Launch of Special Edition: The end of war in Sri Lanka, five years on
Photograph by the author
In the corner of my room, there’s a large air-tight plastic bag I open once a year, and occasionally glance at with mixed emotions. It contains, carefully folded, all the newspapers I could buy on 19th May 2009. Those who tried to buy a newspaper on this day may recall how difficult it was. Almost all the leading daily newspapers, especially in Sinhala, were sold out in the morning. With distribution networks disrupted on account of the unprecedented countrywide celebrations, all newspapers were just in short supply, or not available at news agents at all. I live in Nugegoda and drove as far as Bambalapitiya in search of newspapers on any other day I could have just walked up the road to purchase. I’m glad I made the effort. This was Sri Lanka’s New Day moment, a day no one, truth be told, had really planned for. The bold headlines, symbolic mastheads, full colour ads, op-eds, euphoric editorials and articles are long-forgotten, and yet, for many in the South, a sharp and welcome difference between war and post-war years endures. With this flows a gratitude towards the incumbents in power still powerful enough to varnish a systemic rot at the core of government and governance.