Why is it snowing at our TV station?
Posted on December 23rd, 2010

By Dr. Mrs. Mareena Thaha ReffaiƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Dehiwela.

It is amusing, nay irritating ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to see a TV station has taken to show continuous snowing when the news is read. Hello, This is Srilanka, remember? It does not snow here. We are blessed with gorgeous sunshine and rainbowsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  right throughout the year. We have lovely showers, plentiful vegetation from January to and including December, birds signing, people on the roads laughing and merry making.

We are blessed with the best of the weather in the whole world. Being a small island we have the monsoons bringing ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ rainƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  right throughout the yearƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  throughout the island ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and we have no problem with the temperature either.

So why are we glorifying the snow? Has Christmas got anything not do with snow? Certainly not. The fact that Jesus ( peace be upon him) was not bornƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  in December is another matter. Even otherwise what has snow got to do with Christmas? Nothing, except the English gloried it to cover their annoyance with it.

One single thing I hated most in my stay in England for four years was the snowƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  and the thing I missed most was the sun shine of my pretty little ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ island, Srilanka. Snow may ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ look beautiful in pictures and on TV , true children may play with it for a few hours but when you are living there, you realize it is horrible ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to have it for any length of ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ time. You have to dress so thick, that you cannot breath properly, you cannot walk properly and you cannot use yourƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  fingers properly for all have to be ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ covered including your nose ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in so many layers of clothe. The roads are slippery and many will be closed till the snow melts. You have to wear special anti slip shoes called wellingtons and until you learn to balance yourself, you keep slipping and ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ falling. You cannot drive your cars for the roads will beƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  frozen with many feet depth ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of snow. You are stuck indoors for days sometime. Almost all vegetation die leaving bleak white horizon.

The English have learnt to make ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ merry with it to overcome the misery of it since they have to live with it. Why shouldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  we? Why do we have the fricking snow at TV stations when we have our bright December with glorious sunshine, rain, rainbows, multicolored flowers on majestic trees with beautiful singing birds hovering around our lush trees what more can you ask for? ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ So why are we still depicting Christmas with snow? Nothing but ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the vestiges of our slavery mentality from our colonial masters. We still cannot let go the stifling ties in this ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ sweltering heat, we still cannot give up the stinking socks for our little school childrenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s feet, we still cannot give up the coat and suit ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” a sign of our gaping at and glorifying ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the west, even if they have been proven to be exactly ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the same as us with a sickeningly paler skin. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ So letƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s get out of these meaningless slavish habits. Let us be truly and wonderfully ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Srilankans, singing praise of and enjoying our own weather, our own sunshine and rainbows. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

33 Responses to “Why is it snowing at our TV station?”

  1. Sajith Says:

    Why some women in Sri Lanka wear Arabic dresses covering their faces and the whole body?

    Hello, this is Sri Lanka, not Saudi Arabia.

  2. Nanda Says:

    Well said Sajith.

    This woman should learn that there are a lot of Sinhala Christians in Sri lanka.
    But only a few Sinhala Muslims. Why can’t these Sinhala people who were in motherland for 2500 years celebrate white Christamas ? Even though their forfathers were a deluded lot but getting converted to Chrsitianity from Buddhism and there are a lot of newly converts let them celebrate their religion as they wish.
    Extremist muslim woman. Don’t try to get rid of other religions.

    Why at 5.30 “allah hullala ” coming from all mosques ?
    Hello, this is Sir lanka – not Saudi arabia where genitals of innocent women are cut-off so that men can have any numbe of women.
    Get lost !

  3. Parinda Says:

    Please read the article again. It doesn’t criticize Christianity or Christians. All it says is similar to what Farther Marcelline Jayakody tried to say throughout his life. Let us make Christmas a part of our own culture, our own lives. I also had the same question from my childhood days. Why we need snow to celebrate Christmas to begin with? Why can’t we have an indigenous tree like ‘Ahala’ or selecting an uncommon tree and name it as ‘Unduwap’ to decorate a Christmas tree, replacing eucalyptus and pine trees?

    Jesus was a Jew, born in the Middle East. He was a black man. For the racist westerner, he was another Oriental. (I am not going to use the real term usually westerners use to identify Semitics) They made Jesus’ image like a Caucasian, because they cannot stand any other image other than their own. Real Jesus looked like Osama, because Osama and Jesus both are Semites with brown skin and black hair. Do you think white supremacists would go on their knees before such image?

