The ship that has lost its bearings; of both the helm and the helmsman-The metaphor
Posted on July 2nd, 2019

Laksiri Warnakula

What would you expect from an unfortunate ship that has lost its helm and the helmsman, owing to bearing-malfunctioning, of the helm and the head of the helmsman, as well? Inevitably, it will become uncontrollable and lose all sense of direction resulting in becoming incapable of sailing safely and soundly along mapped-out lanes towards its desired destination. It won’t be seaworthy anymore.


It will become an ailing ship that will be tossed to and fro by the waves, battered from all sides by the water and the wind and sooner or later will succumb to the inevitable. It will sink.


Now leaving aside the above passage that I have written with a somewhat metaphorical slant and tone, let’s muse about what our country has been going through, particularly since ‘Yahapalanaya’ took over the reins, even though this has already been done, most likely for an umpteenth number of times by an equally umpteenth number of people.


We all know that it came in with lots of fanfare and full of pledges and promises. And the people probably may have sighed in relief, telling themselves; ‘Oh at last the bright lights of decency, fair play, justice and eventual prosperity in sight at the end of the tunnel, which was kept dark far too long. Now no more to white vans, cronyism, nepotism, deals, plots and thuggery, so on and so forth’.


And just four years on, we find ourselves on a cursed ship, which has lost direction in every conceivable sense and is adrift, left to float on its own, in stormy seas bereft of accountability and responsibility, full of chaos, disarray and lies. And to top it off, it is, having been already hit hard with the massacre of more than two hundred and fifty innocent worshipers including children, now facing a new form of threat, different from what Mr MR fought and finished off. (The good part of him, in spite of the bad and the ugly justifiably attributed to his conduct during his tenure as president for the second time, in particular).


In fact, there is hardly anything new that I could add here. Many concerned citizens including the editor himself have voiced their opinion on paper without mincing words and many times over, at that. Almost everything is in the doldrums. The accusation, denial, denigration, manipulation, you name it and it’s there, but fair play, sensible, sustainable and far-sighted economic plans, policies without political bias, law enforcement, much needed reforms in many a sector and industry-building, to mention a few.


Yet, the corrupt, dirty deals of the nation builders and their cronies continue uninterrupted, with scant regard for decency and honesty. And the perpetrators are frolicking amidst the riches with gay abandon, enjoying what has already been gained and salivating at what is in the offing and yet to come. Their adventures are too numerous and so varied, one would find it hard to assign an identity to each one of them, whether it’s betrayal, corruption, sell-off, mischief, theft, sheer daylight robbery or whatever.


And there is always something to keep people busy; blabbering, discussing, dissecting and guessing. There is a mind-boggling array of events and happenings so varied and weird, akin to a kaleidoscope, an ugly one though, that it’s hard to keep track of them, let alone make any sensible analysis of each one, as one becomes lost amidst hearsay, rumour and divided expert-opinion. 


From inexplicable silence that many of the Diyawanna Oya inhabitants maintained, yet knew in advance of an impending terrorist attack, through a case relating to female reproductive system, then onto a Ven. monk going into a ‘fast unto death’ protest and now to the current hot topic of ‘whether to hang them or let the noose rest in peace’, we are never short of drama, be it comic, tragic or downright stupid. Perhaps, this is how they want it; keep us busy arguing, debating, fighting and fuming over who, what, where and why and make us forget that we are in reality being ceremoniously, yet cunningly led down the garden path by them.

All in all, anything and everything is possible in ‘la-la land cruise ship’ helmed by ‘la comedian’, who seems to have lost few bearings in his head and helm too.

Laksiri Warnakula

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