Features

Two memorable years in Jaffna

Published

2 years ago

2024/03/10

Reading the late ACB Pethiyagoda’s memoir of his time at Jaffna College, Vadukoddai, Goolbai Gunasekera’s memory was jogged about just under two years she herself spent in Jaffna. Pethiyagoda went from Trinity to Jaffna College as he was interested in a career in agriculture and though that this would be better served in Jaffna rather than in Kandy. Goolbai went to Jaffna when her mother, the eminent educationist Clara Motwani, accepted the post of principal at Hindu Ladies College. She has recounted this experience in two chapters of the book she wrote about her mother, Chosen Ground. We publish the first of these today.

Jaffna, the Peninsula in the north of the island, is only about three hundred and ninety kilometres distant from Colombo, yet contrasts in living styles and language, the majority religion of Hinduism, and the attitudes of its people made it seem virtually another country. The Tamils of the north and the Sinhalese of the south co-existed in reasonable comfort, peace and quiet despite earlier historical depredations on both sides. Distinguished Tamils were at the forefront of the national movement for Independence, along with other great leaders belonging to the Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher communities.

Colombo schools – indeed, schools all over the island, had Tamils studying happily beside the Sinhalese majority island race. Alongside were Parsis, Indians, and the earlier mentioned Muslims and Burghers. This rich mix made up the multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious population of Sri Lanka, and has done so for as long as we remember.

Life flowed along with very little trouble. True inter-racial and inter-religious marriages were rare, but they did occasionally occur. Socially, there was no divide. Sports clubs, social clubs, Government services, the Mercantile sector, Universities and of course, schools, contained a judicious mix of all Sri Lankans. And this idyllic state continued after Independence was achieved, until a kind of crude, unfocused day of terrorism in 1983 drove the Sinhalese and Tamils irrevocably apart destroying any illusion of cordiality. Only in 2003 did peace talks at last begin.

Colombo was always a cosmopolitan city, standing, as it does, at the crossroads of the sea-lanes. The British fleets brought not only trade to our shores but also visitors, tourists … and not only just visitors from other British colonies, but also some famous Americans who were enchanted with the island of Ceylon. “My God, but it’s beautiful,” Mark Twain wrote, although he was wilting in the heat.

Missionary activity was at its height during British colonial days. Strangely however, the American missionaries got to Jaffna before the British did. There they continued to remain, and the excellent schools they founded exist to this day, albeit now under the Government’s National Education system.

Many years ago an Archbishop of Canterbury made the comment that it had to be admitted that the Christian missions to Asia had failed. Percentage-wise, converts were few among the general population, but the influence of those schools was immense.

St. Patrick’s College and the Uduvil Girls’ School in Jaffna are still among the best in the island. Heading Uduvil at this moment of writing is a colleague and friend — Mrs. Shiranee Mills who belongs to the highly respected Tamil Christian Mills family of Jaffna.

That Mother would consider working outside Colombo, and in Jaffna of all places, never entered our heads. She had not visited the north, and her knowledge of the district was minimal. She had many Tamil friends of course. Her bridge foursome buddies at the Womens’ International Club (where eventually she became both President and then Chairman) were ladies like Mrs. Girlie Cooke, Mrs. Podi Singham, Mrs. Nagulamba Somasunderam, Miss Alagi Muttukumaru, and others. She had also had many Tamil colleagues in the world of education. One was the gracious Inspector of Schools, Miss Chelliah. However, Mother’s friends were not necessarily in the habit of discussing Jaffna at the bridge table while bidding their hands.

Once Mother was comfortably ensconced in Jaffna, Miss Chelliah paid a visit to Hindu Ladies’ College to see how she was getting along in this totally unfamiliar milieu. Visiting my class – Grade 6 – she asked the girls if they knew which religious group worshipped fire. Thanks to my father’s Parsi guardian, I knew the answer to that one. “The Parsis, I said. “Very good.” Miss Chelliah was surprised. She had no idea who I was, but just to make sure we were all on the ball, she then asked if anyone could name the Seven Modern Wonders of the World. To a girl, the class reeled them off. Miss Chelliah was more taken aback than surprised. We seemed a splendidly knowledgeable bunch.

