Visit To Jaffna - 2005

It  was year 2005. The Tsunami had devasted the coastal districts of India and more severely in the coastal districts of Sri Lanka , more so in the northern province of Jaffna, where many lives were lost in the coastal fishing villages which were predominently Thamiz ,with the LTTE in charge.

 Lot of aid was rushed to Sri Lanka from all over the world. The Sri Lanka Govt called for a tender for emergency housing . At the time I was heading the boards division of NCL Industries Ltd., a cement company which manufactured  cement boards, which had water resistant & fire resistant based in Hyderabad. These boards were used construct prefab houses, and the company was a leader in Prefab Houses. To participate in the tender ,we had managed to get a tieup with a company which was owned by a family member of a prominent political family in Sri Lanka.

 

We were invited to make a presentation in Colombo, along with other companies from over the world . Along with my technical executive, I  landed up in Colombo. This was my first visit to Sri Lanka, the pearl in the Indian Ocean as they say. We stayed at the Continental Hotel overlooking the Indian Ocean . A beautiful place and the food was no less exotic with its sambal.

 On the appointed day we  gave a presentation of our prefab house in the Housing Ministry and subsequently decided to put up a demo house and after obtaining the required permissions we rushed a container with the material from Hyderabad to put up a model house of 500sft in the premises of the Housing Dept under a week. We invited the various stake holders to visit the model house and evaluate it.

While this was going on , I proposed a visit to Jaffna  to look at the possibility of supplying prefab houses.

Before I go further let me give an update on the political situation at that time. For the previous two years there had been a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE. The  position at that time was that Jaffna was controlled by the Sri Lankan forces, while the area outside Jaffna leading upto it is a narrow strip of land and the whole island  connected to the main land by a bridge known as the Elephant Pass controlled by the LTTE.They also controlled the town of Killininochi( a look at the SL map will give you some idea.

 

My sponsor was dismayed at my suggestion, as not many from the mainland visited Jaffna. But I convinced him, since  there was a lot of prefab house requirement in the coastal district areas and had information that the rebels were doing major purchases. With great reluctance he agreed and send me a Sri Lankan Tamil who was working with him. This person had not visited Jaffna in years and was not too sure of our safety. But I reassured him , since we both spoke Thamizh and nothing was likely to happen.

 

Getting into Jaffna was by air or by road. By air one flies from SL territory to SL territory, but by road a few miles from Jaffna it was LTTE controlled area. So at the end of one road was a Sri Lankan check post and further down an LTTE check post. They checked everyone entering their territory and collected Tax from all commercial vehicles carrying material into Jaffna.

 

So we took the easier way out by taking to the air.

 

The take off to Jaffna was from an Airforce station in Colombo called Ratanmala. It was originally the Colombo airport ,till the present new International airport Srimavo Bandaranaike Airport had come up.Like any airport , one gets dropped off at the airport. Only here the airforce took over ,checking your baggage,frisking, and  bussing  to the aircraft.

 

The journey to Jaffna was about a hour and 10 min.The aircraft was a Fokker 27 was operated by LION AIR ( I have the boarding pass Stub with me still) The flight we went as full with NGO,s and the Jaffna residents from Europe/Canada visiting their hometown.The flight for the whole time flew over the sea.

 

It was only when we landed in the Pallali airbase, in Jaffna ,that the fact that you were entering some sort of protected zone dawned . The whole Pallali airbase was heavily guarded by the SL army. There were pill boxes around the air base,manned by armed soldiers.We were deplaned and directly put into an Army bus. We passed through some heavily wooded area into another holding area guarded by the army. After the luggage has been checked it was loaded onto a civilian  bus, and then it was a one hour journey into Jaffna.

 

Just as we go out of the airbase there are further check points of the army on the way. and some pill boxes with armed soldiers. As we drive along one saw war ravaged ghost villages with not a roof or a wall standing. As we near Jaffna city slowly the signs of life showed up and surprisingly enough, houses with people living in them.

 

Then the town itself was like any other town in Tamilnadu with almost all sign boards in Tamizh. The bus stopped at a point. We got down and looked around looking for a transport, which turned to be – auto rickshaw - (Hamara Bajaj Of course)The driver was in white dhoti speaking tamizh of course, took us to a lodging house – approved by the tourism board he said. Since he knew his way around town , he was to be our guide for the rest of the stay.

