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by Ravi Ladduwahetty

At the Nallur Kovil

Thursday-August 26. Ratmalana Airport. 10.20 am. It is the Lion Air inaugural flight to Jaffna.

The pilot- Captain Charles Enerver triggers the yellow ground power unit of the British Aerospace LEO 6301 Hawker Siddley 748 aircraft, giving it the electrical power to set the two Rolls Royce engines in motion. Within minutes, the engines drone at 15,000 Revolutions Per minute (RPM).

Now, the airconditioning and the lighting in the cabin are on.

First Officer David Jones is engaged in his routine checks. Engine temperature has to be at 700 Degrees Celsius. Oil temperature at 65 Degrees Celsius. Oil Pressure at 20 Pounds Per Square Inch (PSI). The two South African born pilots from Johannesburg are busy as bees inside the cockpit.

It is the right engine that bellows first. The generator of the aircraft is now on and the left engine goes into action in split seconds.

Minutes later, the reverberations swift from a deep hiss to a fever pitch high. The two propellers are now rotating at 1600 RPM.

Captain Enerver opens the throttles to make the engines rotate at its optimum speed and operates the power levers which leave the fuel gushing into them. The big bird taxies along the runway at ten kilometres per hour. He pulls back the control columns and lifts the under carriage, pushing the wheels inside. The aircraft zooms into the air. Now we are airborne at 300 kilometres an hour.

The cabin in its entirety, is a swarm of activity.

It is all smiles :South African pilots Captain Charles Enerver (left) and First Officer David Jones (right) aboard the cockpit of the British Aerospace LEO 6301 Hawker Siddley 748 aircraft on landing at the Palali airport.

The spirit was one for all and all for one. After all, it is not every day that one sees a retired Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force doing roll call on the flight manifest and serving omelette, pizzas and Nescafe to journalists! It was the genial Air Vice Marshall Paddy Mendis who once guided the destinies of the SLAF. Jokes followed by ripples and cascades of laughter were the order of the day. The owner of the US $ 2million aircraft Chandran Ratnam and wife Nihara are also on board.

We take the coastal line as Government regulations prohibit flying over the city and also over Parliament. We see fleeting glimpses of the city, the lakes, waterways and thousands of microscopic buildings as we go higher and higher, in altitudes of odd thousands at minute intervals. It is 1000, 3000, 5000, 7000, 9000, 11,000 and finally 13,000 feet over Mean Sea Level.

The time is 11.05. We are close to Jaffna, about 15 minutes in time in a journey of around 430 kilometres. The flight descends 1000 feet a minute and 10 kilometres away from Palali, we are over only 2000 feet over land and within minutes, just six inches above the ground, the engine power is switched off. The brakes are applied after bringing the aircraft into a grinding halt.

From the Palali airport was a refreshing drive in an airconditioned bus for our forty member party which, within minutes symbolised the entire peninsula in a nutshell. Desolate lands in an arid zone which is heavily dependent on the North East monsoon for its agriculture. However, there were the minuscule tracts of fertile lands on which banana was cultivated, symbolic of the thriving agriculture of a bygone era.

Shells of buildings battered by two decades of war were much in evidence. Civil life was vibrant among a populace which was yearning for economic and social opportunity. The buildings at Chavakachcheri were totally mutilated by bombings and especially by the carnage over the past two decades. It is the lack of basics such as water supplies and other rudimentary infrastructure facilities which had deprived the area of economic prosperity.

An overall infrastructure development plan has to be set in motion before kicking off the Northern economy. After all, one could make use of the strategic Kankesanthurai port to promote the import/export trade to and from South India.

The peace process should also trigger the fishing industry, bringing in economic advancement to a battered populace. This should be the theme for cold rooms which could promote vegetable exports and create a freight hub.

the closing of the door to the Jaffna farmer was that triggered the ethnic crisis and consequently the war. Transport has also to be improved.

This is a great ethnic revival and a social transformation between two parts of the same country virtually politically and economically fragmented.

It is up to the authorities to pursue the development path and create more opportunities to interlink the rest of the nation with the North.

It is the revival of two ethnic groups which have been living in amity over centuries whose relationship has been shattered by shortsighted political policies. There is no time for remorse.

All human beings are equal. For, every man is a son, a brother, a husband and father. Every woman is a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother. The ultimate idea is the reunion.

It is the need for bridging the gap and continuing from here from a spirit of equality and brotherhood.

The Government has commenced the translations of the Dhammapada into Tamil and the response has been positive. This is the good start.

Soon, when will there be regular inter-action between the two major communities so that the Southern populace will be able to savour the renowned Jaffna mangoes and the grapes ? When will there be the regular cricket and other sporting fixtures between the Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna schools as evidenced in the 1970s in a true spirit of brotherhood ? Only time will tell.

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