Sunday 5 August 2012

On Secularism



The term secularism, in the Indian context, means equidistance of the state from all religious identities. It is to be specifically noted that this definition is applicable only to India because of one factor that differentiates India from many other countries (i.e.) India is a multi-religious country. In a sense, the definition of secularism for India is an adaptation of the definition in the West – that the state I separated from religion. India is a country where people belonging to various religions live together enjoying equal rights and freedom irrespective of their religion.

Going back to the time when the world was ruled by various emperors and kings, when the term secular did not exist and the kings who were supposed to be the superior, when the kings were the representatives of God and legitimized by the temples or respective worship place. In Europe there were many kingdoms. The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful and the religion followed then was Christianity. The church and the king were working together. The year 1453 is one of the most important dates in history as it was the year which witnessed the origin of many changes. “The fall of Constantinople had occurred. Constantinople was a kingdom in present day Turkey and was the capital city set up by Constantine, the Roman Emperor. It was called the sick man of Europe as it had people of many religions living together and not like the other empires where Christianity was the major religion of the people. The only land route to Asia was through Constantinople. Now that Constantinople had been captured, the European powers had to find a new route as most of their trade was with the Asian countries. Thus the industrial revolution happened. The famous saying, necessity is the mother of invention had its meaning cleared. The fall of the Roman Empire was during the same period. It was now when King Henry wanted to marry a second time and according to the bible it was not allowed. So, he rebelled against the church and then came the splitting up of the State from the Church. They became two different separate ruling powers. The state thus ruled over the common man, the followers of the King. This was easily possible in the European countries as Christianity was the most prevalent religion.

In India there was a period of transition, but the situation was different. As we all know India is a multi-religious country unlike the European countries. India is the birth land for many religions. The feeling of a nation and nationalism started in the aftermath of colonization. The leaders realized that unity was required to fight against the British. But in India, Hinduism happened to be the religion of the majority and all other religions were recognised as minorities. So to achieve unity or nationalism, one had to achieve secularism first. So, in the 1880s, the Congress started bringing in new policies like giving protection and recognition to the upper and middle class Muslims who were considered as the leaders among other Muslims. This was not a great success as the Muslims demanded reservation (as they were minorities) in proportion to their total population.

Another incident which is a noted one in the Hindu- Muslim unity is the Khilafat movement and Gandhiji’s role in it. The Khilafat movement was a protest against the European countries which had occupied Turkey and overthrew the Muslim sultan Khalifa. The Muslims around condemned this act of the Europeans and wanted them to restore Khalifa to take control over the Muslims’ sacred places. The Khilafat movement in 1919-1920 was against this action of the Europeans. This is when Gandhiji, who was a national leader and a follower of Hinduism, took a step forward and began the Non-Cooperation movement along with the Khilafat movement joining hands with the Muslims. The Muslim leaders were very happy with Gandhiji’s action and thus everyone stood united during the Non-Cooperation movement, fighting against the British.

But soon it was realized that there was unity only among the leaders and not the people of the two communities. And when things went sour among the leaders it had an immediate and greater impact on the common people. The communal violence in 1924 in the North-West Frontier Province brought out the harsh reality. If religious unity as stated above was present in the hearts of every single individual, such an incident would not have occurred. But the Montague-Chelmsford reforms (1919) and elections to representative bodies that provided for communal representation served as the provocation for this disunity. This British policy of divide and rule, however, had to be challenged by the national movement. Thus secularism became a national aim.

Though secularism was achieved to an extent, after independence communalism was reborn. The secular nation of India had faced partition on communal basis which later led to the inclusion of Articles especially on this issue (Articles 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29) in the Constitution of India. These provisions in the constitution provide religious freedom to every citizen of this country.  According to these provisions the state does not interfere in the internal issues of any religion, but it interferes and checks that no religious sentiments are hurt. In other words, no discrimination on the basis of religion in any public affair. But at the same time you can find particular minority institutions, which is provided by the same constitution, in order to give them importance and security in the society.

The articles mentioned above are stated below:

Article 25: Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
 (1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.
(2) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation any existing law or prevent the State from making any law-
(a) Regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practise;
(b) Providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.


Article 26: Freedom to manage religious affairs.
 Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right-
(a) To establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes;
(b) To manage its own affairs in matters of religion;
(c) To own and acquire movable and immovable property; and
(d) To administer such property in accordance with law.

Article 27: Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion.
 No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religion or religious denomination.

Article 28: Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in certain educational institutions.
(1) No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly          maintained out of State funds.
(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall apply to an educational institution which is administered by the State but has been established under any endowment or trust which requires that religious instruction shall be imparted in such institution.
(3) No person attending any educational institution by the State or receiving aid out of State funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institution or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institution or in any premises attached thereto unless such person or, if such person is a minor, his guardian has given his consent thereto.

Article 29: Protection of interests of minorities.
(1) Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.
 (2) No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.

Incidents that shook every soul: major communal violence in India:

November 1984:
Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, violent mobs began organised attacks on members belonging to the Sikh community in Delhi, Meerut and many others towns in Northern India. The violence went on for three days and left more than 3500 people (all Sikhs) dead and property worth crores of rupees destroyed.

