Playing Lions and Tigers

Name: Playing Lions and Tigers
Author: Rohini Hensman
ISBN: 8186945199

by Rohini Hensman

So what I’ve chosen here is a novel by a feminist writer, who lives in India, called Rohini Hensman. So the lion is a symbol of Sinhala nationalism and is on the Sri Lankan flag. The tiger is of course the symbol of the rebel group LTTE. And basically it’s a novel about what happens to ordinary people in the midst of a conflict like this. It’s about the lives of activists – people like Rajani who was killed in 1989; how brutal the situation is, and how resilient people and dissenters are in the face of it. No, no not at all. You have to understand that in Sri Lanka there are at least four different groups. There are the Sinhalese majority, who are based in the south. Then there is the Tamil community (most of whom are Hindu), and there is also a Muslim minority. And lastly, there are the up-country Tamils. They were basically indentured labor, brought over by the British from India. And they are the most exploited, socially deprived class of all. And ironically, they work in the tea plantations, where most of the country’s wealth comes from. This novel is about activists from all these communities. The war tries to tear us all apart, but there’s always friendships and relationships between all these different ethnic groups. And I hope that going forward people will come together, that is the big hope, that that could be the future of our country. So this book came out in 2008. Like Ludowyk, she teaches English at what is now called Peradeniya University. She is a poet, and writes plays that have won awards. So this is a selection of poetry and prose, written over the past 2 decades. And it’s a very personal way of looking at very difficult times. And it’s very critical of all of us—the activists, the intellectuals. It’s not that I’m not angry with the Sri Lankan government, or that I’m not looking at them critically. In 1983, when I was 12, my family was exiled from Sri Lanka because of state repression. I have no illusions about the brutality of the state, about the way the conflict was dragged on by successive governments. The question is how to confront the governments. And I suppose my view is that we have to begin by looking inside our own communities, that unless we look inwards, we can’t challenge our oppressors. That’s why dissent is so important. As a teenager, I too dreamt of becoming a Tamil militant. But when Rajani was assassinated, that’s when I realized there was something deeply wrong with the political culture of militant movements. And by the way, so far I have only talked about books in English. There have been some very engaging and though-provoking books in Tamil as well. I’d like to mention one in particular: Kovinthan’s Puthiyathoru Ullagam, which means New World. It was written in one month in 1984 by militants who were on the run from their own militant group – the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE . It had a tremendous impact on me. I read it a year after Rajani was killed and it talked about the internal violence and torture meted upon idealistic youth by these militant groups. It was really the starting point of my serious questioning of armed militant politics. I felt a great sense of relief that the war is at an end, particularly these last few months, the toll on civilians has been horrific. Now the big guns are silent. The Tamil Tigers took the Tamil community on a disastrous adventure, with their extreme demands, their insistence on a separate homeland. The discrimination against Tamils and other minorities, the grievances they faced that preceded this brutal war, that was the reason for this whole civil war – these issues have to be addressed. The minorities have to be treated with dignity and their rights have to be protected. And, so far, it doesn’t look to me as if the government is serious about resolving the political problem. In fact, the current government has given Sinhala Buddhist nationalism center stage. But beyond that, people of all communities have to come together now. We need to look inward and figure out – what is our responsibility, to ourselves, to the other communities? After 25 years, the Tigers have been destroyed. And large sections of the Tamil population supported the Tigers. We have to ask: ‘Why?’ This is a moment for deep self-reflection. It is always easier to blame your problems on someone else. It’s also a time for reconciliation and for that, the abductions, the killings, they have to stop. After 25 years of civil war, we can finally, I hope, move forward. Before the war, we had 25 years of nationalist mobilization and polarization. I hope the next 25 years will usher in a new era of peace. And that’s why I chose these books. They are very political choices. I have chosen them because they speak to my sense of solidarity, and collaboration, with some of the intellectuals, writers and activists who wrote them. The Tigers decimated Tamil activists, they targeted and killed them. It will take a long time for another generation to emerge. And maybe these books will be a source of inspiration for the next generation. May 28, 2009. Updated: March 8, 2025 Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected] Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you've enjoyed this interview, please support us by donating a small amount .

