Apé kind of hangover

By The Scribe

"Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!"
– Sir Walter Scott. NOTE: I'm not by any means undermining the importance of English or anything productive our gracious colonizers have bestowed upon us. I'm just stating a few things as is.

Having been under colonial rule for 400 plus years, you'd think a nation would have had an overdose of the West, wouldn't you? You'd think we'd want to detach ourselves completely of everything foreign, rediscover our roots and cherish anything and everything that's close to home? You'd think after nearly 60 years of independence, we would have gained quite a substantial degree of sovereignty but, nooooo…not us Sri Lankans. We're way too advanced for all that jazz. We insist on clinging on to our "colonised status" with a vengeance! Be it in mindset, language or sport, we Lankans really know how to do those Westerners proud!

Please allow me to elaborate on the 'colonial hangover' of our day…
We Lankans (and possibly most South Asians for that matter) have it instilled in us from our younger days that White = Good /Superiority. Take the generally accepted complexion for instance. The authentic shade of the majority of us can easily be categorised as tan, ranging to all shades of brown.

Considering a major part of the rest of the world spends a substantial part of their time and effort into trying to attain a perfect tan, you'd find it quite ironic that the rest of the biologically tanned world is trying its level best to turn white! Why? Because for some unfathomable reason (one unknown even to the "white skinned ones" themselves), we are made to feel that fair is beautiful and anything short of white must be shunned. Not just members of the society itself, but even in the commercial world at large, for instance advertisers of fairness creams or beauty products, all thrive on this social malfunction and fully capitalise on it! How often would you see a dark-skinned model (even on South Asian television channels) modelling cosmetics, clothes or anything for that matter, unless of course, they were celebrities? Think about it.

Take for instance, the English language itself, and the utmost veneration it is shown in our country. The 'Global Village' concept aside, why must English be prioritised to such a degree that it has come to a point where it takes precedence over our two native languages? How many of us can understand, let alone speak both official languages of Sri Lanka? I can confidently say, not more than a handful of us, out of which most would be those belonging to the minorities, as they wouldn't have been able to co-exist if not. So, here we are, readily learning the mother tongue of our colonial rulers, with seemingly little or no care to learn or understand our own neighbour. Why is there a need to have a 'link language' foreign to us, when we can just as easily learn one another's languages and communicate with the greatest of ease! This language issue runs deep into the veins of our history. From the time of the Sinhala Only Act, which wound up being more counterproductive than anything else, to the fact that our education system is flawed, deeming our second language as being English, as opposed to Tamil/Sinhala. I hear they refer to Tamil/Sinhala as the "link" language nowadays, but how many generations of us have gone through our school days with absolutely no compulsion to learn each others languages.

The residue of colonisation has reared its ugly into all facets of our lives…possibly because our mentality is such that we are strong believers that any advice, be it professional, medical, psychological or anything else for that matter, we believe that the West is always right or knows best. I think Ashok Ferry really hits the nail on the head in his short story The Indians are coming – "Any expert as long as he's foreign, that's what we say. We'd pay good money to learn desert survival from Eskimos." This is the sad reality of many a Sri Lankan, if not all of them.

As much as we've always been made to believe that learning English is the way forward, two factors stand in the way of my belief. One – call me naïve, but Sri Lanka once was in fact a self sufficient nation. Yes, times have changed and it's not possible for any country to develop in isolation, however, growing on your own steam (at least to a certain degree) is hardly unheard of even in today's context. You look at the likes of Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, China (present day), France…one would have to concede that they are in fact developed countries, yes? Well, none of these countries put English on a pedestal the way we have!

The condescending air with which we laugh at/make fun of people who mispronounce English words or phrases (e.g. our cricketers or lecturers etc.,) makes me question our entire value system. I mean why must any of us be made to feel embarrassed that we can't speak English properly? It's called a foreign language for a reason. It's F-O-R-E-I-G-N…alien to us, there's no necessity for us to pronounce it to perfection. You find many Englishman trying their level best to learn Sinhalese or Tamil? I don't think so. So why this compulsive need to 'Apé the West'? Why this lack of national pride?

Last but not least is the 'second class treatment' we're often meted out with, when at hotels, shops or even on the road. Notice how people will always speak a bit more politely and go a bit more out of their way to help a foreigner on the road (this is not a bad thing by any means, especially as Sri Lankans are known for their hospitality), but the mentality behind our actions is what's pathetic. We still feel the need to be in the good books of the West! Many have been the times foreigners have been given preferential treatment at hotels or shops I've been at. Be it, allowing a foreign kid to wear a t-shirt in the pool because of his "sensitive" skin or serving a foreigner first at a restaurant, a principle must be a principle! One rule for all, irrespective of their colour.

I mean whoever heard of locals being given step-motherly treatment in their own country! Nowhere else in the world are we treated any different, let alone better, simply because we're foreign. If at all we might be treated worse. This amazing phenomenon of being a slave to the in-flow of foreign currency, irrespective of the locals who'd eventually have to save the day when things get rough in the country (like now), seems to be quite exclusive to our region. Maybe it's time we found a permanent cure for our 59+ year old hangover, think you not?