Features
Quotes, Comments on the 2022 Booker Prize winner and Book

Reams have already been written about Shehan Karunatillaka and his Booker Prize winning
satirical fictitious novel – The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. We in Sri Lanka cannot sing enough hosannas and shower praise on this great Lankan writer who has beaten hundreds of authors from all over the world, American included, to win the prestigious 2022 Booker Prize. He further crowned the glory shed on him by speaking of his home country at the awards ceremony after receiving the prize money of pounds 50,000 pounds sterling from Queen Consort Camilla, who pecked him on both cheeks. What an endearing gesture!
In his address, speaking in English, Sinhala and Tamil (another praiseworthy gesture), he spoke pointedly about the troubles and crises the country is going through even now. But he said, troubles do not go on forever; thus giving us all hope for a better future, immediate, we fervently hope. The title is because the dead photographer is given seven moons (seven months?) to find out how, why and who did him in.
Quotes
I will quote from Alexander Alter’s article about the prize of October 17, published in the New York Times. Neil MacGregor, Chair of the panel of judges and ex Director of the British Museum, said their choice of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was unanimous, it beating five other remarkable books: one on the fall of Mugabe, another on the travails of mothers and a third touching on racial bias and violence in the US based on a long ago lynching.
MacGregor further said Shehan “examines the trauma of the country’s decades long civil war. The judges admired enormously the ambition and the scope as also the skill, the daring audacity and the hilarity of the execution” of the author. He commented on the “variety of registers it was deploying, the skill with which language was used and the confidence with which it shifted gears from noir to philosophical reflections to comedy.”
“It’s a book that takes the reader on a roller coaster journey through life and death.” Also, “a journey at once horrific and beyond death, to the world’s dark heart. There astonishingly and encouragingly, we find tenderness, laughter, loyalty and love “concluded MacGregor in his address to the vast audience at the awards ceremony on October 17 in the Roundhouse in London. Shehan captured the real nature and characteristics of the ordinary Sri Lankan.
About the theme of The Seven Moons… Alexander Alter notes: “So when he had the idea for a novel about a Sri Lankan war photographer, who wakes up dead, in an underworld populated by victims of political violence, he conjured up what felt like the most realistic version of the afterlife: a tedious, dysfunction bureaucracy, where hordes of confused ghosts are waiting to be processed.” The photographer was a heavy drinking man and ‘closet queen’. His underworld was also described as a visa centre filled with motley characters.
The Author
Shehan, born in Galle in 1975, experienced as a boy effects of the civil war, admitting now that the full impact was lost on him. He realized all this when researching the past, mostly for his novel on cricket. Alter’s article in the NYT says: “As a boy living through Sri Lanka’s civil war in the 1980s, Shehan thought of political violence as part of the landscape. War was a constant backdrop to daily life, more mundane than frightening at times.”
His father, a surgeon, decided to move the family to Colombo and Shehan schooled at S. Thomas’, Mt Lavinia. Crazy on cricket and probably in a team, he protested strongly on going to New Zealand when his parents decided to move to a greener pasture. (This was told me by a relative). He continued his schooling there and then moved to advertising in London and Singapore.In an address to the Book Show, Shehan said it was “the darkest time in our history.”
Maybe, as most of us surmise, present times are the very worst, the very darkest, with the entire island affected and crises brought on by government, unlike the war started and carried out by the LTTE under one man.His earlier novel – Chinaman: the legend of Pradeep Mathew winning the DSC Prize for writers in South Asia and the International Booker Prize was also about a journalist – drunken etc – who goes in search of a past cricketer, revealing the corruption in Sri Lankan cricket.
In Shehan’s address at the awards ceremony he was outspoken, unafraid and told some truths about the country. “I was going to read the names of all the journalists, the activists, the politicians, the civilians who have been murdered by the State, or by those opposing it, in my lifetime in Sri Lanka. But if I had done that, we’d be here all night.” Stark truth with humour attached, however, humour of the dark kind.
He has also said “My hope for The Seven Moons … is that in the not too distant future – 10 years or as long as it takes – that it is read – a Sri Lanka that learns from its stories, and that The Seven Moons… will be on the fantasy section of the bookshop – next to dragons, unicorns – and will not be mistaken for realism or political satire.” We comment we hope your frankness in speech and truths behind your satirical writing will further wake people up to what they have tolerated for so long, and will make them demand and bring change to political systems.He added at the Book Show: “I think as Sri Lankans it is better to laugh than to cry and if you do not laugh, that’s what you end up doing.” “You know Sri Lanka is a grim place most of the time, but it’s not a sad, depressing place because we tend to appreciate absurdity and the humour of it.”
