by K.S. Sivakumaran 

Welcome back to this weekly column. A new government is installed and congratulations. There are miles and miles to traverse and a lot of things have got to be done quickly and in short time. Time is indeed very short. Let's seize the hour. The priority is going to be the reawakening and understanding of human relationships. 

The human condition right now in our blessed island is in a pitiable state. If the state is not to wither and to be kept intact, the primary task obviously is to amicably settle the festering decay and to halt the falling apart of what legitimately is ours of the discontented divide. 

The myopic perception of supremacy and rabid communalism has led us all to decades of disintegration. Let's remind ourselves that this is a new world of the 21st century and a global outlook is an absolute necessity to keep abreast and survive in this global village. Outmoded and archaic notions of pettiness will not lead us anywhere. And we will remain a static nation of zombies. Hence a harmonious relationship among each and everyone in a multiethnic nation should be immediately restored. 

Culture, meaning intellectual development and refined taste towards anything not inherent within us but having affinities, in the form of the arts and literature, could certainly lead us all to the ultimate understanding that we are all ONE. 

Once this is understood, the negative element within us would gradually dissolve itself. All spiritualists cry in unison that love and not hatred is God itself. Pride of our own either in achievement or that is inherent as virtues in all of us is a good thing. But pride that is vainglorious comes out of ignorance - not knowing the 'other'. It is that that should be decried. 

The chauvinists, the mono racists, the megalomaniacs, the tyrants, the insular nationalists, the frogs in the well diehards, the pseudo patriots - these are the lot who are adamant and refuse to learn from the past to shape the present and the future. 

The ultra nationalists and the fanatically religious diehards and the splendid isolationists are so feeble as to abhor progress and wish to remain in the dark caves of total ignorance. Ignorance is bliss seems to be their contention. The old saying pen is mightier than the sword is true even in this age of modern lethal weaponry. 

Intellectuals, artists and artistes, writers, academics, professionals - all taken together could be mightier than any unscrupulous politician. We should weed them out and get the support of enlightened and world view politicians and statesmen and stateswomen to build up our nation. We can do that. We should all pool all our resources, irrespective of any variations of the human form to befit us in a skilled and technologically developed world. 

There is too much of an outmoded academic learning in our country, whereas the world outside, not necessarily the one in the west, is progressing swiftly. Our academic goals should be reinvestigated and an overhauled educational system should be put into practice. 

One feels that Sri Lanka had been an anachronism for many years passed, even though we boast ourselves as a glorious developing nation. We must do some self-searching to know exactly what we are and who we are. Mere resting on past laurels and the golden age of ancient civilization and fabricated historical evidences are not going to do anything good. 

Sometime I feel why South Asia, particularly Sri Lanka is lagging behind even South East Asia in contemporary development. As a Sri Lanka born individual I feel envious of the progress in certain areas in other Third World countries in the region. We have wasted so many decades in wallowing in meaningless imbroglio. 

Cultural literacy 
The knowledgeable among us might have had an acquaintance of an invaluable dictionary of cultural literacy. This book can enlighten us and update information we should know in understanding human relationship. 

Going through the new revised and updated edition (2002) of 'Cultural Literacy', I found it exhilarating literally. The dictionary is compiled by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., and Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. 

The chief compiler, Hirsch Jr in his preface notes that 'the concept of cultural literacy implies a national culture... and the principle of cultural literacy is implicitly international. ...people within each of the national communities are bound together not just by political institutions and laws, but also by shared values and allusions and a shared language... these shared meanings are essential for communication inside our nation' (meaning America in this instance). 

There are many valuable and realistic points that the compiler makes in this dictionary. He emphasizes on the absolute necessity to read. The book is based, he claims, on well-established findings of linguistics and cognitive psychology. There are about 7000 entries in this edition. Science, technology, history, geography and politics are covered. Basically this edition is directed to American students and yet we can gather a lot of information from this book. 

