A dose of Chinthana please

It is a fact and very unfortunate too, that the pensioners in this country are taken for granted.

Times without number, these people, once the pride of the public service now confined to the limbo of forgotten things, have aired their financial grievances. Most of them are victims of various ailments that accompany old age, and are forced to live with one foot in the grave.

The soaring living costs are threatening to gallop further as the global food and financial crises show no signs of abating. With heavy defence expenditure, the world’s largest cabinet and financial mismanagement, the government is struggling; powerless or rather incapable to halt the sky rocketing prices of goods and services. It is against this backdrop, the pensioners are pleading for more like Oliver Twist in Charles Dickens; to keep the wolf from the door.

The last wage hike of 50% percent for public servants and much less for the pensioners has evaporated since the purchasing power of money has drastically depreciated.

Retired persons are people who have committed their life for the betterment of the country. High living costs pinch all and sundry. But nobody gives a thought to the plight of the pensioners who too have dependents to clothe and feed. Besides, chronic illnesses are no respecter of people. When old age sets in, you are confronted with various diseases and enhanced medical bills.

These people in the evening of their lives need rest, recreation, nutritious food and peace of mind. How many in their dotage enjoy these things? We have seen senior citizens going to work after retiring. They are compelled to work to earn some extra income to supplement their pension, to keep the home fires burning.

Public servants are poorly paid. As such, there is rampant corruption in the service from top to bottom. Pensioners are at the mercy of these ‘servants’ who even pinch the elderly.

On the other hand, politicians and bureaucrats are experts in looking after themselves. Even if the living costs reach Himalayan heights, they have taken ‘steps’ to cushion off its impact.

What about the pathetic plight of the poor pensioners who have neither influence, nor bargaining power because they have been ‘written off’ as waiting to meet their maker? Their views and observations have not been sought unlike the other sectors in the country by the President in the formulation of the government’s budget for 2009.

In the annual budgets of every government when there is a salary increase, pensioners are granted half of the increase offered, if not less, whereas present government servants are granted much more in salary and the full living allowance.

It is common knowledge that the cost of living affects all equally. This treatment amounts to discrimination. This ‘old age bar’ should be eliminated from the vocabulary of the bureaucrats in the financial hierarchy.

Another important factor that is assailing them is the anomaly in the pension they receive. This has been a long standing problem. The government should take remedial measures to eradicate this problem.

The salary anomalies of state sector employees have been amicably rectified after some struggling. Can the 450,000 pensioners gird their loins to have theirs’ solved? No definitely not; they are in the sunset years of their life.

It is in this light that I ask how about a dose of Mahinda Chinthana for senior citizens? I say this because at the adjournment time in parliament last week, Minister of State Revenue Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, on the subject of pensioners had said, "we are now in the process of realising the dreams of Mahinda Chinthana."

Whether that dream will materialise only time will tell.

Tamils and Sinhalese, Hindus and Buddhists believe in karma and rebirth. Sri Lanka is a transit station in Sansara. Did we have a choice in coming here? No. Do we have a choice to where we will go from here? No. Sri Lanka belongs to none and none belongs to Sri Lanka. It belongs to nature.

From the vast experience of the past some of which has been very bitter to me and my relations, but very valuable; communal, racial, and statements of intolerance of different religious faiths, have been the prime cause of adding fuel to the fires of destruction that have been started after independence. Elders and senior citizens owe it to the coming generations to stand up and protest, now. That much we owe this country which has given us terra firma over a long period of time. With regret I reproduce a letter I wrote to the editor 10 years ago.

A news item appeared during the time of the State Council (1936), when we were happy-go-lucky Ceylonese. I have a photo copy of this while my good friend Stanley Jayatunga, a nonagenarian living in Malabe has the original. It was based on a speech made by the then member for Matale electorate in the State Council, B.H. Aluwihare, a barrister, actively involved in the independence movement along with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. He could have been identified anywhere as he sported a Gandhi cap and North Indian vest. The news item appeared under the heading ‘A Ceylonese Culture’ and is reproduced below:-

"Is there such a thing as a Ceylonese culture, and if so what is it?

This is a question that arose in a debate a few days ago in a literary club in Colombo. Speaker after speaker got up and asserted that there is no such thing.

And then somebody went on to quote the delightfully eloquent passage from State Councillor B.H. Aluwihare, apologising at the same time for the authority’s ‘knowledge of history and geography.’

