Celebrate Independence with a Pirith Ceremony
in London High Commission
Picture credit :Ceylon Today
By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando
The month
of January 2018 strikes a chord with the writer for two reasons; firstly he has
grown older by yet another year, and secondly, it dawns on his second
anniversary with Ceylon Today Newspaper.
In the
1980s, The Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in London, Chandra Monerawala, had
come up with a novel idea of overriding the decades old practice of razzmatazz,
to celebrate Sri Lanka's Independence Day with an overnight Pirith Ceremony.
The writer, as a student, had given publicity to this original idea in an
Indian tabloid published in London. The impressed High Commissioner had invited
the writer to his office, out of the blue, and introduced him to the late Dr.
Sivali Ratwatte, the then Chairman of Upali Group of Newspapers. At the
meeting, Dr. Ratwatte had requested the writer to be the London Correspondent
for the Island newspaper, but nothing was to be expected from Dr. Ratwatte for
declining the offer. He was thus introduced to Gamini Weerakoon, Editor of the
Island.
Skills and
Tools
Such
unexpected events had encouraged the writer to learn the skills and tools of
writing by undergoing a course in journalism, at the London School of
Journalism. Seemingly, with experience, he was accredited as the London
Correspondent to the CPU (Commonwealth Press Union) to represent all three
National English newspapers, published at the time, in Sri Lanka.
On his
return to his roots in the late 2000, after being pre-maturely retired in the
UK, he had realized that the public was not hot and bothered at all, about any
issues affecting them, except the odd individual lamenting in the press
occasionally on the lassitude of government officials and parliamentarians.
This very fact had made the writer to emulate one of his former editors,
Vijitha Yapa (The Sunday Times), who believed in the maximum 'comment is
free, but facts are sacred' in journalism, while primarily being objective
and balanced in one's comments.
Daily News
The writer
continued with his weekly column in the Daily News after returning to Sri
Lanka, for over eight years. However, with the arrival of Yahapalanaya, the
newly appointed editor to the Daily News, suddenly thought that the writer 'had
been a columnist for far too long’! His thoughts were not conveyed direct to
the writer, but through his secretary!
Journalists
do have in their blood stream what can be described as 'the urge to purge,'
in a manner of speaking, for healthy reasons, rather than selfish, to put
public's unease or unhappiness into words. The voluntary silence in the face of
oppression or injustice would, therefore, be considered as spiritual suicide
for a journalist. The writer, through experience, was able to dip his 'proverbial
pen in garlic', so that it stinks to high heaven when injustices are
exposed, and give maximum credit wherever it deserves. In such a backdrop, he
approached the Ceylon Today newspaper to enquire about the possibilities that
existed in contributing to The Ceylon Today. The Editor's positive response has
helped the writer to continue with his writing, and this January (2018) brings
his 2nd year anniversary with Ceylon Today.
Topics
Some of
the complimentary feedbacks from the Ceylon Today readers include the article
written under, 'Harming or Healing a Nation', which discussed the
new Unity Government's maiden Budget in 2016.
The
article under 'Comments is free, but facts remained sacred,'
quoting the words of C.P. Scott, discussed the validity of constructive
criticism in journalism.
A two part
series on ‘How to Dig for News’ presumably has helped many
budding cubs with some vital hints on journalism.
"After
Death, Struggle for the living", portrayed to what extent funerals
have been transformed into a commercialised hype currently, where the living
who attempt to keep up with the Joneses having to 'go through hell' by
getting indebted to banks, or by seeking loans at high weekly interest rates,
to spend unnecessarily on exorbitant and flashy coffins, and transforming
funeral houses into buffets, by hiring professional caterers at an additional
cost.
"Problems
with Dual Nationality" managed to bring a lot of feedbacks from
many expatriates living abroad particularly. It dealt with a young lass, born
to Sri Lankan parents in London, where her birth had not been allowed to
register at the Sri Lankan High Commission due to existed regulations that her
father having opted for British nationality at the time of her birth; her
mother's Sri Lankan citizenship by descent was rejected by the immigration
authorities in Sri Lanka.
The young
lady, after attaining the age of 21 years, wanted very much to be part of her
parent's culture and the country, yet she had to face numerous problems as how
to go about in sorting out such a riddle and going through a maze in the Sri
Lankan administration.
Several
articles on Dengue fever, and about the magic homoeopathic drug Eupatorium
30C, with proven records of curing dengue affected patients by a
homeopath, and quoting a civilian with 20 years of experience of using homeopathy,
fell on deaf years of the Health Authorities, despite Sri Lanka having a
Ministry of Alternative Medicine!
It
was rather pathetic when the death toll out of dengue fever increased on a
daily basis, yet Government Health Authorities imposed orders on all government
hospital doctors prohibiting the use or practice of homeopathy; instead they
decided on alternative modus operandi at a cost to government coffers.
"Uncle
Syndrome" was rather a satirical piece where the trend in Sri Lanka has
now become addressing everyone 'uncle'. So was the one of the latest
pieces on 'Grip on your sarong' that seemed to have gone quite
well with the readership.
After all,
the encouraging feed backs from Joe de Livera, Dr. Mass R.Usuf, Ben Simon,
Asoka Jayewardene, Egerton Senananayake, to name a few, who came out with
brazenly outspoken comments, have certainly inspired the writer.