Ayodhya:
            It happened on the 6th of December, 1992 in Uttar Pradesh. A historical monument was destroyed by many lunatics. The Babri Masjid was a 450 year old monument and as the name mention it was the worship place of Muslims. On the above mentioned day hundreds of “kar sevaks” rushed into this religious complex and brought it down. This was followed by violence against members of the Muslim community in many towns. There were a few instances of retaliatory violence too.

Manoharpur, Orissa
            In a shocking incident, an Australian missionary, Graham Steines, who was involved in rendering relief to the leprosy patients in rural Orissa was burnt to death along with his two sons. The killer, Dara Singh, was caught and it was found that he was a member of a Hindu fundamentalist organisation.

Gujarat, 2002.
            On February 28, 2002, a group of kar sevaks who were returning from Ayodhya died after the coach in which they were traveling was set on fire at the Godhra railway station in Gujarat. For a few weeks after that day, most parts of Gujarat was engulfed in violence against the Muslim community. It left over 3500 people dead and property worth several crores destroyed. 

NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON AGRICULTURE


According to the Dictionary of Economics by John Black globalization is defined as, “The process by which the whole world becomes a single market. This means that goods and services, capital, and labour are traded on a worldwide basis, and information and the results of the research flow readily between countries. The rise of cheap sea transport and the telegram contributed to this process in the 19th century. Cheap air travel, the telephone, and the computer, together with the rising importance of multinational companies and general relaxation of controls on trade and international investment, continued the process in the 20th century. It is possible that the rise of the internet and the start, which has been made, on liberalizing international trade in services will continue this movement in the 21st century. The world has still a very long way to go, however, before its economy is fully globalized. In particular, international mobility of labour is tightly restricted and poor transport and communications in most less developed countries (LDCs) mean that only the economies of the richer and more economic countries are at all seriously globalized.”

Through this paper, I will be discussing the negative impacts of globalization on agriculture. Globalization has had a major impact on agriculture. It has affected agriculture and hence life in many ways. We have witnessed three waves or phases of globalization so far. The first wave occurred between 1870 and 1914. During this period there was lot of migrations. The investment in the developing countries tripled during this period. About 60 million people migrated from Europe (primarily its less developed parts) to North America and other parts of New World. Similar flow of people from densely populated China, India to less densely populated Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. was seen. The total labour flow during this period was 10 percent of the world population. But, though the global per capita income rose, it was not fast enough to catch up with the growth of poor population.  Among the globalizing countries there was a convergence in income per capita, driven primarily by migration. And, thus began an inequality among the countries of the world. The first wave fell with the two major wars and the Great Depression. The inequality among the countries kept increasing. Hence, the gap between the haves and have nots kept increasing.

The second wave happened between 1950 and 1980. During the second wave the world witnessed the integration of the rich countries and this resulted in the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor nations. Globalization was supposed to bring an end to all these issues, but it had a reverse effect and ended up affecting the common man. The rich remained rich and led a decent life. It was the poor who had to sacrifice something every time something new came up.

Since 1980 to the present day, we have been living in the third wave of globalization. The rich, developing countries were able to invest a lot and with the help of technology and communication in the other poor nations. This helped them prosper economically. The poor nations also did develop little, but their dependency on the rich countries always remained and was increasing too. Globalization reduced poverty by a large number since 1980, but the gap always remained there.

In simple words, during globalization, there was mechanization of the world. As facilities started improving, people wanted to make more and more out of it. The people were not happy with themselves. But in this chase, they forgot to realize that nature has its own limitations. And wherever the tried to interrupt with nature, they have all witnessed destruction.

During this third wave, we have seen the most destruction. There was a bad situation during the first two waves. But it did not witness destruction as much as the third wave is doing. During this period, there were a large number of farmer suicide cases. The reason for this were many, but the end of the thread always lead to one big factor, globalization. It was during this period that the new economic policy was implemented. It was also roughly around the same time that the Green revolution took place. During this many new methodologies of agriculture were adopted. The need for this arose because the consumption rate increased and more than that, the greed of the people. The farmers were left with no other option other than adapt to these new methodologies. They were stuck in this whirlpool of competitions of MNCs, increase of demand, less output, etc. Due to many such factors, the farmers had no other option other than to adapt themselves. Many new machineries and fertilizers were introduced. Due to rising demand, the farmers had to use them in order to get a high yield. But all these had a very adverse effect on the agriculture sector.