‘Ceylonese culture is like the Sinhalese people. It is one of the most hybrid things on earth. It is born of Portuguese and Dutch culture and it is mixed up today with the British. In ancient days it arose on the tree of the Veddha culture. It was enriched by the Hindus and the Aryans at the Ganges, and then it was touched by the fervour of the South Indian and Tamil. I am not certain that we have not to some extent been enriched by the thoughts of the Negroes of Africa. I am not certain that we are not affected by the adventurers and traders from Arabia.

‘Therefore Sir, it is a most hybrid culture. It is certainly rich. But when you ask what the Ceylonese culture is the answer is that culture has come to us from all the ends of the earth. It has enriched us, and if ever we do boast of anything, it is that we have the wealth of the four corners of the world. It has enriched our vision, our mind, our literature, and that is what we are able to boast of — the breadth of vision and the breadth of thought of our golden age.’

It is from Aluwihare’s speech in the State Council on the subject of non-Ceylonese teachers. A large majority of the debaters I have referred to refused to believe in Aluwihare’s theory."

Eating fish and flesh

I respond to A.D. Gunasekera’s letter titled "Eating fish and flesh" published recently in one of our daily English newspapers.

Let me discuss the points on which I agree and those with which I disagree with him in regard to what he has conveyed in his letter. I agree with him in that:

(1) All organisms have to eat to live.

(2) Only plants can manufacture their own food.

(3) Carnivores cannot live without eating other animals, and

(4) One should not desist from eating fish or flesh because in religions it is taught as a sin.

However I disagree with his statement that ‘if eating an animal is a sin eating a plant also should be a sin.

Let me elaborate on my views. In my view ‘sin’ is only a religious belief because no human being certified dead by a qualified medical practitioner has ever come back to life to tell what he/she experienced after death — whether he/she went to heaven or hell. Sin is said to be associated with ‘going to hell’ while virtue with ‘going to heaven.’

But where is the proof for all this? We human beings belong to different religions which are man made, and each religion has its own basic tenets which persons belonging to that particular religion are expected to adopt and follow. But what about the rest of the animal kingdom which have the same basic anatomy and physiological functions as the homo-sapiens (human beings) except for the faculty of speech or expression as we human beings understand it?

It is again my personal view that none of us have seen God and therefore it is axiomatic that something ‘supernatural,’ call it God/nature/cosmic energy/creator or whatever has created life on earth, the oceans, the mountains, the water falls etc.

The concept of ‘life’ should in my view be looked at from this angle — the more highly evolved animals of which the ‘most highly’ evolved being the human species followed by those of the ‘lower’ evolved category such as animals, birds, fish, insects, plants and finally those in the ‘lowest’ evolved category, namely microbes like the bacteria viruses and unicellular organisms, both of animal and plant origin.

The significant difference between these two groups viz. plants and animals is that most plants can ‘regenerate’ when some segment such as a branch or part of the stem is injured or severed by injury/trauma and also, when subjected to the trauma there is no visible suffering or ‘agony’ experienced by the plant whereas in the more highly evolved forms of life which includes man and animals what is witnessed is just the opposite — that is an amputated or severed limb cannot be ‘replaced’ by nature and therefore the loss is permanent, and there is also immense ‘visible’ suffering when animals are killed at game or when slaughtered for the consumption of their flesh as meat.

The uprooting of the plant for carrot/beetroot or for its leaves as in the case of spinach, gotukola, or kang kung can in no way be equated, in my opinion, to the slashing of the neck of an innocent chicken, goat, pig or cow.

A popular misconception amongst some Buddhists and Hindus is that ‘fish’ is not equivalent to ‘meat,’ but this view is not correct. Fish is also an animal and its biological name is deadus fishus which means it is a cold blooded animal living wholly in water and recent scientific research has reported that when taken out of its environment — water — the fish undergoes untold suffering prior to its death. Pathetic indeed!

Let me conclude by agreeing with Gunasekera that "one should not desist from eating fish or flesh because in religions it is taught as ‘sin’ but because of compassion for a more developed form of life.’

This is what the noble Buddha taught and stressed.

‘Live and let live — May all beings be well and happy.

All are citizens with equal rights

The Colombo Chetty Association of Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka Situ Sangamaya) at its executive committee meeting held recently expressed deep concern about the recent statement attributed to the Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka regarding the rights of minorities in Sri Lanka. We are also disappointed that to date he has made no denial or correction to this statement; we are also concerned that no re­assuring statement has so far been issued by the leaders of the majority community in Sri Lanka.

