Also he has grasped the falsity of the hedonistic attitude to life. Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all "progressive" thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security and avoidance of pain. [...] Hitler, because in his own joyless mind he feels it with exceptional strength, knows that human beings don’t only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene, birth-control and, in general, common sense; they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice [...] Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people "I offer you a good time," Hitler has said to them "I offer you struggle, danger and death," and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet.
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2015
ISIS and the modern, westernised girls who flock to it
The premise outlined in the title is all kinds of inexplicable. While trying to grasp the whole wtf aspect of it, this old quote from George Orwell's 1940 review of Mein Kampf stood out:
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Unclogging the drains
I've been a bit busy lately, what with exams starting in 2 days time, my best friends in the whole wide world who're down for their holidays leaving (it's much harder to say goodbye a second time around) and various other 'events'. Well, mostly wasting time on Twitter and Facebook. Yes, I've started tweeting again, and if past experiences are anything to go by, this WILL NOT end well.
Sri Lanka's world cup campaign kicks off tomorrow, and hopefully we can trash the Meese (yes I know that the plural is moose... sue me for having fun with a foreign language). But this World Cup is so... I dunno... I'm not not-excited, it's just I think there was so much more hype and awareness last time around (or maybe it was just me). I mean, even Chinaman has a chapter about that legendary (at least for us Lankans) final. I vividly remember putting a mat down on the floor and settling down to watch the match that night, watching our batsmen fight the losing battle with rain and what not, and then finally the broadcast being interrupted to say that some bloody mosquito planes were attacking Colombo.
How come nobody even mentions that we were the runners up last time? (or maybe that's just me, too)
But anyway, the author of the aforementioned Chinaman, Shehan Karunatilaka, has a very interesting take on the World Cup:
Well, that's all I've got for tonight, folks. MUST.GO.SLEEP.BYE.
Sri Lanka's world cup campaign kicks off tomorrow, and hopefully we can trash the Meese (yes I know that the plural is moose... sue me for having fun with a foreign language). But this World Cup is so... I dunno... I'm not not-excited, it's just I think there was so much more hype and awareness last time around (or maybe it was just me). I mean, even Chinaman has a chapter about that legendary (at least for us Lankans) final. I vividly remember putting a mat down on the floor and settling down to watch the match that night, watching our batsmen fight the losing battle with rain and what not, and then finally the broadcast being interrupted to say that some bloody mosquito planes were attacking Colombo.
How come nobody even mentions that we were the runners up last time? (or maybe that's just me, too)
But anyway, the author of the aforementioned Chinaman, Shehan Karunatilaka, has a very interesting take on the World Cup:
One-Day vs T20Anyway, 'nuff Crickeh, let's talk about birds, and not the wingless type. There's a bloody bird in my backyard and he's eating all our squirrels. -____- Dunno what it is but I managed to snap some pictures:
Is One-Day cricket still relevant? The purists have test matches, which have seen a renaissance, post-Ashes and post India-South Africa. The non-fans have 20/20, which packages the highlights and passes them off as entertainment. Do we still have the inclination to sit through half a day of a format that is neither here nor there?
The answer is, without a doubt. The One-day game is less of a lottery and allows enough room for drama and for fortunes to switch sides. There’s enough time for an innings to be built, for an absorbing spell of bowling and for spectators to pace their drinking over the course of an evening.
Well, that's all I've got for tonight, folks. MUST.GO.SLEEP.BYE.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Racism, Elected and WAGON PAAAAAARK!
I was at the BB production Elected on the 22nd of May (last Saturday). I think BB deserves a lot of praise, especially for openly discussing a sensitive topic like racism in Sri Lankan society and also the really good theatre production that they offered the audience that night. It was a forum theatre, meaning the audience got to participate in the story by modifying the way the characters behave in that situation and also giving their feedback on the actions, and basically starting a discussion on this topic of racism. Let me run through the story, and how I felt that it dealt with the issue of racism.
The story takes place in a national university of Sri Lanka, where student council elections are being held. The candidates are two bright 2nd year students, Mihiri, a Sinhalese girl, and Mohan, a Tamil guy.
