Blessed awakening

By E. Sivayoganathan

Among Tamil speaking people rituals such as oil baths, worshipping of Goddess Luxmi and lighting of fire crackers take a prominent place during Deepavali.

Deepavali is the celebration of Shri Krishna's victory over the demon Narahasuran, who by practising austerities, had gained strength to drive the Gods out of the celestial kingdom. On this day people clean and decorate their homes, for uncleaned homes are believed to drive away good fortune. In the courtyards of Hindu homes, beautiful kolams (designs) are drawn using rice and turmeric powder.

There is also a legend that when the demonAsuran was to be eliminated, he was allowed to crave a boon at the moment of his death and he asked that the day of his death be celebrated as a day of festivity, feasting and rejoicing. This was granted and he was killed. Hence it is known as Narakachturdasi.

Deepavali rituals and celebrations differ from place to place but having a bath early morning, wearing clean new clothes, going to temples for religious rituals is common to all. Short eats, sweetmeats and other items of food are shared with relatives, friends, neighbours and visitors.

The festival of light signifies the true awakening of wisdom in an ignorant mankind, among suffering people immersed in utter misery and gloom. Rows of light and beautiful lamps lit in Hindu homes symbolise the annihilation of ignorance and sorrow.

Deepavali is considered a celebration blessed with peace, love and devotion. Swami Sivananda declares that all the lights of the world cannot be compared even to one ray of inner light of the self. Merge yourself in this light of lights and enjoy the bliss of the brightest of lights - God.

The world today is affected not only poverty and social ills but also with the selfishness and self-centred thoughts of man. This festival reminds us that where there is dharma (righteousness), there victory shall be.

Reel attack: a hard hit

Who was the bright spark who got the bright idea, I wondered. If I was in Colombo society the next question would have been who was going to rake off a commission and how much would it be.

But here in London where the most fascinating talk is about some footballer and his pop star wife, which MP is gay and what Tony said to mon Cherie, most conversations tail off before the second drink.

Anyway when I was told the PR types hired was Bell Pottinger, the name did not strike a bell. Saachi and Saachi, I have heard of, but Bell Pottinger, no.

Having managed to trace the telephone number, I dialled the aforementioned Bell Pottinger and identified myself. Could they kindly connect me with whoever handled the recent visit of Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. I know I lost the person at the other end of the line half way, but I finally managed to convince her that there really was such a person and Bell Pottinger was not so mellifluent a name either.

Well, there I was, connected to somebody called Jennifer Morgan to whom I explained slowly and clearly that I wanted to know who handled the visit of the Sri Lankan president.

After a long wait that was about enough for a siesta and two cucumber sandwiches, the said Jennifer Morgan wanted me to repeat my name, and telephone number and asked for some details that should have been better reserved for Osama bin Laden than a newspaper correspondent.

Once I got all that off my chest, Ms Morgan (does sound like some Jamaican rum but that's another story) said she would contact the relevant person who would then contact me shortly.

That was late Monday morning. But since then there has been a strange silence. I don't know whether Ms Morgan jumped into the Thames or what. I've scanned a few obituaries but no Morgan has surfaced, literally or metaphorically. As for the "relevant person", news about such a character has been as non-existent as information from the Commonwealth Secretariat's Public Affairs Division.

If I was Bell Pottinger and I had been responsible for persuading, cajoling, or even threatening Chandrika Kumaratunga to appear before the cameras on BBC and CNN, I would maintain a deafening silence too. In 40 years of journalism, I have yet to see the leader of any country come so perilously close to disaster.

Had it been a Lee Kuan Yew, he would have had that upstart from CNN and Tim Sebastian not for breakfast with Frost but for breakfast along with Frost. I have seen Lee do it not once but at least three times. It is not that Lee is vicious and bites at the first opportunity. No, it is only when journalists think they have got the upper hand and knocked him out with a couple of one-two combinations on human rights, political and media freedoms that the masterly Lee chews them up.

Okay, so Lee takes a punch or two. You cannot run a tightly controlled society such as Singapore without your inquisitor drawing blood. But it has never been a bloody disaster as were the two major interviews that President Kumaratunga gave during her brief London visit.

The first question to ask is who put her up to it? My information is that Bell Pottinger was hired from Colombo to promote Sri Lanka's trade and tourism. Whether this was done with the approval of the cabinet or was arbitrarily done by one or more of those political hangers-on with bloated egos, I wouldn't know.

But was Chandrika Kumaratunga put up to face the cameras by Bell Pottinger or by those who pay her daily pooja, thinking she can do to David and Tim what she does to state TV people here?

If she was encouraged to face the cameras, then a charge of homicide, metaphorically speaking of course, would not be out of order. If it was her own choice then it is necessary to curb her suicidal tendencies.

The biggest mistake is letting some politicians before TV cameras. Just because they have performed before state television and their toothless interviewers, they believe they are fit enough to take on the world media.

That's a potentially dangerous presumption especially when one is often called upon to defend the indefensible such as corruption, human rights violations, political thuggery and election fixing.

It is possible to give in advance to Rupavahini and ITN interviewers the questions you want asked and then pummel the opposition or whom ever you wish to batter without interruptions.

The fact is that here the interviewer does his own rigorous home work, backed by researchers, plans his line of incisive questioning, because one doesn't want even a head of state to get away.

The counter to that is to anticipate the questions-and when it comes to Sri Lanka the basic questions are so very obvious- and prepare your own line of counter attack. And that counter attack should even consider aggressive rebuttal and turning the question back on the questioner.

On one occasion the president tried it in the "Hard Talk" interview when she started referring to the IRA and how long Blair had taken to solve it. But Tim Sebastian came back at her saying there had been a ceasefire in Northern Ireland for five years. At that point Kumaratunga should have said - yes but you are dealing with the IRA not the LTTE. How many ceasefires have there been. How negotiations were started and how did they end each time. Who ended them abruptly - not the government but the LTTE-once by killing several hundred policemen in the East and again by blowing up navy boats in Trincomalee and killing several sailors.

If you don't read the latest reports, if you don't anticipate questions and prepare your line of attack and, mostly, if you cannot think on your feet, keep away from real news hounds and stay with your pet puppies.