A Trip up North - Part II

Manalkadu-21st December 2005

Well, the trip just got better and better...I actually met with the LTTE [I was over-awed that I shamelessly was with my mouth wide open], met lots of government and NGO officials and had a super time.

There just isn't that much to write about - because we just went from meeting to meeting, and another meeting...it was endless...awesomely interesting, but tiring.

We stayed at this super guest house in Jaffna...and my room was just SUPER DUPER...the four poster bed, extremely cosy-chic sitting area and split-level bedroom were just the main attractions. [I was all smiles] It was quite different to the open-air bathroom and environment we experienced in Kilinochchi---but I loved it all!

The situation in Jaffna however, is extremely tense...every few metres on the road will ensure a meeting with the SLA...which I think is absurd. The looks on their faces - tells you that they really aren't prepared for this entire situation...most of them look really scared at the thought of even using their weaponry.

Somehow, I feel really sucky about the entire situation...I honestly am not in a position where I can impart my own personal opinion, for the simple reason that I don't have all the facts - but I'm totally confused regarding the entire situation. However, one thing is certain - the innocents are the worst affected - and the orchestrations that are going on are just simply unbelievable.

A Trip up North - Part I

The introductory scenes to the Northern region of the island are those filled with greenery…it brings a sense of calmness, which is most welcome after the hustle and bustle of Colombo. However, contrastingly, it would be difficult to deem the North as beautiful, even though initially it may seem to be. Along with its un-graspable beauty comes a sense of sadness…a sense of loss…some kind of void which is extremely difficult to describe. In some places, it is hard to even say it’s been through a two-decade ethnic conflict, an untrained eye or mind might call it a rural landscape…so overgrown with foliage and unkempt it be. It has a type of beauty marked by destruction and sadness.

It’s hard to believe I’m actually in the North. I know that right now…I am in fact in Kilinochchi…but I keep having to pinch me self very hard and say to me self… ‘You ARE in Kili’.

I’ve never met anyone from the LTTE face-to-face [even though I would simply love to]…but its amazing being surrounded by them. They’ve got their own police force that simply swarms the entire place…they are just everywhere. Today, I went to the Uduthurai beach…and we met two LTTE guys who worked for the LTTE’s tv station…that was cool. J I even got pictures. Actually, I’ve got heaps of pictures…they’ll be posted after I get back...

Strangely however, there is no sense of terror prevalent, and maybe the head of security for the area was right when he told Mark that Kilinochchi is the safest place to be in Sri Lanka. Don’t laugh now…you have to be here to understand exactly why I’m saying this. It also maybe ironic to say this – but just being here – I feel a super sense of calmness and peace. Funny eh?

The tsunami hit areas are the worst. Life in these places seems to be very, very hard. It is amazing those people even consider it ‘living’. The more I see, the more I feel the need to continue what we do…however, what I find extraordinary is that there are a large number of international organizations doing good relief work here. However, there seems to be no focus. If you go the coastal areas in the North, you’ll definitely see an abundance of fishing boats, idling on the sides of the road. You’ll see finished houses that are unoccupied. See, each organization specializes in their own type of relief work, and say one of them builds houses…well, that’s all they do. They don’t really care about the water supply, sanitation needs, electricity, road infrastructure. The end result my friends – houses…just houses and nothing else…or maybe a built road leading to nowhere…it just makes no sense…

The Cursed Girl-Child

We speak today of equality of the sexes, but that whole hype of males and females being a one-on-one basis just dies a sudden death when it comes to a grass root level. I mean, think of everything the girl-child has to go through, especially in South Asian countries...it is just not fair!

Right now, I know I'm completely biased - judging from the crisis I'm facing at the moment and everything I've rebelled against [or atleast tried] but never succeeded...but I still think somehow society looks down on its females if they try and do anything out of the ordinary, if they go that extra step; let alone a mile...let alone having to deal with that, having to deal with everything else that comes along with the package; especially considering that the package is way too heavy to bear.

Somehow it just doesn't seem fair...I may sound like I'm rambling, and I have a good enough feeling that I am - but it is just that I've been through so much of shit - for the only reason that I'm a girl and because I had to be born into a culture like this...I just don't think it can be justified at all - the ways and means in which they've tried to entrap me within the four walls of me house...when I think back on how much of effort and gritted teeth it took to actually do what I'm doing...and now I'm old enough to make my own decisions - but guess what? I'm not allowed to even do that. SCARY huh? I still have to ask for permission before I do anything, before I go anywhere - - - and most of the time the answer is a big, fat NO!

Well, that's the story of me life!

FUCKING INCOMPETENCY JUST IRKS ME!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been the worse morning ever! I get stuck with an incompetent bastard for the show and what does he do? NOTHING! NOTHING AT ALL!

He waits for stories to be written, to be told what to take. ARGH! He just drives me crazy! It was such a horrible morning, what with the transport getting wonderfully late and then realizing there were 8 people to pick up after me...which meant I only reached the station after 5 am which gave me no time at all to write the news, especially since the idiot decides to just sit on his sorry ass and wait for the news to flow in. Like YEAH RIGHT! That's going to happen!

I want to just wring his neck, no - better still I'll just snap him in half, or maybe I'll just cut him up into little pieces, or I'll have a couple of millions go's at him with a big-ass axe! YUP! Think I will...

And when I try to explain in the nicest of ways [honest, I did] that he ain't working up to his full potential...the number of excuses that came smoothly flowing out could've filled up all the excuse books in the universe. [be there such a thing?]

Thank's to his bloody fucking incompetency, I was so stressed and I ended up running around like a MAD woman, with no sense of direction, biting my nails, tearing my hair out [that's actually an exaggeration because if I did, then how would I look on the idiot box eh?] but still, my fingers practically flew around the keyboard - [no choice mate, it was either that or die at the hands of GOD] and...I made zillions of mistakes on air, as a result of being so 'on-the-edge'.

The good part - I now know that I can pull of the morning news all by meself...

Result - An utterly stressed, pissed off, highly strung, scary ME!

Er...Anyone for coffee?

Permission to 'Hit the Bucket'...and more...

We live in a world where things have become amazingly strange...like for instance, in Brazil it is now illegal to die. YUP! You heard me right the first time. A city in Brazil proposes to ban its residents from dying...and they say "offenders will be held responsible for their acts"... [sticks tongue out - very, very rudely] Hmmm...I wonder what the punishment would be for being an offender...You can read up more on this...right here!

Here's more ridiculous laws in the US of A

• You may not wear blue jeans down Noble Street [like ya...right!]
• Dominoes may not be played on Sunday [Hmmm...I wonder why?]
• It is unlawful to wear women's pumps with sharp, high heels [This law was probably passed by some short bastard]
• You cannot chain your alligator to a fire hydrant [I wonder where else we could chain our pet alligators]
• A law in Fairbanks does not allow moose to have sex on city streets [Try telling the moose that]
• Kangaroos are not allowed in barber shops at any time [And remind me one more time WHY kangaroos need to visit the Barber's shop]
• A man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month [Bloody RUBBISH!]
• It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling [S M I L E]
• Tucson: Women may not wear pants [Again, another chauvinistic PIG]
• Hollywood: It is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood Boulevard at one time. [Sure...lots of sheep in Hollywood]
• Persons classified as "ugly" may not walk down any street [And who the fuck decides on that?]
• It is illegal to fart in a public place after 6:00pm on a Thursday. [snicker]

That's just a few...want to read more?

I'm telling you...it be a very strange world that we live in...