Sri Lanka – From Serendipity to a land wrought by war and poverty.

“400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Sri Lankans lived in cities of skyscrapers in air-conditioned comfort. Their homes had spas, exquisitely decorated toilets, and underground water supply and sewerage disposal systems. Their land was filled with astonishing monuments, large reservoirs, complex irrigation systems, Buddhist temples, universities and factories.

In a world where the ethnic cleansing and total annihilation of the enemies, as revenge, was justified and was normal, they practiced the Most Tolerant Multi-Culturism the world had ever seen. They also had a beautiful National philosophy based on original and pure Theravada Buddhism that guaranteed the prosperity of the nation, both in material and spiritual terms.

This is their story, the pain and suffering they went through to live without losing their fine qualities, and the price they had to pay.”

Thus was described my beloved land of Serendipity.

When I heard about the suicide bombing targeting the army commander back home, for what must be the millionth time my heart went out to all the people who are affected every single day by this continuous war. The spilling of innocent blood to prove a point or to place the blame on someone else. When are we going to see an end to it?

Sri Lanka has some of the most incredible assets any nation could dream of. It is seeped in culture and heritage that other nations cannot even come close to, and turn green with envy. You know you’re in Sri Lanka when you’re walking down the road and are lost and there are 50 people with smiles on their face giving you directions. It matters little if they themselves know where it is you are going, but they are every willing to help anyone out that needs help. When you see school children crowding around the amba ammi to buy werellu’s and Amba and gal siyambala, and even though she is hardly making any money on the sales gives a few extra just to get that big smile from the child buying from her; you know your in Sri Lanka. The nation known by all that visit it as being the friendliest country they have ever been to. Known by all for its beaches that spread for miles upon miles. Its hill country that would make any photographer or painter go absolutely crazy.

We are now left with just a fragment of this paradise. A lingering dream of what once was. People go about their daily business with worry creasing their face. The various street peddlers are harassed by police and military and become sour-natured as a result. Neighbors are becoming suspicious of each other and in short, the country is going to the dogs.

Norway’s so called “mediated peace process” is all hot air. They have not done anything up to day worth 2 cents. Well let me correct myself, I’m sure they have made a lot more than 2 cents at the cost of this nation and the blood of its people. The current politicians are non the better and only think of themselves and not the people or the country.

How can we get ourselves out of this mess? How can be become the nation that we were. One so advanced in Asia that the current economy powerhouse in the region, Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew who oversaw the transformation of Singapore into an economic power in a speech to the public once said that he wanted Singapore to be where Sri Lanka was.

I don’t have the answers to these questions. If I did I would be running for president of this glorious country and putting it to work. One thing I do know, and that is that a solution needs to be found soon before even the lingering fragments of the dream that we have of what once was is lost forever.