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| Wednesday, 12 January 2005 |
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A strange dream henry jayasena column Being born a Catholic, my wife Manel was very fussy about Christmas. She would put up a Christmas tree in a corner of the living room, decorate it with all kinds of fancy things, light it up with twinkling little many hued strings of bulbs, hang presents and cards and invite our little family of son, daughter-in-law and the two grandchildren, along with a few of her closest friends, with very special attention to the children. Last Christmas there was none of that fanfare and it was a very subdued Christmas for the family. Ever since my poor Manel passed away I had not seen much of her even in a dream. Sometimes I was worried about that but on second thoughts assured myself that it was a good sign. We Buddhists believe that dear ones who leave us appear to us in dreams only if they are unhappy or unsettled. Manel has done enough good deeds in this life and I was assured that she must be happy and contented wherever she was. But on Christmas night she appeared to me in a dream and that was a very disturbing dream - or it could well have been my unhappy state of mind. "The Gods have spoken," she said looking extremely sad, something very unusual to her vibrant and joyous nature. "What do you mean?" I asked her. "Don't tell me you have become an Oracle in your reincarnation...?" I almost teased her as I often do. "You will see when you see the light of day in the morning..." She replied ignoring my sarcasm, looking even sadder. She gave me a knowing and sorrowful smile and disappeared. I woke up in a bit of a sweat and in a pretty bad mood. The bad mood, because of her sudden exit. Risk The truth hit the entire country as devastatingly as the traumatized SEA itself that Sunday morning. It was unbelievable and as the hours passed and brought on another day, it was even more unbelievable. The TV channels were almost 'brutal' in their on the spot exposures and as a past TV man, I shuddered at the risk those camera crews would be taking. Was it actually a dream? Did I actually see my poor woman delivering that warning? Or was it some ungodly foreboding? While being engaged in collecting whatever we can to be despatched to our devastated and bewildered people who had barely managed to survive that brutal, cruel and unrelenting assault by the very sea that was so beloved to us, the words in my dream kept reverberating in my mind - "The Gods have spoken....!" Ever since the disaster, many have uttered the same thing - that the Gods were angry and that the Five Elements - Apo, Thejo, Vayo, Pathavi and Akasa (Water, Fire or Energy, The Wind, The Earth, and Space or Sky) have rebelled against a world that is becoming rotten by the hour, where men have lost their reason and that the elements could no longer tolerate this decadence. The erudite J. R. P. Suriyapperuma in that extremely worthy and sensitive TV presentation 'Doramadalawa' conducted by an equally sensitive and dedicated young man, Hasantha Srilal Hettiaratchy called them the Pancha Bhuta (the Five Powers) the other day. Some call it the Pancha Maha Balavega (the Five Great Energies). One could call it by any name, but there is no doubt that the Gods in fact are very Angry at the state of affairs in our part of the world. Perhaps the Gods are angrier with us more than with anybody else. Wouldn't they be? Even at this hour of the greatest disaster that has befallen us some 2,000 years after the uprising of the angry seas during the reign of King Kelanitissa as punishment for his dastardly deed of boiling an Arahant in oil, we find remorseless people who loot, pillage and plunder. We hear of people who want to grab orphaned children for their domestic work. So much so that the chairman of the National Child Protection Society has issued a warning that children could not be carried away just like that from camps or schools or temples or churches or from whatever place they are, without proper procedure. Relief measures These ugly and unholy things happen while millions of concerned and caring people pour in whatever they can to hundreds of relief centers established all over the country by the State as well as the private sector. Almost all media institutions have opened such relief centres and we witness the vast amount of relief that pour in. All the temples, kovils and churches have been turned out to be collecting centres almost overnight. Both the young and the old - even children - toil tirelessly in these places to sort out, categorize and distribute this wealth of relief. "Why have the Gods become angry?" I asked my beloved when she appeared to me in my next dream. She was looking very thoughtful and her gaze was directed beyond me, as if she was surveying what had happened to her beloved country. "The Gods are angry because man has defied nature and defiled everything that nature had given man. Men and women - especially those who rule other lesser men and women, and children too - have become selfish, corrupt and ruthless...." She paused for a little while and this time she looked at me. "Where are those men that wanted to divide the land and the sea and even the sky perhaps, now? Why aren't they claiming THEIR share of the ANGRY waters of the sea? What has happened to all the camps, the bases and the power kegs of the warring parties? Do you realize how FRAIL this pomp and power is... What have the think tanks and the so-called theoreticians got to say now?" My dear Manel was looking amused for a moment and I liked that. It was a little like her good old self. "Why are you asking me?" I responded at long last. You KNOW that I am not responsible for these things.....?" She sighed a long sigh and continued quietly, looking down, as if in shame. "We ALL are responsible My dear. We just closed our eyes and let things happen. All we could do was to send more and more of our people to the 'Front'. What 'Front' My Dear? It was only a front for ambitious people. One way or the other. No wonder most of them abandoned camp and took to mass mayhem...." "We were talking about the mightily angered SEA and the even MORE angered Gods. You are, well... sort of talking 'Politics' now..." I reminded her as gently as I could. "By the way, WHERE are you now? Are you HAPPY? Right now you don't look too happy...." I ventured to ask. "How come you never paid me a visit all this time?" I was a little annoyed with you, I must say..." I added rather sheepishly. And the woman smiled. She actually smiled that captivating smile of hers which had endeared her to so many of her fans, friends and other folk, not to mention her beloved man, me. "I am where most people, sorry, most minds and souls are happy and content. I am new there. Otherwise I would not have been able to visit you. They give a few 'concessions' to novices, you know." "By the way, how are YOU getting on, er... without me, I mean?" she asked almost shyly. "I manage to get on. What else can I do... Er.. Are you without pain now? And discomfort, can you walk about without difficulty?" My beloved woman smiled again. "As far as WE are concerned there is no WALKING, you know... By the way it's time to get back. My 'short-leave' is over..." And she quietly faded away. "Will you be coming again...?" I rushed the question to the departing figure and the reply was only a distant smile... **** Back **** |
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