would be served at school. The same ritual takes place at homes but on a smaller scale. Kana Praba takes a jaunty walk down the memory lane reminiscing about his teen-age years.

Fava beans Sundal

Ukkarai

Seeyalam

Food is an integral part of any festival especially during Navarathiri. Jayashree Govindarajan, Mumbai shares some of the traditional recipes. Lentils play a key role in all the special dishes prepared for Navarathiri. Some of the dishes she has prepared for Navarathiri include Ukkarai, a sweet and it's spicy version Seeyalam. Generally Sundal would be prepared and distributed by everybody. Jayashree served Mochchai payaru Sundal (Fava beans Sundal) today.

Navarathiri is the theme for the monthly Indian food-blog event Jihva for Ingredients (JFI). And Indira of Mahanandi, the brain behind JFI is also collaborating on a worthy project this month. She introduces Feed a Hungry Child (FAHC) fund-drive and requests bloggers to donate smiles..

Indira says,

With the help of volunteers, FAHC has begun to supply feeding kits to 14 children and their families in Palakkad district of Kerala in India, since April 2007. Now FAHC needs our help. The fundraising goal is $ 3,360. I think we can do it easily. Please click the Chip In button at the top right of the site, and contribute whatever you can. If you require additional incentive to contribute, check out the contents of feeding kit and try to remain unmoved.

And she along with fellow food-bloggers have also arranged for some raffle tickets, majority of them donated by Suvir Saran, prominent cookbook author and chef. One of the coveted prizes is a dinner for two(wine included) at Suvir Saran's restaurant “Dévi” in New York. Detailed information can be found here.

Written by Mathy Kandasamy · comments (2)
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Tamil Blogs have been in vogue for around four and a half years. In the beginning almost all initiatives to propagate blogging in Tamil took place on the Net. Later, efforts were taken up slowly all over the world from Singapore to Toronto to Sydney. As interest grew, bloggers from India started growing by leaps and bounds. And the year 2007 saw tremendous growth in the number of blogs and in efforts to popularize Tamil Blogs.

Earlier in May 2007, a small blog conference took place in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. That acted as a catalyst for the blog camp that took place in Chennai on August 5, 2007.

Around 30 bloggers worked round the clock for the past couple of months and around 1000 mails were exchanged in their mailing group. Everybody pulled strings to make thing happen. And things did happen at a fine pace! The University of Madras offered space for the blog camp. internet providers SIFY enabled free internet access. Donations were procured from business organizations and other bloggers. This blogcamp took place on two different levels. one was devoted for existing bloggers where discussions took place in an unconference style.

The true measure of success of such camps are the attendees. This blogcamp is a true winner too, in that regard. Many of them started a gmail account followed by a blog. For some of them, it was the first time seeing Tamil on the Net. An older couple aged around 70 years attracted everybody`s attention. Mr. Nallaperumal, a retired teacher expressed his desire to blog about his experiences in education. A few physically challenged persons attended the conference and some of the visually impaired folks requested ways and means to blog. They were told about audio podcasts. Phone numbers were exchanged and they were promised further assistance. Theirs were not the only phone numbers that changed hands. Almost everybody who attended the conference was given personal assistance. And the organizers are expecting at least 50-100 new bloggers.

More than anything, this blogcamp has acted like a catalyst and Tamil bloggers from around the world are all in deep discussions with fellow bloggers in their cities. Almost all the out-of-town bloggers who attended the conference seem eager to conduct similar blogcamps in their city. Tamilblogdom is eagerly looking for the next announcement.

Free CDs with necessary software to write in Tamil were given out with a few memorabilia. Interestingly, no admission fees was charged, with lunch and refreshments on the house!

Posts used to write this entry:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

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