Enchantress Lanka Read online

  The soil slips and slides to obey the water’s orders

  A mad scramble for shelter while some dance in the rain

  The rain thrashes like a bird set free, flapping sodden wings

  Until it plunges to its own death with a flash of lightning

  As the staccato softens to a symphony

  Of after-rain sloshing and animal cries

  IT’S A HARD LIFE

  One meagre rice-and-lentils meal a day

  Doesn’t keep the great hunger away

  It just helps keep development at bay

  Bread, coconut and milk-powder prices rise

  Nobody listens to all the pleas and the cries

  Everyone’s faith in justice thus steadily dies

  A bucket of water a day’s not enough

  To wash away sweat on skin so rough

  Getting and staying clean is now tough

  There’s cheating for school admissions

  And university strikes hamper ambitions

  Is there any sense in educational visions?

  Police check-points every hundred metres

  A sure sign that the peace process teeters

  While people pay a fortune for petrol litres

  Bomb blasts and war atrocities daily shock

  To foreign countries the elite hence flock

  While politicians herd their money stock

  Children are abducted and lives are lost

  It’s always the innocent who pay the cost

  In the terrorists’ heart there’s eternal frost

  You beg, you steal, you commit a crime

  To bring your family an additional dime

  Choking on the government talk’s slime

  People live in a paradise that feels like hell

  Are ever scared of a police officer’s yell

  Oh, put an end to war’s and injustice’s spell

  Don’t let a nation drink from misery’s well

  Make this once more a place to happily dwell

  NAMO NAMO MATHA

  Mother Lanka - we salute thee,

  But the salute is lately only military

  Plenteous in prosperity, thou,

  Plenty also the terror that seems to grow

  Beauteous in grace and love,

  Find everything that you’re dreaming of

  Laden with corn and luscious fruit

  Meals nutritious and tasty, like they should

  And fragrant flowers of radiant hue,

  Of the war’s horrors nature gives us no clue

  Giver of life and all good things,

  And of all the struggles human life brings

  Our land of joy and victory,

  It still maintains some kind of colonial glory

  Receive our grateful praise sublime,

  For our country seems to be in its prime

  Lanka, we worship thee.

  Thou gavest us knowledge and truth,

  But forgotten is the barely functioning truce

  Thou art our strength and inward faith,

  Ruined is our children’s once promising fate

  Our light, divine and sentient being,

  Living in paradise is such a marvellous thing

  Breath of life and liberation,

  Four different religions in perfect integration

  Grant us, bondage free, inspiration,

  For a brighter future people turn to emigration

  Inspire us forever,

  Peace, we’ll find it not sooner, not later, never

  In wisdom and strength renewed,

  The charms of Asian beauty can be viewed

  Ill-will, hatred, strife all ended,

  But these days they are stubbornly defended

  In love enfolded, a mighty nation

  Prepares with bomb blasts its own cremation

  Marching onward, all as one,

  Many a good deed is admittedly still done

  Lead us, Mother, to fullest freedom,

  Hopefully fighting will one day be overcome

  *The lines in italic are from the English translation of the Sri Lankan national anthem.

  TRADING TRADITIONS

  Trading treasured traditions

  For treacherous trendy trivia

  Has become a bad habit here

  In itself almost another tradition

  Added to a trunk-load full of drama

  Being dramatically embedded

  In thousands of years of yearning

  Embroidered with the trash of tourists

  Who bring themselves and their own

  Treason masked as Western traditions

  Enamouring natives and locals

  With what is alien and everything but

  Unalienable – dare to say untouchable

  Thus traditions are traded in for

  Trash TV and TV trash – recycled –

  Japanese cars and Indian trishaws – remodelled –

  Fashion fads and futile attempts – ridiculous!

  Tricky things traded in for traditions

  As soon as the first home for elders

  Replaces the cosy home shared with elders

  As soon as the first child day-care

  Replaces the daily care for a child

  As soon as the first foreign Sri Lankan in Sri Lanka

  Replaces the typical Sri Lankan in a foreign country

  You can be certain that even here

  Traditions are traded – almost traditionally!

  WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

  When it rains, it pours

  Drips down to the floors

  Drums a staccato on the window pane

  Feels like you won’t ever get dry again

  It trickles through the gaps and the cracks

  Seeps right in, leaving conspicuous tracks

  Creeps through holes you never knew were there

  Makes worms and birds pop up everywhere

  Slithers through the garden like a snake in the mud

  Tickles the rose bushes, kisses a glistening bud

  Soaks the insatiable soil like a generous lover

  Uses a fine spray of mist to linger and hover

  Bends tender grass blades to dance to its tune

  Flashes like a startling downpour, gone too soon

  Dances on the roof top, flamenco in high heels

  Invades all locks and burst through all seals

  It drip-drops from the ceiling unnervingly

  Dampens the flowery wallpaper artistically

  Leaves splotches and patches here and there

  Squeezes in where no-one else would dare

  Sloshes in tins and overflows in the tank

  Makes everything smell earthy and dank

  It comes as a monsoon or a drizzle or a shower

  Reminds you you’re at the mercy of nature’s power

  It laps up everything with unquenchable thirst

  Moistens like a lulling blanket, a sudden outburst

  Threatens with dark clouds and thunder

  Tears the sky and the crowds asunder

  Looms on the horizon, an omen, a sign

  It’s more manifold than words can define

  Smoothens cracked surfaces with a polishing shine

  Covers every object in a natural glitter so fine

  Adorns the lawn with pearls and droplets so round

  Lingers in the background, a reminder, a sound

  Gushes in the gutter, runs down the drain

  Makes all attempts at drying be in vain

  It claims the roads in a cascading stream

  Carries power much bigger than it may seem

  Runs in rivulets down wood, metal, and glass

  Makes people seek shelter helter-skelter en masse

  Ruffles feathers, waters plants, ploughs the field

  A force to be reckoned with, it makes you yield

  Flows gracefully whichever way it wants

  Sometimes it flirts, sometimes it flaunts

  Taun
ts in torrents you can’t escape

  Caresses umbrella, raincoat and cape

  It drenches the rich and the poor in equal measure

  Comes and goes now and then at its own leisure

  It’s sometimes a burden, sometimes pleasure

  A curse to some, while to others a treasure

  It bathes and cleanses, nurtures and nourishes

  Daunts with deluges until everything flourishes

  Makes you fall in and out of love, and go insane

  The pouring rain, the pouring rain

  MULTI-FACED LANKA

  Like a goddess with more than one head and several arms

  Multi-faced Lanka is a land of many characters and charms

  Kandy, the pensive queen, on her misty mountain throne

  Keeps a benevolent eye on the lake and sacred tooth relic

  Reluctantly tempting, an ancient city where secrets lie buried

  Colombo, a boisterous youth dressed in the latest fashion

  Bedazzles with glittering towers, surprisingly out-going

  A noisy mirror-and-smokes illusion where worlds collide

  Galle, the charming bride waving coyly from the south

  Hails with heritage, caught in her own private dreams

  Of the beaches and parties her unmarried cousins enjoy

  Jaffna, a wizened widow proud of her scars and her stamina

  Casts her eye longingly on India yet remains, loyal to a fault

  A beacon of hope, an educational hub, always out of reach

  Nuwara Eliya, the eccentric brother who’s worked abroad

  With English cottages, tea plantations and morning frost

  An ambassador, a diplomat where two ethnicities blend

  Trincomalee, playfully pretty daughter coming into her own

  Where surfing meets brightly coloured shalwars and spices

  And new beginnings can almost be tasted among touristy tips

  ANIMALISM

  A dozen kinds of ants

  Crawl into your pants

  One kind of roaches

  Causes you reproaches

  A myriad of mosquitoes

  Leave you in itchy throes

  Spiders that jump and bite

  Fear them with all your might

  More than enough creepy crawlies

  Good fodder for horror stories

  In a temple you find elephants

  And worship them with folded hands

  Elephants in their own orphanages

  Even the wild ones not in cages

  Tree trunks carried in elephant trunks

  Majestic beasts swaying like drunks

  Tusker decorated in green, red and gold

  The mystery of elephants is centuries old

  Elephants labouring, does it look wrong?

