சோழியன் அண்ணா மேலதிக விபரம் போட்டிருக்கு.தினவாவும் ஒருநாள் தாயகம் சென்று சேவை செய்ய வாழ்த்துவோம்.
<span style='font-size:22pt;line-height:100%'>an email from an australian-born tamil volunteering in a hospital in
eelam for a few months.
towards the bottom is a powerful depiction of maveerar naal as honored there.</span>
im currently based at mullaitivu district hospital. each patient thus
far has lost one loved one to the tsunami...some have lost more. im
mainly doing obstetrics/gynaecology so iv been delivering babies
heaps. i would say that 9/10 pregnant mothers in labour would have
lost at least one child to the tsunami. there was this 22 year old
mother who told me this was her second pregnancy, and when i asked her
if her first was a boy or girl, she said that she had a son, but he
died in the tsunami.
but thus far, my experience has been good. my day starts at about
7.00am and ends around 7.00pm but most of the time it goes for longer.
and if there's a delivery, even if it's in the middle of the night, i
ask to be called in, coz im really enjoying my time here. along with
the slight satisfaction that im contributing a little bit via service
to the ppl of mullaitivu, im learning a lot from the doctor at the
hospital. iv 2 pre-interns (just did their final year xam in jaffna
university and are awaiting results + hospital placemts) who are here
with me and since they just finished xams they know a lot and teach me
heaps too. im loving mullaitivu.
its funny to hear ppl call me 'doctor' and i thnk in line with customs
here, the nurses and clerks stand up when i walk into the room! it's
hilarious! i must have told them ateast 50 times that a)im not a
doctor yet b)im younger than u and c)PLS DNT STAND UP WHEN I WALK INTO
THE ROOM. but i simply get that same innocent smile from each one and
the same ritual takes place the next time i walk into the room.
thanks for the many emails of concern iv received regarding the severe
floods. i dnt know much of the other parts of south east asia, but
northeast sri lanka got hit pretty bad about 10 days ago. dams were
overflowing and lakes had broken their banks. we had almost 3 days of
continuous rain. roads had water flowing over them that was atleast
hip high in depth, and it was normal to see ppl walk the road carrying
their bikes on their heads.
on a serious note though, many had to evacuate their houses. what was
sad was that those who were affected most were the poor ppl who lived
in mud brick houses. also, refugees from last years tsunami still live
in temporary shelters built by TRO. these are mainly tents and huts
that were built with the intention of building proper houses once
PTOMS (post tsunami operation managemt scheme…i thnk) got approved,
and enough aid would reach north east sri lanka. the expectation was
that PTOMS would get approved in a few mths and the refugees would
only have to live in the temporary shelters for a few mths at the
most. but hey, we can always count on our 'reliable' sri lankan gov't
can't we? thanx to their ingenius work, they have managed to drag the
PTOMS agreemt for a good year, and the JVP (an anti-Tamil political
party) has taken the PTOMS to court in attempt to not allow any money
to reach the north east. so again, the poorest of the poor, and those
who have already lost so much, are left homeless. u know what, im no
longer frustrated with the clowns in parliament. i actually feel sorry
for them coz i think they're quite stupid. i used to think they were
just hard cold creatures who just did not have an ounce of humanity in
them…but i no longer think that is possible. surely no human can live
with themselves for causing so much misery to others…so iv decided
that they're just stupid. poor things. they have no brain…
regarding the election – mahinda rajapakse won by a small margin. 99%
of Tamils boycotted the election bcoz they ddnt thnk ne of the
candidates would govern sri lanka with the Tamil welfare in mind.
there dsnt seem to have been ne chaos during election time. so safety
wise i guess it's been fine so far.