You’ve diagnosed your countrymen correctly, Shehan. In all our troubles, we tend to grab some happiness, bits of joy and conviviality. We thank you for your speeches which revealed some truths, at least, about the country. You spoke about corruption, cronyism as against true democracy our politicos profess we enjoy.
Shehan was interested in ghosts and researched. Then came the idea in around 2011 to write a satirical novel about war travails that afflicted Sri Lanka. The idea crystallized around 2014. It emerged as Chat with the Dead. Edited it appeared as Seven Moons of… The most recent publication was on August 4, 2022, after the long listing we suppose, by the independent London publisher Sort of Books. It will be published in the US by W W Norton Phoning Nuwan at Vijita Yapa bookshop on Thurstan Road, I found that previous stocks – all sold out – were priced at 2,900/- per copy. A new batch is expected next week and will be less that Rs 2,000/- I was offered to read a copy downloaded to his kindle by a friend. I prefer holding a real book and reading it.
Features
USAID and NGOS under siege

by Jehan Perera
The virtually overnight suspension of the U.S. government’s multibillion dollar foreign aid programme channeled through USAID has been headline news in the U.S. and in other parts of the world where this aid has been very important. In the U.S. itself the suspension of USAID programmes has been accompanied by large scale loss of jobs in the aid sector without due notice. In areas of the world where U.S. aid was playing an important role, such as in mitigating conditions of famine or war, the impact is life threatening to large numbers of hapless people. In Sri Lanka, however, the suspension of U.S. aid has made the headlines for an entirely different reason.
U.S. government authorities have been asserting that the reason for the suspension of the foreign aid programme is due to various reasons, including inefficiency and misuse that goes against the present government’s policy and is not in the U.S. national interest. This has enabled politicians in Sri Lanka who played leading roles in previous governments, but are now under investigation for misdeeds associated with their periods of governance, to divert attention from themselves. These former leaders of government are alleging that they were forced out of office prematurely due to the machination of NGOs that had been funded by USAID and not because of the misgovernance and corruption they were accused of.
In the early months of 2022, hundreds of thousands of people poured out onto the streets of Sri Lanka in all parts of the country demanding the exit of the then government. The Aragalaya protests became an unstoppable movement due the unprecedented economic hardships that the general population was being subjected to at that time. The protestors believed that those in the government had stolen the country’s wealth. The onset of economic bankruptcy meant that the government did not have foreign exchange (dollars) to pay for essential imports, including fuel, food and medicine. People died of exhaustion after waiting hours and even days in queues for petrol and in hospitals due to lack of medicine.
PROBING NGOS
There have been demands by some of the former government leaders who are currently under investigation that USAID funding to Sri Lanka should be probed. The new NPP government has responded to this demand by delegating the task to the government’s National NGO Secretariat. This is the state institution that is tasked with collecting information from the NGOs registered with it about their quantum and sources of funding and what they do with it for the betterment of the people. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala has said he would deal with allegations over USAID funding in Sri Lanka, and for that he had sought a report from the NGO Secretariat which is operating under his Ministry.
Most donor agencies operating in Sri Lanka, including USAID, have rigorous processes which they follow in disbursing funds to NGOs. Usually, the donor agency will issue a call for proposals which specify their areas of interest. NGOs have to compete to obtain these funds, stating what they will do with it in considerable detail, and the impact it will have. Once the grant is awarded, the NGOs are required to submit regular reports of work they have done. The donor agencies generally insist that reputed audit firms, preferably with international reputations, perform regular annual or even six-monthly audits of funds provided. They may even send independent external monitors to evaluate the impact of the projects they have supported.
The value of work done by NGOs is that they often take on unpopular and difficult tasks that do not have mass appeal but are essential for a more just and inclusive society. Mahatma Gandhi who started the Sarvodaya (meaning, the wellbeing of all) Movement in India was inspired by the English philosopher John Ruskin who wrote in 1860 that a good society was one that would care for the very last member in it. The ideal that many NGOs strive for, whether in child care, sanitation, economic development or peacebuilding is that everyone is included and no one is excluded from society’s protection, in which the government necessarily plays a lead role.
