JUST RAMBLING THOUGHTS...
“What irritates me most,” sighed a friend who lives on one of the many roads MPS and Ministers take when going to Siri Kotha, and/or Parliament, “Is the sound of those sirens, police escorts and ambulances following those un-worthwhile members of the House”. We ALL agreed. There is a far better way to deploy them. At schools for instance so that kids can return feeling safe which is something they cannot do at the moment since Ministers and their cohorts monopolise our country’s safety officers.
Anyway the Government has been criticized ad nauseum and it does not seem to have touched anyone a whit. So we may as well stop doing so and focus on things that CAN be done by those of us with no weapon in our hands other than the power of the written word. And even this takes second place to the Social Media’s output these days.
To begin my ramblings…….i do not think President MS is a bad man. Only an extremely silly one. Does he not realize what a figure of fun he has become with this flurry of activity he engages in? Does he not know that every pronouncement he makes is greeted with derisive laughter by the very people he is trying to impress? Who are his Media advisors? They are doing an appalling job. By holding tamashas and travelling abroad he has shown insensitivity and stupidity on a stupendous scale. EVERYDAY (unless he is travelling abroad) he is on TV talking, talking, talking into a mike on a decorated podium dressed in crisp white and displaying his usual sanctimonious air. I think he loses a few votes daily.
To expect anything from a divided Government is an airy fairy dream. In a country like ours we tend to label people easily and quickly, which is perhaps inevitable in an island with a multi-cultural history. Inevitably, again, guessing games are played, speculative stories are floating around, rumour mills are grinding vigorously till it has become impossible to separate confirmed fact from culpable fiction. Sycophants add their ridiculous attitudes and sentimental words to the noise causing an unbelievable cacophony.
So let’s get practical and write of posibililities. What would make us feel more united with our Muslim population? In my school days we never thought of one as being “separate’ from the other. There was no division. Our gentle Muslim classmates were always totally ‘belonging’. But, NOW, at this juncture of our relationship, new ties and new bonds have to be formed. If I were a Muslim girl I would ask myself ,”What can I do to help matters?” and the first thing that springs to mind is DRESS.
I realize that the Muslim girl wants to be modest. Modern clothes like revealing tops, tight trousers, sexy looking attire are out. (This might not be a bad idea for the rest of us too come to think of it.)
But there are some really beautiful outfits in the Middle East which could be adopted and which would not make the Muslim girl so instantly identifiable and different. The Salwar/kameez is a Moghul costume and is as modest as the rather ugly gathered skirt and hang out top which Muslim women wear at the moment. (Apart from the Burqa I mean.) I am sure they do not WANT to be unattractive. The Muslim men in the meantime could not be nattier. They sport the latest Men’s attire from the West and the East and have no problem at all in generally acting like the male peacock spreading its gorgeous tail before the poor, plain looking peahen
I have a theory (unpopular with the Muslim male I am sure) which asks why Muslim men cannot be taught to practise self control if the mere sight of a pretty girl’s hair and face can incite lust? Why should THEY be protected from temptation? Why should the women cover up? The men should encourage pure thoughts in themselves don’t you think? Also a little self control would be useful.
Dress separates communities. We have to face it. Potus or Bindis usually identified a Tamil until they became popular with many sari wearers too. Holy Ash denotes a Hindu. The turban, a Sikh. The Cheongsam, a Chinese. Harmless enough in the old Sri Lanka and even today one would like to think. But in the middle of all this mayhem the Muslim girl might like to look more like her contemporaries of other communities and still manage to keep to the rules of the Koran.
I recall an amusing incident. Well – amusing in retrospect. It was reported to me when I was still the Principal of Asian Int. since the tutor involved thought I should speak to those concerned.
Apparently, she was conducting her usual weekly tuition class in Economics with 12 students from various International Schools. It was a very hot day and even the fan at full speed did not keep a Muslim girl, fully covered, feeling extremely hot. Only her face showed.
“Why don’t you push up your sleeves?” suggested one of the boys. “You will feel cooler.”
“I can’t do that,” she answered primly pulling down her garment over the tiny little bit of wrist that was showing.
“Why not?’ he replied. “You would be more comfortable.”
“We are not expected to show anything that may attract male attention,” said she as primly as possible.
The boy eyed her critically. “You don’t have to worry,” he told her, “You’re not THAT pretty.”
The class giggled and the girl was naturally furious. She told her mother. Her mother told the tutor. The tutor called me and I called the boy into my office.
“I apologized,” he said airily not particularly sorry at all even after a short lecture from me on things better left unsaid. Of course today such a remark would never be made. The Muslim community is very much more sensitive naturally – as are we to their feelings.
Generally speaking, advertising one’s ‘separate-ness’ publicly is asking to be looked at through different spectacles. In our multi cultural country why do such a thing? We are different enough. Let us accept it. Muslims feel all this separateness is sanctified by their Scriptures but let them recall that for 700 years the Arabs ruled Catholic Spain as much loved rulers. They did not enforce either beliefs or dress.
Moghul India was a lesson in tolerance. Akbar married Hindu wives. He allowed Jesuit priests into the country. Four Great Mughals practised total togetherness with their Hindu subjects and India flourished. It was only when the last, fifth, fanatical Mughal, Aurangzeb, became Emperor that the Empire began to break up. Fanaticism in any form does that.
Another instance of rigidity of belief is when (a few years ago ) one of the best International schools in Colombo refused to let a boy grow a beard. The parents took the matter to court saying their religion insisted on it. The thought of dozens of boys sporting shaggy or sparse beards is enough to make the most lenient school Principal shudder. Fortunately, that particular Community allowed good sense to prevail and the insistence was dropped.
Again I have had parents remove their girls from school, where they were perfectly well adjusted, because I refused to let them wear the Nikab in school. We recall with love our wonderful Muslim friends right through our lives. They will forgive this frank speaking I am sure, specially so as I have a long history of indulging my Muslim pupils by allowing AIS to close early on a Friday to accommodate Muslim boys to attend the Mosque. When teachers complained at the loss of one whole period, the sensible Lower School Heard suggested we simply cut 5 minutes off each period on Fridays so no one was inconvenienced.
But then the demands grew greater. Schools naturally cannot allow figures with covered faces roaming the corridors. I was rather taken aback when I encountered three fully clad black figures on a corridor one day. One of them was a parent. The others were just her friends. All three refused to uncover. As a precaution a rule was made that once anyone entering the school premises had to be able to be identified by all. It was not a popular request.
Does he not realize what a figure of fun he has become with this flurry of activity he engages in
By holding tamashas and travelling abroad he has shown insensitivity and stupidity on a stupendous scale
To expect anything from a divided Government is an airy fairy dream
We are not expected to show anything that may attract male attention, she said as primly as possible
As a precaution a rule was made that once anyone entering the school premises had to be able to be identified by all
One young man arrived in my office, “Mrs. G. I do not want my wife to be seen by anyone. My daughter is only 4 years old and she has to take her to class.”
“So she can remove the face covering from gate to class.”
He was adamant. So the compromise was that a school maid would meet the child at the gate and take her from a burqa clad mother and then return her after school in the same way. Such incidents would not be tolerated today and rightly so. A fundamentalist interpretation of Islam should not perpetuate that ‘Separate-ness” I earlier spoke of. The Liberal Muslim Leaders must give a thought to all this and encourage a ‘blending’ of clothing styles as far as possible within the dictates of Islam. The Unity of our Island and its people is paramount and it must be achieved in a manner acceptable to all.