The Colombo Chetties or as referred to in historical records, Situ, Vaisya Setthi or Sitana, are an ancient community that has contributed immensely towards the socio­economic growth and progress of Sri Lanka. Their earliest settlements in Sri Lanka according to historical records dates back to over 2500 years and their contribution to the advent of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is an enviable fact that we are proud of.

As mentioned by many historians the seven brothers of Queen Videshi Devi, were also the uncles of Prince Mahinda and Princess Sangamitta who arrived in Anuradhapura to protect the Sacred Bo Tree. They were the sons of Deva Setthi of Avanthi.

King Vasaba (BC 65-100) who inaugurated the Lambakaranna dynasty in Sri Lanka that ruled for over 350 years was a descendant of Prince Sumitta who was one of them. Even as recently as the history of Kotte (1400 - 1521) mention is made about Vira Nissanka Alekeswara and Sembha Perumal (Sapumal Kumaraya) who were from our community.

The Colombo Chetties have lived long in close association and harmony with the major communities. They have at no time made any demands nor has their patriotism or loyalty to Sri Lanka ever been in question, although we are classified as a minority due to our numbers. Yet if one considers historical facts then our position as equals in this country is a justifiable conclusion.

We firmly believe that Sri Lanka is a multi religious and multi cultural country and that all communities that comprise our population have enriched Sri Lanka, which goes to prove that multi culture is a great strength and not a weakness.

Cock that struts crows at dawn

Crow that flaps caws at noon;

Parrot that flits screeches soon

Robins that hop chirp their boon.

Squirrels that hurry in circles squeak

Cuckoos that flaunt coo at peak;

The woodpecker that hops about pecks

To keep the beat of the sound of beaks.

All the sounds of birds and squirrels speak:

In such a harmony that makes one awake

They are all my welcome visitors;

Who entertain me at all the hours.

A monitor that glides enters in

As an unwelcome guest not wanted in;

Who scared my entire welcome bevy

Also worried the members of family

Who waited impatiently for help

To chase the monitor that yelp.

Finally came some passers-by to help

To push the guest uninvited with a punch.

All in the house were relieved with sigh

At the departure of the innocent guy.

When I first met her so many decades away, I was too little to understand the influence she would ultimately have on the rest of my life. No doubt that it must be true with most of those who have passed through the hallowed precincts of Sacred Heart Convent, Galle and were privileged to have her touch their lives.

An Irish Rose, born in Ireland to bloom fragrantly and wither in our own soil she was a Sri Lankan by choice. Arriving in Sri Lanka as a young missionary in the Order of the Sisters of Charity, she lived for 58 years in service to humanity. Most of those years were spent at Sacred Heart Convent, Galle as a teacher and then as its well loved principal.

Her patience, compassion and love transcended all boundaries of ethnic and religious barriers. She understood the heart-ache of a little girl at the boarding school crying for her mother, face smudged with sticky tears. She was there to console her with tender loving care.

She also understood the heart-ache of many a pig-tailed, starry-eyed, teenager’s tears of broken romances. She was there too, well aware of the beauty of the unspoiled and innocent love of adolescence. Yet, she certainly was no nurse-maid but a fairy God Mother to all those who came under her care.

She was soft-spoken, yet strong. She was kind, yet firm. She was simple, yet awe inspiring. The radiance she spread around mirrored the inner-beauty of herself. She was devoid of anger, hatred and malice. She was endowed with a witty sense of humour and the music in her heart broke out in the form of song on her lips.

She gave generously her time and guidance, spiritually and materially, to those who sought. She never denied those less fortunate children the facilities enjoyed by those who could afford it. Nor were they made to feel any less important than the others. Nor did she let others know about those who were helped. All were equal in her eyes. She was there to fulfill a mission she undertook as a servant of the God she worshipped.

Sr. Adrian lived her life to the full in every sense of the word. She loved her adopted country and her people, the reciprocal love was showered on her in abundance in true Sri Lankan hospitality. She spent most of her life in Galle. Beloved Galle, simple, sleepy, slow to change, the southern capital that brought up and nurtured us, guardian of many a treasured memory of growing up years where our roots are firmly grounded. Galle and Sr. Adrian were synonymous with each other. Both Galle and Sr. Adrian are etched deeply in our hearts. She has created a void that is hard to be filled.

With memories growing fonder, to live in the hearts of those who love is never to die.

With the passage of time Sr. Adrian too has been subjected to the law of the world where all conditioned things are subject to change. We do not mourn her death but celebrate her life.

May her upward path be smooth, sure and steady!