Tea and Talks with the Sri Lankan Ambassador: Discussing Political Conflict and Resolutions in Sri Lanka

- November 26, 2014, Wednesday.

- Still fresh and dark-skinned from Taiwan (if you missed my posts, please click here for part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5,) I barely had any rest. I had to fix my things, and do some important school work, but I had also been looking forward to attending this forum held in the University of the Philippines Asian Center. The forum was entitled "Political Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka," and focused on the Tamil Eelam problem, vis a vis the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE.) The talk was to be done by none other than the ambassador of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the Republic of the Philippines, H.E. S.V.D. Gamini Samaranayake, Ph.D. Moreover, not only was I able to attend this forum, but I was also asked to be moderator of the event just a day before the forum.

- The forum this afternoon, held from 2-5pm, was mostly packed with students from PUP, Asian Center faculty, some students from the Asian Center, and representatives from the UP Asian Center Alumni Association. Apart from the ambassador's secretary, Mrs. Wijeratne Mendis, minister of the mission/charge d'affairs, was also there to accompany the ambassador.

- Ambassador/Dr. Samaranayake used to be the senior chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy, Sri Lanka, and as an academic, he specializes on various aspects of Sri Lankan politics, from ethnicity to conflict resolutions. He has also a long list of publications and achievements in relation to his profession as an academic. Ambassador Samaranayake was just designated to the Philippines this year, so he shared to us that he is still feeling his way around the country, although he has been to the Philippines twice or thrice in the past for short visits.

Asian Center dean, Prof. Eduardo Gonzales, giving the welcoming remarks.

I don't have a photo of me speaking, so here's an alternative.

My adviser, Prof. Joefe Santarita, introducing the ambassador.

H.E. S.V.G. Gamini Samaranayake.

- As mentioned earlier, the ambassador's lecture focused on the issue of Tamil Eelam. Just for a bit of background, Sri Lanka has two main ethno-linguistic groups: the Sinhalese (Sinhala-speaking people,) and the Tamils (Tamil-speaking people who came from India since ancient times; there are still Tamils in India, with most of them living in the state of Tamil Nadu.) Tamil Eelam is the proposed independent state by the Tamils of Sri Lanka, and comprises of the northern tip, most of the eastern coast, and some parts of the western coast of Sri Lanka. The organization that violently pushed for this was the LTTE, the country's foremost secessionist group. Since the 70s until the organization's defeat by the Sri Lankan government in 2009, LTTE has unleashed several serious attacks and assassinations; their list of assassinated people include India's Rajiv Gandhi and former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

Some important slides.

- Ambassador Samaranayake stated that due to the destruction that the LTTE has caused, the Sri Lankan government responded with what he calls the "5 Rs:" rehablitation, resettlement, reintegration, and reconstruction, and reconciliation. He concludes by saying that while the Sri Lankan government has achieved many things in the recent years, the challenge of having social and political stability still remains.

5 Rs.

Final slide.

 - The ambassador presented the whole thing, according to my professor, not as a diplomat, but as an academic (which he was, for the longest time, before being a diplomat.) Ambassador Samaranayake was quite frank about the things that went on in Sri Lanka, and the intensity of the horrendous attacks that were unleashed by LTTE.

Official poster of the forum.

"Rock on." (Of course he didn't say that.) 

Certificate of Appreciation.

- After the talk, he was briskly escorted to another room for some Sri Lankan tea and some native snacks (puto and bibingka.) I initially followed them to the holding room just so I could have a photo with him, but I ended up explaining the snacks to him. My adviser also invited me to stay with them in the room and have some private tea-time with them. I was the only student there, and I was having tea with my adviser, the Asian Studies dean, the ambassador, Mrs. Mendis, and the ambassador's secretary. I felt quite nervous being around the ambassador in such a small room, so he will surely notice any blooper that I may unintentionally do (which happens a lot to me, like tripping in front of the former Indian ambassador, click here.) I actually felt like Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, aka "Princess Mia" from Pincess Diaries, who had a hard and wacky time conforming to royal etiquette, trying her best not to do anything wrong, funny, or silly (but does anyway.)

Winning shot, taken by my adviser.

- Our almost-an-hour pre-dinner tea-time consisted of talks about the current situation of Sri Lanka, and possible academic, institutional, or cultural partnerships. Generally, tea-time was just chit-chat time.  We said our goodbyes to the ambassador just after the seasonal early sunset. As for me, the true victory for me was not (only) meeting the ambassador or moderating the forum, but it was not being able to unleash a clumsy blooper in front of the ambassador.

The Festival of India 2013: The Divine Chariot's Journey and Blessings

- February 2, 2013, Saturday.

- The University of the Philippines Asian Center, in cooperation with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce Industry (FICCI,) and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON,) has cooked up "The Festival of India," in line with one of India's colorful festivals, called the "Ratha Yatra" (Chariot Parade.)

- I got up bright and early, despite not having enough sleep from all the things that I needed to these few weeks, and went to school to change into my head-to-toe Mughal outfit (yes, with the turban and the pointy camel-leather Indian shoes (khussa,)) since I was assigned to be one of the 2 emcees for the day. The other emcee assigned was Mr. Bharat Dasa from ISKCON, a jolly man with a big laugh.

