27th
April 2018
Hon Mr.
Reginald Corey,
Governor,
Northern Province.
Honourable
Sir,
In the
midst of your tight travel schedule and heavy engagements,
I was
delighted to receive your phone call at 1325 hrs on 23rd April.
You asked
me to brief you on the situation after I met Mr. Austin Fernando.
My meeting
with Secretary to HE President, Mr. Austin Fernando was on 20th March. He
patiently read my appeal for a ship to the Hon Prime Minister of India. Within
minutes he spoke to HE High Commissioner for India in Sri Lanka on his hand
phone. He placed an official stamp on my letter, wrote with his hand a covering
note to the High Commissioner. He called his staff and asked them to send the
covering note with the letter to the personal fax number of the Indian High
Commissioner.
He also
spoke to another person and explained the need for urgent action. Subsequently
he told me that he spoke to the Chairman of the Ceylon Shipping Corporation. He
asked his staff to fax my letter to the Chairman with his note.
He asked me
about the situation in Jaffna. He spoke highly of your contributions in the
North. He told me that Hon Governor of WP, Mr. K. C. Logeswaran had many weeks
ago spoken to him on the Hindu pilgrimage ship. He praised Mr. Logeswaran,
mentioning his longstanding friendship with him.
It was a
very useful and productive meeting.
On 29th
March at the request of the Senior Assistant Secretary at HE Presidents Office,
I went there to collect a letter written to me. The letter mentioned about the
Ceylon Shipping Corporation's effort to obtain a ship for the pilgrimage. I
came to your office from there to deliver a copy of that letter to you. Mr.
Somasree received it on your behalf. He told me that he will pass the letter to
your successor as you were tipped to take over as Governor of the Central
Province.
At the
invitation of the Hon Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, I was in India to receive
the highest award for a Tamil linguist by the Government of Tamil Nadu, a
citation, a cash prize of Rs.100,000 (SLR 220,000) and a shawl. They were
presented on 5th April 2018, in person by the Hon Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,
Deputy Chief Minister in the presence of his cabinet colleagues and a galaxy of
Tamil scholars and linguists. It was a moment of pride not only for me but also
for Sri Lanka.
While I was
waiting in Chennai to receive the award, you were in my mind. You were leaving
us. I was sad, sadder because of your unfinished agenda for the Hindu pilgrims.
Tamil words queued my mind and I had no way but to arrange them into a verse of
four lines of 10 seers (poetic
grammar terminology) each, embedded with rhyme and rhythm. When I finished
typing them on my smart phone, I did not believe my eyes. It was such a nice
poem. So I showed it to my friend for 25 years, Professor S. A.
Sankaranarayanan (Emeritus Professor of English at Shashtra University,
Kumbakonam, a scholar of repute) who was sitting next to me, waiting, like me,
to receive an award. He borrowed my phone and started typing in English. Within
few minutes he showed me his translation of my verse. He said that the inbuilt
auto-word-suggestion facility of the smart phone out-smarted him, but he managed.
His translation as a poem was very much better than the original, mingling
unfamiliar syntax, pregnant with multiple meanings leaving the reader with
host-full of interpretations. I give below both.
Spring gale
of North
To
Governor of
Northern Province
From
Maravanpulavu
K. Sachithananthan
(spontaneous
translation by Dr. S. A. Sankaranarayanan, Professor of English, Sashtra
University, Kumbakonam)
How
concerned have you been to hear the hungry famished kids crying?
While you
but take a meager eat in a drone of flight in interim's!
Amid vain
worded demagogues that prate useless to no purpose,
You but
have acted fruitfully to achieve amazing growth;
From off
your tender heart of Mercy moist with compassion
You bent on
wiping tears, beam radiant as Sun hailed by the learned greats;
O, Reginald
Corey who else than you can be the Spring gale of North!
Can North
be blest hale ever with a generous Governor like as yourself!