nov 26 was major velupillai prabaharan's b'day. everyone was buying
chocolates + lollies and giving it to others. i was travelling from
mullativu to kilinochchi that day and our vehicle was stopped atleast
5 times by random individuals with huge grins and a box full of
lollies. they said "pls take some lollies. it's thalaivar's (leader's)
b'day today". it was really nice to see so many ppl celebrate
someonelse's b'day…and put their lives at risk by stopping vehicles
going at 80km/hr to hand out chocolates <!--emo&
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nov 27 was maaveerar naal (martyr's day). it was amazing. decorations
have been going up since almost 2 wks ago. the roads were decorated
with banners of red and yellow, the colours associated with martyrs (i
thnk). close to the sea they had blue banners as well, i thnk to
commemorate the fallen heroes who sacrificed their lives whilst at
sea. they had flags along the roads EVERYWHERE…imagine seeing flags of
red and yellow (2 m apart) along all the streets of Sydney city –
that's what it looked like. it was amazing. they had huge arches
spanning the width of the road with decorations and pictures and
paintings commemorating the fallen heroes so when u drove on the road
u actually had to drive through/under these arches. it was awesome.
the thuyilum illam (resting houses) where the fallen heroes are laid
to rest (known as cemeteries in other places) were beautifully done.
and the stretch of roads leading up to each of them was decorated
beautifully and had lights put up as well. i was truly proud to see
the Tamil nation celebrate in unity the sacrifice of 17,905 lives.
on the day, we went to mullaitivu beach for a few minutes. we watched
the parade of the sea tiger band. it was quite nice. but then we
decided to spend the majority of the time at a thuyilum illam bcoz
that was where the relatives would be and that was where the true
emotion of the entire day would be felt.
we went to mulliyavali thuyilum illam – the second largest one. im not
sure but i think about 2800 heroes have been laid to rest there. words
cannot express the extent of emotions felt at the time of lighting the
lamp. at the same time everywhere, one person lights the lamp in each
of the 17 (i thnk) thuyilum illams, and as they light the lamp, a
loved one lights the lamp adjacent to the tombstone of a fallen hero.
just imagine watching 2800 lamps being lit in unison. it was close to
sunset so there wasn't much light, and amongst the crowd of atleast
20,000 mourners, suddenly there was glistening lights everywhere.
flames flickered all around me, as everyone in the thuyilum illam
stood in silence. the only sound to be heard was the lighting of the
thousands of matches and the crackling of the flames. for a good 2
minutes i could hear nothingelse, then slowly, an amma (mother)
somewhere amongst the crowd started to whimper. then slowly, more
whimpers amongst the crowd, and within 30 seconds there were loved
ones everywhere crying. sisters were pleading with their dead brothers
to come back. fathers and mothers were calling out to their dead
children asking them why they had left them. wives were hugging
tombstones and sobbing, telling their dead husbands to open their eyes
and take a look at their children. there were so many fighters
standing by tombstones, a brave look on their face, but with tears
streaming down their cheeks. i imagined that they must have witnessed
their best friend die in the battlefield. it was really really sad,
but i knew that despite the anguish, each of them was so proud of
their loved one who had sacrificed their life in an attempt to get
freedom for their ppl. the song playing in the background (via loud
speakers) added to the emotions, and even i, who knew not a single
person in laid to the rest there, was brought to tears.
as i walked along the thousands of fallen heroes, i saw each resting
spot decorated in flowers and garlands. some family members brought
foods that their loved one had liked when they were alive – biscuits,
mangoes, there were even some bottles of soft drink. and within an
hour or so, it was all over. slowly relatives started to leave. and by
the end of the night, all that was left were the thousands of lamps
lighted by loved ones, flickering away in the November night. nothing
i can say will ever be able to express the feeling of maaveerar naal.
i have always celebrated maaveerar naal abroad, and to actually know
what sadness and pride combined would feel like whilst standing on the
soil that we so long to own as ours, the soil on which thousands had
shed blood and tears whilst fighting for self determination, the soil
that we would one day call Tamil Eelam, was absolutely amazing.
it has been two days since maaveerar naal. the decorations are slowly
coming down, to be put away until the same time next year when they
will once again adorn the streets, of what hopefully by then, will be
Tamil Eelam.
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hock: 