Yavarum Kelir”
humanity is my fraternity”
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2005
Tamil &
Sri Lanka
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By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
The hartal has been called off temporarily. The grenades, hand bombs,
dynamite sticks and Molotov cocktails are silent. The targeting of minority
civilians by majoritarian mobs has ceased. Talks are on among concerned
parties to diffuse the tension. The immediate cause of all the trouble
continues to sit on his pedestal amidst a tight barbed wire fence surrounded
by a 24 hour armed Police guard. It is indeed a telling sin of the times this.
The flyby night Buddha guarded by armed coppers.
Pongal - May 23
[Click For Pictures from the
temple, pongal and kaavadi]
Anandasangaree
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
The dastardly killing of former Trincomalee Urban Council chairman
Periyappodi Sooriyamoorthy by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is an
unmistakable warning signal to Tamil United Liberation Front President
Veerasingham Anandasangaree. Though Sooriyamoorthy has sported
different party colours at different stages of his political career the man was
primarily a Sangaree loyalist and trusted confidante. He threw in his lot with
Sangaree despite the danger and contested Parliament elections last year
in Jaffna on the Independent list fielded under the padlock symbol by
Anandasangaree. He has been associating with Sangaree for more than
three decades.
By: Dr. Rajasingham Narendran
The recent international aid donors conference in
Kandy at which approximately U.S dollars three billion
was pledged on condition that the peace process is
revived; the attempts to establish a post-tsunami rebuilding
mechanism for the north and east involving the joint
participation of the Sri Lankan government, the LTTE
(Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam) and the Muslims;
the evolving national consensus that a federal system
of governance should be adopted in Sri Lanka to
resolve the Sinhala-Tamil and majority- minority
problems; the stance being adopted by the JVP (Jathika
Vimukthi Peramuna) and the JHU (Jathika Hela Urumaya)
to these issues; the crisis involving the Buddha
statue in Trincomalee; necessitate that there is an
awareness of the inherent opportunities and dangers in
the present conglomeration of events among all facets
of the Sri Lankan polity and a consensus to chart a
sensible course to prevent a disaster that could be
worse than anything we have seen before, either
through imprudence or deliberate mischief. This is not
the time for political opportunism, but a time of
unprecedented opportunities.
joint
mechanism
makes a
mockery of
Tamil
aspirations
By: J. S.
Tissainayagam
[NorthEastern Monthly]
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
When Sivaram started out as columnist "Taraki" on "The Sunday Island" the
LTTE was having talks with the Sri Lankan government of Ranasinghe
Premadasa. Both parties were united in the common intention of getting the
Indian Peace Keeping Force out. The political climate therefore was not very
hostile towards the tigers in the South. There was even an undercurrent of
admiration for the tigers in the South as they were fighting the Indian army
on the battlefront.
Unassuming greatness, unforgettable charm
By: Professor Karthigesu Sivathamby
Source: Northeastern Monthly - June 2005
Looking at the responses evoked by Sivaram’s death, I wonder whether I
could indeed claim to be someone close to him in terms of journalistic
experience. The fact that many journalists and writers of distinction have so
courageously agreed to identify themselves with him personally, despite
political differences, leaves me rather bewildered.
Sivaram was close to me and my family. He was so close that each member
of my family deeply and sincerely feels his absence and genuinely mourns
his death. I am afraid that it is the professional and human faces of Sivaram
that are going to be missed by colleagues, acquaintances and fellow-
professionals, which very rightly highlighted his commitment to Tamil
nationalism and more than that, his expertise in communicating it to, very
often, unreceptive readers.
2nd Year on
the web
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hits varsity education in Sri Lanka'' [The Hindu]
Neglect of English was short-sighted: Dharmadasa
"I am interested in how this came about in Sri Lanka. Maybe, this is a
residue of pre-Buddhist beliefs. Some of the deities we worship are south
Indian deities,'' he said. For instance, ``Iyyanar'' worship (widely prevalent in
Tamil Nadu) was confined to a locality in the island. The ``Pitiye'' worship on
the central highlands ``is blatantly south Indian but Sinhala Buddhists have
great faith'' in this deity. People worshipped the Devol deity on the southern
coast. There was Buddha Vishnu. ``Pathini'' worship was strong among the
Sinhalese. (Pathini worship, the goddess symbolising fidelity, is prevalent in
Tamil Nadu and Kerala). ``Pathini is a Buddhist deity and there is a shrine for
her in Kandy. We consider her a Buddha, like Vishnu and Skanda. We have
Buddhisised Hindu gods and deities,'' Dr. Dharmadasa said. This was
syncretism — two religions coming together and mixing up.
Four men have been freed from custody in Sri Lanka after the Supreme
Court acquitted them of involvement in the killing of 27 Tamils five years
ago. The judges said the men's guilt had not been proved beyond
reasonable doubt. One of those freed, a policeman, was on duty on the
night the young Tamil men died when locals stormed the detention centre
where they were being held.
The 25 October 2000 attack at Bandarawela in central Sri Lanka was
internationally condemned.