The drama starts with Mohan giving his speech, talking about how the university infrastructure is crumbling and that he feels that he can give the leadership to change things in uni. He gives due respect to his opponent, and from his confidence it is apparent that he is a popular figure among the student community. Next up, Mihiri talks about very much the same things, but she ends her speech with a twist. "Some people" she says, suggestively turning her eyes towards Mohan, "seem to think that just because we choose to speak in our mother tongue, that we're incompetent. Does speaking in English make you a better leader?" and continues in Sinhala that she believes that she believes that she's one of them (the students, possibly meaning Sinhala students) and she ends it with the outrageous statement (that almost made me go "DAMN!" the first time I heard it) that "Even though the forest changes, the Tiger doesn't change his spots". Tiger. Campaigning against a Tamil student. Racial profiling much?
Ok, now dealing with this part, which is the first act of the play, the only obvious pieces of racism that I could pick up was the Tiger remark. Seriously. See, the director or the scriptwriter makes several key assumptions in writing Mihiri's speech. a) That Tamil students speak more/better English than their Sinhala peers. b) That only Sinhala students take pride in talking in their mother tongue. c) That Tamil students think they're more competent than the Sinhala students because they speak English.
As we all know, Sri Lankan universities conduct all their courses in English, and with good reason. But a majority of students (both Sinhala and Tamil) who enter uni don't have a working knowledge of English and find it hard to keep up with their coursework. This is a major problem in universities, so much so that the authorities are planning to introduce a 6 month English course and subsequent mandatory exam for all university students. Mihiri was trying to tap into this market with her remarks in Sinhala about being one of them and knowing of their problems. A cheap political trick, to turn the anger and disappointment of those students into votes, without actually addressing the issue and offering solutions (extra English classes, perhaps?). We see this a lot in national politics too, but my point is that Mihiri was going for the biggest chunk of that non-English speaking cake by talking in Sinhala (many of those voters might not even understand what she was saying in English previously) and that there wasn't really any racism involved in that decision. Her subsequent jabs about competency and pride in speaking the mother tongue were directed at the English-speaking community, and not at the Tamil students.
The Tiger remark, which she chose to end her speech with, was not at all appropriate and was clearly racist remark. She did what some Republicans in the US resorted to when Barack Obama was running for the presidency, and fear mongered. "That guy's a Tamil, ooooh he must be LTTE", was what she was saying there.
In the second act, Mohan is planning his campaign with a bunch of freshmen during lecture hours. A senior lecturer (one could say the big boss of the uni), Ananda, asks Mohan if he's got permission to take the freshmen out. Mohan cannot produce a letter to prove that he has gotten permission and the freshmen are chased away to their classes. Mihiri on the other hand has no such problems with Ananda, and he lets her use his name to get the hall anytime she wants for her campaign work. He also tells her that he wants to see "one of our people" (meaning Mihiri, the Sinhalese) elected to lead the council, and that he doesn't want to see the culture of the university changed. The audience also learns in this scene (away from Ananda) that Mihiri is using thugs to intimidate voters and get popular and bright students to support her campaign.
The audience reactions to this part was really interesting. Some argued that Mohan being a Tamil, should have known that this was going to happen and made sure that he got a letter. I think that BOTH candidates should get proper letters, since pulling a student out of a lecture is a serious thing to do, and shouldn't be done without permission. So I agree with Ananda's course of action there. In the second scene, it is made apparent that Ananda has a thing for Mihiri, and that Mihiri's milking every bit of her sexuality to get this powerful force on her side. As an audience member pointed out, Ananda is using this "Us and Them" thing as a cover to protect his own interests, or in other words his thing for Mihiri.
In the next part, the lecturer in charge of elections, Himali, confronts Ananda in the common room. Ananda accepts that he did tell the freshmen to return to classes due to the lack of proper permission, and that he doesn't like Mohan. Himali tells him that she thinks Mohan's a perfectly good candidate, and this leads him to mock her telling that she likes to think differently (or in other words, that she's not a racist like him). Preservation of interest? Dunno. It's also revealed that Ananda has been involved in several election malpractices in the past.
The audience generally agreed that Himali, as the 'elections commissioner', should've known that Ananda was trouble and taken steps to neutralise the threat before it became a problem. But having lived through countless elections, and seeing how the elections commissioner gets pushed around, most Sri Lankans would understand that this is hard business.
