Category: Writing
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Drawing the Battle Lines
Published originally on Groundviews and subsequently on Firstpost. The growing anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka is pushing us to respond in numerous ways: we are talking, flustered, hopeless and helpless, shouting in outrage (when no one will listen), holding our knees to chests, trying to pull ourselves inside, into some sense of comfort and safety,…
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Remembering in Jaffna
The only thing apart from a small makeshift shrine in this room is a cot; a good, old-fashioned baby’s cot made from sturdy wood. The cot is stuffed with photographs; mostly black and white photographs, presumably old photographs, in their frames. The cot is almost overflowing with these photographs, artefacts from the life and history…
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The Felling of a Tree
Originally published on Groundviews. When I heard that the large, beautiful trees that pave Reid Avenue in Colombo were being felled, my heart broke. I was so stirred inside – and it was hard to explain to anyone else why this particular incident had moved me so much. When I came to Bangalore, my first thought…
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Bombay
Within minutes, you know you’re in a big city – the real thing, I mean. No pale imitation, no wannabe, no fading erstwhile glory. A real, live, breathing, thumping, bumping big city. The kind of big city – they exist all around the world – that takes your breath away, the kind we all want…
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Living Alone
Who pins the fall of a sari, To the back of your sari blouse, Or zips up your dress, when the zipper is at the back? Cleaning up is a two-person job; Who spots that line of ants going into the cereal box when you’ve missed it? Who shuts the fridge door that you’ve accidentally…
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Expanse
An ocean between what we know, What we want to believe and what we need to have inside us, To go on. Vast. And I am here, now But if I stop telling myself that – even just for a second, Then I am overcome, Overcome. I am here, now. All that has changed, and…
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In India
No one asks you ‘Are you Tamil?’ when you wear a pottu It doesn’t bother people – make them uncomfortable It’s very commonplace to wear flowers in your hair – all sorts: Jasmine, Frangipani, Gardenia It’s not bad-ass for women to have piercings on their noses or men to have piercings on their ears (even…
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On How to Cut a Mango
So, now, I roam my abode alone at night, And in the mornings I am still alone I pick up the knife to cut myself a Mango and realise that I’ve never done this before Is that right? I ask myself careful not to lie and careful not to insult Yes – gosh More or…
Subha M Wijesiriwardena 