Apiva Marannepa Api Marakkalayo: A Nation Which Stepped Into A Post-Parzania Stage
Avanthi Kalansooriya
A Tamil boy stripped naked and later beaten to death by Sinhala youth in Boralla bustation |pic by Chandraguptha Amarasingha
Once again it was the same feeling that went through my mind, which has been ever present in my mad young age thoughts that I want to restructure this world, smash it into pieces and reconstruct it according to my wishes rather according to human feelings. I am quite aware of the fact that I have to get out of these utopian thoughts which would only make me feel miserable. Nevertheless there is push factor that propels me to move to the battlefield of discussing about peace.
This time, it was Parzania (Heaven and Hell on Earth), the movie by Rahul Dholakia that discusses on the disappearance of a Parsi boy Parzania during the communal riots in Gujarat 2002. The movie was screened in International Centre for Ethnic Studies with an anecdote to 1983 riots in Sri Lanka that occurred in a similar vein of brutality, inhumanness and agony. It was Minna Thaheer, a senior researcher from ICES narrated her own experiences with 1983 riots and how her house at Borella was burnt by the marauders who came in search for Tamils. She talked about her insecurities she, herself as a Tamil speaking Muslim lady had to face as a member belonged to an ethnic minority in Sri Lanka where she sometimes had to give up speaking in Tamil for self-protection.Read More