 

Since we had started out in the morning, we had over half a day left with us , so we decided to visit the main NGO’s who were working there.Armed with a list of NGO,s we set out to meet them and continued the next day. One after the other we met them.Among them representatives of the Swedish & German government. All had only one thing to say- take the blessings of the LTTE if you have to do business here. It their implicit nod which would get various agencies and the actual users to deal with us.

 

We were left wondering how to meet them. But as we continued visiting the NGO’s we came across one of them who were working closely with the LTTE and the director there said he could arrange a meeting with them.He gave us a name and an address of a person who was a representative of the LTTE, to which we went with the help of our auto guide.We were told at that place the gentleman was not in town and had gone to Killinochi and would return back only after a few days.

 

We explained the situation to our sponsor and  sought permission  to extend our stay , he flatly refused

pointing out the risks involved especially since he was involved, and asked us to take the next flight out.So with a heavy heart we took our flight back to Colombo.

 

But all was not lost, our company had a buyer in Colombo who used to off and on purchase material from us. To my surprise he turned up at my hotel to have a discussion with me. He said he would arrange a meeting with the Prime Minister  so that we can brief him about our project.

 

I was surprised , but also saw an opportunity to apprise to the highest authority in the land about our prefab houses.

 

In a day we received the call from our contact to be ready as he had the appointment with the PM. He took us in his vehicle to the Prime Ministers Residence called the Temple Trees . On reaching, we were subjected to security checks and held in the waiting chambers.

 

After a while we were ushered into the office of then Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. After due courtesies , we explained the versatility of our Prefab houses,the speed of erection and the safety . He listened carefully and then with a smile told us why don’t you erect one in my constituency Hambantota.

 

Of course reassuring him that we would endeavor to do so, and thanking him we exited his office.

Our contact then said that he would be in touch with us to take this further.

 

From the situation as we understood was that there was lot of lobbying from many countries and agencies for this contract for which we too had tendered and the result would be more or less be based on political basis, especially for the North East.

We visited many NGO's and Architects to promote our project and later left back for Hyderabad.

 

 But the short visit left me with so many unforgettable  images:

 

-       The famous Nallur Murugan Temple – not a bomb had fallen on it right through the wars

-       The effort of the people getting back to their normal lives, in a war ravaged town.

-       The bombed out Jaffna Railway station which stood as a silent monument to all that has happened there

-       The war memorial the LTTE have built. Over 2000 of the warriors lie buried there. 

The representative of the LTTE told us that the  whole place was raised to the ground by the SL army, but was painstakingly rebuilt after the ceasefire was declared two years ago.Flying there was the world famous Pulli Kodi ( Tiger Flag)

He then then told us in a reverential tone - Thamizh Ezhathikku uyir kodutha erandu ayiram ithayangal ingu urungugirargal.( here sleep the 2000 brave warriors who gave their lives for Thamizh Eelam.)  For a moment I stood , assimilating it.They had died for a cause they believed in.

 

 

LASER

These  Grand Laser shows are put up for various important celebrations, and as a centre piece show in many places round the world.

 My first brush with the Laser was in the movie Star Wars released in mid 70's . It was a film by George Lucas who was a pioneer is special effects.The movie was about interplanetary warfare between an authoritarian regime & rebel forces. At the core of the film were the Jedi Knights.The Jedi carried blue light saber laser swords,It was a luminescent energy blade of magnetically contained plasma, the energy emitting from the hilt of the sword. Their enemy the Sith carried a the red ones. It could cut ,burn & melt most substances. On pressing the button the laser emitted with a buzz. The movie was a roaring success and so was the series of movies which followed it. The characters Jedi ,Darth, D2R2 9 ( a moving robot) & of course Yoda the Jedi Master. These of  course became a household name and leading manufacturers got the copyright and made the toys which every kid wanted to have one.

It was much later that I learnt more about Laser. The name itself is an acronym - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation ( LASER) It is so versatile that it is used in optical disk drives, laser printers, barcode scanners , DNA sequencing instruments,fiber optic, semi conducting chip manufacturing.

Laser is now used in military applications, the most common use is in guiding weapons including missiles to their targets. We have always seen in the movies the red dot of Laser focussed on the target from a sniper's rifle.

It is now being used in weaponery to shoot down energy drones, rockets etc., During the Regan era it is said that a major effort was made to create satellite missiles with lasers to throw a safety ring over the country. Cut to today, when the US has created a Space Force to protect assets in space when accquired in future ,and want to bet that the new weaponery will be the extensive use of various types of Lasers.

Many countries will follow suit as the space race to colonise the planets heats up further for varied reasons and of course to exploit the minerals. The wildly popular AVATAR movie gave us a good inkling of the future.