SELF-INTEREST
Ironically, those who now demand that USAID funds and those organisations that obtained such funds be investigated were themselves in government when USAID was providing such funds. The National NGO Secretariat was in existence doing its work of monitoring the activities of NGOs then. Donor agencies, such as USAID, have stringent policies that prevent funds they provide being used for partisan political purposes. This accounts for the fact that when NGOs invite politicians to attend their events, they make it a point to invite those from both the government and opposition, so that their work is not seen as being narrowly politically partisan.
The present situation is a very difficult one for NGOs in Sri Lanka and worldwide. USAID was the biggest donor agency by far, and the sudden suspension of its funds has meant that many NGOs have had to retrench staff, stop much of their work and some have even closed down. It appears that the international world order is becoming more openly based on self-interest, where national interests take precedence over global interests, and the interests of the wealthy segments of society take precedence over the interests of the people in general. This is not a healthy situation for human beings or for civilisation as the founders of the world religions knew with their consistent message that the interests of others, of the neighbour, of all living beings be prioritised.
In 1968, when the liberal ideas of universal rights were more dominant in the international system, Garrett Hardin, an evolutionary biologist, wrote a paper called “The Tragedy of the Commons”. Hardin used an example of sheep grazing land when describing the adverse effects of overpopulation. He referred to a situation where individuals, acting in their own self-interest, overexploit a shared resource, like a pasture or fishery, leading to its depletion and eventual destruction, even though it is detrimental to everyone in the long run; essentially, the freedom to use a common resource without regulation can lead to its ruin for all users. The world appears to be heading in that direction. In these circumstances, the work of those, who seek the wellbeing of all, needs to be strengthened and not undermined.
Features
Dealing with sexual-and gender-based violence in universities

Out of the Shadows:
By Nicola Perera
Despite policy interventions at the University Grants Commission (UGC), university, and faculty levels, sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) is so entrenched in the system that victim-survivors seeking justice are more likely to experience concerted pushback than the empathetic solidarity of their peers. Colleagues and friends will often close ranks, rallying to protect the accused under misguided notions of safeguarding the reputation of, not merely the assumed perpetrator, but the institution. While gender and sexual inequalities, inflected by class, ethnicity, religion, region, and other characteristics, shape the identities of the perpetrator and victim and the situation of abuse, the hyper-hierarchised nature of the university space itself enables and conceals such violence. It’s also important to note that women are not the exclusive victims of violence; boys and men are caught in violent dynamics, too.
Similar to intimate partner violence in the private confines of home and family, violence attributed to the sex and gender of abusers and victims in our universities goes heavily underreported. The numerous power imbalances structuring the university – between staff and students; academic staff versus non-academic staff; senior academic professionals as opposed to junior academics; or, senior students in contrast to younger students – also prevent survivors from seeking redress for fear of professional and personal repercussions. Research by the UGC in 2015 in collaboration with the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) and CARE International Sri Lanka, and more recently with UNICEF in 2021, revealed discomfiting truths about the university as places of work and education. In naming oneself as a survivor-victim, even within whatever degree of confidentiality that current grievance mechanisms offer, the individual may also represent (to some members of the university community, if not to the establishment itself) a threat to the system.
Conversely, an accused is liable to not just disciplinary action by their university-employer, but to criminal prosecution by the state. Via the Penal Code, the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (2005), etc., the law recognises SGBV as an offence that can take place across many contexts in the private and public spheres. (The criminalisation of SGBV is in line with state commitments to ensuring the existence, safety, and dignity of women and girls under a host of international agreements, such as the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Vienna Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Sustainable Development Goals, International Labour Organisation conventions regarding non-discrimination in employment, etc.). Specific to the university, the so-called anti-ragging act (the Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Education Institutes Act of 1998, in addition to UGC circular no. 919 of 2010, etc.) deems SGBV as a punishable offence. The rag is one site where SGBV often finds fluent articulation, but it is hardly the only one: this is not a problem with just our students.
As the apex body governing higher education in the country, the UGC has not remained insensible to the fact that SGBV harms the lives, rights, and work of students, staff, (and other parties) in university spaces. The Centre for Gender Equity/Equality sits at the UGC level, along with gender cells/committees in individual universities. Universities and faculties have elaborated their own policies and bylaws to address sexual- or gender-based harassment and sexual violence. Although variously articulated, these policies touch on issues of consent; discrimination against a person, or creation of a hostile environment, on the basis of their gender or sexuality; the spectrum of actions that may constitute harassment/violence (including through the use of technology); coerced or voluntary sexual favours as a quid-pro-quo for academic or professional benefits; procedures for making and investigating SGBV complaints; protection of witnesses to an investigation; the irrelevance of the complainant’s sexual history to the complaint at hand. And here begins the inevitable tale of distance between policy, practice, and effect.