Back in Mother’s office, she mentioned that the General Knowledge standard seemed very high. This was not very good news to Mother who was having student problems she had never dreamed of ever facing. Her students in Jaffna were TOO study-oriented. But more of this later.

Mother had asked her Tamil friends in Colombo if they thought she would like Jaffna.

“You’ll love it,” they replied, although on what they based this certainty was hard to ascertain. Love it we did. Father went off on one of his lecture tours in the States leaving Mother to cope with the problems of moving. Fortunately we had Cathleen still with us, and she coped easily.

Cathleen’s older sister, Nimal, a gentle and loving woman, had been mother’s maid at the time of my birth. When she left to get married, 16-year-old Cathleen stayed on to care for Su. Su had been born in America, and had spent her first years with my grandparents in Illinois. She was not too well at birth, and travel in those days was not the ’round the world in 24 hours’ business that it is today. Mother left Su behind and she only came out to the East when she was nearly five.

The young maid brought in to care for a homesick little girl was Cathleen. Su and she remained close till Cathleen died in 2000. Su was very unhappy at all this uprooting. She desperately missed her grandparents and voiced her fury each night at bedtime. In the hope that we would grow close as sisters, Mother made us sleep in the same room. Su’s nightly bellows put paid to any such maternal hopes. We have pretty much remained guardedly tolerant of each other all our lives. And to add to our mental and psychological differences, our adult lives have been lived on opposite sides of the world. Su now lives in New York near her married daughter Anu, son-in-law Sumith, and her enchanting grandson, Sohan.

In Jaffna the American Missionaries had been active since the days of British rule. I have never been quite sure why they opted for Jaffna, but there they descended, and made a roaring success of the schools they founded. They naturally sought converts while they were about it. Mrs. Ranji Senanayake, wife of Maitripala Senanayake, former Government Minister of Irrigation, once told me that if one delved deep enough one would find that all Tamil Christians were related.

Missionaries encouraged the members of their flock to marry one another, and there soon emerged a highly educated and professionally qualified community of Tamil Christians. The Hindus were not slow in founding their own Hindu schools, and Hindu Ladies’ College (which Mother now headed) was one such Institution.

Tamil Hindus studied in Christian institutions, but it was natural and inevitable that a movement would develop that would aim at educating Hindu children in a Hindu environment. I was too young to recall if Jaffna had ever needed the services of a Colonel Olcott who revitalized Buddhism so dramatically. I do not know if Hinduism in the North was ever at risk as was Buddhism in the South. I do not think so.

At any rate, an American Principal, and one as well known as Mother, was a popular choice with the parents of HLC.

Mother was not a missionary, but her appointment gave the fledgling school a certain cachet. So to Jaffna we went. Our long love affair with the North started from the minute we got off the train. The crisp, dry air was very much to Mother’s liking. Even the sparse landscape suited her preference for a simple, uncluttered environment. I bonded with the Tamil girls instantly and copied whatever they did, even to the wearing of the pavada/sattai (the long skirt, blouse and half sari). I straightaway developed a schoolgirl crush on Miss Vijayalakshmi Pathy who taught History and Botany. Had she taught Mathematics, my attainment in that subject might not have been in the sorry state it was for most of my school life.

To get back to Mother’s unhappiness with Miss Chelliah’s compliment: at first she was ecstatic at the work ethic displayed by the girls of Jaffna. She was not given to breathing down the necks of her pupils urging them to study, study, study. She wanted a balanced, well-rounded student to emerge, as it were from a cocoon, well prepared for the hard world of the day — but cultured and very feminine withal.

The girls of HLC were a revelation. Never had Mother encountered the seriousness with which these traditionally reared Tamil girls approached life. Education is revered in Asia. In Jaffna it is worshipped. Imagine, if you will, a class of 25 students who hung on every word uttered by the teacher and accepted these nuggets of knowledge with the same reverence Prophet Mohammed displayed on Mount Hira when the Angel Gabriel revealed his message.