Compilers 
I was eager to find out what the compilers say about Sri Lanka. But sadly it was very brief and deduced to a superficial observation. This is what is said: ...marked by hostility between its Buddhist Sinhalese majority and Hindu Tamil minority'. 

It's true that there is some sort of hostility between the two major communities in the island. But it is not strictly on lines of religious differences. There are people professing different denominations among the Sinhalayas and also among the Thamilians. 

Had the compilers said that the differences are between the communities, it may have sounded valid. And again not all the members of the majority Sinhalayas and the majority of the Thamilians are harbouring hostilities. Only a few had been, but there is hope than despair to mend fences. 

I sincerely hope that this ' hostility' will gradually wade off when new knowledge on many matters override the inflexible and stubborn lot. Citing the conception identified by Benedict Anderson in his book, ' Imagined Communities', Hirsch Jr explains that 'Nationalism is an aggrandizing, tribalistic sentiment that defines one's own group as opposed to alien groups, which are seen as potential rivals or enemies to be overcome or excluded. 

Patriotism, by contrast, implies love of country without necessarily implying hostility to anybody else' May I say that I love to be called a patriot rather than a nationalist because I love the humankind and believe that love is God. 

Translations 
One way of sharing values and intrinsic culture is of course through language. But we Sri Lankans have a language problem. Sinhala (by virtue of the fact that about 75 % of our people speak that tongue) is the medium of communication particularly in the lower half of our little island. 

And Thamil is the medium of communication in the upper half, particularly in the north, east and the hill country regions of the island. And that number is about 25% of the population. After the hastened and un - accommodative 'Sinhala' only policy since 1956, those who knew a common shared language, which was English, has drastically dwindled to less than 5 % of the population. This was damaging and generations of young people became totally insular, parochial, regionalistic and lacked world knowledge. 

Handicapped by this inadequacy and ruthlessly exploited by selfish and one-sided nationalists, the youth of the country from all regions became ineffective in understanding the 'other'. 

While more than 800 million people of the world understood the value of the English language and went ahead in understanding the present world, Sri Lankan waves of younger generation missed that opportunity. Being proud of the indigenous languages and culture is admirable indeed, but it is not enough to survive in this fast changing technological world. 

However the expatriate children of Sri Lankan parents even master the English language and are on par with their counterparts in their emigrated countries. 

Ultra nationalism, which is damaging and dangerous, result in ignorance and naturally promotes hostility. So, what should be done is to gradually reintroduce English as the medium of instruction from the KG, at least in urban schools, if not in rural schools, where facilities to teach in English is not viable. 

Like the private international schools, the public schools too should make English as the medium of instruction or at least for the start , make English as a compulsory subject. 

Why I say this is that except for a few, the majority of the Sinhalese people do not find learning Thamil a necessity and the Thamil people have the same attitude in learning Sinhala, although to survive in the southern parts of the country they are compelled to at least speak in Sinhala. 

This is the core element of the ethnic tension. The people born after the 1950s have developed a prejudicial stance of the 'other', over the years. Even if the Thamil people are willing to learn Sinhala and reciprocate the magnanimity of the Sinhala people, a majority of the latter do not seem to be interested in knowing anything about the Thamilians and treat them as 'aliens', even though they may associate with the Thamil people. 

This attitude of the majority of the majority community cannot be blamed because this indifference is deep rooted. That is why, in the field of literature to take an example, there are more translations of Sinhala fiction in Thamil than translations of Thamil fiction in Sinhala. 

Many Sinhala readers absolutely do not know anything about Sri Lankan Thamil Writing. They think that it is a segment of Thamil writing in Thamilnadu state in India and therefore they remain disinterested. 

Until such false notions change, we will still remain ignorant and uneducated. Writers from the Burgher community (Carl Muller and Lynn Ockersz) had to write reviews in appreciation of the translations of the Thamil stories in the collection. 'A Lankan Mosaic ' Talking of translations of Thamil stories into English, one remembers the late bilingual editor of international repute, Denzil Pieris published a few of them in the Sunday Observer in the 1950s. 