    However some women wearing Arabic dress as a religious tradition or as a ritual and Christmas connecting with snow has no relevance at all. Are you suggesting that having a Pottu by Hindu women and connecting snow with Christmas are similar issues?

    Why are you writing your comments with anger and hatred? Please calm down, let all forum members to express their feelings freely. Then let us have a meaningful dialogue. I hope you guys wouldn’t get angry with me. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for all Sri Lankans including Sajith and Nanda, and especially Lanka Web for doing a great and monumental service for the nation.

  4. mjaya Says:

    RIZANA NAWFEEK??? Why are you so blind to the plight of RIZANA NAWFEEK??? I am so appalled by the plight of this poor girl, falsely accused of murder. In a country where the testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man what else can you expect? Absolute shame on you Mareena!!

  5. cassandra Says:

    So, the good doctor is off again!

    It seems it doesn’t take too long to find her coming up with yet another gripe. This time, it is to tell us how she finds irritating, the impression of snow falling, that a TV station has seen fit to incorporate, as a seasonal feature, into its News slot. But she is not content to limit her grievance to that. We are also told how she dislikes snow, per se, and the terrible winter weather she experienced in England (How relevant is all that to the TV station’s presentation?). And for good measure, she goes on to tell us how we should give up such things as “the stifling ties” and “stinking socks” which she sees as “a sign of our gaping at and glorifying the west” and “meaningless slavish habits.”

    I don’t know what sort of doctor she is, but if her ‘patients’ came up to her as regularly and with as varied a list of gripes as she does, I expect she’d label those hapless individuals as hypochondriacs!

    Of course, snow is not of the essence of Christmas. For that matter, nor are a whole lot of other signs and symbols which over the years have become a part of the Christmas festivities and celebrations. But what harm do they do? Don’t we all – regardless of what religious tradition we follow – follow customs and rites and practices that will not stand the test of strict logic and rigorous scientific test? Of course, we do. And it is all of these things that add charm and brighten our celebrations. So, let us accept these things with good grace, even if they may sometimes seem meaningless.

    For my part, I am not a great fan of the ‘snow fall effect’ that accompanies the News reading but I do appreciate the thought behind the TV station introducing this feature. It is clearly intended to add a seasonal flavor and is a great gesture towards those celebrating this season. The learned doctor may not appreciate it, but gestures like these generate, imperceptibly but very effectively, a climate of goodwill and understanding.

    As for the rigours of the cold English weather, I have the experience of six English winters– as opposed to the doctor’s four – and found the weather no more comforting than she did. But I did enjoy the sight of snow and the magic of the changing seasons. And I can never forget how, after the bleak aspect of winter, there came a wonderful uplifting of soul and spirit when spring arrived, in its wake.

    Yes, the “stifling ties” and the “socks” (only the socks not the “stinking” part) are part of what came from the West. But why stop at giving up only these things? If the doctor’s argument is to be carried to a logical end, we should give up other things we inherited from our colonial masters as well. And that would include the use of the English language. See, to what a ridiculous conclusion the argument will lead us? As an island nation, Sri Lanka has been affected by all manner of external parties and forces. Some influences have been corrupting. Yet others have served to enrich and give a rich diversity to our heritage. These are things for us to celebrate. We can follow these things without feeling a sense of being enslaved. I cannot understand why people should feel that way. I feel no sense of servility in using the English language or getting dressed in a shirt and trousers or in singing the ‘baila’ despite the fact that our colonial masters bequeathed these things to us.

    This is a season of goodwill and good cheer and a time when we wish each other, among other things, a happy new year. That is also my wish for the doctor. Perhaps, in 2011, she will find more things to delight in than to grizzle about and complain.

    I also hope she chooses her words more carefully in the future. “Fricking” may be an ‘in’ word for her, but is hardly an apt description for snow. If the good doctor looks up a good dictionary and ascertains the true meaning of the word, she might not want to use it again, not unless she likes crude language.

  6. Sajith Says:

    Parinda aka Mareena,

    A pottu is a sensible thing unlike covering the entire body in tropical weather like mad women of the middle east. The two are different.