A teacher’s Nirvana, would you not say? Indeed, yes. But Mother was not a happy being. She worried that the lack of discussion and a total avoidance of confrontational issues caused the Tamil girls to lack analytical skills. “You must not believe everything a teacher tells you,” she would say. “Learn to question even your Principal.” The senior students smiled politely, unbelieving of such heresy, and went right on accepting a teacher’s word as an act of faith.

Mother’s general impression of young people was probably that of teachers all over the world. Lassitude and a drooping of energy would follow moments of clarity and hard mental activity. This appeared normal. The sustained high achievement maintained by her Jaffna girls was a new experience.

“Teach your students how to study,” she used to direct her teachers in Colombo. “Children often need to be taught methods and mnemonic schemes as aides to memory.”

She did not say this in Jaffna. She didn’t need to. Everybody studied, including me.

Mother was ecstatic at the work ethic I was so uncharacteristically displaying, and she rightly gave credit to the peer pressure exerted by my classmates and those motivated teachers like Miss Pathy and Miss Leela Ponniah. Mother never forced study times on either Su or me. My sudden self-motivation surprised her no end.

Mother had a brain like a satellite dish – always picking things out of clear, blue skies. Student questionnaires was one such brainwave. Determined to get her Tamil girls to be more aggressive, she started a series of ‘Yes/No’ type questionnaires, which forced students to think independently. The slightly horrified girls of HLC could not believe they were being forced to make judgments on “Do you find Maths interesting? If not, why? How would you like it taught?”

They found it all slightly heretical. Excitement and lively discussion, opposition to a teacher’s views, or argumentative attitudes, were not part of a Jaffna girl’s psyche at that time (1946). Those particular questionnaires did not galvanize them into becoming the sort of question boxes Mother had hoped for, but let it go on record that Mother never had to write, “Not trying” on any student report she signed in Jaffna.

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In Sri Lanka opposition parties remain as fragmented as ever

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Features

From stabilisation to transformation without delay

Published

15 hours ago

2026/05/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

At a symposium on reconciliation organised by the National Peace Council last week, more than 250 religious clergy, civic activists and political representatives from different communities gathered to discuss the country’s future. Speaking at the event, Minister Bimal Rathnayake explained the government’s approach to national reconciliation. He said the government viewed the country’s recovery in terms of a three stage process. The first stage was stabilisation, the second was development and the third was transformation. Reconciliation, he implied, would come in that final stage. The participation of Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa at the same symposium, and the constructive nature of his comments, strengthens that hope.

When the present NPP government took office in 2024, the country was emerging from one of the gravest crises in its post Independence history. The economic collapse of 2022 had led to shortages of fuel, food, medicines and electricity. Inflation soared, foreign reserves disappeared and long queues became part of daily life. The political upheaval that followed culminated in the resignation of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after mass public protests under the banner of the Aragalaya movement. The country was then governed by a leadership that spoke the language of reform and reconciliation but was widely perceived as lacking a direct popular mandate.

Sri Lanka’s past experience suggests that stabilisation and transformation cannot be treated as entirely separate stages. Postponing reconciliation until some future moment risks repeating the failures of the past. If transformation is endlessly delayed until a supposedly perfect moment arrives, there will always be new crises and new reasons for postponement. Minister Rathnayake’s contention that the government’s immediate priority has necessarily been stabilisation flows from the government’s awareness of the precarious situation the country is. Over the past two years, the government has succeeded to a significant extent in restoring economic and political stability. Inflation has reduced, shortages have ended and public institutions have regained a degree of functionality.

Guaranteed Changes

On the other hand, the country’s development continues to face challenges due to adverse global conditions, including disruptions caused by conflict in the Middle East and extreme weather events that have affected tourism, trade and the cost of living. The danger is that reconciliation may be indefinitely postponed in the name of stabilisation. This danger can be reduced if the government works proactively with the opposition and civil society to commence practical measures of transformation now rather than later. The participation of Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa at the symposium, and the constructive nature of his comments, has strengthened the sense that bipartisan engagement on reconciliation may now be possible.