Now we approach (IMO) the most crucial scene. Mohan approaches an old friend (I don't remember his name so let's call him Aruna) who's a bright student and a brilliant marketer (according to Mohan). Mohan asks him to join his campaign work and do some posters for him, but Aruna refuses, citing exams coming up. Mohan does very little to empathise with Aruna, and after a few more "No"s, leaves telling him that his friend (Mihiri's thug) is here to meet him. Mihiri's thug does a much better job of empathising (or understanding) with Aruna's situation. He is facing economic hardships and his siblings are joining the uni in the near future. The thugs could really mess up his and his family's life. So Aruna is left to decide which candidate to support, his old friend or the one that has the thugs.
Now, Mohan completely dropped the ball in this one. He should've empatised with Aruna's situation and made Aruna see that the only way that his siblings could come into a thug-free campus is if Mohan gets elected. He should've basically said "Look, I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing it for you. Do you want to be pushed around by these thugs all the time? Do you want your siblings to be pushed around? Or do you want someone clean and thug-free running the place?". He didn't, and he let Aruna and his family down by doing so.
A few minor scenes follow. Mohan complains to Himali how Ananda is interfering in the campaign and supporting Mihiri, but doesn't have any proof. Later, Mohan goes to talk to Mihiri as a friend but is given the 'Talk to my hand' by her, and gets beaten up by her thugs. The thugs later kill him or beat him up, and even though the audience interventions were supposed to change this tragic ending into a good one, I don't think we succeeded. We also ran out of time, and I think the BBites should take note of this next time they are staging an FT. :)
Not much racism to discuss, in the end. Just thuggery and a sexy candidate against a guy who can't empathise with his voters and supporters. I'm sorry you lost Mohan, but I don't think it was because you were Tamil. Seriously.
Ok, now Wagon Park. The poster lied! :( There was no Wagon Park, just Milo and Madu (the two guitarists), and you don't promise Wagon Park unless Buddhi's coming, right? That being said, the pre-play music was pretty good, just that Buddhi's Buddhi man... I don't know if he was going to come and then cancelled or something but the poster, in my humble opinion, should've said who exactly was playing. Just a thought. :) Ok, I got to know that the whole group was coming and it was a late cancellation. That being said, the music was pretty good, especially Thushara who sang two excellent covers of a Bob Dylan song (All Along the Watchtower) and a Nine Inch Nails song (Hurt, I think). Good stuff! :)
P.s. My PC's out and it still hasn't been fixed. Woe is me! :( I'm really sorry I'm missing out on you guys and your blogs... but I hope it'll be fixed within the week! :)
Also, ADSL is so bloody slow. It took ages to get this post posted and I can't load some of the other blogs even. It's due to a cable snap I hear... :/
The story takes place in a national university of Sri Lanka, where student council elections are being held. The candidates are two bright 2nd year students, Mihiri, a Sinhalese girl, and Mohan, a Tamil guy.
The drama starts with Mohan giving his speech, talking about how the university infrastructure is crumbling and that he feels that he can give the leadership to change things in uni. He gives due respect to his opponent, and from his confidence it is apparent that he is a popular figure among the student community. Next up, Mihiri talks about very much the same things, but she ends her speech with a twist. "Some people" she says, suggestively turning her eyes towards Mohan, "seem to think that just because we choose to speak in our mother tongue, that we're incompetent. Does speaking in English make you a better leader?" and continues in Sinhala that she believes that she believes that she's one of them (the students, possibly meaning Sinhala students) and she ends it with the outrageous statement (that almost made me go "DAMN!" the first time I heard it) that "Even though the forest changes, the Tiger doesn't change his spots". Tiger. Campaigning against a Tamil student. Racial profiling much?
Ok, now dealing with this part, which is the first act of the play, the only obvious pieces of racism that I could pick up was the Tiger remark. Seriously. See, the director or the scriptwriter makes several key assumptions in writing Mihiri's speech. a) That Tamil students speak more/better English than their Sinhala peers. b) That only Sinhala students take pride in talking in their mother tongue. c) That Tamil students think they're more competent than the Sinhala students because they speak English.
As we all know, Sri Lankan universities conduct all their courses in English, and with good reason. But a majority of students (both Sinhala and Tamil) who enter uni don't have a working knowledge of English and find it hard to keep up with their coursework. This is a major problem in universities, so much so that the authorities are planning to introduce a 6 month English course and subsequent mandatory exam for all university students. Mihiri was trying to tap into this market with her remarks in Sinhala about being one of them and knowing of their problems. A cheap political trick, to turn the anger and disappointment of those students into votes, without actually addressing the issue and offering solutions (extra English classes, perhaps?). We see this a lot in national politics too, but my point is that Mihiri was going for the biggest chunk of that non-English speaking cake by talking in Sinhala (many of those voters might not even understand what she was saying in English previously) and that there wasn't really any racism involved in that decision. Her subsequent jabs about competency and pride in speaking the mother tongue were directed at the English-speaking community, and not at the Tamil students.
