Just recently, we left to Mannar, Sri Lanka – on a vacation. For over 30 years we had completely lost contact with nearly 20% of our land due to terrorism. Soon after the tigers had been put an end to, we did visit Jaffna and Trincomalee to discover the barely existent life style of the poor Tamil people – and over six years had passed since then. Now, luxury is making its way to the people who had suffered many years and it genuinely makes me feel comforted to see their tiny ones chase cattle and fly kites in the distance. It’s funny how decimation runs so deep within ourselves.

I found myself holding back from laughter as the elderly decide to discuss how the next terrorists to be are the rising Muslim community in Sri Lanka. Why are we like this? Life beyond my own control, including heaven, hell and afterlife all together, is only what we put our faith in. It is neither physically existent nor spiritually enlightening. Faith has its own charms and I see nothing wrong with our conscious mind hoping for more after we pass on from this world physically.

What we do have control over, is the life we lead, now. Why steer it wrongly and unjustly in the name of a place that no one had ever returned from? To me, all men are equal in flesh and blood. Perhaps I would upgrade your level from stranger to acquaint if you appeal to me with your wit. The only dividing factor between men is their level of intelligence. It doesn’t matter who you are if you are not smart with your choices. The sun is blazing hot in the semi-island you could reach passing a bridge that had the sea to both the sides. Donkeys walk around the island rather freely and I found it quite fascinating how one of them kept staring down a filling station of petrol shed without moving the least of his tail. They really are odd creatures.

What touched me, was how the people there found it easy to approach the shabby girl with ridiculously standing up hair in the wind hunching and sketching on her book. Four or five of them would sit by me and would ask me, where I’m from, if I’m Sinhala, what I do for a living – and would hesitantly request if they could see the other drawings in my sketch book. I’m not quite sure what sort of meaning you – personally, would want to give about the fact that I was interacting with scrawny looking black men mostly using sign language to say which way we came from and which way we’re going to, but I, personally, felt that it was a connection that would have never come about if not for the chalk in my hand. Whenever I had to say good bye, unconsciously I found myself wishing for a privileged life for them – but then, as my friend says, one on their own lives a long and eventful life.

I suppose it’s alright they don’t have all the fancy I have and wish for in my life – they probably have their own.