 US, China , Russia , EU, and of course India, and  our neighbour UAE have joined the race.

The wonder of it all is that such an energy has been harnessed and used for medical treatments, especially in surgery. Laser surgery  uses light to remove diseased tissuesor treating bleeding blood vessels . It is also beingg used extensively in cosmetic surgery to restore skin, rstore wrinkles sunspots, tattoes Or birthmarks.

Laser surgery is now extensively in cataract surgery  where ultrasound waves are used to break up cataract into tiny pieces, which are then removed and repalced with new artifical lens to replace the cloudy natural lens. A laser is used to to make tiny incision and insert the lens, The time taken is about 20 minutes and done with minimum pain to the patient.

I experienced  the laser surgery recently since I had to replace my cataract in both my eyes. Once in the hospital you are put through various tests to determine the state of the cataract, Once it is determined by the doctor, one is given a date and then examined for other health parameters and precautions taken.

On the day of the surgery itself the eyes are dialated with liquid drops, then once the eyes are are dialated , sterile surgical gowns are to be worn ,and then taken into the operation theatre . Before entering the theatre one is  given anesthesia drops in the eye to be operated ( no painful injections these days). You are then led to the theatre , laid down on the table. The face is then covered with an opaque sheet with a hole on the  sheet adjusted to the eye to be operated.Through the hole, a device is fitted to the eye to ensure exposure of the eye totally.

A bright light comes on and it hits your eye, and in the centre of the bright white light is a pallete like object which has three lights one slightly bigger then the other two, and you are told to keep looking at it . The other two light have a red tinge.

As the doctor commences the procedure you can see this pallete slowly moving to a side and you are left looking at a white void with some worm like black ameobic creatures floating around. Then you hear a buzz and a lady in a machine voice giving some instructions and you can see this pallete slipping back into the eye . You can see the pallete with the big bright light and two small lights once again. During the procedure gellike substance is continuosly  poured into the eyes to keep it lubricated . After a while the light is switched off and viola the procedure is over. The coverings are removed and you are gently helped to sit up. There is a slight disorietation initially and a wave of tiredness. This I felt was because of the trauma of the procedure which is signaled to all the nerves in the body. The whole procedure takes about 20 minutes.

In yesteryears there was physical intervention to the eye ,took more time and the recovery period was also slightly longer.The laser was the game changer.

You are then helped to the room by a nurse to take rest and for observation for two hours. After the two hours ,a test is done and one can go home , duly advised that one is not allowed to step out of the house for a minimum of seven days , not use any electronic gadget , stare into any screen , not go near any fire, and of course wear  black glasses at all times and transparent glasses when required.

After a fortnight a check up is done and you are up & running. The world looks a much brighter place , when you see with the new lenses which have been fitted.

The future of Laser seems to be bright as it will be harnessed for various applications.

 

The Joy of Kite Flying

Kite flying is such a joy, when one is young. The ability to put up a kite in the sky, and managing it as it moves to the vagaries of the breeze, is a sheer pleasure.I have retained this joy through the years as my following narrative illustrates.

My first brush with the Kites was in Bombay ( not Mumbai) way back in the 60,s  as a young boy,when I saw the skies dotted with kites of various hues,& sizes. Suddenly a few of them would dangle, since they would be cut  & float .Hordes of kids and sometimes even grown men  would run to catch the falling kites with bamboo sticks tied with thorn bush at the end of it ,to snare the dangling manja thread and the kite attached to it.

It was there my education in Kite flying started , words like Manja – Thread coated with powdered glass to cut the other Kites in a “deal.” ( Thamizh/ Pench in Hindi.)

This education continued in Chennai where I shifted to continue my schooling. I was with my aunt who was a teacher and luckily enough she lived in a house provided by the school in side a big compound. There were other Children of school teachers who became friends who become associates in the Kite flying efforts.This helped me immensely during the Kite flying season ( Pongal /sankarant)

It was there I learned to make Manja by powdering glass from stray glass bottles lying around. Mind you with bare hands and a stone. ( safety measures? Who heard of them then?) Now Manja making by itself is an art. The ingredients used in it were supposed to be secret as it could increase  cutting efficiency of the thread in the sky.

But generally the materials consisted of powdered glass , a binding glue called Vajiram, and various secret ingredients . Now in one case I heard that dried dog poo was also used.