The Tiger remark, which she chose to end her speech with, was not at all appropriate and was clearly racist remark. She did what some Republicans in the US resorted to when Barack Obama was running for the presidency, and fear mongered. "That guy's a Tamil, ooooh he must be LTTE", was what she was saying there.
In the second act, Mohan is planning his campaign with a bunch of freshmen during lecture hours. A senior lecturer (one could say the big boss of the uni), Ananda, asks Mohan if he's got permission to take the freshmen out. Mohan cannot produce a letter to prove that he has gotten permission and the freshmen are chased away to their classes. Mihiri on the other hand has no such problems with Ananda, and he lets her use his name to get the hall anytime she wants for her campaign work. He also tells her that he wants to see "one of our people" (meaning Mihiri, the Sinhalese) elected to lead the council, and that he doesn't want to see the culture of the university changed. The audience also learns in this scene (away from Ananda) that Mihiri is using thugs to intimidate voters and get popular and bright students to support her campaign.
The audience reactions to this part was really interesting. Some argued that Mohan being a Tamil, should have known that this was going to happen and made sure that he got a letter. I think that BOTH candidates should get proper letters, since pulling a student out of a lecture is a serious thing to do, and shouldn't be done without permission. So I agree with Ananda's course of action there. In the second scene, it is made apparent that Ananda has a thing for Mihiri, and that Mihiri's milking every bit of her sexuality to get this powerful force on her side. As an audience member pointed out, Ananda is using this "Us and Them" thing as a cover to protect his own interests, or in other words his thing for Mihiri.
In the next part, the lecturer in charge of elections, Himali, confronts Ananda in the common room. Ananda accepts that he did tell the freshmen to return to classes due to the lack of proper permission, and that he doesn't like Mohan. Himali tells him that she thinks Mohan's a perfectly good candidate, and this leads him to mock her telling that she likes to think differently (or in other words, that she's not a racist like him). Preservation of interest? Dunno. It's also revealed that Ananda has been involved in several election malpractices in the past.
The audience generally agreed that Himali, as the 'elections commissioner', should've known that Ananda was trouble and taken steps to neutralise the threat before it became a problem. But having lived through countless elections, and seeing how the elections commissioner gets pushed around, most Sri Lankans would understand that this is hard business.
Now we approach (IMO) the most crucial scene. Mohan approaches an old friend (I don't remember his name so let's call him Aruna) who's a bright student and a brilliant marketer (according to Mohan). Mohan asks him to join his campaign work and do some posters for him, but Aruna refuses, citing exams coming up. Mohan does very little to empathise with Aruna, and after a few more "No"s, leaves telling him that his friend (Mihiri's thug) is here to meet him. Mihiri's thug does a much better job of empathising (or understanding) with Aruna's situation. He is facing economic hardships and his siblings are joining the uni in the near future. The thugs could really mess up his and his family's life. So Aruna is left to decide which candidate to support, his old friend or the one that has the thugs.
Now, Mohan completely dropped the ball in this one. He should've empatised with Aruna's situation and made Aruna see that the only way that his siblings could come into a thug-free campus is if Mohan gets elected. He should've basically said "Look, I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing it for you. Do you want to be pushed around by these thugs all the time? Do you want your siblings to be pushed around? Or do you want someone clean and thug-free running the place?". He didn't, and he let Aruna and his family down by doing so.
A few minor scenes follow. Mohan complains to Himali how Ananda is interfering in the campaign and supporting Mihiri, but doesn't have any proof. Later, Mohan goes to talk to Mihiri as a friend but is given the 'Talk to my hand' by her, and gets beaten up by her thugs. The thugs later kill him or beat him up, and even though the audience interventions were supposed to change this tragic ending into a good one, I don't think we succeeded. We also ran out of time, and I think the BBites should take note of this next time they are staging an FT. :)
Not much racism to discuss, in the end. Just thuggery and a sexy candidate against a guy who can't empathise with his voters and supporters. I'm sorry you lost Mohan, but I don't think it was because you were Tamil. Seriously.