பசியினால் தவிக்கும் பச்சிளம் பாலர்
காண்பாய்,
பறக்குமாம் கூரைக் கொட்டிலில் உணவு உண்பாய்
விசிறியே சொற்கள் வீணே வெட்டியாப் பேசுவார்முன்
வினையினாய் விளைச்சலாய் வியத்தகு வளர்ச்சி காண்பாய்
கசிவதுன் நெஞ்சில் கருணையால் கண்ணீர் நீக்கும்
கருத்தினாய் கற்றோர் போற்றும் கல்விக் கதிரவா
றெசினிலால்டு கூரே
யாரே வடக்கினின் வசந்தனாரே
கிடைக்குமோ ஆட்சி வள்ளல்
வடக்குக்கு உன்னைப்போலே.
மறவன்புலவு க.
சச்சிதானந்தன்
I had plans
to travel to Delhi in connection with my request for a ship for the pilgrims.
However, my friends in Delhi put me to Hon Pon Radhakrishnan, State Minister for
Shipping Government of India, who was in Chennai on 7th. I met him at the
Chennai Port Guest House at 1500 hours. The meeting lasted for half an hour. He
wanted a letter from the Government of Sri Lanka, along with a copy of my
letter to the Prime Minister of India.
From the
day Mr. Austin Fernando contacted Ceylon Shipping Corporation, its General
Manager, Mr. S. M. D. Nihal Dharmapriya (Tel: +9411 2328997, Mobile:
0710215700, Fax: +9411 2324873, E-Mail:nihal@cscl.lk) has been in touch with me
seeking details of dates, days of stay, number of potential pilgrims etc.. He
is very keen about this pilgrimage service. I emailed him of the request of the
Hon Pon Radhakrishnan, State Minister for Shipping, Government of India. He
immediately put in my email box, a copy of the letter written on 2nd April, to
Capt. Anoop Kumar Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director, The Shipping
Corporation of India Ltd., Shipping House, Madame Cama Road, Mumbai 400021,
India by Mr. Ranjith Athukorala, Chairman, Ceylon Shipping Corporation.
I gave all
the documents required by Hon Pon Radhakrishnan on 8th April, as there was a
possibility of his taking it up at a high level meeting on the 11th at Delhi.
Later I was informed that the meeting on the 11th did not take place as scheduled
and the Hon Minister will take it up at the earliest.
It was to
the good luck of the Hindu Pilgrims of Sri Lanka that I met Mr. Ajith
Ranganathan a practicing youthful advocate in the Supreme Court of India in
Delhi. He was in Chennai. He was delighted about the pilgrimage proposal and
took me on 8th April 2018 to his father-in-law Editor, Auditor Mr. S.
Gurumurthy, the financial wizard, who is in close touch with the Hon Prime
Minister of India. I gave copies of all the necessary documents. He assured me
that the matter will receive the attention of the Hon Prime Minister of India
soonest.
I am now in
Jaffna. I have asked by email today, the 24th of April, Ceylon Shipping
Corporation, General Manager, Mr. S. M. D. Nihal Dharmapriya to pursue the matter
with the Shipping Corporation of India.
These are
the developments. You have asked me to meet you in Jaffna on the 27th, Friday.
I will be there at your office.
Ceylon
Shipping Corporation, General Manager, Mr. S. M. D. Nihal Dharmapriya informs
me on 26th April that he received the following message from India.
“We received a response today from SCI as
‘...we have
received the letter and are looking for a vessel. Will revert to you in a few
days time.’ Shall follow up.”
Hon
Governor, your efforts to facilitate Sri Lankan Hindu pilgrimage to
Chidambaram, which began during November 2016, is nearing fruitification. I
have prepared the ground in India to my best. It will happen.
It requires
further pressure from the Government of Sri Lanka to the Government of India at
the highest level possible political level.
Thanking
you
I remain,
With kind
regards
K.
Sachithananthan
On behalf
of the Hindus in Sri Lanka
