Immutable natureUnchanging elementsImmovable waterUnerring metalImmeasurable constellationsUncounted gasesShine from withinShine from withoutReflective properties The proof of nobilityShower of lightMatter's immutability
We sat at the toddy tavern outside of Jaffna, low on a concrete berm, carefully, (unconsciously?) designed as part of a square structure with a smaller square, the vendors' space, inside and to one side. A simple roof, pillars for support and no walls, a parking space in the sand. One dose was enough we agreed so for your sixty ...
I'm writing this with my friend Kim in mind. Kind of dedicating it to her and her research here in Sri Lanka. Kim is doing a great project embedding herself in a traditional community in transition just down the road from us. Her Tamil is fluid and she is deeply popular with people in her community. She has done an ...
My friend told me that in a super holy spot in Sri Lanka there's a monk who people go to. I can't say his name or the name of the super holy spot or the name of the monk because that would betray his confidence. You my friend were kind and considerate to send me some of your field notes ...
You pulled up a chair and invited us to look at a bunch of pictures in your Facebook page. You weren't comfortable manipulating the page on your Samsung device but I wasn't particularly comfortable myself. I don't do Facebook or Samsung but I know enough that you have to "like" pictures your daughter is in. Janet knows enough to tell ...
I hope you don't take me for an utter fool when I say my questions have been answered, that I don't necessarily want to come back, that I've seen more than I want to see. You see, that's the way it feels to me. I know that to be "healthy" we have to look to the future, think about what ...
So there are some interesting dimensions to the question (and the telling) of "black magic" in Batticaloa. Turns out, no surprise I suppose, that it depends who you ask. My first interlocutor told me:1) it's about "sending your boys" to Batticaloa from Jaffna. 2) it's about them "not being able to get off their mat" I guess this could be ...
The hint came earlier in the week on my bus trip north from Vavunia to Jaffna. It was a sudden blinding rain, with thunder, that shook the bus and had every passenger, even me, sliding closed their windows. Well, as usual I kept my window open a few inches but I was asked by neighbors, a tiny young man and ...
You told me how 25 of the 29 people in your important government office, provincial level, do no work at all. Is it any surprise? They all got their diplomas from __ University. I've been there and I've seen how things work. I should say I've been there numerous times over a three year period in various teaching and jurying ...
The village is an island among cultivated fields. Or it was. Jaffna is encroaching from the south along the KKS Road and people have begun building at the edges of the fields on the other three sides. New land is in demand as there is so little of it. Old land uses give way to new land uses. You ask. ...
Two more dreams came to you in your sweaty cold hot old young delirium. How you were able to remember them is inconceivable not retainable almost not retellable yet in your brain your diseased brain your brain where trails of thought were going down foxholes, rabbit holes, spider holes, serpent holes and pathways the dreams were forming, woofing and warping, ...
It's the strangest thing. For the past few weeks, during their time off, I've been giving the serving boys here a few swimming lessons. I'm no championship swimmer but I like to poke around in the water and relax. So that's what I have been training them to do. Water and relaxing in water are not in their comfort zone. ...
For some years my college has been focused on student assessment. Lots of other places are too. I don't blame them. You could look at it as an accountability thing. Are we really doing our job? Are students really learning? What are they learning? How? So the language of outcomes, metrics, and "following" students through their careers are rife in ...
Ironic maybe. I've always been drawn to interesting shapes. Shapes that are unexpected. Shapes that tell a story. Shapes that exist apparently outside of reason, or better, purpose. But these shapes are real. And they occur in nature, they're not some phantasmagorical imagined things. The work that I started during my PhD and continued for ten years after, work that ...
Two hours were taken from my time this afternoon by your pontificating. It's too much. It was time I could have napped during. Or found the aspirin I was looking for after lunch. Why did I need an aspirin? Because I sat too long in one position. Why did I sit too long in one position? Because I was fighting ...
I ate two bananas this morning. They'd been in their plastic bag wrapped loosely in newspaper for a few days. When my friend first gave them to me he told me they're not ripe so I didn't open the bag for a couple of days. After two days one banana was kind of ripe. It was good, slightly mineraly the ...
I'm not into numbers of dead or wounded or maimed or disappeared or repatriated or lost. I'm not into "sides" or who planted which bombs or booby trapped which bus. I'm not into Colombo and I'm not into what somebody out there calls "peace and reconciliation." I'm sure these are terms that are alien to ninety percent of your people ...
You are way too much into your ancientness. It's not a good thing. I'll cut to the chase. If you're the ancientest one in town or the most ancient one on the island there's no room for anyone else's ancientness. It's as though ancientness gives some kind of permission to be the "owner" and this at the expense of everyone ...
Here you are on this beautiful property on this enchanting island that was developed by your parents. They started in 1981 when their home in Bandarawela was firebombed. That community, Bandarawela, is being rewarded today for its patriotism against Tamils by a multibillion dollar airport. What for? To deliver milk?There you were in the UK for 11 years. You had ...