One of the major reasons for farmer suicides was indebtedness. When all these new machineries and fertilizers came into market, the farmers had to borrow money from money lenders and banks. The money lenders were also too smart and they increased the interest according to the demand. The farmers who had land and could afford to get loans, managed to get a loan and start using the modern methodologies of agriculture. The mentality of the people had totally changed now. It was only profit oriented. And the poorer farmers among them had a bad hit. They could neither afford to invest in new machineries nor get a loan to get fertilizers. Hence, they were totally struck with nothing to do. Many shopkeepers now started giving away fertilizers on credit. And after all these, when they faced a crop failure, due to natural reasons, they were left with nothing but lots of loan to repay. In the earlier days too there were many crop failures, but we never so many cases of farmer suicides. So why does it happen only now? The reason for this is that, in the olden days the farmers still had some things left like seeds, some stored food. They had some rays of hope left. But now-a-days all they have left is loans. He might have invested all he had in that particular farm. And when it was all gone, he will be left with no other option other than suicide. For a farmer, his pride is the most important thing. Even if he is not very rich, he has always been proud of what he does and his land. But now that all his possessions are gone and he is sure that he cannot repay the loan, he kills himself. They can never live on that situation where he owes someone money and cannot pay it back. A farmer can never live in indebtedness. His pride never allows him to do so.

Education and Nation Building



            Education is believed to be the base of everything. We require education to live on this planet. By education, I do not mean only the kind of education one gets in schools or colleges. Everything and anything a man learns is education. We cannot live our lives like the flat characters described in novels by Oscar Wilde. We need changes. And hence, we need to learn. Education is the base or foundation of our life. The history of education dates back to the times of our myths. The initial system of education was believed to be in the gurukuls, where students would stay with their gurus and learn everything about life. These were the kings and princes. They learnt about various things that would, later in life, help them rule their father’s kingdom. They were educated in the arts and sciences related to government such as, politics (danda-nıti), economics (vartta), philosophy (anvıksiki), and historical traditions (itihasa). And there was also education based on one’s caste and the Varna he had to perform. Thus, this kind of education taught them the dos and don’ts in their lives. The earliest education began with the teaching of traditional elements such as Indian religions, Indian mathematics, Indian logic at early Hindu and Buddhist centre of learning such as Taxila and Nalanda

            The roots of education in India had actually sprouted long ago, about 2250 years ago. This was during the Mauryan Dynasty. Chandragupta Maurya and his well-learned adviser Vishnugupta, popularly known as Kautilya or Chanakya formed this empire. Kautilya was a very intelligent and well-read person. He wrote the famous work, Arthashastra, which when literally translated means, “the science of wealth”[1]. “This book, the Arthashastra, deals with so many subjects and discusses such a variety of matters that is not possible for me to tell you much about it. It deals with the duties of the King, of his ministers and counselors, of council meetings, of departments of government, of trade and commerce, of the government of towns and villages, of law and law courts, of social customs, of the rights of the women, of the maintenance of the old and helpless, of marriage and divorce, of taxation, of the army and navy, of war and peace, of diplomacy, of agriculture, of spinning and weaving, of artisans, of passports, and even of goals! I could go on adding to this list….”[2] To be precise, this book spoke about everything from how one should lead his/her life to how a nation should be governed. If the ideas suggested by Kautilya are followed today, the government would have not been such a mess. Kautilya’s ideas were also tested practically, and they proved successful in Chandragupta Maurya’s empire. Kautilya’s wit and knowledge had helped Chandragupta build up an empire and rule it, for years.

            The next phase of education began in the middle ages. The system of education witnessed drastic changes during this period. This was the time of Islamic invasions. The Muslims, who came from Central-Asia, caused a lot of destruction. And they started everything afresh. They educated the Indians on Persian texts, grammar, mathematics, etc, which they felt, every human being had to know. The system of education was more religious now. More importance was given to religion and other related issues. They also brought about a connection between science and humanities. By the time Akbar’s rule had come, education’s standard had improved and people were educated on everything we learn today.

            The massive and big transformation of education system in India took place during colonialism. The Indian education system took shape and formed into one of the best ones during this period. With every invasion, we Indians learnt new methodologies of education. And when colonialism took place, we had the Western influence. Indians started following the Western system of education. The British Empire appointed many committees and people to frame and construct an education system in India. They wanted to educate the Indians, hence make them work for the British. They thought of appointing a number of Indians in the Administrative services and hence making their rule here easier. Though their intentions were not good, their actions helped our country a lot. If not for this, Indians were going abroad for higher studies (which only a few could afford). Once these reforms took place, education became easily accessible. Many Indians came forward and started taking up initiatives. The British set up Colleges in every Presidency. The educational reforms went about strong with many Indian social reformers backing it up. With education also came social changes and reforms in the country. And another notable inclusion of this period was women education. There was education of women even earlier, but it was for a very brief period and very limited. But, the British took separate and special efforts for women education. They set-up many educational institutions like Madras Medical College in Madras Presidency and Women’s Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, Punjab. This was basically initiated so that many women would have women doctors to examine them and hence the number of deaths would decrease. The main reason why British did all these were because they though they would stay in India for ever and hence it was necessary to educate them. This education would help the Indians serve the British better. The need for education to administer the country was very well understood then itself.

