Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Reunion at Nuwara Eliya

Next destination after Kandy was Nuwara Eliya. I was very very particular that we do all the learning intensive trip in the beginning and chilling out and relaxing stuff later. So after brushing with history and culture, we gradually got into the relaxing mood. The first step towards it was Nuwara Eliya.

Its a hill country; got reminded of Idukki a lot seeing all those tea plantations. The colonial air is still present in the form of bungalows, post office, clubs and tea factories from that era still functional. One can wallow in its nostalgia of bygone era by visiting these buildings, old English style lawns and gardens.

Its also the only district in SL where the Indian Tamils form the majority with over 50% of the population. They are mostly tea plantation workers whose ancestors were brought to SL by the British from India in 19th century.

The icing on the cake was my husband's reunion with his ancestral family. His mom's ancestors probably migrated from India to work in tea factories and plantations. All his cousins but my husband and his siblings were born in Lanka. He tells me stories that his mom shared with them. They moved back to India in 1972 due to the pressure by then Bhandarnaike government to leave their country. So even though it was their land and they were born there; it seemed they had to surrender their land, property, assets and their earnings and flee their country or else were threatened to "be skinned alive and wear the skin as slippers". Such announcements were made until people fled. So his grandparents left the country with their kids; traveled by train to Mannar and boarded a ship back to India to never return. Its so ironical and sad for Indian Tamils since they were tricked by the British and forcefully hoarded them to work as plantation workers in other countries and now the so called rightful owners of the land, the real descendants of the Lord wanting the 'aliens' to leave so that they can cleanse themselves!!

Anyway, so one of the hidden agenda for my husband was to touch base and initiate contact with long lost family. He made sure that we had Nuwara Eliya in our plan even though I insisted its going to be like Idukki which we have visited numerous times. All we knew was information provided by his cousin who had a faded memory since he left the country when he was 10 years old. We knew the name of the estate they worked and searched for the estate; we traveled 40 kms from the town seeking directions before we found the estate; thanks to our Sri Lankan friend Indika who was sweet. Talked to few people outside the factory and tried to see if anyone identifies with one name who was probably staying/stayed there. After half hour, someone identified the name and we got the lead. I and Indika could not help but notice his joy of meeting his relatives; Indika felt a sense of elation as well for being part of the experience and satisfaction for having helped Velu meet his relatives. I always believe whatever happens its for good. I saw the conditions of his relatives and other Indian Tamils and until now; they were treated as war criminals. They were suppressed, harassed and always looked with suspicion as heard from his third cousin. Its obvious when you see their eyes sparkle as soon as we said we are from India and we know Tamil. Lot of questions, quest to know about their ancestral country, a map of TN adorning walls; they are more Tamils than Lankans.
 
My husband's relatives are living in a shanty house, probably the ones existing since early 1900s, no improvements, poor standard of living. There was disbelief, surprise, realization, happiness and longing to visit India and their relatives. If not for an old lady who recognized his mom; we would not have found them. His mom's parents might have left the country with a heavy heart but their children and their grand children definitely have a life worth dying for!

Whom to blame? The innocent Indians who were tricked by British? The cunning British? or the vicious so called real locals of the land?

Related post : No country for good men

The Estate - faintly remembered by his cousin


The Tea factory of the estate. Operational since 1940s


The broken road leading to the factory


The row of houses; the house in which his relatives stay was frequented by his mom when she was kid during 1960s


With the folks. 


I promise to post picturesque Nuwara Eliya in my next post :)

26 comments:

  1. This is so sad. You own the land and suddenly you are made to flee for your life. You are treated like shit in your own land. This has happened with many, mom used to tell me many stories too. Good that you get to meet your family, but seeing them leading such a life - what to think of it? - Be thankful that you fled or wish that you could fight then so as to stay at the place you were born.

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    1. Neha,

      There is nothing worse than being an alien in your own land! Do you remember my encounter with a Sri Lankan Tamil in Costa Rica? He had a similar story to share with me.

      Yeah its not only Tamils, elsewhere there are Indian origins in SA, West Indies, Malaysia...but I hope they lead a good life.

      Yeah, we cant help! Just that these people chose to flee and others stayed back

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    2. Yeah I remember that. What can be said? We can fume, get angry and frustrated. Maybe share tales and hope and pray that things change soon.

