True, they were no longer being held hostage by a ruthless
terrorist outfit that did not think twice about axing limbs of 5-year olds
trying to flee or opening fire on the elderly, the pregnant and the sick as
thousand (including LTTE cadres) saw perhaps for the first time the true face
of the ‘liberator’ and crafted upon that terrible countenance megalomania,
revenge-intent and self-preservation.
They had left a diet of one glass of rice gruel a day. Their children would not be taken from
them. Even if what they arrived at did
not have ‘Paradise’ written all over it, they knew they had escaped from hell
and hopelessness.
Still, life ‘after’, did not seem rosy in the least. In the early days, facilities and resources
did not match will. The massive influx
proved hard to deal with. Feeding three
hundred thousand people, caring for the sick, bringing together families that
had got split in the mad rush out of Prabhakaran’s hell was not an easy
task. The Government and the security
forces had to make sure that water and sanitation met minimum standards, even
while being hampered by the reality that many among these people were LTTE
cadres or sympathetic to their cause and ever conscious of a trigger-happy
international community ready to fire accusation mortars their way.
It was easy, back then, for bleeding heart I/NGO
personalities who had bet on the LTTE prevailing over the security forces, to
complain about the situation, accuse the Government of running open air
prisons, wail about freedom of moment being curtailed etc. They were lucky. Un-elected and answerable to no one except
those who pumped dollars into their bank accounts, they did not have to deal
with logistics associated with the above reality.
I visited the Menik Farm IDP facility in Cheddikulam in July
2009. I realized that had it not been
for the discipline and structured authority of the Army, things would have been
far worse. The authorities were in
constant communication with the I/NGOs and UN agencies that had offered to help
but naturally on their terms and not those of these agencies whose track record
in helping the LTTE was common knowledge.
By that time, there was order.
The day-to-day was streamlined.
Conditions in these facilities were not ideal, but still better than in
some other parts of the country.
I was impressed by the untiring efforts by the security
forces to make sure that everyone had food to eat, that the sick were taken
care of, that families were reunited etc.
I was impressed by the volume of relief items that were pouring into the
area. I was impressed by the fact that
there were dozens of doctors who had volunteered to work round the clock
attending to the sick.
I remember being horrified by some of the stories these
unfortunate people related. I was
impressed that despite all the trials they had been put through, most of them
retained their dignity, self-respect and humanity. Thinking back, I believe that nothing
impressed or inspired me more than how these people asserted their will to live
and prosper.
I visited all the relief facilities. In each unit,
regardless of size and population, I encountered ‘education’. There were hundreds of teachers among the
IDPs and many principals as well.
Naturally, there were thousands of children. Each and every one of them
had ‘returned’ to school, so to speak, almost all of them after many
months. The authorities facilitated it
all. The largess of their
fellow-citizens and well-meaning non-governmental organization had ensured they
would not lack in stationary.
The people
themselves, despite all the trauma they had been through and indeed had not yet
overcome, had decided that the children must learn, even under the harshest of
conditions.
There were ‘classes’ under the trees and inside tents. They were organized according to age. The children were being taught English,
Tamil, Mathematics and Science. Some of
the instructors were teachers attached to the Education Department. Some were
older students or adults who had been trained in other professions. I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the
teachers and the students. I remember
thinking, ‘this country has reason to hope’.
That was resilience.
Resilience is what our nation is all about. We’ve suffered enough but
have always made sure that the foundation of our civilization has remained
intact. Five hundred years of colonial
rule which included the killing of thousands, burning of libraries and
destroying of temples, had not succeeded in destroying the faith of the people
and their sense of identity. A tsunami
did not demoralize a people into mass suicide. Two insurrections did not see
the consecration of anarchy. A thirty
year long war against terrorism had not made embrace among communities impossible.
No, we are not a people ready to roll over and die, whatever
the odds. In Cheddikulam, the teachers
were not unlike teachers elsewhere, teaching under different and far more
hospitable circumstances. They were dedicated, disciplined and strict. Worthy of utmost veneration and admiration.
I have no idea what their ideological preferences are. I
don’t know if they identified with the LTTE or with the idea of Eelam. It does
not matter. What counts is that they exemplified something beautiful about the
human condition: the will to live, to do one’s best, to think and live
‘community’ and ‘solidarity’. To me,
these are the same qualities that those who contributed in whatever way to rid
the country of the terrorist menace were endowed with.
I know we have our identity-preferences, but we also have
all that it takes to be a single people.
msenevira@gmail.com
2 comments:
After reading this, the UN and NGO sponsers should rethink their approach to solving problems. I wish there were more debates by school children over the Aim, roles and intention of these agencies.
The world is discussing our internal problems. The school children debates, seminars should be organised to study the Torture, Rapes, Missing, Humen rights in UK, US and Canada and of course India. See if we can learn from their example of how not to behave.
So beautifully written.
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