Man's deportation on hold after judge rules high rank in
violent group puts him in danger
Muralitharan Nadarajah, a 44-year-old father of four who arrived in Canada
six years ago, was saved -- at least temporarily -- by his elevated position
within the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Nadarajah
and The Solicitor
General For
Canada
Court Decision in
full details
Docket: IMM-4292-04
Citation: 2005 FC 713
Ottawa, Ontario, May 20, 2005
Present: THE HONOURABLE MADAM JUSTICE LAYDEN-STEVENSON
BETWEEN:
MURALITHARAN NADARAJAH
Applicant
and
THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR CANADA
Respondent [Click for Details]
May 23, 2005
Devotees from all over the island come to Vattrapalai Kannagai Amman Temple
on “Vaikasi Visakam “ and cook “Sakkarai Pongal” and offer to Kannagai
Amman. Make Pongal, eat and sleep there. They leave the following day.
Devotees take Kavadi , Thookku Kavadi , Paal Kudam and Katpoora Chatti to
fulfill their vows. [Click for More Pictures from the Tempe]
Kanagasabapathipillai
a pioneer Radio Ceylon broadcaster
By K.S. Sivakumaran
Gnanam Rathinam, a Lankan Thamilian woman in her seventies lives in Sydney,
Australia for the past 20 years or so. A graduate of the then University of Ceylon,
Colombo, she married a non-Brahmin, E.Rathinam, a bilingual writer, poet, critic,
dramatist and a librettist for dance - dramas.
He is not living. His wife brought out four books of his posthumously during the
past few weeks. Just as much as her husband was a key figure in literary circles
and an innovative superintendent of translations, in the then Department of
Official Languages, Gnanam was also in her own right a pioneering and
enterprising member of the womankind in the then broadcasting world in this
country.
"Akshaya Tritiyai", the third day of the bright half of Chithirai, is considered one
of the most sacred days of the year. The word `Akshaya' means that which never
diminishes.
This year it was 11th of May.
It is considered the perfect time to make your investments in Gold, it is in fact
considered one of the most sacred days of the year. [HumanityAshore]
film star, peace activist, secularist, politician extraordinary
In the early 1950s, Dutt moved to Mumbai to continue his education and joined
the Jai Hind College. His involvement in dramatics got him his first job with
Keymers, a British advertising agency that hired him for radio programmes.
"Lipton ki Mehfil", anchored by Mr. Dutt and broadcast on Radio Ceylon, at that
time the only commercial radio station in the region, became extremely popular.
Mr. Dutt interviewed many famous film personalities like Dev Anand and Dilip
Kumar. This opened the way for him into the world of films, where Ramesh
Sehgal first offered him a role in a film called `Shikast'. He turned down the offer
as he had promised his mother that he would complete his education.
K. J. Jesudas on music, technology, politics.
I believe that I am God's creation. So, I surrender myself to His wishes. He
created me for a purpose. May be I'm like His radio. He knows quite well when to
shut it off. No one else can do that. It's a confidence I have had all my life. I am
not bothered about others' comments.
Love, hate, revenge... Jyotika brought `Chandramukhi' alive. Has
the film changed her prospects?
The Tamil blockbuster, "Chandramukhi" is significant for several reasons. First,
a super hit from Rajnikanth whose fans had to wait for three long years. Sivaji
Films, producer, entered its 50th year and for director P. Vasu it was the 50th
film. For Jyotika it is her 30th film and is already proving to be a turning point. In
the seven years of her career, she has acted in all the four South Indian
languages and also in Hindi. Hailing from the North, how has her experience
been down South? And what are her plans for the future? Read on as the
bubbly heroine opens out.
Prof. V. Subramaniam's mission was to popularise Buddhist themes in the
Indian classical performing arts.
He served as Professor at Carleton University, from 1974, and later as
distinguished Research Professor from 1992 till his death. Prof. Subramaniam
had the rare distinction of having taught in all the five continents of the world.
Subramaniam embraced Buddhism while in his twenties in Sri Lanka. He found
that Buddhism was spiritually fulfilling but not as culturally vigorous as the Hindu
faith.
Madurai ... . It is a town with a unique pulsating vibrancy of its own, totally alive
day and night.
Madurai — a magical name spelling an extraordinary sweetness, a huge
town/city steeped in antiquity, in religion, in art, architecture and music, in a
cuisine honed delectable with time, and permanently redolent with the essence
of fresh jasmine — truly, a place like no other. It's a town with a unique pulsating
vibrancy of its own, totally alive day and night, as if life were centred on a Lido.
This is a place where gods walked, lived and ruled, as documented in history.
It is not just the tiger, but also the elephant, the turtle, the dolphin, the wetland,
the ... facing a bleak future. A look at the crisis facing Indian wildlife.
The last few weeks have seen an unexpected deluge of "tiger reports" in the
media; reports on the crisis facing the tiger at Sariska, Ranthambhore, Panna,
Bandavgarh. Many believe that this might be only the tip of the iceberg.
Prodigy circus
ABISHEK could see the eight boys from his apartment balcony. Suresh, his
classmate in fifth standard, was reeling off the rules for the day. "Five overs
match. Both teams should field. No umpire. If you hit the compound wall of
Mantra apartments, it is a `four'. Hitting into balconies or into Bala's compound is
`out'."
"But Bala's was `six' last week," interrupted Chandru, Abishek's neighbour.
"Have you forgotten that they didn't even allow us to search for the ball," said
Suresh. Everyone agreed that hitting into Bala's meant `out'.
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driving 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]
disclaimers
applicable