    What is more ridiculous, cheerful snowing at a TV station at news for a season or wearing god foresaken devilish dresses covering head to toe like Satan every damn day?

    The answer is obvious. There is absolutely no anger. It is amusement at the stupidity of Mareena and her racism against everything civilised (non-Muslim).

  7. Parinda Says:

    Sajith, I am not Mareena, so please do not misidentify me. Sajith, you are talking like Harrison Ford in the movie ‘Mosquito Island.’ In that movie, Harrison and his children built an ice machine in Amazon jungle. One day he decides to take some ice to Indian tribes living miles away in the middle of the jungle, saying that he is taking civilization to the uncivilized. For him ice means civilization, taking ice to tribes means taking civilization to savages. Is that the case here? Is there a civilizational clout here in this snow thing? Mareena criticized snow, but you are saying that she criticized everything civilized. So are you suggesting that snow is symbolic to civilization. Are you suggesting that it is the reason why some of Sri Lankan Christians desperately need snow? Or are you suggesting that Christians need snow as a sign to display their civility?…connecting with the so-called high civility of Europe? I do not understand…what are you suggesting?

    However, to be honest, this is the first article I read of Mareena. My main point was to tell that snow and Christianity has no connection what so ever, but Muslim clothing and pottu has a connection with their faith. Whether it is right or wrong that is their custom. We must respect it. If Christians in Sri Lanka say that snow is part of their faith and religious customs, of course I apologize and withdraw everything I said. Being a non Christian, I apologize again for even participating this debate. But I still cannot understand why we must be so rude?

    The reason why I wrote my first comment was because I felt very sorry about the writer. She only questioned why we must relate Christmas with snow? I didn’t see any offensive intent in that question and never thought it as a big issue to attack her. But she being attacked from several directions, I thought it was unfair for saying something very simple. But had Mareena asked to abandon Holly Grail from Christian faith, of course I would have agreed with her critics.

    The critics of her short article were suggesting that, she being a Muslim (I assume she is a Muslim but may be I am wrong) doesn’t have moral right to say anything about Christmas. If that is the theory must prevail, then of course we are heading to a very bad end. I would have agreed with the critics if she had criticized Christianity or Christmas for the sake of criticism. But I am pretty sure, even though she haven’t mentioned that, she must have given some thought about the origin of the Christian faith in desert land that doesn’t have any relevance to snow, and on the other hand that Jerusalem is much closer to us, than the northern European Pagan traditions that have been mixed up with Christian faith and its festivities later on.

    However, I blame the Romans for extending their empire northward up to Hispania (Current Spain and Portugal) and even further north to England. Had Romans never crossed Alps, today we may have never had Christians, but Pagans in Sri Lanka. The reason is because, either Romans crossed Alps or not, Vasco Da Gama will go around Africa to reach Asia with their greed and faith. In that case, of course Dr. Mrs. Mareena Thaha Reffai Dehiwela wouldn’t have had any reason to query about why we must relate snow, in that case of course, with Paganism; because Paganism cannot separate from its original cultural traditions of the peoples lived in harsh climatic conditions of the north. But Christianity is completely a different thing.

    However, considering Christianity as another Asian religion, as a Sri Lankan, I do not understand the psychology that relates Christian faith with snow, but I do understand the psychology that cannot stomach Christmas without snow very well.

  8. Parinda Says:

    Sorry, i couldn’t recollect it right, the name of the movie is “Mosquito Coast” not Mosquito Island.

  9. Sajith Says:

    Parinda,

    Still my argument stands.

    What is more ridiculous, cheerful snowing at a TV station at news for a season or wearing god foresaken devilish dresses covering head to toe like Satan every damn day?

    The answer is obvious.

    There is absolutely no anger on my part. It is amusement at the stupidity of Mareena and her racism against everything civilised (non-Muslim). No wonder little cheer in the Middle East and Pakistan. A Muslim religious fighter (Jarhead) has vowed that wherever crackers go off for x-mas, bombs will go off too. Its the same logic. A bit more colouful. Harison Ford is much better than this fundamentalist with whom I compare Mareena for complaining against everything civilised.

  10. De Costa Says:

    Parinda,
    Surely you are biased here. Do not try to show your nice impartiality.

