Malinda Seneviratne

Tragedy of any kind can yield tears. Tragedy of any kind can also yield resolve. There are other harvests too. Apportioning of blame, absolving responsibility, anger, revenge-intent and collapse of one kind or another for example. It’s seldom just one thing. And so, in this country where there has been so much death, dismemberment, destruction and displacement, we’ve seen all of it.

Jagana Krishnakumar is not an exception. Jagana recently visited his father’s ancestral home in Mannipai, Jaffna.  He sat there and imagined.  

He imagined what life must have been back then in and around what is now called Innuvil Road 200 years ago. Imagination was his only recourse even to think of how things were just a few decades ago, for all he had to ‘work with’ were the remnants of the entrance.

How, what, where, when, who? Who would wish this on a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, a neighbour, a stranger or even an enemy? Jagana believes, ‘no one.’ He is kind and generous, for there must have been total disregard for life, lifestyle, livelihood and property to produce the outcomes that left behind the rubble he sat on as he imagined the past and visualised the future.  

Histories matter. Lessons must be learnt. I don’t think Jagana is naive about such things. And yet, he did not fail to pick the warmth and hope in the people who have lost so much and nevertheless  embrace the troubled, challenging and tense present with fortitude.

It was not only Jagana whose thoughts ventured into the long ago going back several decades and beyond. His father had excitedly talked about how life used to be. Maybe the time for rancour had passed. Maybe that was how he was — knew the past, accepted realities and resolutely refusing to let any of it dampen his spirit.  

Jagana says that he was touched by his father’s excitement. It had made him want to rebuild the property. Not just the property of which only the broken pieces of an entrance remain, but the property that is the nation.

Here are his words:

‘In the same light, can we find inspiration and purpose to rebuild this our own country, because at the end of the day this is our home, our sanctuary, and our fortress, whether we’re from the North or the South, the East or the West, we are Sri Lankan, and we must come together now more than ever before and work towards a common and shared goal, which is towards the progress of this great and sacred land.’

Jagana is convinced that ‘humanity will never progress if we hold on to anger, hatred and revenge, instead forgive, understand and accept,’ and that ‘change, real change can only be ushered in, when we shed ourselves of what divides us, and embrace what unites us, and that is first, we are all human, second we are all Sri Lankan.’

There will always be people who affirm quite the opposite, people who hold on to anger, hatred and revenge, who will not forgive, understand or accept, and who will think first and last is nothing but self or a particular identity. ‘Sri Lanka’ could be a proposition or reality they cannot identify with, but the disavowal of humanity if not in word then in deed, what can be done? Jagana has the answer. Well, two answers.

The first has many parts.

‘Let’s not blame. Let’s not point fingers. For decades, we have been doing that. We have all made that mistake because the veil of political bias has always shrouded our judgment, we pick sides, when in the end all sides are the tentacles of the same octopus. Now it’s time we lift this veil of delusion, it’s Time we transcend the farcical political divide, the racial and ethnic dogma, and make informed and thoughtful decisions when we elect and select our representatives and leaders.’

Such sentiments are often expressed. Sometimes they are expressed by those who seem to have dedicated their lives to the exact opposite. But what makes Jagana’s words meaningful is the other, the second answer which came to his mind that day sitting on a broken pillar in his father’s ancestral property. Rebuild.

Rebuild resolve. Rebuild commonality. Rebuild understanding and acceptance. Rebuild unity. Rebuild humanity.  It’s all in those intangibles that we’ve misplaced, forgotten or allowed anger, distrust and inhumanity bury in the darkest and most forlorn recesses of the mind. Those intangibles that have been laid waste and like so much rubble are scattered in desolate landscapes.

The entrance is intact. It is always intact. It cannot be destroyed. Jagana Krishnakumar is a witness. He wants to rebuild our ancestral home. We can but lend a hand.