             The most important person, who set-up the education system was Thomas Macaulay. Macaulay brought about many reforms in the Indian educational system. He came into power in the year 1835. He suggested that the medium of higher education must only be English. This formed the foundation for English education in India. Many Christian missionaries also went about spreading English education all across the nation. Macaulay was believed to be the architect of Britain’s Educational Policies in India.
It is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.”[3]

            There were many Indians who had their own views on education. A few of them tried it out in real life too. One such man was Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore started a new style or rather wave of education. Tagore came from a family with great cultural richness and heritage. This had in many ways helped him look at education, the way he does now. His family atmosphere allowed him to learn everything in a sub-conscious state at his own speed. He was exposed to an extremely open model of education, which he later tried in Shantiniketan. Tagore introduced the importance of freedom in education. He believed that nothing must be done in an authoritarian manner or be forced upon. Education must be given its space and time to grow. He stressed on the importance sub-conscious learning and open-mindedness. He wanted one to be broad or open minded and look at everything in life in an open, unprejudiced manner. “I was brought up in an atmosphere of aspiration, aspiration for the expansion of the human spirit.  We in our home sought freedom of power in our language, freedom of imagination in our literature, freedom of soul in our religious creeds and that of mind in our social environment.  Such an opportunity has given me confidence in the power of education which is one with life and only which can give us real freedom, the highest that is claimed for man, his freedom of moral communion in the human world.... I try to assert in my words and works that education has its only meaning and object in freedom–freedom from ignorance about the laws of the universe, and freedom from passion and prejudice in our communication with the human world.  In my institution I have attempted to create an atmosphere of naturalness in our relationship with strangers, and the spirit of hospitality which is the first virtue in men that made civilization possible.
I invited thinkers and scholars from foreign lands to let our boys know how easy it is to realise our common fellowship, when we deal with those who are great, and that it is the puny who with their petty vanities set up barriers between man and man.”[4]

By 1901, Rabindranath Tagore started a school in his father’s ashram. He called it Shantiniketan. In his school he included both Indian culture and Western concepts. Shantiniketan didn’t have anything like a set syllabus. Tagore believed life is to be learnt through experience. He got faculty from all over the world to guide the students of Shantiniketan. And in Shantiniketan, Tagore made it a point that even the rural, under privileged students are given equal education. He wanted to bridge the gap between the city’s elite and villages’ poor. And he did this with education as a tool. There were many discussions in Shantiniketan, and all kinds of learning and evaluation were based on this. The students were expected to be open, frank and free. Tagore believed that education was not just about books, formulae or derivations. According to Tagore, education was something big, which should not be limited into a book or an exam. The education at Shantiniketan was based on day-to-day chores and activities. Tagore’s style and methodologies were very useful for everyone as it mould a person into a human being. It not only gave them knowledge, but the power to use it and think about it too. “We have come to this world, to accept it and not merely to know it. We may become powerful by knowledge, but we attain fullness by sympathy. The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”[5] Tagore had later composed a poem expressing his wish on how education everywhere must be,
Where the mind is without fear
   and the head is held high,
   Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken 
up into fragments by narrow domestic
walls;
 Where words come out from the
depth of truth;
 Where tireless striving
       stretches its arms towards
  perfection;  
 Where the clear stream of reason
      has not lost its way into the
 dreary desert sand of dead habit;
    Where the mind is led forward
 by thee into ever-widening
      thought and action–
 into that heaven of freedom,
   My Father,
Let my country awake.[6]

Another trend that arose during the freedom struggle was the starting of National Schools by the Indian National Congress. In 1921, when the non-cooperation movement began, the Indian National Congress called for the boycott of all British institutions, including British schools. At that time, they saw the need for modern education, to educate the youngsters of the nation. They realized that it was necessary to educate the people of the nation or else we would end up wit such similar fate. The necessity of education forced them to the setting-up of educational institutions. But this time, they did not adopt the traditional methodologies of teaching. They opened schools across the nation. At these schools, they followed the British system of secular and democratic education. They did not show any differentiation and thus good education for building a better future was born.

In the modern times, everyone knows the importance of education and its value in the world. One is considered as a human being only if he is educated. But the definition of education has changed drastically over the years. From a spiritual and respected ceremony, education has now become something like more of a mechanical customary or statement.

 The government of India has realized the importance of education. That only reflected in the deletion of compulsory education from the Directive State Principles and its inclusion in the Fundamental Rights. It is the right of every child to attain free and compulsory education till the age of 14. This primary education will help them live a better life and understand things better. They will know the good and bad in life. They will learn to say no, wherever it is required. And when the children learn things, they can be helpful to their elder generation, in which there are many illiterates. Till date, there are many places in India where poor people are fooled and money is got out of them. Many rich people lure the poor or mainly tribes who are illiterate, by giving them false promises and getting the land allotted to them by the government. They get them to sign false agreements and steal away all their properties. Sometimes, they even cheat them by paying very less amount. An example for this is the Coca-Cola plant in Plachimada, Palakkad (Palghat). The authorities of the company cheated the people and the got their land from them. But now, the ground water of the entire region in contaminated and has become unfit for drinking. If only they had been careful and aware of such disadvantages of plants, this would not have happen. Another example would be from the very present, the Jan Lokpal Bill. The protests grew strong only when more people were educated about all these. All these years corruption has been in existence, and so has the fight against it. But it is only now that the movement has gained some momentum and support all over the nation. It is only now that the government is forced to submit to the demands of the people. The most important reason for this is that all the people are educated about the atrocities of the corrupt ministers. The people are made to realize and hence, many measures are going to being taken against corruption. And if even a small amount of corruption is put to an end, our country will develop big time economically. It will help our country develop itself. We can stop depending on other sources like the World Bank any other foreign funding organisations for funds for anything and everything we do in our country.

