Untitled Document

Seeking peace while playing cricket
My Dear Green Man,
I thought of writing to you now, on the eve of what must have probably been the hardest decision of your political life-when you prepare to risk it all by trying to talk to the Tigers.

Some people will say this is nothing new; after all, your uncle tried it, then his successor tried it and even Satellite tried it soon after she came to power. Only Satellite lives to tell the tale and that too only because the Town Hall bomb went a few centimetres this way instead of that way!

Therefore, as your critics would love to point out, this is just another performance by the Tigers to please their international audience and buy time while you prepare to "divide the country and hand it over to the Tigers" -which is how they see it.

On the other hand there is the Peace Brigade which argues that this time around it is going to be different because of September eleventh and because of Norway and the Americans getting involved.

Of course all these make us wonder why the very people who organised a "thavalama" to support peace talks when the blues were in power are now the very people who now take to the streets against such talks. Now, that doesn't mean all you greens are good boys either because when Satellite brought her draft constitution to the House, you chaps were also burning the constitution and creating a spectacle!

That should remind us that at least the reds have been consistent, opposing peace talks promoted by both the blues and the greens in the belief that the Tigers can never be trusted. But then, the reds should hardly be the ones to say that because the way they went about their business in 1971 and 1989, how could anyone trust them?

Anyway, it now appears that you have decided to go all the way-even if it means putting your job at risk. We all know that it is a very bold decision because if you fail there would be many people waiting to say "I told you so".

But, if you want to know what is really different this time, it is the support you enjoy from the average citizen, be they blue, green or red. But of course it is also important to realise that you cannot take this support for granted because it will all finally depend on what you would be ready to offer to the Tigers and if that is seen as too much, then that support could fade away.

Now, there are lots of people singing your praises these days but I must say what has impressed me most is not what you have done to tame the Tigers but what you are doing to cripple Satellite.

What your uncle did to the Queen Bee, you seem to be slowly but surely doing to Satellite-the only difference being that though Junius emerged as a villain after doing what he did, you are being seen as a "gentleman"! Ah, Junius would have been proud to see what his nephew is up to these days!

Anyway, you must be wished best of luck because when you are undertaking a task as big as this everything needs to work properly-the tactics, the telephones and even Bala's kidneys!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS- Is it co-incidence or otherwise that this cricket tournament came to be held at the same time? After all, you know our people forget everything when a good cricket match is on. Now, you didn't get that dark horse to fix that one, did you?

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