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    3. Yeah and just hope all's well :)

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  2. WOw that must be a great moment to meet ancestors and all, I too would love to go back to our ancestral place one day. My grandpa ran away from home and since then we never went back nad the nas usual land was grabbed by others and all that bloodshed etc etc..

    We all know what the british did , they are one the ones who have spoilt the whole of planet earth in some way or the other, wherever they went they brought havoc.

    Sad to hear the story like that .. dont know what to say

    Bikram's

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    1. Cant help Bikram. There are lot of stories around. At least with my husband's folks, they are all staying together. I know of many people who have got separated from their siblings, parent, living in another land in a jail for illegal immigration...thats a trauma

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  3. It's really heartwrenching to see how our very own folks suffer so much. That's probably the reason why many Lankan Tamils have fled the country and have settled all around the world. How could the govt be so monstrous to say and do this - "be skinned alive and wear the skin as slippers! Why can't people of Indian origin just get welcomed back to their own country? I mean I don't understand the politics here seriously. Why do they have to live such a life in which is not even their own country?
    It must be really a wonderful experience to trace back the ancestry and get in touch with folks there. They should just be so happy and talk about it for generations isn't it?

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    1. Its complicated it seems. Though India has welcomed refugees from Tibet and Sri Lanka, the state of Tibetan refugees is much better than Lankans.

      Its sad! very very sad!! We heard this from another Indian visitors..He was walking on the streets of Jaffna and whoever he talked to said "I am a Tamil". He was surprised that no one said "I am a Lankan" They still consider India as their homeland.

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    2. People outside India are able to recognise "Tamil(s)" not because of Tamilnadu or the history of language, but because of the sufferings that was brought into light. I've heard from one of my SL friend that Jaffna is a beautiful place.

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    3. True, very true. Tamils are synonymous with Sri Lankan civil war. I have a couple of friends who are from Jaffna. One of them came with his family to India as a kid. They were rich and well to do in Jaffna but had to leave their home, property and everything

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  4. It would be a great moment, right? Returning back to the past. I can imagine your husband's happiness.

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    1. My husband could not relate to it much since his mom came back to India when she was a kid. But it was nice meeting these people :)

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  5. Well written and felt as if I was reading a chapter from Alex Haley's 'Roots'

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  6. Truly emotional Insi.I have several of such acquaintances who lost everything,their roots..We can't even guess the feel.This was one of such posts with kind of trauma backdrop.

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    1. I agree Melange, nothing worse than being an orphan.

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  7. The pictures reminisces of Idukki and the hilly border area of Tamilnad and Kerala.

    Dispossessed off one's land- the piece of territory where one was born and have the smell of ones dear and near , the atmosphere one identified with is perhaps the saddest and cruellest thing that can happen to man and canine alike.

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    1. Anil,

      No one unless been in that situation can understand the pain

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  8. You have written a beautiful post. Reading all about the atrocities by the Lankan government on Tamils, this issue was fresh on my mind. Reading about them here made me feel really sad.

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    1. Rachna,

      Thank you. Its really sad, dont know when such problems will go away

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  9. You husband would have felt so happy to meet his kin.But it is rally sad how Indian Tamils are treated there. Is the Govt. doing anything?

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    1. Chitra,

      The Indian govt is building some rehabilitation homes in Jaffna, individual houses. I dont know what the Sri Lankan govt is doing. But now that the war is over, they are doing big on infrastructure. They have the Chinese to build roads and ports, Indians to build railway systems for them.

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  10. Nothing can be more staisying bthan meeting ones relatives after so long.Your husband must be avery happy man today.What would hurt anyone is the land which belonged to us,has been taken away.
    We can blame the Brits,but,they did everything with help of Indians.Who do we blame?

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    1. True sir, Whoever did it, the ones struggling now are helpless

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  11. How many have happened, how many more to happen! History of mankind is replete with such instances! One has to realize that this trait is universal - it is not restricted to one culture or one country. Intolerance - perhaps that is part of the instinct of survival - in ingrained in most of us...

    Very moving piece, B!

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  12. Balan,

    How many worse stories unheard of? I agree, intolerance is the word. Thank you

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