Education, through any means is to be given to everyone. Another thing to be taken care is of the quality of education. Along with quality of education, equality of education is also should be taken care of. In India there are many types and categories of people. Hence, a common education throughout at primary level will be the most absurd thing to do. There are children who might be first generation learners; some might come from a good background. So, all these must be taken into consideration while primary education is given to students. I do not mean to form a differentiation between such children. But, there must be someone to take care of such children. All they need is an extra push and they will be equal to any other child. If such a system is followed we will have a bright tomorrow. If these under privileged children are given little extra care, a pat on their backs and adequate opportunities, they are sure to form the pillars of our nation in the future. But one big problem is that they are given any support and when they reach the level of higher education, they get something called the reservation. And at this level there are other frustrated students who create an unnecessary over reservation. If all these children are made equal at their primary level it all these can be avoided. It is true that we need quality and equality in education, but equality will only be possible if quality education is given to everyone.

Education develops our nation politically, economically and socially. We have one of the worlds best space research centers. We have one of the best education system, hence Indian teachers are respected and in demand all over the world. Our financial markets are one of the very few which didn’t get affected like other countries did during the recent market crashes in the United States. We shine in fields ranging from Science and Technology to literature. We have produced some of the worlds best literary giants like Rabindranath Tagore, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, Arundathi Roy, Aravind Adiga and many others. We also have equally important names in the fields of theatre and films. And one place where India stands apart from many other countries is the presence and raise of eminent women intellectuals, philosophers, icons and other leaders. Though there is lots of gender discrimination in our country, many women fought all odds to come up in life. They too have been a part in the building of our nation and its development. They must be given equal rights for education and over the past years they have proven that there is no such work that a man can do and a woman can’t. It also has a very vast cultural heritage to back all these.

But nowadays, a lot of Western concepts and culture has, and is still influencing our education systems. There is nothing wrong about it, but we must never get carried away by their world. We must always remember that we have one of the greatest culture and heritage in the world. Many great people like T.S.Eliot have adopted many things from our culture. Recently, the government of Bihar decided to make a world-class University at Nalanda (which is believed to be the site of the world’s first University). For this they called upon eminent people like Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and our former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to advice and guide them. Our history dates back to the period of the Indus Valley civilization. We have a lot to learn from our own culture and past. It will be better if we form an education system composing of a mixture of both Western concepts and Indian values. This was what Rabindranath Tagore had told during his times. We must always be proud of our nation and uphold it by forming a stronger tomorrow. This is only possible if education is given importance and treated above everything.


[1] Jawaharlal Nehru, Glimpses of World History, Pg.59
[2] Jawaharlal Nehru, Glimpses of World History, Pg.59
[3] Thomas Macaulay’s Minutes on Indian Education
[4] Rabindranath Tagore, 1929
[5] Rabindranath Tagore, 1926
[6] Mind Without Fear, Rabindranath Tagore, published in Gitanjali, 1912

Growing Up in the Times of a Civil War: The Ethnic Question in Elmo Jayawardena's Sam's Story



Sri Lanka was a land of war, bloodshed and violence until recently. Millions of innocent lives were taken away. There was no one to be called the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ here. Both the sides were bad. All they did was destroy the peace in the country and turn it into a feared place. Even till date many tourists who go to Sri Lanka face lots of problem. No one was spared. She won her independence in the year 1949. After independence, most of the economic policies were controlled by the newly formed government. Sri Lanka had a large population of Tamils, who had migrated from India long ago. These Tamils played an important role in the building of the nation and were very active in the freedom struggle. They had the sense of belonging towards Sri Lanka. It is obvious for someone to have such a feeling when they are born and brought up in that country. Things were good until the question of ethnicity sprang up. The natives of Sri Lanka, according to them, the Sinhalese were supposed to be given more priorities than the foreign Tamils. In 1956, the Government passed a law that made knowledge of Sinhala compulsory for any Government jobs. This was called the Sinhala Only Act. The very purpose of this sudden outburst was clear to everyone. It was the first ever step to exclude the Tamils from all the activities of the Government. Until then, many Tamils had influential posts in the Government. But after this, they lost their recognition. There was a massive protest against this step taken by the Government. To make the situation worse, there arose a war of religious identity. In Lanka, most of the Sinhalese followed Buddhism where as, the Tamils believed in Hinduism. The people made use of this as a weapon and continued their struggle. A war which was supposed to be Sinhalese versus Tamil turned out to be a war between the Buddhists and the Hindus. As the 1970s approached, the State economy began to crumble. It began to show its weakness and shortages. In the next election in 1977, UNP (a Sinhalese majority Party) easily managed to win. They introduced Sri Lanka to the global market. Lanka was one of the first of the third world countries to embark upon globalization. This gave space for many of the Tamils to invest in the market. The Sinhalese started having major issues with this rising of Tamils. In 1983, there was massive violence against all the Tamils. This in turn gave rise to many people who yielded arms, like Prabhakaran. Thus, a civil war was born. The war of the people against the State policies became the war between the two groups. This is a clear example of how a political war turned out to be a civil war during the times of an economic crisis.