    Look- both Christianity and Muslim religionsa originated from places far away from Sri lanka. Sajith has asked a valid question about the dress covering even eyes. Can the people of other religion look at and agree on this dress as applied to our climate ? This dress is a eye sore to others.
    What’s wrong in throwing a party in a nice way compared to supressing women and torturing women ? Why must we stop eating our holy coconut sambol ?

  11. Parinda Says:

    Sajith I asked you a question that is very important for me to continue my participation in this debate meaningfully any longer. Tell me, do Christians of Sri Lanka believe snow as one of their sacred religious symbols or not? And now I also want to know what do you mean by the term ‘everything civilized’? Do you believe snow as a symbol of civilization?…the tie, European suit etc? I need your answer Sajith, so I can give you my complete answer for your question after that. However if you say that snow is a religious symbol of Christianity, I back off with complete apology for my ignorance about it. Because, although I think that Christianity and snow do not have any connection between them, if you can prove that they have, I do not wish to enforce my belief, but instead I will agree with you and apologize.

    De Costa, I find your comments interesting, I have read most of them in the forum. The only disagreement I can recall that I had about a comment of you was of your answer for a question raised by Priyantha Abewickrama some time back. He asked if any one can tell what are the two names of animals formed the word Sinhala. Your answer was Sinha+Aliya. But I thought it should have been…Sinha + Elu
    Sih a+E lu = a+e = e (‘e’ like in elu) = Sihelu
    Sihelu = Sihel (a)+u = a = Sihala (I think it was you, but please forgive me for bringing this here)

    I have another disagreement with you now. Because you said I am biased. Then you say “do not try to show your nice impartiality.” That means the only way for me to demonstrate my ‘nice impartiality’ is to attack Mareena in chorus with you?

    And then you say again that the sight of Muslim women in their religious dress is an eye sore to others. What is pleasing you eyes Mr. Costa, only minimally dressed female body? Be honest, tell me that. If you asked the same question from me, I would say ‘yes’ on conditions, because it is not the only eye pleasing thing I like to see in this world.

    But however, I do not desire everybody to dress in a way to please my eyes either. On the other hand I wouldn’t force my ugly desire as a theory enforcing others to submit into it. This is the same eye pain that you mentioned that the French government also couldn’t tolerate, so they brought an amendment in the legislature to ban the Muslim dress. I do not know how they justified the idea under their highly glorified individual rights and human rights in their notion of universal application of them. The strange part of the problem is now we are complaining not about taking off cloths, but wearing too much! Come –on Mr. Costa, you must be joking don’t you?

    May be you didn’t know that the dress cord of early Christian traditions of Middle East was same like Muslim dress. Santha Maria is wearing the same dress, only difference is that the artist has not put the veil covering the face. The Hebrew, Judah society in which Christianity was originated was based on a much orthodox traditions than we can imagine of. Your argument originates from modern western Christianity. In which women decrease their cloths and men increase them. As men, the tendency of decreasing female clothing is pleasing us. In such background we do not like Muslim women covering their body, isn’t that unfair and taking away our right to information by covering their body completely???, we ask. When Muslim men see our women’s body completely freely, they hide their women’s. This is completely unacceptable. Man need to control the body of women aren’t he? Not only our women’s body, but also others as well right?

    However prescribing what is right and wrong for others must be away from our debate. That is the reason why I desperately need an answer from Sajith.

  12. Sajith Says:

    Parinda,

    do Christians of Sri Lanka believe snow as one of their sacred religious symbols or not?

    Of course not. It is merely associated with x-mas for some people. It is about good cheer which middle east people find offensive. They find all good cheer offensive.

    And now I also want to know what do you mean by the term ‘everything civilized’?

    I meant everything civilised.

    Being sadistic is not civilised. Covering the whole body like black “billas” or black satan is not being civilised. Disagreeing with a ban on cattle slaughter over petty religious issues is not civilised. Justifying inserting nails into the sacred bodies of women (this excludes those satinic women who are citizens of the middle east who are mere sex objects) is uncivilised too. Claims of “holy war” is also uncivilised. Marrying one’s own daughter and polygammy within legal system is highly uncivilised in fact barbaric. The words “jihad”, “hezbollah”, “hamas” are highly uncivilised because they mean violence to most people in earth. If anyone thinks these are sacred words they too are uncivilised.