The urgency of transformation came through strongly in the presentations made by representatives of the Sri Lanka Tamil and Malaiyaha Tamil communities. ITAK parliamentarian S.Shritharan spoke of the frustration caused by unresolved post war issues in the north and east. He referred to disputes regarding land occupied during the war years, including controversies linked to Buddhist temples and state sponsored settlement activity in areas claimed by local communities. He also pointed to the continuing large scale presence of the security forces in the north and east nearly two decades after the end of the war. These grievances have remained central to Tamil political discourse since the end of the armed conflict in 2009. Families displaced by war continue to seek the return of ancestral lands. Civil society organisations in the north have repeatedly called for greater civilian control over local administration and a reduction in military involvement in civilian life.

Academic research and practical work on the ground have shown that reconciliation cannot be separated from questions of dignity, equality and justice. Former minister Mano Ganesan, leader of the Democratic People’s Front, focused on the longstanding problems faced by the Malaiyaha Tamil community. He spoke passionately about continuing housing shortages, landlessness and economic marginalisation, issues that have persisted since Independence. He also highlighted the devastating impact of recent extreme weather events on estate communities that remain socially and economically vulnerable. The condition of the Malaiyaha Tamil community remains one of the enduring social justice issues in Sri Lanka.

After Independence in 1948, a large proportion of them were denied citizenship and voting rights through legislation that rendered them stateless. Though citizenship rights were eventually restored, the social and economic consequences of exclusion continue to be felt generations later.

Many families still lack secure housing and land ownership despite their immense contribution to the country’s plantation economy. Minister Rathnayake’s responses to both these concerns were politically significant. He argued that recent political developments, including the declining influence of narrow ethnic politics across communities, indicated a major shift in public attitudes. According to him, the political ground has changed in ways that make it increasingly difficult for politicians who rely primarily on ethnic division and communal insecurity to retain public support.

Inter-Connected

There is evidence to support the assessment about the changing political grounding which sees future prospects in the resolution of long standing problems. . The economic collapse of 2022 affected all communities alike and generated a new politics centred on governance, anti corruption, accountability and economic justice. The Aragalaya protests brought together Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims in a common demand for political change. Although ethnic grievances have not disappeared, the crisis created space for a broader understanding that the country’s future depends on cooperation rather than division. Opposition Leader Premadasa’s comments at the symposium reflected this changing political climate. He emphasised that national reconciliation could not be separated from economic justice and the need to address disparities between regions and social classes.v He also mentioned the need for civil society organisations to take this message to the community. This wider understanding of reconciliation is important because ethnic inequality and economic inequality have often reinforced each other in Sri Lanka’s history.

Academic studies have identified the denial of citizenship rights after Independence as a historic injustice that set back the Malaiyaha community for decades. The challenge now is to ensure that transformation becomes part of the stabilisation and development process itself. Practical first steps are both possible and necessary. The release of civilian lands still under state control, greater devolution of administrative authority, reduction of military involvement in civilian affairs, language equality in public administration and accelerated housing and land ownership programmes in the plantation sector are all measures that can begin immediately without waiting for a final stage of transformation.

The government’s recent commitment that provincial council elections will finally be held this year is therefore significant. These elections have been repeatedly postponed by successive governments. Holding them would not solve the ethnic conflict by itself. But it would signal a willingness to restore democratic institutions and share power in a meaningful way.

Sri Lanka has repeatedly postponed difficult reforms in the hope that a more convenient political moment would eventually arrive. But opportunities are invariably created and fought for instead of being provided as a gift by a benevolent government.

The present moment, shaped by the economic crisis and public demand for accountable government, offers a rare opportunity to move simultaneously towards stability, development and reconciliation. Provincial council elections can be the first meaningful step. But they must not be the last.

by Jehan Perera

Features

Researchers to shape new environmental policy framework

Published

15 hours ago

2026/05/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

Some of the researchers at the meeting

In a significant move aimed at steering Sri Lanka’s environmental governance towards a more science-based and evidence-driven path, the Ministry of Environment has initiated a new collaborative mechanism to integrate leading researchers into national policy formulation and conservation planning.

The initiative was discussed at a high-level meeting chaired by Dr. Dammika Patabendi at the Ministry of Environment on Tuesday, where top environmental scientists, wildlife experts and researchers were invited to contribute towards what officials described as a “strategic transition” in the country’s environmental management framework.