We all know that literature is the reflection of the society and our own lives. All these happenings in the island country had a major impact on all contemporary writing. It did affect the lives of every single person in the country in some way or the other. So did it affect the writings. Elmo Jayawardena’s Sam’s Story is an amazing novel that describes the Lanka through the eyes of our protagonist and through his life and their events. Sam is portrayed as a slow-learning, poor, innocent boy. The story takes us through Sam’s life, explains minor things like why he dislikes the Tamil cook, his colleague and room-mate at the River House he worked, to major issues like as to why he hates the war. Sam is born into a large family of six members. He had two younger brothers, Jaya and Madiya, who join the army and end up dying for the war fought for no reason. His sisters Loku and Podi stay along with their destitute mother who works hard jus to cook the evening meal. They live a life of utter poverty.

            Sam was a very innocent and simple boy. He didn’t think very much about anything, thus he was not very worried about many things others usually were. He took life in a very easy manner though many things affected him. He believed that people were many a time just interested in asking questions to everyone about everything. They had nothing else to do, so they asked questions.
“I never could figure out why people asked me so many questions. Maybe they thought I knew all the answers to life. Even while standing at a bus stop, someone would ask me a stupid question.
‘What time will the next bus come?’
People always asked me things like that. How would I know when the next bus would come?
‘When did the last bus go?’
Now that is a really stupid question. I wouldn’t be here if I was at the bus stop when the last bus went would I?...”[1]

                Sam was always irritated with such questions. He never understood for what reason people asked so many questions. He also had a simple way of thinking. That is very clear from the answers he gives to the people who ask him questions. He was very innocent and never understood the fuss people created over many small things; small things according to him. For instance, once he forgets to switch off the lights at the River House[2]. And his Master gets very angry about this incident and calls him a fool. Sam hates it when someone calls him a fool, and he was even angrier because his Master called him that though he knows Sam was not one. He also mentioned that it was he who paid the electricity bill and was not to be wasted like this. At that instance, Sam thought to himself,
“…In any case he never the bills; it was Harrison[3] who paid all the bills in the River House.” [4]
                It is through this simple thinking of his that we get to know what the war has done to the nation and how much the people are affected, both physically and mentally. Towards the end of the story, there is a deep change in the thoughts of everyone, and that concludes what the war had done to anyone with a beating heart.


