A festival of unity

Not just the Catholics but all those who watched the first post- war celebration of the Madhu festival on television would not have failed to being struck by the historical significance of the unfolding event. For the first time in three decades the Madhu feast was celebrated in the same free and peaceful atmosphere rekindling a long forgotten era where the church premises and its environs were a teeming mass of humanity of all races, religions and ethnicities gathered in a common bond of prayer and veneration.

Never in post-war Sri Lanka was there a single gathering of such vastness that brought together all ethnicities and religions as on the occasion of the Madhu festival. Hopefully, this would accelerate the healing process and make the integration process that much smoother in the days to come.

Just one year ago, let alone the feast, even the hallowed Statue of Our Lady of Madhu had to be relocated due to intense shelling. This alone was symbolic of the parting of ways of the two communities sans the overarching presence of Our Lady. Because it was Our Lady of Madhu who was the focus of unity down the years that made her children flock to her bosom with their petitions, trials and tribulations. She was the rallying point for all communities in their hour of need.

All communities gathered in her shade prayed and worshipped together and parted in the end with their beings filled with her spirit. There was not an iota of enmity or rancour and both communities fraternized pleasantly united in their common focus of Our Lady of Madhu. The liturgy too was held in both languages with all participating in the celebrations. For, the language did not matter to the devotees from the different communities. There was only one language at the sacred Madhu shrine - the language of brotherhood and love.

Our Lady of Madhu had always been considered a unifying symbol where the two communities almost in equal number flocked enmasse seeking solace from her shelter in this remote jungle shrine. The vast concourse of pilgrims that gathered at the sylvan shrine on Saturday also was of symbolic import that bespoke of cementing of the severed bonds of people who had strayed from each other. Hopefully, the renewal of bonds witnessed on this occasion would prove a catalyst in the larger integration process that is gradually taking shape blurring all communal and racial lines and putting behind the fractious past.

The encouraging picture of Sinhalese and Tamils praying together with arms outstretched in supplication no doubt unravelled this ideal scenario of unity and togetherness which the country has been yearning for so long. The Madhu Statue had been a symbol veneration of both major communities for centuries. But as mentioned that the Statue itself had to be relocated at the height of the fighting perhaps more than anything else was testimony to the parting of ways. Now that Our Lady of Madhu is back in her own domain it is hopefully a sign that her estranged children too could unite making her the focus as it used to be. And the scenes witnessed on Saturday at the hallowed grounds was a pointer to this.

But as the Chief celebrant of the festive high mass new, Archbishop Dr. Malcolm Ranjith noted the atmosphere would have been even more congenial have those IDPs too been in their midst on that momentous occasion. Hopefully, the authorities would now redouble their efforts to facilitate the resettlement of these unfortunates so that next year they too may join all the rest under the shade of Our Lady and be part and parcel of the happy family.

A welcome move

The Higher Education Ministry is to set up three new technological education centres as a means of enhancing the scope of technology education to meet with global trends. This is indeed a most welcome move especially if we are to keep pace with the modern world in the field of technology.

Sri Lanka regrettably had not paid much attention in the past to develop Technology education. As a result, we were turning out mere book worms who were of not much use in the job markets that catered to those adept in the technology fields. Even our school curricula were not designed to meet this demand and as a result youth who passed out from Universities were largely unemployable.

Therefore, the emphasis laid in the field of technology even at this late hour is timely, particularly in the context of the large scale development work we are set to embark on in post-war Sri Lanka. It is significant that the three Technological Education Institutes are to be set up in outstations; Vavuniya, Tangalle and Ratnapura. It is well known that most of the unemployed today hail from the periphery where there had been acute lack of facilities for technology studies which alone would be the gateway for job opportunities. Now that the war is over, more funds should be allocated on this subject if we are to forge ahead and breach new frontiers.