Different faculties of the same university may or may not include SGBV awareness/ training in the annual orientation for new students. The faculty’s SGBV policy may or may not appear in all three languages and Braille in student handbooks. Staff Development Centres training new recruits in outcome-based education and intended learning outcomes may or may not look at (or even realise) the politics of education, nor include an SGBV component in its Human Resources modules. Universities may or may not dedicate increasingly stretched resources to training workshops on SGBV for staff, or cover everyone from academics, to administrative staff, to the marshals, to maintenance staff, to hostel wardens.
Workshops may in any case only draw a core of participants, mostly young, mostly women. Instead, groups of male academics (aided sometimes by women colleagues) will actively organise against any gender policy which they construe as a personal affront to their professional stature. Instead, the outspoken women academic is painted as a troublemaker. Existing policy fails to address such discourse, and other normalised microaggressions and subtle harassment which create a difficult environment for gender and sexual minorities. In fact, the implementation of gender policy at all may rest on the critical presence of an individual (inevitably a woman) in a position of power. Gender equality in the university at any point appears to rest on the convictions and labour of a handful of (mostly women) staff or officials.
The effect is the tediously heteropatriarchal spaces that staff and students inhabit, spaces which whether we acknowledge them as such or not, are imbued with the potential, the threat of violence for those on the margins. The effect, as Ramya Kumar writing earlier in this column states, is the inability of our LGBTQI students and staff to be their authentic selves, except to a few confidantes. Since the absence/rarity of SGBV complaints is no evidence that the phenomenon does not exist, perhaps a truer indication of how gender-sensitised our institutions and personnel are, comes back again to the reception of such complaints. Thus, a woman accuser is frequently portrayed as the archetypal scorned woman: abuse is rewritten not just as consent, but a premeditated transaction of sexual relations in exchange for better grades, a secured promotion, and so on. A situation of abuse becomes inscribed as one of seduction, where the accuser basically changes their tune and cries harassment or rape when the expected gains fail to materialise. Especially with the global backlash to MeToo, society is preoccupied with the ‘false accusation,’ even though there is plenty of evidence that few incidents of SGBV are reported, and fewer still are successfully prosecuted. These misogynist tropes of women and women’s sexuality matter in relation to SGBV in university, because Faculty Boards, investigative committees, Senates, and Councils will be as equally susceptible to them as any citizen or juror in a court of law. They matter in placing the burden of documenting abuse/harassment as it takes place on the victim-survivor, to accumulate evidence that will pass muster before a ‘neutral,’ ‘objective’ observer.
At the end of the day, when appointments to gender committees may be handpicked to not rock the boat, or any university Council may dismiss a proven case of SGBV on a technicality, the strongest policies, the most robust mechanisms and procedures are rendered ineffective, unless those who hold power in everyday dealings with students and persons in subordinate positions at the university also change.
(Nicola Perera teaches English as a second language at the University of Colombo.)
Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.
Features
4th Feb. celebrations…with Mirage in the scene

There were celebrations everywhere, connected with our 77th Independence Day, and in the Seychelles, too, it was a special happening.
Perhaps, it was also the very first occasion where the group Mirage found themselves in the spotlight, at an Independence Day event, and singing the National Anthem, as well.
It all happened on Tuesday, 4th February, in Silhouette Island, in the Seychelles.
Sri Lankans, plus the locals, joined in the celebrations, which included the hoisting of the National Flag, by the General Manager of the Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa, Marc Schumacher, the singing of the National Anthem, and the usual Sri Lankan delicacies, connected with such special occasions.
The National Anthem, led by Mirage, was sung with enthusiasm, and pride, by the crowd present, waving the National Flag.

Hoisting of the National Flag (L) / General Manager of the Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa (R)
Mirage also did the Valentine’s Day scene, on 14th February, at the Labriz Lounge.
The group has turned out to be a favourite with the folks in the Seychelles. and the management at the Lo Brizan restaurant and pub, where the group performs six nights a week, is keen for the band to return, in December, for another stint at Lo Brizan.
This is the group’s second visit to the Seychelles and they are now due home on the 19th of this month.
They have already got a big assignment on the cards, in Colombo, where they would be seen in action at ‘Legends of Ceylon,’ scheduled for 19th March, doing the needful for some of the legends in the local music scene – Joey Lewis, Dalrene, Manilal, Gefforey Fernando, Mignonne and Sohan.
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