Rajapaksa Says He Can Identify Parayās; Can The Voters Do The Same Please?
Gamini Jayaweera
In recently held UPFA inaugural general election campaign meeting at Anuradhapura, former President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa very firmly stated that he could clearly identify the Thora (Seer fish) from Mora (Sharks), Mora from Balaya (Tuna), Balaya from Paraw (Trevallies), and Paraw from “Paraya” (?). As I have never heard of a fish called “Paraya”, I looked in the dictionary to find the real meaning of “Paraya”. The word was not in the normal dictionary but it was in the Examples of General Sinhala Slang Words in google. It is an offensive word for an “outsider” or for a person who is “not one of us”. “Paratti” is the female version which is usually prefixed to some other offensive word e.g. “Paratta Balli” literally translates as “outcast bitch”. In our school days these words were classified as swear words and we had been punished if we had used such words. It appears that Sri Lanka has advanced on cultural and religious values during the last decade, for some people it is perfectly all right to use these slang words in public debates. After all, the word has been used by our former President and therefore it must be an acceptable word to use in public places.
Inimical Remarks about Rajapaksa
“Parayas and Parattis”
Having researched the true meaning of the words “Paraya” and “Paratti”, I have now realised that our former President was talking about two legged “Political Parayas and Parattis” (PP&Ps). I hope that the former President might not be offended as I have added the female version of the word “Paraya” thinking that he must have forgotten to mention it, as we have two legged Political “Parattis” too. The way the former President spoke at the rally, he gave the impression that he would punish these “Parayas” whether they were members of the UPFA or UNFGG if he became the next prime minister of Sri Lanka. It is obvious that former president is not referring to members of UNP, JVP, TNA, & DP as “Parayas” because he and the general public know that these parties are always represented different views to UPFA and opposed the way in which UPFA was governing the country during the last 10 years. So I have done a bit of investigation in to our political arena to identify some of these “PP&Ps” to educate and inform our voters about these people (Parayas) who should be rejected by the Sri Lankan voters in the forthcoming general election.