‘This is Captain Peiris and his crew reporting. I’m pleased to report we shall be reaching our destination in advance of expected time. I’d like to inform you that we shall be changing our display moniker in near future. UL’ usually late’ is a thing of the past. I hope you have enjoyed your journey – thank you for flying Sri Lankan’.Ten hours of agony on the non-stop express. The three year olds in front of me continue to trade the latest Lankan swearwords at each other and the sleazy Majestic City inhabitant sitting next to me has not given up the chase. I turn for respite from the snoring grandmother on my other side. I’m out of luck. She’s marking time, expanding to fill all space available and blocking my escape route to the aisle with pungent
gotukola branches! I take a deep breath and sigh – I’m nowhere near racking up sufficient Skywards points to get myself out of the cattle class.
Half an hour later, I’ve traded a false Sri Lankan SIM card number with MC dude and got myself the view all Lankans know and love – the view where mother Lanka is finally in sight. Forests of coconut palms greet me with their enthusiastic waves, reminding me of their integrity to the country we all know and love.
With uses from the practical (read ‘jute’) to the edible and drinkable (does the term
‘arrack’ ring any bells?), the humble coconut is central to Sri Lankan life. Where better do we see this than on the New Year table, with
kiribath, kavum and kokis, not to mention the oil for the pahana lit to bring light and hope for the coming year?
During the past weekend, Sri Lankans around the world have experienced the positive connotations of our national plant. I feel privileged to celebrate belonging to one of the most hardworking, enterprising and law-abiding communities in the UK today. Our high standard of literacy has helped considerably in our quest to integrate as the ‘model minority’. It’s a pleasure to see Lankans represented at the highest levels, most notably in the music industry (
Jason Bavanandan,
Som Wardner and
Nihal Arthanayake from Radio One) and the professions. Even the whitest of institutions, 1930’s Hollywood, had a Lankan representing –
Merle Oberon of ‘Wuthering Heights’ fame.
The comparable ease of putting on a sufficiently ‘palatable’ front to the majority comes with its pitfalls. This is where the ‘negative’ connotations of the ‘coconut’ plant come in.
Brown on the outside, white on the inside - superficial westernisation has seen UK Lankans abandon varying amounts of our rich heritage in the quest for acceptance. Whilst the overt post-colonial self-hate embodied by Oberon (she disguised her dark-skinned Sinhalese mother as a chambermaid when visitors came round) is thankfully on the decline, a significant minority of Lankans compete to be ‘whiter than thou’ in a marginally less embarrassing fashion than the Coopers from Goodness Gracious Me.
I’m talking about those Lankans who outwardly reject all connections with their heritage, the people who feel ashamed to learn, let alone speak a Sri Lankan language or be seen in the company of other Asian people. The decision of a competent adult to reject a culture they feel to be irrelevant is one thing, but preventing ones children from learning about their heritage and being perversely pleased when others ask ‘why’ is a ludicrous peculiarity common to Sri Lankans and Sri Lankans only.
Granted, we’ve not got a ‘pop culture’ with the commercial force of Bollywood to keep up with, but it’s a shame to carry the distinction of being the only Asian minority who feel the need to communicate in entirely in English when we meet others of our ilk! What’s even sillier is that it’s not second generation Lankans responsible for this decline – we’ve learnt by example since aunties and uncles do it too!
This writer is also mystified by the ‘allergic reaction’ being Lankan can provoke in when meeting one of these self-haters; the evil glances and stilted conversation aren’t an unwelcome feature in the experience of other minority groups. I am envious when seeing Jews and Arabs so welcoming towards another of their group let alone when watching them rejoice when they see another of the same ethnicity doing well. Established members of both the Indian and Pakistani communities take pleasure in assisting fledgling compatriots up the greasy pole to success, so why do the overwhelming majority of ours singularly distance themselves and refuse to give back what the community have put in? Professional advice, work experience placements and appearances at Sri Lankan events would not go amiss in developing the unity and sophistication our community needs to avoid being sidelined as the assimilated ‘petrol shop boy’ also-rans.
The topic of one-upmanship is a fitting note to end on since our cricketing heroes will be setting foot on British soil next month. I wish the very best of luck to our boys in their efforts in avoiding the dinner dance plague that coincided with their disastrous performance in 1999.
I’d like to point out that clogging up the tour schedule with unnecessary social invites to mediocre occasions in assorted inadequately-ventilated town halls is unfair on a team expected to win at competitive sport. Encouraging the team to have 4am bedtimes on match day is a ridiculous price to pay to get yourself and the team member of your choice on the front page of your social group’s photo album. Cricket is one of the few things Sri Lanka excels at and the hopes of an entire nation rest with our boys. I urge you to swallow your vanity in the name of national pride – it is indeed possible to send off for your signed photo (of a future test series and World Cup winner) at a later date.