A.J. Canagaratna and S.Sivanaygam did a wonderful job doing the translation. I have referred to this in an earlier column. Similarly there were translations published from Sinhala into English. 

Among some of the earlier translations from Sinhala into Thamil were Sarojini Arunasalam's translation of Munidasa Cumaratunga's 'Magul Kaema' as 'Kalyana Chappadu', 'Hathpana' as 'Chethu Pilaitha Chinnasamy, and 'Heen Saraya' as ' Meliysar Midduku'. A Thamil pandit, T. Kanagaratnam attempted to translate modern fiction from Sinhala to Thamil and from Thamil to Sinhala. 'Sethu Bandanam' was a collection of translation of 12 short stories from Sinhala, which included fiction by Martin Wickramasinghe, Ediriweera Sarachchandra and A.V. Suraweera among others. 

The late Islamic scholar M.M. Uwais put into Thamil Martin Wickramasinghe's 'Gamperaliya' as 'Grama Piralvu' Works by K. Jayathilake and Karunasena Jayalath were translated into Thamil by Thambi Aiyah Thevathas. There are a number of Sinhala writing that have been translated into Thamil and published in literary Thamil magazines in Sri Lanka. But only a handful had been translated into Sinhala. It's a pity. 

Literati 
Lack of translators from Thamil to Sinhala is not the only reason, it is more a disinterestedness on the part of the Sinhala literati and the readers to know about their own bretheren. 

It's true that a couple of Thamil epics, 'Silapadikaram' and ' Manimehalai' earlier were translated into Sinhala by Hisselle Dharmarathana Thera. A few short stories by S. Ganeshalingan were put into Sinhala by Ranjit Perera under the title 'Aluth Satanpata'. 

The late K.G. Amaradasa translated a few short stories into Sinhala. T. Kanagaratnam again made an attempt to translate Lankan Thamil short stories into Sinhala under the title 'Demala Keti Kathawa'. If I may say so, I have myself translated from English into Thamil poems by Wimal Dissanayake, Anne Ranasinghe and others and translated into English short stories in Thamil by Sutharaj, Raja Sri Kanthan and S. Ponnuthurai. 

I have also translated into Thamil articles in English by Regi Siriwardena and Mervyn de Silva on Ezra Pound, D.C.R.A. Goonathilake and Ariya Abeysinghe and Iranganie Abeysinghe on English writing in Sri Lanka. I have also translated from English my own interviews for 'The Island' Culture page into Thamil. 

These include interviews with Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Siri Goonasinghe, Tissa Kariyawasam, Sugatahapala de Silva, Henry Jayasena and others. These were published in Lankan Little Magazines in Thamil. A few of my articles in English have been translated into Sinhala by Susil Sirivardana and Piyal Somaratne and published in 'Mawatha', 'Navaliya' and an interview with me was published in 'Silumina'. 

I don't feel immodest to say that I have introduced Sri Lankan Thamil writers and reviewed their works in English for a long period of time and similarly Sinhala and global writers into Thamil. 

And yet partisan Thamil and Muslim writers who attempt to write in English fail to acknowledge me even though they receive favourable reviews from me. It was only S. Ganeshalingan reviewing my Thamil books in 'The Hindu' of Chennai, did acknowledge my contributions. 

I feel ashamed to talk about myself, but yet I had to put things on record. I must also add that some of the academics who have recently caught space in a few Thamil Nadu Little Magazines conveniently ignore many Lankan writers and promote their own cliques or coterie and give only a one-sided picture and claim to be literary critics. 

This is indeed sad. S. Yesurasa, a poet and short story writer, however was an exception. Well, that's part of the Thamil Literary Scene in Sri Lanka. 

Contact :kssivan1@juno.com 
courtesy: Daily News, Colombo