- While going around the GT-Toyota grounds (Asian Center grounds,) I was quite impressed to see a lot of life-sized Hindu statues, including one of Narasimha, the half-lion-half-man avatar (earthly incarnation) of Lord Vishnu, the preserver god. I later realized that the Narasimha statue, seemed to be made from some heavy black stone, was made out of painted styrofoam, and other light materials. I was also happy to see my friends Kevin and Jeannette, while I was inspecting the rainbow-splashed decorations, and the majestic chariot that seemed to come from heaven.

Narasimha, Vishnu's 4th avatar

Hi Jeannette!!

Kevin. :D:D:D:D

Carved from styro. I reallly thought this was carved from a block of rock.

The 4 Vedas; this case just  sits in the library most of the time, until today.

Chariot from heaven.

From behind. 

- The parade started in the UP oval grandstand, with possibly a hundred participants, mostly students from different schools. A festive puja, or offering, was headed by His Holiness, Janananda Maharaj (a British monk,) before the procession/pulling of the chariot commenced. His Holiness was one of the happiest and most energetic monks I've seen in my life.

A puja to Swami Prabhupada.

Singing and dancing.

With Latasha and Clio.

His Holiness, Janananda Maharaj.

- The sun was blaring hot, but it was better than raining; from what I heard, it rained elsewhere in Manila, but it didn't in UP. My feet were already suffering during the procession alone, but the happy smiles of the participants, and the jumpy-beats from the bhajans (religious songs,) drums, and other Indian instruments made the overall mood lighter, and the procession more bearable.

- My co-host and I formally welcomed the guests, and opened the Festival of India in the GT-Toyota Auditorium after everyone settled. As soon as all the VIPs said their speeches, we proceeded to having a talk by His Holiness, Giridhari Swami (an Australian monk,) about karma and reincarnation.

With the Jagannath triad (Balabhadra, Subhadra, and Jagannath; Jagannath is said to be a non-canonical incarnation of Vishnu.)

More dancing by His Holiness.

Lecture.

- We all had lunch after. ISKCON was kind enough to provide everyone with free (loaded) lunch boxes, and cups of fresh dalandan juice. More fortunately for me, I got to have lunch in the VIP hall, where I was able to have more food. Sing India band, the only Indian band in the Philippines, performed while the people were having lunch, and sang religious and Bollywood songs. They also played for a short bhangra performance right before the afternoon activities.

Sing India band.

Classmates and friends from the Asian Center.

Hand/face-painting.

Had a chance to have my picture taken with Mr. Priya  while everyone's out.

Bhangra!!!!

-  The afternoon program started with my favorite segment: the Indian classical dance performance. What made me more interested in the performance was after I found out that our guest dancer, Ms. Priya Khanna, was going to perform the Bharanatyam. The Bharatanatyam is a South Indian dance, from the state of Tamil Nadu. This dance is also called the "dance of fire" because of its jumpy movements, and complex footwork.

- I longed to see this dance in front of me since I made my first ever term paper about it in 2006 when I was still in high school. It was the first Indian classical dance I became interested in, and I always thought I'd see it first hand in India. Little did I know that I would see it where else but in my school.

- Ms. Priya danced for around 6 minutes, and stayed afterwards for a short open forum, and a brief dance tutorial. I was nearly in tears as everything-Bharatanatyam was happening in front of me.

- Ms. Priya's 30 minutes were up, and of course I would've wanted to interact with her more, if only we had no schedule to follow. The next program was the kirtan yoga. Kirtan yoga is the process of connecting to the Supreme Divine through music. The session was facilitated once again by His Holiness, Giridhari Swami. He was accompanied by the Kirtan Ras band, a 9-member musical ensemble fusing together Western and Indian music.

Kirtan yoga.

With my professor, Dr. Joefe Santarita.

Prof and Dino.

Blissful dancing by everyone.

- His Holiness and the band sung the Hare Krishna mantra over and over again, until people stood up one by one, let the music flow through their veins, and danced blissfully inside the auditorium. The session went more mystical and "happy" than all thought it would be; even my co-host from ISKCON was surprised.

- The last two activities were facilitated by Mr. Pio Bacquiran, also known as Gokulachandra Dasa, a Filipino yogi who is also a follower of the Hare Krishna movement. He facilitated the vegetarian cooking demo, where he was assisted by kiddie hosts from the GMA Saturday-morning-children's show "Tropang Potchie." Afterwards, he ushered the interested participants back to the auditorium for the yoga and wellness class. While waiting for the yoga participants to finish and formally close the whole event, I was out in the GT-Toyota grounds to interact with the Hare Krishna devotees, most of who were Filipinos who wore dhotis, gopi skirts, saris, kurtas, etc. (One of them even gave me a prayer-bead garland made of sandal wood.)

Cooking class with kids from "Tropang Potchie."

With le kidsssss.

Kiddo trying to do yoga. The cutest thing ever. Haha.

Kids from "Tropang Potchie" doing yoga.

- Finally, yet another Indian cultural event has brought people together in appreciation for everything Indian. I noticed that the Indian community in the Philippines has been quite active in promoting India's cultures to the Philippine public in the recent months, starting from the grand diwali celebration last November in MOA. This event was also a good opportunity to promote my program of study, since, well, I'm the only one in the South Asian track (so far,) and my prof is the only one specializing in that area too. I do hope that more events like these will keep making people more interested in South Asia, especially since people have been hooked on some (now I think are quite overrated) Indian (or Indian-inspired) movies lately. (I'm looking forward to this year's diwali, and I wish that another cultural activity will be organized by the community this year, just like last year.)