P.s. My PC's out and it still hasn't been fixed. Woe is me! :( I'm really sorry I'm missing out on you guys and your blogs... but I hope it'll be fixed within the week! :)
Also, ADSL is so bloody slow. It took ages to get this post posted and I can't load some of the other blogs even. It's due to a cable snap I hear... :/
Friday, October 9, 2009
Warring Frontiers
I watched an interesting documentary on Channel News Asia called Warring Frontiers, which is actually a series, and the episode they showed today was about Vietnam, and how Vietnam's economy is growing 30 years after the end of the war. The rapid pace of development that's taking place is astounding, and what struck me the most is the resolve with which the Vietnamese people had stood up. An interesting fact that they mentioned was that Vietnam was the most bombed country in the history of warfare, with the U.S. dropping 7 million tons of bombs in its 11 year involvement in Vietnam. In comparison only 2 million tons of bombs were dropped in the whole of the 2nd World War! 77 Million litres of Agent Orange was sprayed by the U.S., resulting in horrible birth defects and other illnesses.
But today, all of that seems to be forgiven (but maybe not forgotten) and Vietnam and the U.S. have become close trading partners. The level of development reached in this short period is telling of the resilience of the Vietnamese people and how they overcame the immense adversity that the Vietnam war caused.
I just love documentaries! :P (and I've noticed that Channel News Asia is making better and better documentaries with each passing year!)
anyways, the reason I thought I'd sharing this whole thing is because it gives me hope that maybe someday Sri Lanka would be able to leave all of those bitter memories behind and become a better place to live in... :)
But today, all of that seems to be forgiven (but maybe not forgotten) and Vietnam and the U.S. have become close trading partners. The level of development reached in this short period is telling of the resilience of the Vietnamese people and how they overcame the immense adversity that the Vietnam war caused.
I just love documentaries! :P (and I've noticed that Channel News Asia is making better and better documentaries with each passing year!)
anyways, the reason I thought I'd sharing this whole thing is because it gives me hope that maybe someday Sri Lanka would be able to leave all of those bitter memories behind and become a better place to live in... :)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The World Through CS:
What happened 2 weeks ago:
What's going on now:
I, for one, am disgusted at the West's repeated attempts to poke their noses into Sri Lanka's internal issues. They should instead try to help maybe?
* promised myself that I won't go into politics in this blog when I started, but what's happening now just disgusts me to the point that it warrants a blog post... not that it'll make any difference I guess... :(
Friday, May 29, 2009
I WAS FRAMED!!!
...or tagged more like, in the RD taggathing, by Serendib Isle and Kirigalpoththa! Thanks guys! :D
The rules are:
So my thoughts are:
My Tags
- You write five words to describe how you feel about recent events in Sri Lanka.
- You tag five bloggers.
- You sit back and relax.
So my thoughts are:
- Relief
- Sadness
- Regret
- Worry
- Hope
My Tags
- Gadgetgirl, the one who likes socks, the purple ones! :)
- Tulie, the raging cyclone
- Meg, the one who puppeteers
- The Single Couple, the one with the rabbit
- Fallen, the one who was canonized...
Thanks! :)
Friday, May 22, 2009
Murals
He was your average 5-year-old boy, turning the walls of his home into one giant canvas, much to his mother's displeasure. He drew what other 5-year-old boys drew: Techy stuff mostly... Dams and Power stations, Pylons and cables. One of his mother's cousins once remarked that the stairway wall had the whole Laxapana Complex sketched on it.
Among these carefree drawings, one curious sketch stood out. In the back wall near the fuse-box, hidden from view almost. A long straight road led to a tall building... a burning building. A side-road led to another building, which wasn't in flames. Seeing his parents puzzled looks, the boy explains, pointing at the building on the side-road: "That's where mama works!" with a look of innocent relief on his little face.
***
He remembers that sound... deafening, metallic, very very scary. Louder than the loudest thunder. The teacher was getting a bit nervous... "Madam, sounded like a train collision..." she tells the other teacher. They both stare out the window, at the railway tracks and the greenish Indian ocean. All they see is black smoke, menacing black smoke, rising from the distant Fort.
And just like that, school was over! Although school looked more like it was having the concert, because everyone's parents were there!! His parents put him into the back seat of their car, and till they got to Park road, his mother was constantly on the cellphone. "I can't get to him, the lines are all jammed..." she said to his father, lying the phone down. What a wierd combination of words? "Jam in the lines"? He chuckeled at the insanity, yet he chuckeled silently, to himself, a mental chuckle. There was something very very worrying about his mother's tone...
