I CAME FROM JAFFNA — (sort of!)

(In agreement with Dr Ratnajeeva Hoole’s recent article)

BY GOOLBAI GUNASEKARA

The so-called miserliness of the Jaffna Tamil may be fodder for amusing the script writer of plays but I agree with Dr. Ratnajeevan Hoole, that much of the laughter at the jokes about the Tamils in Jaffna are often misplaced and can be hurtful if not downright untrue.

How do I know? I can speak with some authority having schooled in Jaffna during the Middle School years when my mother was Principal of Hindu Ladies College…. a very conservative school catering to Hindu families with traditional values and traditional backgrounds. Her opinions and memories of Jaffna and its people were unfailingly happy ones – as are mine.

Having an educationist Mother was no picnic. I was her favourite guinea pig. As a result of her desire to experiment with many educational systems I have schooled in nine schools in three countries- the USA, India and Sri Lanka and I can say with total sincerity that I was happiest in Jaffna. I do not really know why. I just loved the stark scenery of Jaffna. I related quickly to the simplicity of school life. I loved my pretty Tamil teachers. Yes many were very good-looking ones! I loved the friendliness of the Tamil girls who were without any artifice. I suppose they were unsophisticated but so was I. We meshed.

I did not see the recent drama caricaturing the ‘backward, parsimonious, hierarchical Jaffna Tamil’ to quote Dr. Hoole, but I can say with absolute authority that the close friends we made in Jaffna never, ever displayed such qualities and I feel, that like the Scots and the Jews, the Tamils have been erroneously stereotyped as being an extremely tightfisted race, and like all stereotypes this is totally false.

Thrift is an admirable quality. It is something our politicians could learn. The billions being thrown away by corrupt CEOs, foolish investments and political skullduggery would make former Tamil Leaders like Sir Ponnabalam Ramanathan, Sir Watialingam Doraiswamy and others quail in horror at today’s uninhibited Government spending. In fact most of our early National Leaders would quail likewise.

So why did I love my Jaffna schooling? The contrast between my New York experience (the Dalton School) and Hindu Ladies’ College in Vannarponnai could not have been greater. And yet the atmosphere of my Jaffna schooling was not only educationally disciplined but very satisfying in the simplicity and genuine friendliness I found among my classmates and friends. Their love of study was a bonus, as far as my mother was concerned, since it rubbed off onto me.

I loved the long skirts and blouses which the girls of HLC wore to school at that time and was soon wearing them too. I sang the Hindu prayers (which I did not understand but easily memorized) at Assembly, I went every evening with the hostellers to the small temple on the school’s huge grounds, I did my homework with no coercion whatsoever and generally behaved so well my Mother could hardly credit the metamorphosis.

As Principal she said that she never had to write “Not trying” in any Jaffna girl’s school report. I think that hard work came naturally to my classmates and without any teacher telling me to try harder I did so because it was expected of everyone, including me. Mother rarely included me as a pupil in the schools she headed. Hindu Ladies’ College was an exception. She did not enjoy having me underfoot I suppose and teachers were sternly told to give me no special treatment whatsoever. They didn’t.

Jaffna’s social life was also warm and welcoming. A lot of socialising went on behind those cadjan walls of the North. One neighbour had a badminton court in his garden and the families from surrounding houses played badminton there whenever possible. Our host served at least 20 soft drinks on a daily basis to his thirsty children and their friends. Miserly?

Another neighbour was a doctor who arranged moonlight trips to the well-known Keerimalai tank and other places of interest. In addition to his own car he always arranged a second one to accommodate the badminton crowd and others who tagged along. He was a generous man and refused to share any expenses. Again, he was one of many.

I have many stories of Jaffna which contradict the image built up by the ‘Well Mudaliyar’ plays. I think the original author of the plays was simply being amusing and not trying to make a social comment. But nowadays, such comments are unnecessary and untrue. The admirable traits of the Jaffna Tamil have always been the ability to work hard, the ability to save money, the ability to make the best use of incomes, the ability to live within those incomes and the ability to be wonderfully good friends. This last ability I have valued all my life.

The high value Tamils place on education can be seen in the fact that right through our years of civil turmoil, schools in Jaffna were encouraged to continue functioning as normal. They did so.

One of my favourite stories is the following. The Principal’s house was right opposite the school and my mother had this disconcerting habit (from the point of view of the hostel matron) of visiting the dormitories after ‘lights out’. On one such visit she found Gowri (not her real name) studying under her bed with the aid of a torch

“Why are you studying at this time of night Gowrie?” asked my genuinely puzzled mother. The boarders had just finished two hours of compulsory study before dinner.

The matron bustled up quite unnerved by this unheard of breaking of rules. It so rarely happened among her duty conscious charges.

Predictably Gowrie burst into tears.

“I only wanted to be perfect for YOUR class Mrs. Motwani,” she wept. The book in her hand was a text of short stories and the story she was studying so diligently was Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’ to be tested the next day.

Mother soothed an upset Gowrie, calmed the matron and turned off the lights having quietly confiscated the torch. The next day Gowrie arrived in her office. “I know the story by heart Madam. May I recite some of it to you?” She did so perfectly and although mother praised her thoroughness the subject of memorization plagued her.

She often gave this example as that of the general attitude of the Tamil girls in her care. While results were naturally good at exam time it was not the sort of education she wanted. But it certainly illustrated the intensity and drive of my schoolmates at that time.

Jaffna has always been a special place for me. When I took my husband there on a visit, Hindu Ladies College had grown beyond recognition. The Principal kindly allowed me to go around even though it was holiday time. I did not know that it was to be my last visit. The troubles broke out soon after and I have never seen Jaffna again.

However the friends I made lasted a lifetime. Till the time of her death I held the power of Attorney for one of those pretty teachers I earlier spoke about. I only wish my stay in Jaffna had lasted much, much longer. It was a completely happy time.