Stay tuned, grasshopper, the update isn’t done yet.

whatever happened to manish’s promised riposte and clarifications after rereading the book, and what exactly about his comment was “edited by admin”?

How about a ‘read the book’ rule?

Hear hear.

If this thread degenerates into a Singhala-Tamil piss-fest, comments will be closed, so please consider your words carefully and maintain a civil tone – this applies to everyone.

How about a ‘read the book’ rule? that’s what I’m heading out to do.

More like trying to escape a fratricidal civil war and having an image of the country ther are migrating to. Nothing to do with looking down on their own languages and traditions. And having a fairytale image of the land they are going to is no worse than having a fairytale image of the land you left behind.

See, I don’t have sympathy for those types either…they actively look down on local languages (in this case Sinhala) and traditions (which are often part of their own cultural heritage)…while always aspiring for some European fantasyland (or trying to create that in India/Sri Lanka, etc).

Anyone heard of this writer called Roma Tearne?

In Bone China, she explores three generations of the De Silva family, who see the decline of their tea plantation in the political limbo between independence after 1948 and the rise of a Sinhalese government that imposes draconian language laws. Three sons head for Britain, their idealised land of refined literary culture.

[ link ]

I wonder if it is coincidence, fashion, or a genuine coming to the surface of stories from the Sri Lankan diaspora about this experience after the nessecary perspective of time and distance has passed.

The above quote (which I agree with) does not invalidate the following (which I also agree with):

it was ultimately the responsibility of the Sinhala leadership for engaging in what Neil DeVotta characterizes as a process of “ethnic outbidding” by playing to the insecurities of the Sinhala masses and, in the process, depriving Tamils of their rights in the Sri Lankan state. I think it is of paramount importance to understand the emergence of a hardened and ruthless LTTE in the context of decades of Sinhala oppression, marked by several significant historic events such as the overnight passing of the Sinhala Only Act, state-sponsored colonization schemes of traditionally Tamil areas, discriminatory admission policies against Tamils, the burning of historic landmarks such as the Jaffna Library, state-sponsored pogroms such as Black July in ’83.

Kushil Jayasuriya, you are entitled to your view, but supporting links are always a good idea. The comment is also excessively long. Please consider yourself warned.

If this thread degenerates into a Singhala-Tamil piss-fest, comments will be closed, so please consider your words carefully and maintain a civil tone – this applies to everyone.