The thread was invariably Kite thread made by Madura Coats.There was two types of Manja making. One was known as Kai Manja ( making Manja by hand) & Kathadi Manja ( making manja by Kite)

Kai Manja was made by tying the strands of the thread across two trees/poles etc tautly and taking the manja paste which consisted of glass power mixed in Vajiram , the secret ingredients mixed in colour; in a cloth and rub on the strands of thread evenly . This took some patience and was time consuming. Of course there was cuts on the hand, which one had to conceal or get whacked at home Making Manja itself was a frowned upon activity by many parents.

Kathadi Manja was made by tying a big paper tail to a Bana kathadi ( Big Kite).The Manja mixture was put in a big tin and the ball of thread dropped in it, whose one end was tied to the Kite . The Kite was then flown ,and as the Kite flew higher one held the thread with the cloth dipped in the mixture , and as the thread moved with the Kite flying higher the mixture was evenly coated, but the cuts were more in the process especially the forefinger which held the thread. So one wrapped the forefinger with a thick cloth. Incidently theunwritten code of honour among kite flyers , was not to go on a deal( pench) with a Manja making Kite , which of course was recognised by a long tail on the Kite.

Thereby the Manja got made and the as the Kite was pulled down ,  the white thread which was now became Manja was rolled into a ball. ( no firkis in the south).

The Kite itself was invariably bought out from the shops. Kite making is also a sklll , and many families across traditionally Kite flying cities having been making Kites for years.It requires bamboo sticks to be shaved to the correct smoothness and size depending on the size of the Kites. The coloured Kite paper cut to the requisite sizes and the bamboo stick stuck firmly diagonally across the paper creating a spine. A curved bamboo stick is placed like a bow across the spine and the edges stuck. The corners of the paper are then lined with a thin thread and stuck along the borders so that the paper does not tear in the air.

One of the main skills is tying of the Sutram ( Thamizh), the string  tied to the kite so as to hold and balance the Kite. Many people have various formulae.Three fingers kept on the top and two at the bottom is popular and the string tied . The top being at the junction where the bow meets the spine , and at the lower bottom of the kite. Once tied one edge of the Manja can be tied to the Sutram string. The kite is now ready to fly.

The flying of the kite requires the Kite to be taken to some distance( about 5 to 6  ft ) by a friend and one waits for a slight wind, the minute the wind comes the kite is lifted and left and the kite flier then takes charge and pulls away the kite , managing it , and letting  it go higher.Invariably Terraces/Rooftops of houses are a good place to fly Kites

Once the Kite is up, one was ready to do the “deal’ ( Kite duel) with other Kites. One  challenged  the competitors Kite by pulling close to him, he too would respond and the thread would get entangled  and both let loose the threads ,as the wind propelled the kites higher, the kites were in deal and eventually one kite would be cut. More skill was exhibited by  some in pulling  the thread  rapidly which created a sawing movement which cut the competitor’s Kite.

The pleasure was immense with your friends cheering you as one cut a Kite and a pall of silence as your Kite got cut.

And as the song goes – Those were the days my friend, I thought they would never end ….

But end it did, as one got caught up in living life. After my tour of duty in the Army , I restarted my career in Sales & Marketing which by itself was an rare thing in the late 70’s & early 80’s. ( Today it is a different story)I built my career with a zeal. During that  course,I landed up in Ahmedabad as a regional head of a HCL company. To my surprise when Uttarayan came in January, the sky was alive with kites. Yes, Kite flying was/is a great tradition in Gujarat, celebrated as a festival and members of the families participating in Kite flying. 

Viola!! there I was back again. we had wonderful time , when I had my whole team from the office on my terrace  for Kite flying and of course with lots of beer. Talk of team building, which these days, is getting companies tieing themselves up in knots over this.

Then my career took me out of the country for over a decade plus putting my Kite flying at abeyance. When I came back  duly with grey hair and immense management experience, handling people of different nationalities ,I took up a senior management assignment in Hyderabad. Challenging work with lot of travel in India & abroad. 

But to my delight the Secunderabad Club where I took up membership had Kite flying during Sankranti festival. So back to the Kite flying ways which I immensely enjoyed and even taught many a youngster to fly a Kite!

So the years passed by and once I decided to hang up my boots, came the Covid which hastened my decision, and I moved with my wife to a Senior retirement community on the outskirts of Coimbatore. For six months we got acclimatized to the different pace of life and people . 

After six months passed and finally  when Pongal arrived, my kite flying instincts revived and I arranged to get kites & thread ( this time no Manja) Imagine my pleasure when I put up the Kite & flew it. My joy knew no bounds and my kite flying instincts were intact. 

My spirits lifted & I know the future looks bright.