| A children's park should have see-saws, roundabouts and sand pits. Kittu Park has all of that""but with a difference. The concrete slide emerges out of a dark cave-like structure and represents child-warriors tumbling out of the hilly Wanni jungle""for years, the hiding place of LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran. |
| Fishing nets have been put up atop ropes""these are swings. The railing round the park mimics the sword end of a bayonet-gun. And there's a maze that is dark and eerie, with rats having a free run of the place. It is hard to imagine shrill shrieks of delight echoing in a place like this. |
| Kittu Park is meant for the Adult-Child. It is not a kiddies' park. It is a permanent memorial to the dead. |
| Nirupama Subramanian's book Sri Lanka: Voices From a War Zone does not have a description of Kittu Park but evocatively captures the spirit of the war in Sri Lanka in the way that Kittu Park does. Her prose is understated, and possibly for that very reason, reflects the hopelessness of a people destined permanently to be at war""the Tamils against the Sinhalese, the Sinhalese among themselves, and the Muslims against the Tamils. |
| It is a dark, whirlpool of a volume that sucks you down with it, making you wonder if there ever were a people more accursed. |
| Comprising a set of stories gathered over a seven-year period when she was reporting for The Hindu from Sri Lanka, Subramanian's book brings to life many who have died""and the pain of those who live. Harshana Pradeep, a lieutenant in the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), went missing in action but his parents stubbornly believe he is still alive. |
| They neither wore mourning clothes, nor held a wake. And when the government gave them a death certificate and compensation, they refused to accept it, and instead demanded his salary be placed in Harshana's account every month, but they would not draw a penny from it, in the belief that he will return. Subramanian painstakingly talked to the families of several who are still missing in action""families who live in the twilight zone, held together by the conviction that son/brother/husband will return someday "because we haven't got his body, so how can he be dead?" |
| The book chronicles the plight of those who have been displaced from their homes, refugees struggling to protect their dignity and stay rational in the face of the grinding bureaucracy that rules refugees' camps""both run by the Tigers and by the Sri Lankan government. The book neither demonises the Tigers nor idolises them, and so stays remarkably unjudgmental. It does, however, illustrate the cause and effect process in a "liberation" struggle, which makes you wonder who the oppressor is and who the oppressed are. |
| Issues of ethnic assertion by the majority are also illuminated through stories of Buddhist monks (bhikkus), who are currently driving (silently and not so silently) the Sinhala-chauvinist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) movement. Living in yesteryear, when Sinhala King Dutugemunu led the forces of victory over demon king Elara, the JVP uses symbols from Sinhala history to prevent the state from making any "concessions" to the Tamils. |
| Some of the bhikkus are fired by history. Others are intensely political in their outlook. The book describes their background and the tutelage they receive. |
| But against the grey, unremitting sorrow of war, there are stories of those who want to move to a better life""Sri Lanka is global supplier of housemaids and remittances provided by them are a mainstay of the island's economy. A story describes a training school for maids, bound for China. "You go on the heether" writes an instructor on the board. |
| "Chinese people don't know how to say T so they say heater like heether" she explains to a bewildered class, says the book. The chapter also describes the problems of divided families, and the conflicts caused by women taking on the role of the provider. |
| Subramanian's book must be read by everyone who wants to understand Sri Lanka, especially Indians, because we have so much to do with that country. |
| The emerald isle deserves a break. |
| SRI LANKA VOICES FROM A WAR ZONE |
| Nirupama Subramanian Penguin Viking Price: Rs 350; Pages: xvii+230 |
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