Body art, accent trouble

In Sinhala, people call it Pachcha. The word actually means colour ‘green’ in Tamil. In English, they are called Tattoos or Body art. To get a tattoo on your body you have to have the courage, strength apart from the ability to bare the pain in the process.

History of tattoos goes back to Neolithic times. There were beautifully done tattoos on mummies in ancient Egypt. Many countries, including China, India, Philippine, Indonesia, Japan and the Europe had the art of tattoos on the body for more than thousands of years. Sometime ago, only underworld kingpins and some criminals had tattoos in Sri Lanka. Now, more and more young girls and boys are getting them done in the name of art. I remember my grand father saying that there was a white planter who had tattoos done on his lower legs in the shape of socks. When he wears shoes, the tattoos looked like real socks. He also knew a man who had a bird tattooed on his neck. When he got caught to the police for an offence, they hit hard on the bird tattoo saying “ we let him fly”. There are people in the UK who have covered their entire bodies with tattoos including their faces.

People get tattoos done for different reasons. To make your body much more attractive, to show that you are a tough guy and also to express love are some of the reasons. Some criminals have daggers and snakes to show that they are part of a cult. Some have the picture of the girl friend or the name or some saying related to love. But when dumped by her or if they have a new girl friend, they try to hide the previous name with a bigger picture on it. There is a character we all never forget. He was the guy called Maru Sira who tattooed “amma budhu wewa and maruwa samaga waase”on his chest. I can only assume people get etched going through so much pain only for love and respect for the person or object. Religious leaders like the Buddha, Jesus as well as political figures like Che Guevara are done with great respect. Otherwise, who is going to bare something on your body throughout the entire life if he/she hates it.

Recently, a British national was deported from Katunayake for having a Buddha tattoo on his arm and talking disrespectfully against Buddhism. What I don’t understand is that, why a person who has a tattoo of the Buddha on his body, talks in a disrespectful manner against Buddhism. Whatever it is, only he knows the reason behind his tattoo. But if you check underneath the clothes of people who arrive at Katunayake, you surely will find more offensive tattoos in more offensive places. But I don’t know if the deportation of that person is justified or not.

The United Kingdom has many accents from various parts of the country. Irish and Scottish have their own Gaelic and the people of Wales have their own Welsh language. When they speak English, it comes out with their own accent.

According to a study, the accent and dialect of Nottingham is unique. There are dialect words and expressions which are specific to Nottingham shire.

Nottingham shire has many dialect words originated from close European neighbours. During mediaeval times, Nottingham was a huge trading centre and merchants from France, Denmark and the low countries set up businesses in Nottingham and foreign communities grew around and some of their language was absorbed into the local dialect. Some of the words used in Nottingham are never used in any other part of the United Kingdom.

Sometimes, it is not easy even for an Englishman to understand some area accents. People from Liverpool call a cup “coop”. Once at a quiz programme on TV, a presenter jokingly asked for an interpreter when listening to a person who came from Scotland. It was his humour. No one took it as an insult.

I think the officer who questioned the British arrived at Katunayake from Nottingham found it difficult to understand the accent. It might have sounded rude when he explained his fondness of the tattoo on his arm. The decision to turn him away is understandable. What to do. There is no fault on either party.