hot hot hot ...........Yaal Paanam

Being isolated from the rest of the country, Jaffna has remained a mysterious place in many a Lankan’s mind, until the conflict eventually came to an end. Suddenly Jaffna is creeping into everyone’s travel agenda and tour itinery. From the spiritual seeker with Nagadeepa in mind to the young urbanite who’s done with the rest of the island and those who would like to live and recall the good old days during the 50’s to 60’s many have a desire to claim ‘Jaffna visited’ during conversations. With luxury bus tickets priced at Rs.2,000 and the relaxation of travel for civilians sans the permits, visiting Jaffna has become a possibility.

A daily skimming of the newspapers tells us that the wheels of commerce in Colombo are gradually connecting the peninsula to their network. The once secluded district is increasingly getting a dose of the commercial pulse. This means openings would pave way for Jaffna’s hardworking, intelligent youngsters who dream of making it to the top.

Why does even the thought of a mere visit to Jaffna makes every Lankan pulse beat faster ? Is Jaffna really hot as it sounds ? Before I set foot I asked a few who used to make it to see their families and friends during the conflict “what has Jaffna got to offer for a first timer ? ” My colleague born and grown up in the North of this country only mumbled back “there isn’t much to see except lots of broken houses and buildings”. The rest of the answers I got from the rest were more or less on the same lines but being the restless Sagittarius, I refused to take in any of those answers. To the well trained eyes, ears and minds grown up, lived and breathed Jaffna, putting up with 35 degree weather, queues, rations, curfews the Palmyrah trees, Sarees, Pottu marked foreheads was nothing unique. I guess they somewhat stumbled in explaining the difference to someone who had never set foot.

A stark contrast in landscape, culture and community rituals, Jaffna was certainly a 7 course menu that must be savoured in every Lankan’s life. I was fortunate enough to get an arial view eventually marking my first visit but yet unfortunate to miss the changing landscape by road travel. From thousands of feet above, I recognized the little plots of vegetables, bananas that looked like shades of green patches of fabric in the home yards and the Palmyrah trees that seemed to occupy much of the landscape. That was certainly an appetising entre dish and I was all out to savour the main course when I landed in Palaly.

Not everything was appetising as I imagined, the frequent pockets of uninhabited houses and buildings lay like skeletons gave me a shudder. I wondered how many lived in there, are any of them alive to tell the story of what life was before the war. My enthusiasm quickly nose dived but I had to tell myself that this is the reality of an ugly war, a war that crippled this beautiful land and shredded human dignity and bonding into smitherings. Consoling myself I moved on to try my luck with the main course.

From the window seat, I look at the average Jaffnaite. There are so many of them, each with a different kind of flavour and twist. Interestingly a woman’s front view always shows me hair parted in the middle and the rear view a single plait leading to the waist ; two plaits would mean it’s a school girl. A fine moustache sits on the upper lip of every man I see, A few teenagers are decked with hip hop attire and hair styles, perhaps the clutter of reality shows on television that has dragged these youngsters from their otherwise plain style ?

Brightly hued sarees with well oiled heads and foreheads marked with either a red or black pottu seemed to adorn chocolate coloured svelte female bodies moving with the 6 yards of fabric that seemed to flow so well into their lives. Crisp sarongs envelope well toiled male bodies that seem to be planning their work for the next day.

Solemn looking faces with dangling plaits bicycle furiously to school. When I did see them in the afternoon, the faces were still solemn. In a culture where education occupies the seat next to God, school was serious business.

A row of newly woven baskets folded in circular form at the back of the bicycle seemed to make its way to the market. In another it was bananas, and in another it was some rugs. Tangible assets at the back of a bicycle seat varied, but they were all heading to the market to be exchanged into Rupees and Cents, I assumed.

The average Jaffnaite was a mixture of shy, mellow, formal but quick to return smiles. The only time this smile broke into a quiet chuckle was when I did attempt in speaking the few Tamil phrases. Despite all the practicing, perhaps I still sounded alien. The signs, billboards and posters were mostly in Tamil with a few in English. Life here seemed to go at a slower pace a far cry from the mad rush that I have grown up with.

Back at home, it was a feast for me to stand outside the gates of a hindu temple and watch the bright coloured neatly clad sareed women with flowers on their hair passing by, some walking in to ask divine blessings, the others coming out having completed the spiritual formalities. Often they would be accompanied by their spouses and children also neatly clad in traditional attire. In Jaffna I did the same thing, stood and watched, only that this time it was spellbinding and sheer magic.

I asked myself what is it about Jaffna that really pulled my emotional chords so hard ? how I ended up with a nagging conscience of wanting to make another visit, longer stay, spend more time etc., and the reasons came out something like……………

1. Simplicities in daily life
2. Intellectual charm
3. Palmyrah trees that seemed to stand in salutation sometimes welcoming, sometimes looking like the territorial guardians
4. Everything from school books, furniture, bananas moving on the back seat of a bicycle
5. Most women being intricately feminine
6. Black or Red pottu that always sits aligned to the middle parting
7. Crisp white sarongs stepping in and out of a temple
8. The fragrance of camphor that fills the air when passing a temple
9. Gigantic flowered garlands
10. The islands that seem like pearls strung off the necklace

and I will not forget to ask all the gods and goddesses in the hindu pantheon to bless the Jaffna cooks for the Pittu and Potato curry they turn out which is absolutely divine.

I can go on and on, but the truth is despite the blazing heat and the miserable patches Jaffna is truly the hope in Pandora’s box that managed to lay hidden for 30 long years. Now that its out explore it to your hearts content. No regrets believe me !