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Ahilan Kadirgamar

"So what I’ve chosen here is a novel by a feminist writer, who lives in India, called Rohini Hensman. So the lion is a symbol of Sinhala nationalism and is on the Sri Lankan flag. The tiger is of course the symbol of the rebel group LTTE. And basically it’s a novel about what happens to ordinary people in the midst of a conflict like this. It’s about the lives of activists – people like Rajani who was killed in 1989; how brutal the situation is, and how resilient people and dissenters are in the face of it. No, no not at all. You have to understand that in Sri Lanka there are at least four different groups. There are the Sinhalese majority, who are based in the south. Then there is the Tamil community (most of whom are Hindu), and there is also a Muslim minority. And lastly, there are the up-country Tamils. They were basically indentured labor, brought over by the British from India. And they are the most exploited, socially deprived class of all. And ironically, they work in the tea plantations, where most of the country’s wealth comes from. This novel is about activists from all these communities. The war tries to tear us all apart, but there’s always friendships and relationships between all these different ethnic groups. And I hope that going forward people will come together, that is the big hope, that that could be the future of our country. So this book came out in 2008. Like Ludowyk, she teaches English at what is now called Peradeniya University. She is a poet, and writes plays that have won awards. So this is a selection of poetry and prose, written over the past 2 decades. And it’s a very personal way of looking at very difficult times. And it’s very critical of all of us—the activists, the intellectuals. It’s not that I’m not angry with the Sri Lankan government, or that I’m not looking at them critically. In 1983, when I was 12, my family was exiled from Sri Lanka because of state repression. I have no illusions about the brutality of the state, about the way the conflict was dragged on by successive governments. The question is how to confront the governments. And I suppose my view is that we have to begin by looking inside our own communities, that unless we look inwards, we can’t challenge our oppressors. That’s why dissent is so important. As a teenager, I too dreamt of becoming a Tamil militant. But when Rajani was assassinated, that’s when I realized there was something deeply wrong with the political culture of militant movements. And by the way, so far I have only talked about books in English. There have been some very engaging and though-provoking books in Tamil as well. I’d like to mention one in particular: Kovinthan’s Puthiyathoru Ullagam, which means New World. It was written in one month in 1984 by militants who were on the run from their own militant group – the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE . It had a tremendous impact on me. I read it a year after Rajani was killed and it talked about the internal violence and torture meted upon idealistic youth by these militant groups. It was really the starting point of my serious questioning of armed militant politics. I felt a great sense of relief that the war is at an end, particularly these last few months, the toll on civilians has been horrific. Now the big guns are silent. The Tamil Tigers took the Tamil community on a disastrous adventure, with their extreme demands, their insistence on a separate homeland. The discrimination against Tamils and other minorities, the grievances they faced that preceded this brutal war, that was the reason for this whole civil war – these issues have to be addressed. The minorities have to be treated with dignity and their rights have to be protected. And, so far, it doesn’t look to me as if the government is serious about resolving the political problem. In fact, the current government has given Sinhala Buddhist nationalism center stage. But beyond that, people of all communities have to come together now. We need to look inward and figure out – what is our responsibility, to ourselves, to the other communities? After 25 years, the Tigers have been destroyed. And large sections of the Tamil population supported the Tigers. We have to ask: ‘Why?’ This is a moment for deep self-reflection. It is always easier to blame your problems on someone else. It’s also a time for reconciliation and for that, the abductions, the killings, they have to stop. After 25 years of civil war, we can finally, I hope, move forward. Before the war, we had 25 years of nationalist mobilization and polarization. I hope the next 25 years will usher in a new era of peace. And that’s why I chose these books. They are very political choices. I have chosen them because they speak to my sense of solidarity, and collaboration, with some of the intellectuals, writers and activists who wrote them. The Tigers decimated Tamil activists, they targeted and killed them. It will take a long time for another generation to emerge. And maybe these books will be a source of inspiration for the next generation. May 28, 2009. Updated: March 8, 2025 Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected] Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you've enjoyed this interview, please support us by donating a small amount ."

Sri Lanka's Civil War · fivebooks.com