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| Thursday, 27 January 2005 |
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Our cup - half full or half empty?
For instance, the Sinhala solider grabbing the Tamil child from the marauding wave's grip and the Tamil villagers feeding Sinhala refugees drifting into 'Tamil domain' and the navy guard who saved thirty Muslim children at prayers on the beach - truly these and more were heart-rending stories. But whether all this goodwill cement and glue - very spontaneous indeed - will hold, only time will tell when things invariably move from the sublime to the ridiculous. Herd instinct Renowned for the herd instinct even bereft of all danger, the birds and animals share intense bonding in times of calamity and come danger, this bonding is intensified - so very evident in pre-tsunami time when they took to their heels just before its onset. Though man failed in such intuitive prowess - nevertheless one was at another's behest come misfortune which to say the least is nature's way - the rest then surely are social constructs. Anyway, looks like in peaceful times man is robbed of all inborn virtue, pandering to illogical thinking, which, according to him, is within reason's limits. It is in peaceful times we have time aplenty to hanker after divisions instead of what needs be done to foster unity. It's also in peaceful times we can think of 'Apey Minihek' or in Tamil as they say 'Nammada Aal' - 'our man' - symbolic of commonality in club membership - ethno/religious/social club whatever. Socio-economic cost Tsunami's socio/economic cost will continue to haunt not only this land, but wherever it decided to 'set foot'. Fragmented families with destitute children who live to face life's ups and downs, parents denied their offspring, going through the trauma of 'imposed sacrifice', scores of men and women living to grapple it alone - a result of tsunami's discriminating devouring tactics, brothers and sisters deprived of one another, mutual loss of spouses - all this and more will be the colossal social cost in coming years. The emotional trauma will far outweigh whatever physical harm brought on in tsunamis' aftermath - it will truly be only the survivor's lot as they painfully go through reliving the horror as well as facing the incurred loss it brought where even immeasurable donor assistance would remain futile. Smaller victims Particularly tsunami's smaller victims that live the culture shock following shelter in totally different environment could only be imagined. Little minds when damaged is no easy repair. Getting on to tsunami's environment cost - this pear shaped island will no longer remain that way following tsunami's decision to re-shape and re-align its coastal outline. The onus now is on geographers to look into the newly-formed Sri Lanka's coast - what with mangroves, lagoons and sea grass beds - the intrusion of which by man - if it was bad, still worse was tsunami's entry into such protective guards. Off gear - bear Notably, the thousands so very gainfully employed - mostly self-employed - now off gear - bear heavily in the economic front. Home-based industries as well as small-scale businesses such as restaurants, hotels and boutiques await financial capital to get off ground and the sooner that happens, the better it is to get that 'all is not lost' feeling for a people thrown onto the streets - just like that - before the batting of an eye lid - so to say. The State's paternalistic intervention could relieve much suffering. Political cost Tsunami's political cost, however, is absolutely nil and best perceived as a political opportunity. That opportunity perhaps will cease to be if parties concerned play politics with tsunami itself. Inter and intra political bickering and refusal to toe the line, understandably, will provide excellent 'climate' for a tsunami far greater than what the ocean had to offer Sri Lanka. |
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Produced by Lake House |
Impacting the country's socio-economic life negatively of course was
the tsunami, though positive impacting unfailingly came off transcending
ethno, religious and cultural barriers.
