It’s been pissing with rain up here in the hills and from all reports it’s seems to be much the same pretty much all over the country. The ground outside oozes water like a sponge, so ‘inside’ seems like the best option. WorldSpace is on and the station is RIFF “best jazz on the planet twenty four hours a day”, as the DJ puts it. Dionne Warwick is doing ‘Say a little prayer for me”, one of her many Burt Bacharach / Hal David compositions – another hit! There’s a White Eye (Zosterops ceylonensis) on the Mulberry tree outside the window being very picky about the quality of the berry. He inspects carefully, rejecting the less ripe ones until he selects the best. John Coltrane has replaced Dionne with ‘Ole’ – too brilliant for words! I check kottu. Indi’s blog looks interesting, so I check it out. The obsessive compulsive drive has me zipping off a comment and then other distractions take over.
Much later in the afternoon – in between the mandatory mundane work ethic – I check kottu again to find a whole slew of comments directed at Indi’s post. Rez is on a trip about the Christians persecuting (and executing as well!!!) Buddhists all over the Island in the ‘old days’. The tone of his comment seemed to me to be full of hate towards ‘Christians’, ostensibly due to what he describes they did to the Buddhists a century or more ago. How this ‘rationale’ relates to the post was bewildering, to put it mildly. I doubt there was any indication in the post that warranted these statements:
And now, after persecuting Buddhists for centuries in the most vile of fashions, they are whining (through people like Indi) about how a religion followed by seven-percent of the Sri Lankan population isn’t accorded the biggest and best celebration in the country, and blaming it (surprise surprise!) on monks. Apparently according to Indi, ninety-three-percent of Sri Lankans who are not Christians just MUST celebrate Christmas and shop and sing gospel songs and listen to boring ass Christian programmes on Radio, the TV and all the streets in the whole entire country must sing the glories of Jesus Christ. Halleleujah! Praise the Lord!
Does it appear to be a bit ‘off the wall’ to you and perhaps an excuse for a platform? It sure did to me, but then, I’m known to be pretty much off the mark with a lot of my perceptions, so maybe I am this time too. In any event, it did seem to be rather on the extreme side! And speaking of extremists…..
So it’s back to WorldSpace – Pat Metheny is on – a true master! The dogs are asleep by me and the rain has ceased. Was that Java I just heard?
3 comments
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December 20, 2006 at 12:08 am
mala
so got curious n read the referred.. no real response is warranted.. to his post that is.. as a person who lived here all my life – be it a sheltered life, though never sheltered from christmas(!) – the post lacks much sense.
i lived here for a while (like 30yrs!?) n christmas has not gotten any less celebrated this year given present circumstances – those that arent soma hamuduruwo linked.. like the tsunami. or vak(/h)arai. if people are celebrating less at present (which mind you is of recent on the decline – at one time this country used to leave out the crackers during the april new year when horrendous attacks – of which ever kind – had just taken place), i would assume other (more current and ample) reasons.. or pull out better analysis or linkages to my claim!
i am sorry. he may very well be right. soma killed christmas (?!).
no matter, coz god and the son and even the holy ghost have all lost their blueberries at present (along with millions of others), n 45000 (beg your pardon but i am only counting vakarai n senuwara n such at present) or so people will just have to remain homeless, childless, n foodless, keep aside clotheless or sleepless or spaceless or healthless n showerless n a-long-peacefull-dump-less for a while to come.
“and do they know its chirstmas time at all”?? of course they do! its fucking december tail end isnt it?! and we’ve sorted our new year plans havent we? n the colombo shop till u drop shopping festival is on isnt it?!
my point: at least, if ur gonna draw linkages – which some use this cool word “analysis” for – then work more on context before arriving at conclusions. while ur claim may have been true for 2003 n 2004 (given the tsunami was kind enough to skip christmas), 2005 n 6 – especially the 6 have been a little different.
sorry, but as much as i loathe sinhala buddhist (or any other kind!) extremism, to me the post lacks substaintial substance! like if media was an indicator of society at all – then howcome i hear “ape jesu thuma” (our jesus christ) used in so many programmes these days by non christians – hosts who are known sinhala buddhists.
IF (which i certainly dont see if u adjust for the possible current circumstantial impact) people are celebrating chirstmas less, then i certainly wouldnt give the monks credit for it! people in sri lanka are resiliant if nothing else n we’re a hard bunch – getting increasingly so. if the present wasnt what it was, the monks would have to be in the media quite a bit to do a number on christmas!
churches were being burned before soma thero’s demise, n conversion (note, not essentially by christians to christianity) was not symbolic. read back – the war for one had a fair bit to do with that phenomena – death.. displacement.. aid.. poverty.. orphans.. (an example that stuck in my head – though not representative – in 2002, just days after the a9 was opened, when we headed to jaffna, the ymca was already booked up. by a ginormous evengelical mission with prayer n hymn sessions as we learned later in the eve.. foreign mind you!)
ok, so that became a rant 🙂 now feel the need to stick this on indi’s, lest it should be seen as a mala bitching session.. sri lanka.. very complicated to live in.
December 20, 2006 at 1:02 am
javajones
Guess you’re right – this ‘rant’ is more applicable to Indi’s post, so go ahead – stick it on his!
Anyway, this one appeared in my ‘Glitches in the mind space…” too this morning (with a couple of others from you), so I have responded there as well!!!
Good rant – I guess you are troubled by all that stuff you’ve been seeing in the north and east – I have too, but refuse to let it cramp my style – I’m immune by now, seeing sooo mucking fuch misery tends to do something to whatever it is inside. So Christmas will remain Christmas for me and my near and dear, and the hell with anyone who wants to put themselves on a trip about it – that is definitely THEIR problem!
December 20, 2006 at 11:25 am
mala
ok, now i’m confused.. my net connection was actin a bit insane last night but i dont get how the comment got posted so.. so alll over the place..
troubled by stuff in the north n east, yes, definitely. but i am with u on christmas will be christmas.. well i try my best that is.. even last year despite tsunami memories etc i sang my heart out at bamthi’s christmas party for instance – felt odd, but i insisted on pushing stuff outa my head for the eve.. its the only way to survive, especially when ur closely involved in that shit on a regular basis..
hey the 27th thing is off btw.. i was really disappointed about that n infact was quite pissed with those who backed out etc.. but thats a whole other discussion 🙂
have a good one!