The first thing they do when they get home is switch on the TV. A dazed looking news presenter keeps mentioning a lorry and a bank. A fire leaps out the windows of a tall building. A couple of firefighters on a lift pull a man out a window. There's utter chaos, bodies, glass shards everywhere, people lying on the ground, bleeding like water fountains. The boy can't get the images out of his head. He wakes up suddenly that night, the burnt corpses won't go out of his head. He walks up to his parents bed, and cuddles up between his mother and father. No creepy corpse can get to him in his mother's warm arms.......
.hopefully.
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Black Forest... :P
So I wasn't in a mood to blog of late, a very good friend of mine has been going through some really hard times, and it makes you stop for a while and think about the fragility of life, and how a seemingly trivial event can change someone's life forever. Well, I am 18 after all, and death hasn't been a prominent part of life for me. Trapped in our little protective bubbles we tend to forget that life is but a temporary guest-house in a long and arduous journey...
And last Friday, while the air-raid was on, and my friends were complaining about being stuck at BC audi and not being able to listen to the bands, I was sitting at home, in a suburb far away from the action, and watching it on tv/the blogs as it happened. Here was something that excited me greatly [stream of consciousness: planes! explosions!! planes+explosion!!!], something that I had read about so much, something about which whole movies have been made... and everyone ran outside to watch the seemingly harmless "fireworks", until the blind bullets snatched away 2 young lives from us... a seemingly trivial thing to someone looking at it from afar, yet a life changing situation for the people caught up in the middle of it all... kinda reminds me of how we watch in awe and glee when they show our laser guided bombs smash buildings to pieces, yet never think about the people that lay buried beneath the rubble, gasping for one last breath...
And no, I do not blame the government for anything that happened that night. People would argue that having SAM sites in unpopulated areas like the Wilpattu or using IGLAs would've been a safer and sure fire way to bring down the tigers, but they came, we had nothing to throw at them, and I think the gunners did an excellent job finishing them off with the little resources that we did have. May this cursed war end soon...
P.s: Why is the post entitled "the black forest" you ask? well this blog post went through four revisions, in the course of which I went through a lot of grief and thinking. Yet a friend's status message on Facebook made me forget it all and laugh for a while. It read: "Don't know yet about life, how can i know about death. She's got half the Black Forest hanging out of her armpits..." lol ;)
P.p.s: Oh and I have to mention it here, TRALE '09 was an immense success, and around 1400 people had attended the event. I just want to thank everyone who helped us, our teachers, the donors, the sponsors, the well wishers and most of all the people who came, for making the event the success that it was. Thank you! :)
And last Friday, while the air-raid was on, and my friends were complaining about being stuck at BC audi and not being able to listen to the bands, I was sitting at home, in a suburb far away from the action, and watching it on tv/the blogs as it happened. Here was something that excited me greatly [stream of consciousness: planes! explosions!! planes+explosion!!!], something that I had read about so much, something about which whole movies have been made... and everyone ran outside to watch the seemingly harmless "fireworks", until the blind bullets snatched away 2 young lives from us... a seemingly trivial thing to someone looking at it from afar, yet a life changing situation for the people caught up in the middle of it all... kinda reminds me of how we watch in awe and glee when they show our laser guided bombs smash buildings to pieces, yet never think about the people that lay buried beneath the rubble, gasping for one last breath...
And no, I do not blame the government for anything that happened that night. People would argue that having SAM sites in unpopulated areas like the Wilpattu or using IGLAs would've been a safer and sure fire way to bring down the tigers, but they came, we had nothing to throw at them, and I think the gunners did an excellent job finishing them off with the little resources that we did have. May this cursed war end soon...
P.s: Why is the post entitled "the black forest" you ask? well this blog post went through four revisions, in the course of which I went through a lot of grief and thinking. Yet a friend's status message on Facebook made me forget it all and laugh for a while. It read: "Don't know yet about life, how can i know about death. She's got half the Black Forest hanging out of her armpits..." lol ;)
P.p.s: Oh and I have to mention it here, TRALE '09 was an immense success, and around 1400 people had attended the event. I just want to thank everyone who helped us, our teachers, the donors, the sponsors, the well wishers and most of all the people who came, for making the event the success that it was. Thank you! :)
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