  Grand animals, intelligent and strong

  A dozen kinds of ants

  A weariness it grants

  One kind of roaches

  How terribly it encroaches

  A myriad of mosquitoes

  Makes you wriggle your toes

  Spiders that jump and bite

  Long-legged, hairy, a fright

  More than enough creepy crawlies

  That will leave you full of worries

  In some lagoons you find reptiles

  That rise and hunt with the tides

  Ancient dinosaur-like creatures

  With defiantly enormous features

  Yes, crocodiles can here be found

  Their tails can knock you to the ground

  A monitor lizard in the back garden

  Sluggish and old but knowing no pardon

  Antique giant turtles at coasts as well

  Leave you under nature’s wild spell

  Ants and roaches, mosquitoes and spiders

  Meet the lion-tamers and elephant-riders

  Creepy crawlies turn into a constant plague

  Perception of wilderness is never left vague

  This is a country with its own animalism

  And animal magnetism

  WAR

  When limbs are torn from bodies like papers from a pad

  And the smell of rotten corpses makes everyone go mad

  Revenge is taken with an eye for an eye, a mum for a dad

  When bodies are torn apart and lives are torn asunder

  Atrocities of the most horrible kind kill any sense of wonder

  Ravens feed on the dead, among dark clouds and thunder

  When a whole island shakes under the force of explosions

  A nation’s heart is smashed into tiny bullet-sized portions

  Roaring military planes mess with people’s minds, emotions

  When howling sirens and thundering gunfire always resound

  Any kind of solace, even in music, is so hard to be found

  Rhapsodies are now bloody, no longer just bohemian sound

  When school buildings are in ruins and futures are at stake

  And sleepless people at daytime into a new nightmare awake

  Raising a child without hope makes a mother’s heart quake

  When the war of child soldiers and suicide bombers consists

  And little to no hope for some peaceful solution exists

  Reaping mass karma of the unwholesome kind persists

  When foreigners leave the country and the UN seeks flight

  A lost nation has to stand up as one and fight a lonely fight

  Ravaged by war, the country is a terrible, sadly familiar sight

  BE WHO YOU ARE

  Like a tree

  That faces the sun and braces the wind, too

  Bending and swaying without snapping in two

  Be determined but not unrelenting in whatever you do

  Like a flower that offers its scent voluntarily to all

  Ever so delicate yet colourful and standing tall

  Be generous, but don’t sacrifice yourself

  Like the rain

  That pours from the sky like a blessing in disguise

  To cleanse, nurture virtue and wash away vice

  Be wise in your dealings with the good and the bad

  Like the moon

  That lights up the night with a calming glow

  To chase away nightmares and make dreams grow

  Be self-contained, but contribute to the greater good

  Like the lotus

  That rises proudly above the filthy mud

  And unfolds to glory a pure, sacred bud

  Be aware of your surroundings but untainted by them

  Like a mountain

  That cares not for conquerors of its peak

  And rises above the rest without crushing the weak

  Be confident, but don’t have confidence in all

  Like a bird

  That sings with abandon and spreads its wings to explore

  Knowing when to glide, to rest, to plummet and to soar

  Be mindful of your goals and how to reach them

  Like a cloud

  That wanders the heavens in all shapes and sizes

  To store water and bring shade when the heat rises

  Be receptive and flexible to whatever life brings

  Like a fish

  That knows its rightful place is deep down

  To rule evolution soundlessly, without a crown

  Be true to your nature, but swim with the current

  Like a stone

  That some see as precious and some as dirt

  Minding its own business and knowing its worth

  Be who you are, whatever others may say

  MOTHERS

  Masters of all trades

  Offerers of solace

  Thinkers of deep thoughts

  Healers of deep wounds

  Earners of non-given rewards

  Receivers of reproach

  Savers of lives

  Makers of a living

  Openers of eyes

  Teachers of survival skills

  Helper
s in need of help

  Empresses of the household

  Riders of the storm

  Soothsayers par excellence

  Mentors of future mothers

  Organizers of chores

  Tutors of good manners

  Holders of hands

  Enders of wars

  Rulers of snacks

  Silencers of doubts

  Managers of everything

  Oracles of truths

  Tamers of lions

  Heroines without names

  Explainers of mysteries

  Raisers of nations

  Sufferers in silence

  Like Mother Lanka

  The amma who gives athma vishvasaya

  And receives nothing in return

  A bearer of burdens

  A light in the dark

  *The words in italic are Sinhalese for “mother” and “self-confidence”

  IT’S TIME

  It’s time, the stars will realign

  Please stay strong, you’re going to be fine

  Don’t doubt yourself, don’t wait for a sign

  It’s now, claim this moment, oh Lanka mine

  It’s time, take a leap of faith

  To sink the ship you need to bite the bait

  Don’t waver, put an end to the long wait

  You’ve been ready for so long, don’t hesitate

  It’s time, sound the bugle and hunt

  Face the music, jump and master the stunt

  Don’t weaken, push onwards with a grunt

  Let your light shine, refuse to be shunned

  It’s time, take to the stage and act

  You’re unique and invincible, it’s a fact

  Take a breath, brace yourself for impact