July, the month of festivals

July is a month like no other. According to the Lankan experience it is a month that denotes hoodoo. The suspense is felt in the air as if the whole nation is hit by the July blues. And not without reason.

Mention July and what comes readily to mind is turmoil, conflict and conflagration. To many July denotes ill forebodings and not without reason. It is a month associated with bloodshed and mayhem. Both major communal conflagrations occurred in the month of July - 1958 and '83. One recalls the turbulence the country went through when the Peace Accord was signed in July 1987.

There is also a well-known local phrase coined reflecting the dark month of July Viz. Jooli hatha. Such is the ill luck and calamity associated with the month.

July also has it's historical reverberations of a bloody nature all combining to make up the macabre picture. It was in July, July 14th to be exact that the proletariat in France stormed the Bastille in what is known as the French revolution.

But the month of July also is a month of festivities and rejoicing in Sri Lanka the pinnacle of which is the world famous Dalada Pageant in Kandy. For Catholics it is the equally significant much looked forward to Madhu festival. Beginning this July there is bound to be a sea change in peoples' participation in these festivals both literally and figuratively and is bound to take on a new dimension with the new freedom and independence obtained by the country following the vanquishing of terrorism.

Hence we are bound to see unprecedented crowds at the Dalada Pageant this year where no doubt the devotes will be in a more buoyant mood free from fear and tension. This mass participation in all events and festivities will be one of the spin offs of the end to war. The people have collectively now begun to shed the ghosts and horrors of the past.

This divesting of the collective minds from the past could be seen by the total absence in commemorating or mention of Black July this year unlike before where the people were always reminded of the shameful blot on the nation.

It could of course be argued that the people should be constantly be made aware of this abomination weighing heavily on the collective conscience of nation.

On the other hand it could also signal a wiping clean of the slate and forging a new beginning for the nation under the new born independence.

It is not by accident though that even this landmark shift in the national mood is being witnessed in July, a watershed month which has seen the worst upheavals but also reshaped the post independent history in a significant way.

Learning Chinese

China has gifted a Chinese language learning unit to a local school. The Confucius Classroom set up in Lumbini Vidyalaya is the first in a series of Chinese Language Centres to be set up in other schools as well. The stated objective is to propagate the learning of Chinese language among Sri Lankans.

Today China is the emerging economic powerhouse to rival the United States and very soon world trade and commerce would be inextricably linked to this Asian giant. Sri Lanka as a close friend of China and a beneficiary of Chinese economic assistance too will very soon be caught up in this new China wave where there will be more and more people to people contact and liaisons between the two countries.

Hence at least a working knowledge of the Chinese language by Lankans in this context cannot be overemphasized. It will benefit the country in economic terms as well to be able to have person-to-person contacts and dealings with Chinese business enterprises on an equal footing.

It is certainly much more beneficial and productive than the current fad of taking French and German classes which could hardly benefit anybody in material terms. Hence Sri Lanka should be grateful to the Chinese Government for embarking on such a project to make Sri Lankans learn their language and further integrate the two countries bilaterally.

China is today Sri Lanka's largest benefactor in development assistance underwriting projects such as the Hambantota Port and Norochcholai. It's move to teach us the Chinese language can only further cement the exiting bonds between the two nations.