Sam hated the war right from the beginning. He had his reasons for it. This question of, ‘whose war is this?’ kept revolving in his mind. He totally disapproved of the fighting and never even understood for what reason the people were killing each other. But he was aware that it was the Tamils against whom the war was being fought. He knew that the Tamils were his enemies too, as they killed his people in the North. That was one major reason for him to hate Leandro, the cook. He had many other reasons like Leandro drying his ‘multi-coloured’ lankets[5], his closeness to Janet, the voting system to watch television and so on. But the very fact that he was a Tamil stood above everything else. He simply disliked the Tamils, whether good or bad. They were their enemies and that’s all he knew. He even hates his Master’s son’s friend who had come home from abroad. Even though she is nice to him and likes him, he dislikes and hates her just for the fact that she was a Tamil. Sam’s brothers, Jaya and Madiya had both joined the army to fight against the separatists in the North. For them, it was like a dream come true but only for a few days. Back at home, they had to struggle hard to even fill their stomachs. They didn’t even have proper place to sleep at home. They lived a life of utter poverty. But in the army, they were given clothes to wear, a place to stay and food to eat. Moreover, they also got some money which they could send home to their mother. For them, this was a comfortable life when they heard of it and joined. So was it for all the poor. Hence, it was only the poor who joined the war and ended up dying, for no war of theirs. It was a poor man’s war. The poor were being used as the pawns on both the sides by political leaders. It was a war for an unknown reason, at least for the soldiers who fought. The rich always sent their children away from all these by putting them abroad. The Master’s son and daughter were examples for this.
“…We are fighting and dying and the people in power who want us to fight are sending their children to other countries to keep them away from the war.” [6]
                Sam had lost both his younger brother in the war. He also got the chance to witness how cruel and false the army men were. He was working at Madam Martell’s[7] place when Jaya’s death had happened. When he got back home, he noticed that there were many people and a lot of arrangements done. There were drinks and biscuits for everyone; some men had given some money to his mother, the army had arranged everything for his brother’s funeral. They seemed very nice and the army seemed a great place to be in, with lots of care, affection and respect. Even Kada Mudalali[8] had spoken great of Jaya and mother when he had to speak.
                But it was only when Madiya came back that he realized the reality. Madiya had run away from the army understanding that the war was not fought for them but for the rich and the political leaders for their own gain. He was also afraid that he will be killed soon by his own men as they never left anyone who had run away from the war front. Madiya at that point of time was regretting his decision of joining the army. Madiya was so fed up that he says,
“’The war is over for me,’ he said. ‘I will never go back. They will have to kill me before they can take me back to fight for them’”[9]
                Madiya seemed to be very frustrated with the war and the people who were behind it. When Sam mentions about how nice they were when they came to cremate Jaya, Madiya jumped at him with anger. He spoke to them a lot about the war. Sam understood much, though not everything. But it was clear from Madiya’s words that this war was not a good thing. All it did was take the lives of many poor. Madiya gave a first hand experience of the war. He explained to them how the newspapers had been covering up many facts just to put up a good image for the ruling party. Since he had run away, he was sure that the army would soon hunt him down. He was very frustrated and fed up of all these. He spoke about many others who were in the same situation as him and had run away during the ten days off that they got after four months of hell. They were all hunted down by the army. They fought for nothing and finally went they got fed up and ran away, they were hunted down.
                He was also frustrated about the fact that it was only the poor who was fighting the war and for no issues of theirs. They were the ones who always spoke about the war and cherished upon it, but they never fought. They were never worried about the war and its consequences. He comments on the rich in frustration,
“’Where are they? They are not in the camps or on the lonely roads where the killing is going on. They are playing cricket or watching cricket or going to big hotels to eat their meals. They never go to fight. So they don’t have to die, or run like I did. They don’t have to be called cowards. That is the war for you.’”[10]
                He also talks about the worst living conditions they face while in the war zone. He spoke about how they had to work all time and had no sleep. Along with all the work, they were fighting too. He speaks about the other side too. This gives us some knowledge about the fighting Tamils also. He also feels bad for them as most of the warriors on the other side are children, even younger than him. To make it even worse, there were girls too. And the most affecting part of the war was that none of them knew what they were fighting for. They killed the other jus to save themselves, with nothing against them in mind. Madiya gives a very interesting and realistic statement about the war here,
“…I don’t think they know anything more about this war than we do. We kill them because they come to kill us, neither of us knowing why we are doing this to each other.”[11]
                This reminds me of one of Thomas Hardy’s poems, ‘The Man He Killed’, in which the narrator describes the scene of a war and a man whom he killed. He killed a man whom he never knew. He says that he would have shared a drink with that man in the bar where he was sitting if only he was not his foe. He killed the unknown man for the only reason he wore a different uniform than his. He never knew who that person was even. If he had not pulled the trigger then, the man would have. That’s all about a war.

“Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipper kin! ...
…I shot him dead because-
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although.”[12]

