Again Boralla

I do not remember how many times I crossed the Boralla Junction in my life but I do know that this relatively small area of less than two square kilometres has been a kind of cooking pot of much Sri Lankan culture, politics and intellectual life. When I pass the Boralla Cemetery, my mind goes back to many small incidents and key moments in Sri Lanka’s post-Independence history. I don’t have a chronological or complete way to describe these moments, but here are some bullet point recollections of a few incidents:

• In the late ’50s and early ’60s, an assortment of people interested in the arts, culture and contemporary politics called itself Appé Kattiya (Our Group). One of the main personalities in this group was Sugathapala de Silva, a novelist, theatre producer and translator of Pirandello, Ionesco and Peter Weiss. Appé Kattiya discussions also considered Sartre, Camus, Beckett and other contemporary cultural innovators. Amongst the notable people who sometimes came to join this group was Anton Balasingham, later to become known for his ideological work on behalf to the Tamil struggle. Other Sri Lankan bohemians of the ’60s included Cyril B. Perera, GW Surendra, Sumana Alokabandara and Ralex Ranasinghe. The group had several places they would meet, one of which was the Boralla Cemetery. There was no formal support or organisation, just a group of friends who would meet sometimes for a glass of beer and a chat about the events and ideas that interested them. They talked a lot about Existentialism. They were educated middle class professionals: clerks, government servants, accountants and bookkeepers, as well as artists, musicians, writers and other cultural figures. They didn’t only chat. In this immediate post-Independence period, they were responsible for major contributions to the cultural life of the country with their productions and other works, opening doors to international influences and debates.

• Many of Appé Kattiya’s productions were staged in the nearby theatre of the YMBA (Young Men’s Buddhist Association). The theatre still exists but is now devoted to more localised performances. The main YMBA building has been levelled and replaced by a huge shopping complex.

• When the 1971 JVP Southern insurgency erupted, the government responded by killing nearly 20,000 people and putting key leaders into the Weilikade and Magazine prisons in Boralla between 1971 and 1977. Many of these men first spent their time there analysing and criticising themselves for the failures of their tactics and philosophy. Later they studied the tenets and strategies of the Latin American revolutions, the Civil Rights movements, the Maoists, the Trotskyites and other political groups of the time. This period of study and discussion contributed greatly to the development of Sri Lankan intellectual discourses and many of those who survived their incarceration later became leading academics, journalists and social activists.

• On the eve of the 1983 Riots, after the LTTE had killed thirteen SL Army soldiers in the North, the government staged a common funeral for them in the Boralla Cemetery. That night State television broadcast a speech by the President, JR Jayawardene. A man educated in the old Oxbridge tradition, JR’s rhetoric was crafted to rouse the ire of his people. It was his Mark Antony moment and a rallying cry for Sinhala nationalists. Two days later, on 25th July, inside the Weilikade prison, the Sinhala prisoners massacred many of the Tamil political prisoners. Five days later there was a second similar massacre in the same prison. Needless to say, in both instances, the Sinhala guards did not intervene. From this time onwards, the country erupted in communal violence. The slaughter had begun.

• Today at the Boralla Cemetery roundabout, the little area around the huge tree in the centre is sponsored and maintained by the All-Island Buddhist Conference. At each of four corners there are yellow boards stating the key Buddhist values: tolerance, kindness…. When you take a left turn off the roundabout, the road you are on is Buddhaloka Mawatha (Light of Buddha Road). Still thinking about 1983, I remember Sinha Rathanthunga’s book, The Politics of Terrorism, in which he documented how the Riots were organised and conducted by government ministers and a leading Buddhist monk, whom he names. He was not the only one to point out who had been responsible; similar conclusions were offered in publications of the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), the Sansoni Commission and many other investigations and reports. I do not know that there was any legal process to convict or reprimand this monk, who lives here on Light of Buddha Road. In fact, he is currently on several Presidential Commissions, so evidently he has not experienced any difficulties as a result of his services to the nation in the early ’80s.

• Sinhala nationalism escalated following the time of terror and was encouraged and implemented by the government, which laid down certain cultural precepts: classical music and songs were good, local popular songs were impure and therefore not good. Nonetheless, HR Jothipala, who was immensely popular and could sing perfect Hindi, Tamil or Sinhala melodies, recorded many thousands of songs that were circulated widely on LPs, film soundtracks and cassettes, performed at public concerts and occasionally broadcast on commercial radio. He was so adored that on more than one occasion a group of lady fans abducted him and he had to summon help to escape. When he died of a heart attack in the late ’80s, people came from all over the country to attend his funeral, the biggest that had ever been held in Colombo. At the time, Sarath Amunugama, who had a French academic background, wrote an article describing HR Jothipala as a cultural icon due to his enormous impact and his deep knowledge of Sri Lankan sentiments and values. The Sinhala academics were very upset by this but the confrontation initiated the first serious discussions of popular culture and politics in the country. For better or for worse, this became known as The Cemetery Debate.

• The Boralla Cemetery backs onto the Colombo Golf Club, an elegant and venerable colonial institution. On 13th November 1990, the founder and iconic JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera was gunned down in the narrow area between the cemetery and the golf club. Ironically, one of the witnesses of the killing, a man who worked as a photographer for the Security Forces, was actually a JVP spy.

• After the dark period of the late ’80s – with its killings, abductions, disappearances and more – in the early ’90s a newspaper was started called Lakdiva (Island of Sri Lanka) inside the Boralla junction supermarket run by moderate JVP, ex-JVP and some independent journalists and writers. Opposite this, on Eliot Place, was the VIBHAVI Centre for Alternative Culture where we cultural grasshoppers hung out. The two groups got together from time to time to share events like films or just engage in discussions.

These recollections are still with me during my lunch of Mihiri bath kadé (rice and curry), particularly while having a cigarette to conclude the meal. I am also keeping an eye open as smoking a cigarette in public is now illegal; though being kidnapped and disappearing in a white van or dying in a bomb blast can happen at any time – and is, of course, no problem.

To be continued…

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