Destino.

Silenced Office.

Colombo , November. 18.

Candidate	Total Votes	%
Mahinda Rajapaksha	4,880,950	50.33%
Ranil Wickramasinghe	4,694,622	48.40%
Others	N/A

There are two sections of people I have interacted the most in the last 8 weeks here in and other, the Tamil family running the 'guest house' i am living in.  Both sections are silent today.. their “pro economic reform, peace with tigers” candidate: Ranil has been narrowly defeated.

Thanks to a Tigers who kept many tamils in hostaged North Sri Lanka from voting. The Tigers had declared day of elections as 'day of mourning'. In a city of 500,000 voters, Jaffna had just 250 votes casted by mid-day yesterday.

The Islandcountry is deeply divided..and Colombo is silent today.  Only way people can keep their temper in office is by cracking jokes on the irony of working longer now to pay higher taxes while prices & investments shall remain state controlled. The Tamil family suggests Tigers want to fight and will invent ways ensuring people continue to live under constant fear. The voting pattern has been deeply divided on communal lines.

The office is silent, and many are skipping lunch. People here just don’t feel good.. some say they are tired of their own country now. Right now being here, I could as well be living again in a ‘Mandal Commission’ or ‘Hindutva India’ of 1990-91 right now…thanks to some Engineers from Bangalore fibre optic lines around the globe & man with the light blue turban (Manmohan Singh).. I will go back to an India that is at-least talking different now.  There’s a lot to do.

Elections in Sri Lanka

I can vote in Presidential elections in North Sri Lanka and join the party to earn 10 Euros for my 'fake' vote.Connected locals inform.

Should i be shocked to learn that? With little contemplation..
NO, I have grown up with it as well, just never came face to face.

Democracy in this part of the world keeps 'unusual' friends.

Lanka goes to poll on 17.11 and if last two elections are any indicator, 18.11 shall bring curfew in Colombo. However, for a generation that has grown up with an ethnic and power struggle, it brings no fear or concern. It's daily life.

Just a day off from work. People are happy.

More on elections here: Local News

A Little Relevant

My project here in Sri Lanka is bringing new information every day.. I have to spend some hours each day reading reports on Microfinance, role of business in development, construction post tsunami, funding from ADB etc etc. Needless to say, I am loving it J 

It’s a project that really has well intentioned objectives..how do we bring a housing solution to the 23% poorest people in Sri Lanka ?.. what are their needs and how can anyone enable them to fulfill them ? The latest publication of WBCSD ‘Business for Development’ carries a case study about this project 'House for life' – I am glad to find myself working on a relevant subject, though for a short while and see a long way to go for us as society..as one people to build the committment & knowledge and mobilize our resources and strengths to solve some of the tough problems in the world today.

Coming back to India, since it comes as a natural point of reference and compass, I was going through the ‘Human Development Report 2005’, released a few months back, it carries out a more balanced assessment of India. I have lived in two of the most backward states in India in terms of economic opportunities & human rights (Uttar Pradesh & Rajasthan), and I relate to what this report says. An interesting short read to balance your perspective on ‘India Shining’, while reinforcing the reality that so much needs to be done... all we are lacking is the willingness to see it and act.

GTKY

X: What is your name?

     "Vaibhav"

X: What?
     "Web..huv' (w-bh-av)"

X: [Looks perplexed, would not even try to pronounce & not remember it anyways)]
    "That's ok! You can call me VK."

X: Muslim?
      "no.."

X: Your name sounds like.
     "(genuinely surprised, the first time). Born in a Hindu family."

X: Are you Tamil?
     "‘Illay’...(No - the only Tamil word I know), from North India, near Delhi- Rajasthan, the deserts in the west bordering Pakistan."

X & I: Talk about either of the three: women in India(Aishwarya Rai / Bipasha Basu genre) [Read: not women issues]; Cricket or Hindi Movies. Well, that’s pretty much the usual ‘Get to Know You’ conversation.

He / She has already made impressions about you (religion + country) and would not really ask questions about your journey, emotions or aspirations. This is not how you get to know people conventionally.

I failingly try and steer the conversation to issues of upcoming elections, ethnic conflict or economic progress & sometimes succeed with a limited few (usually in office).

Sri Lanka goes for Presidential elections on Nov. 17, election pundits / journalists say that swing votes from Tamil dominated North shall define the outcome of the elections and of the future peace process. A few Tamilians I have talked to are of the view that current Prime Minister Mahinda cannot be trusted with peace and should not win the presidential race. However he holds strong support in the masses, especially in Buddhist - Sinhalese, (the first candidate from South Sri Lanka for President). His strongest opposition – Ranil Wickramasinghe, not very popular with masses (allegedly his speeches can put crowds to sleep), but hails from a pro economic reform party & ‘promises’ to change constitution making SL a federal state, sharing governance / power with the Tamils & thus bringing peace.

Since elections are coming soon, there is a flurry of sops & promises handed out each day, past scandals are surfacing suddenly, secret information (discovery of oil off shore of Colombo) being shared with public & businessmen a la George Soros way are running their own information / awakening campaign to educate the voters.

All in all, a view into democratic-constitutionally-run-international-agency-monitored-‘this-time-life-changing’-national-elections (the best of governance) like anywhere else.

I am happy I don’t need a GTKY with this one.

End of Reconciliation III.

More on news from SriLanka at: www.lbo.lk