                                Sam had therefore lost both his brothers. This was one major reason he hated the war. It was also because of this that he hated all the Tamils. They were the ones who had killed his brothers. It was because of them that his small family had lots of sorrows and tears. Whoever the person was, be it Leandro, Janet, Velu[13] or the boy’s special friend who had come from abroad for her vacations. They were all the same. They were all bad and he could never accept them as his friend or even get close to them to that fact.
                The author also gives us an opportunity to understand the views of the rich and the upper-middle class. Sam works in an upper-middle class household. Whenever his Master has guests, he is the one who serves them with drinks. When he did so, he was required to be present there all the time. So, he happens to hear the conversations of these people. They often discussed about the war. But the fact was that none of them were directly involved in the war. All they did was discussed and complain about everything. Sam never understood why people complained so much. He assumed that if people do not have a solution to any problem, they prefer to complain about it. And all these, if there was no cricket matches in play. If cricket was on, that would be the only major thing to discuss on.
                In the beginning of the year 2000, it was only war everywhere. Everyone seemed to have there own contributions to the words about the war. From Lucky’s barbershop to Menda’s bakery, war was the only burning issue. They spoke about bombs going off at some place, some unheard road being captured by either the army or the liberals. It was the same at the river house also. Whenever visitors came, all they spoke was about the war.
“None of them had been in the war. Or, for that matter, none of them had anyone from their families who were involved in the fighting. The real conflict was far from them. But they talked; they always spoke as if they had all the answers.” [14]
                All the guests at home had their own solution to the crises. Some said that the Government must draw a border and give some land to the Tamils as they too have been living here for many years. Some said that all these must be settled by the political organizations by forgetting all their personal differences. Some preferred to sit and complain about the increase in taxes. They found some kind of relief in complaining about the leaders. Many were already thinking of leaving the country. They were also fed up of this war, but for many other reasons. Raji sir, Master’s friend and neighbour gave a very sensible statement,
“…’Only then will you see the real fun. When the deaths reach the rich and the powerful.’ He laughed strangely and went on. ‘Only then will there be serious considerations about how to end the war. Till that happens, this sick business will go on. For us, there is no battle. We all wash our hands off it. It is the poor who are affected…’” [15]
                They went on and on. There was also an economic crisis during the war. The people also complained about that and poverty. Sam at such times thought these people here don’t even know what poverty is and they are all commenting on them becoming poor. Sam had experienced poverty. This reality of war and poverty had made the people think the worse. Once Velu had taken off and gone to his village for some ceremony. He never returned after that. That incident gave a discussion point at Master’s place. Some even said he would have been a spy planted there to follow some motions. That was absolutely crazy! If only the war was not there people would have only thought he got some other better job or he would have had some emergency. But the war had totally made the people go mad. On the other side, poverty even made people lose their belief in their Gods. Once there was a discussion between Leandro and Sam about their Gods.  Leandro’s God’s picture was very ferocious. They had many arms and had weapons too.[16]Whereas, Sam’s God was very peaceful with his eyes closed and meditating.[17]He thought this night by the reason they always lost and he was afraid of the Tamils for this reason too. He considered their God more powerful and ferocious than his.
                Similarly, during Christmas, the River House was in full flow. There were lights, colours, sweets, guests and it was always cheerful. While setting up the Christmas tree, Sam had many questions. It was the first time ever he was celebrating some day called Christmas. He gradually came to know from the Master’s daughter that this was the most important festival for them. He also learnt about Santa Claus, who would be giving them gifts soon. On the day of Christmas, he received his gifts. He was very excited. He was very grateful to this Santa Claus for leaving few gifts for him too. After a while he asked the master’s daughter if he could change Gods. The girl was pretty shocked by this question. Sam then spoke out,
“…I said I was sure Loku and Podi wouldn’t mind changing Gods and making a tree for the Santa Claus man. Especially if they also got belts, dresses and bags like Janet did.”[18]
                He also thought that the Gods were always against the poor. He never understood the reason behind this. He had already created them poor; moreover he gave them problems after problems. Like the death of two sons, the flood which took away the leftovers of their lives, etc. the flood had not only taken away the leftovers, but also Sam’s one and only best friend, Piya.
                Coming back to the war, the war had created a very big impact in the minds of the people. In the story, towards the end, Sam’s Master dies in a bomb blast in a bank on his visit to the capital. After this incident, there is a drastic transformation in the River House changes. The old life and joy dies off. Madam leaves the place and goes to her children. Bhurus and Lena are given off to Mrs. Raji. The biggest transformation was in the attitudes of Leandro and Sam. They didn’t hate each other any more. They were really upset about what had happened. They never understood why their master had to die. He had never done any harm to anyone. At this situation, Sam tells to himself,
“There was no reason for him to die, but now he was dead.”[19]
                Even Leandro breaks down on this news. All this days he was proud about what his people were doing. He often threatened Sam that he would join the army some day and kill him. He hated Sam very much and Sam hated him back too. But at this moment, Leandro just had one thing to say,
“They should not have killed him, Sam…”[20]
                After this everyone returned to their own homes. The house was empty. Once back home, Sam started thinking about many things. His days of happiness at the River House, his small fights with Leandro, etc. they were all over. He was even ready to go back and adjust with Leandro. He hated him no more.
“It is strange how I don’t hate him anymore. I wish we could both go back in time and be at the River House again, sharing our small room. Leandro could do his cooking and fart as much as he liked and he could hang his lankets wherever he wanted. We could live there, not hating each other; I mean, we could just get on with our stupid lives without having to worry about things that were beyond us. No more talk about who is dividing the country and who is winning and who is losing…I guess there is lot more to people than how they fart and where they hang their multicoloured wet lankets. Or, for that matter, to which side they belong.”[21]
                This novel is just one more mouth to talk about what war does to us. All what war does is destroy mankind. Take examples of any such wars, it is only the innocent who end up dying; people who wouldn’t have even known the reason for the fighting, people who wouldn’t even know that there is a war happening. Such wars and crises only destroy human civilizations. It has been like this since the times mankind has seen fighting and wars. In Louis MacNiece’s Prayer Before Birth, the child fears about the present world even before its born. It asks God to kill it in its mother’s womb than being born into such a world full of desolation and darkness. I would like to end my presentation with a few lines from a song which I think pertains to this context.
“And how many times must a canon ball fly,
Before they are forever banned?...
…And how many deaths will it take till we know,
That too many people have died?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind.”[22]


[1] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.1
[2] The River House is where Sam goes to work after he stopped going work at the White Lady’s place.
[3] Harrison is the driver at the River House.
[4] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.60
[5] Inner-garment worn by men
[6] Said by Madiya after he runs away from the army, fed up of everything; Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.118
[7] Sam’s first employee, a White lady
[8] Kada Mudalali is the local shop owner who later wins the election and becomes their leader
[9] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.115
[10] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.117
[11] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.118
[12] Thomas Hardy; The Man He Killed
[13] Velu is the servant who works at Sam’s Master’s friend’s place. He often discusses about the war with Leandro and talk about the death toll of the Lankans.
[14] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.135; Sam’s comment on the rich who sit and talk about the war
[15] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.138
[16]The Hindu Gods usually have images like that. Eg. Narasimha, Kali, etc
[17] Gautama Buddha
[18] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.89
[19] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.168
[20] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.169
[21] Elmo Jayawardena; Sam’s Story; Pg.170
[22] Bob Dylan; Blowing In the Wind; 1963