The discussions focused on strengthening the scientific basis of environmental conservation programmes and national policy decisions while creating a more research-friendly environment for academics and field scientists engaged in biodiversity and ecological studies.

Particular attention was paid to long-standing concerns raised by researchers regarding procedural and operational difficulties encountered when conducting studies in collaboration with the Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Forest Department.

Minister Patabendi stressed the need for environmental policies to be guided by credible scientific data rather than ad hoc administrative decisions, ministry sources said.

Among the key proposals discussed was the establishment of a streamlined mechanism that would reduce bureaucratic obstacles faced by researchers in obtaining approvals, accessing field sites and sharing scientific findings with state institutions.

The Minister highlighted the importance of building stronger partnerships between policymakers and the scientific community at a time when Sri Lanka is grappling with escalating environmental challenges including deforestation, biodiversity loss, human-elephant conflict, climate-related disasters and ecosystem degradation.

Environmentalists attending the meeting had also highlighted the urgent necessity of incorporating empirical research into national decision-making processes to ensure long-term ecological sustainability and better resource management.

The meeting brought together several of Sri Lanka’s leading environmental researchers and academics including Rohan Pethiyagoda, Saminda Fernando, Sewwandi Jayakody, Samantha Gunasekara, Dinidu Devapura, Himesh Jayasinghe, Manoj Prasanna, Mendis Wickramasinghe and Suranjan Karunarathna.

Director General of Wildlife Conservation Ranjan Marasinghe also participated in the deliberations.

Officials said the proposed framework is expected to pave the way for a more transparent, data-oriented and scientifically credible environmental governance structure capable of addressing emerging conservation challenges more effectively.

The government expects the new mechanism to support the implementation of practical and scientifically robust programmes aimed at safeguarding Sri Lanka’s ecological future while enhancing cooperation between state agencies and the country’s growing community of environmental researchers.

By Ifham Nizam

Features

Back home … for a special occasion

Published

15 hours ago

2026/05/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

Seven Notes: Sri Lankans based in Dubai – with Niluk (second from left)

Niluk Uswaththa, of Seven Notes fame, based in Dubai, surprised many when he and his wife Apeksha, turned up in Colombo, last week … unannounced.

Yes, they had a purpose in their surprise visit … to wish Apeksha’s mum for her birthday, which was on Monday, 18th May, and what a surprise it turned out to be!

In an exclusive chit-chat with The Island, Niluk said that the scene in Dubai is improving and Seven Notes do have work coming their way.

Since the members of Seven Notes are all employed (doing day jobs), they operate only on Saturdays and Sundays.

Niluk: Didn’t come prepared to perform, but obliged
friends in Galle

In fact, to get to Colombo for the birthday surprise (on Monday, 18th May), the band had to skip their 17th May, Sunday gig.

“Although it’s a short vacation, my wife and I are enjoying the setup here,” said Niluk, adding that they spent two days in Galle and that their next destination is Anuradhapura.”

Niluk didn’t come prepared to perform, but he obliged the crowd present, at a friend’s birthday celebrations, in Galle, singing and playing guitar.

They are scheduled to leave for their home, in Dubai, in the first week of June.

Seven Notes is an outfit made up of Sri Lankans and the band has been around for almost nine years.

Niluk came into their scene nearly seven years ago.

“When I went to Dubai, I had offers coming my way but it was Seven Notes that impressed me because of their acoustic style.”

The Dubai’s entertainment scene is showing clear signs of bouncing back and even levelling up in the next few months.

Niluk and Apeksha: Enjoying their short vacation

After a slowdown earlier this year due to regional tensions, shows and festivals are back on the calendar, and organisers say late 2026 could be the busiest concert season in years.

Time Out Dubai says “the 2026 concert calendar is filling up nicely” and “the city is ready to party once again” after some reschedules.

Dubai Summer Surprises in July brings retail activations, comedy nights, and indoor art exhibitions.

Organisers point to a backlog of postponed events that are being rescheduled for late 2026 and early 2027.

Yes, Dubai is calm on the surface but on alert. Life is mostly normal in the city, but there’s a “balancing act” as people watch for escalation.