ESL Blogs

About 15 years back, I was occupied in Tea Research; hence, I was lucky enough to enjoy my life in a comfortable environment and to get familiar with a different community living in that part of my country. In fact, we mainly focused our time on research activities and studied many issues related to research work. The majority living in the area is of Tamil origin, but this community is mainly categorized by people in the name of “Indian Tamils.”

A long time ago in the past, Sri Lanka was ruled by an agent of the English emperor, and they introduced some cash crops to our country, but they happened to face a problem- a labor problem. Many local people struggled against English rulers and refused their offers to work in the plantation sector. In this context, English administration decided to fetch underprivileged, South Indian people from that part of Indian sub-continent. According to the historical records, people who lived in that part of India had faced many difficulties for living, so English rulers were lucky enough to bring them here easily. This process really reflects of how Africans were brought to the New World in the name of slavery.

After many decades, now, we are able to meet the descendants of that original community, but majority is still suffering from poverty. The population of this community became increased with time, and some were able to acclimatize with the macro-society. However, many people in this group are still victimized or ill-treated by some people belonging to other communities. If taken the Tamil community as a whole, India Tamils are not accepted yet by some Tamils who are rooted to local Tamil communities. Thus, this group is still vulnerable to some extent in the local context.

The estate, in which I worked for ages involving with research activities in tea crop, had a slightly diverse ethical composition, so there lived some Sinhalese and Muslims along with the Tamil majority helping each other in many aspects. Fairly a larger number of people in the estate were engaged in different activities in tea plantation spending their physical labor for bread and butter. The supervisors and other high-rank officers were mainly from other parts of the country, so housing facilities were provided with them as a part of their occupation. The construction and maintenance of houses including line-rooms (shelter for laborers) are still planned and organized by the central authority of every estate.

Now,I am about to start my story!

A Sinhalese girl (I would like to name her as Nilmini) and a Tamil boy (I would like to name him as Ganesh); they both were grown up together from the childhood. Nilmini could speak Tamil like a Tamil girl whereas Ganesh could mange Sinhalese well with a slightly different accent, but it was clear and comprehensible. Nilmini was attached to our department as a minor-staff member because she was able to speak both Sinhalese and Tamil well with a little English. Ganesh worked in the engineering department as a minor-staff member because he was clever of some technical work. Really, Ganesh was able to manage English better than Nilmini, so he was benefited in some other ways as a result of his English knowledge.

During tea time, Ganesh used to visit our department and drink tea with other members of the minor-staff. I had seen Ganesh and Nilmini enjoy their tea joking  each other in very decent way. They both were disciplined and well-mannered, on the other hand, they both were hard-workers and helpful to others in working. So, I loved the duo frankly and had helped them of their personal work going beyond the limits of my duty. However, I had no idea of that there was a love affair between the duo. One morning, our department head got a message from the transport sector that Ganesh met with a minor vehicle accident, so he was hospitalized on temporary base. This message was simply sneaked into Nilmini’s ears, and she started to cry and ran off to meet the officers in transport sector. After this incident, I was told by some people that they both were lovers and would marry after sometime. During that period of time, Sri Lankan society as a whole was facing a severe civil war. Extremists in both communities hated each other, so the society had been polarized into two on ethnicity. As a peace-lover and a person who supports for equality, I hated the extremists in both communities. On this back ground, the union of Ganesh and Nilmini was strongly embossed in my mind. On one hand, the society was ripped into two on ethnicity, but in the same domain, Ganesh genuinely loved Nilmini and vice versa. I saw the genuine humanity between them, Ganesh and Nilmini. Genuine love is independent of all petty divisions in human world, but depends only on humanity. Still, I can remember of how Nilmini cried when she got the message of Ganesh’s accident!

Extreme ideas are extremely inhuman! One day, I was just waiting in my department after my duty, a known person, who disagreed with other communities, visited me and simply inquired about Ganesh and Nilmini. I strategically answered him telling that I knew nothing about their personal issues. After couple of days, I talked about it with Ganesh-Nilmini. I got shocked with their reply! “They (extremists in both communities) do their best to break our affair, at times; they come and threat us even to our parents and family members”. Yes, extreme ideas can convert this world into a hell! I always helped Ganesh-Nilmini within my domain and finally they both decided to marry quickly due to the unfavorable environmental factor- the impact of extremists on their personal lives. I wished their marriage and the future! Not only me but many who really expected a world free from extreme ideas. I met them recently by chance in the commercial city. I was so happy on that day! They have two sons! Elder son is now waiting for entering the university! The second son is getting ready for Ordinary Level examination. So excellent! Yes, dear sons! You both represent the genuine identity of Sri Lankan Society! I salute you both, dear sons! For a beautiful world, we really need new ideas beyond the ethnicity! New ideas beyond the existing box!

Good Luck!
Bimal