 |
2005
a mother, for the homeland is our earthly mother."
- Pope John Paul II
all humanity is my
fraternity”
 |
 |
Tamil &
Sri Lanka
News From
News
Services
Around the
Globe
 |
 |
visits Kilinochchi,
meets with LTTE
[TamilNet]
Mr. Danny K. Davis,
Democratic
Congressman from
Chicago, Illinois and
his Director of
Services, Mr. Danny
F. Cantrell, visited the
LTTE's Political
Headquarters in
Kilinochchi on
Saturday and met with
Mr. P. Nadesan, Head
of Thamil Eelam
Police, sources in
Kilinochchi said.
move peace process forward"[The Hindu]
As the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) attempt to work out a joint mechanism for post-tsunami
reconstruction, Ram Manikkalingam, Senior Adviser to the Sri Lankan
President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, on the peace process is of the view
that unlike the "top-down" peace processes, the post-tsunami efforts had
a strong "pull-factor," based on ground-level cooperation.
In an exclusive interview to V.S. Sambandan for The Hindu , Dr.
Manikkalingam, a strong advocate of Tamil autonomy, and long-time
critic of the LTTE, outlines the basic contours of the joint mechanism and
the factors directing it. Excerpts:
Question: What is the present status of the joint mechanism?
Manikkalingam: There is a proposal made incorporating the ideas of
both sides, put together with the assistance of the Norwegian
Government. The positions are extremely close and the Government is
optimistic that there is a strong possibility of a joint mechanism being
worked out.
Kale
Vibhareetha
Bhuthi"
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam political commissar Suppiah Paramu
Thamilselvan has condemned his colleague Veerakulasingham
Manivannan alias Castro over the Rajasingham Jeyadevan affair. Forty -
nine year old Jeyadevan - a British resident - was inveigled into the Wanni
through false pretences and held in tiger custody for 59 days from Jan
8th to Mar 9th. The accountant cum businessman was coerced into
transferring control of a Hindu temple in London to a tiger front -
Sivayogam Trust. He was released due to British pressure on the LTTE
hierarchy.
Many turtle conservation sites and hatcheries along Sri Lanka's southern
and western coasts were wiped out in last December's tsunami.
With thousands of turtle eggs disappearing in a few minutes,
conservationists feared that it could be a death knell for the critically
endangered sea turtles.
But according to the latest official study, marine turtles have been seen
laying eggs in Sri Lanka's well-known nesting areas.
Economic, Social and Spiritual Stability [UNEP]
UNEP Urges Better Conservation of the Planet’s Life-Support Systems for
Fighting Poverty, Delivering Growth and Meeting the Millennium
Development Goals
Beijing/Nairobi, 30 March 2005 - The value of the world’s forests,
wetlands, coral reefs and other ecosystems for fighting poverty and
delivering sustainable development is spotlighted today in an international
report.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment makes the case that ecosystems
and the services they provide are financially significant and that to
degrade and damage them is tantamount to economic suicide, said Klaus
Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP).
The Assessment, in which UNEP has played a key role, makes it clear that
human-kind is running down its ‘natural capital’.
lives but left humanity
ashore, its time now to
show humanity" -
Padmashree Kamal Hassan
"Giving and receiving love has become the world's currency after the
tsunami. We do everything that makes people laugh. Laughter is the best
medicine. I want to stop their suffering. I decided to come to sri lanka, as I
have a great feeling of tragedy and desire to encourage people to rebuild
after tsunami."
[HumanityAshore] By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai
Tamil FM broadcasts corrupt audiences
by their vulgarity and cheapness [Tamil Canadian]
By: Professor Karthigesu Sivathamby
Source: Northeastern Monthly - April, 2005
An interesting aspect of global culture, if one were to generalise, is the
balance between a medium’s local, national, if not native traditions, and
its international trends. Global media culture has become so gigantic and
trend setting, that local or national media has to work within those
parameters, while of course giving it a definitive local colour. Thus, we
would have Michael Jackson and a singer like Sankar Mahadevan. The
average Tamil listener is blissfully ignorant that Mahadevan is a local
construct of the globally renowned performer, though Mahadevan and
those of his ilk would be often called upon to sing bhakthi (devotional)
songs to local gods.
The new album from the Sri Lankan sensation M.I.A [Slate]
Last month, Maya Arulpragasam, who records as M.I.A., embarked on her
first American mini-tour, arriving in New York City to play at the Knitting
Factory. The house was packed with a certain kind of fan: More so than
any recent artist, M.I.A.'s fame has been cultivated online.
When was the last time that a Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth film got
released on the same day? At the most if one makes two films annually,
the other makes an appearance once in three or more years. But this
time round, April 14 will be different — the flicks of two most imposing
figures in Tamil cinema will hit the theatres on that day.
Actor Vaagai Chandrasekar, who plays the role of the DMK Chief, M.
Karunanidhi, in the play "Paena Oru Porvaal," shares his experiences;
IF YOU think these are past and present pictures of the DMK supremo M.
Karunanidhi, take a second look. It is film actor Chandrasekar (he now
calls himself Vaagai Chandrasekar) in a new avatar.
Popularity does not necessarily mean respectability. Jayakanthan is an
exception. He has been one of the most popular Tamil writers and yet
considered an important literary figure. Though his active literary career ceased
in the early 1980s, he is a household name in Tamil Nadu.
Over the years, Jayakanthan's writings have witnessed changes. From being
flashy and highly opinionated, in his later years, he exhibited a subtle sense of
underplay. This transformation, so natural to any reflective person, has not left
Jayakanthan untouched, but several of his fans are yet to come to terms with the
change. They feel that they miss the "spark" that they found in his earlier
writings. Jayakanthan's latest work, Hara Hara Sankara, written immediately after
the arrest of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, too got such a
feedback.
However, Jayakanthan has no confusion and his remarkable quality is his clarity
of mind.
For a person who began writing at 20, recognition came to him almost
instantaneously. Jayakanthan became the most sought-after writer of leading
Tamil journals within 10 years and in the 1960s, he was an icon of the middle
class that was increasingly getting exposed to rapid changes in life.
The kind of debate and response generated by his works in those years, when
viewed in retrospect, seem incredible.
1447, Gerrard Street,
Toronto
Tel: 416-778-4542
Recipient of Gnanapeedam Award for Literature
 |
 |
darkness from earth circled by roaring waters. One is the flaming sun, single wheel bright as
lightning, the other is Tamil that has no like." — from the taNTiyalankârum [Berkeley Tamil]
applicable