  13. jimmy Says:

    not sure why people are mean to Doctor
    I read it twice and I do not find anything offensive in her writing eventhough I agree it is little boring

    I am a christian and I do not think she is hurting any one .
    I understand She loves Sri Lanka more than any other countries . She says Srilanka is very beautiful and people can celebrate christmas without showing snow

  14. Parinda Says:

    Sajith,
    You said snow is merely associated with Christmas for “some people,” so then it cannot have any religious connotation. Then why you attacked Islamic faith connecting Mareena and her comment on snow into it, even without knowing what her religion is. Because having a name traditionally associated with particular ethnicity does not necessarily mean that the name barer belonging to the same faith. I knew a Mohamed, lived with Sinhalese Buddhists who never had a strong belief in Islamic faith. There are so many so called Buddhists do not believe in Buddhism as well.

    Then you say covering whole body like billas is not civilized. This is quite interesting, because that single statement might demand you to rewrite the whole accepted notion of civilization. The day that naked ape tried to hide his nudity, I thought was a step forward to civilization. Now you are telling its opposite as the way forward to civility. In that sense, the naked ape will be the most civilized. If wearing too much is a sign of incivility, what do you have to say about our folks wearing full suits and ties in 100 degree heat in Sri Lanka? Are they uncivilized too? Parinda, please stop this joke. Let them decide what they really want. Under our law, there is no restriction to limit wearing cloths. But there is a restriction to the exposure of your nudity. But when you say polygamy and cattle slaughter, all those things must be dealt with the law of the land. There cannot be ten laws. There can be only one law and that must be the supreme law of the land for everyone including Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils.

    Parinda, main thing we must learn is that we have come out of one problem very recently and that was Tamil terrorism. Even in that issue, Sri Lankan people behaved extremely civilized, and reacted to all sorts of provocations in utmost restrain, and that was appreciated by whole world. Terrorists interpreted it as our cowardice. But people never fell into their trap. Under that background, even our enemies appreciated it. We never treated whole ethnic group flatly as terrorists. Instead the society dealt with terrorism separately and ultimately we won.

    Besides, after the war, the Sinhalese have extended their arm toward all minorities to build a nation collectively. They want to build this family of the nation of Sri Lanka, in which all ethnicities must get the sense of belongingness. But some external forces want to push wedges between us to destroy the solidarity that is gradually forming up. We are living in a very sensitive era Sajith. Do not ever be mistaken to think that our problems are over. And also do not forget, you are submitting comments to a global forum; the whole world will see them. Lankaweb is not like ‘Sawasa’ paper to break ‘mutti’ inside our kitchen without being noticed to others.

    Having said that, I am asking you, do you think that Sri Lankan Muslims must take the responsibility of what is happening elsewhere in the world that related to Islamic terrorism? Is Mareena responsible for those issues? If that is the theory, then you must be thinking that Sri Lankan Christians also will have to take the responsibility of the crimes that has been committed by Christians elsewhere. To my understanding, these stereo typical attitudes are not for the benefit of our country. They will definitely harm our society.

    Do you know the story of that monkey who loved his master in his bottom of heart? One day, having traveled miles and miles by foot, a master and a monkey lay down under a tree to take a rest, and master falls asleep. The monkey honestly loving his master tries to chase-off all the flies that bothering his sleeping master. When he realizes that the flies never cease to come, he decides to kill them. Then monkey takes the sward of the master and after waiting until a fly lands on the neck of the master, he strikes with the sword. He kills the fly but with his beloved master. I do not need to tell you the moral of the story. I hope you will understand it.

    Happy new year buddy.

  15. Parinda Says:

    Corrected version of the comment.
    Sajith,
    You said snow is merely associated with Christmas for “some people,” so then it cannot have any religious connotation. Then why you attacked Islamic faith connecting Mareena and her comment on snow into it, even without knowing what her religion is. Because having a name traditionally associated with particular ethnicity does not necessarily mean that the name barer belonging to the same faith. I knew a Mohamed, lived with Sinhalese Buddhists who never had a strong belief in Islamic faith. There are so many so called Buddhists do not believe in Buddhism as well.
    Then you say covering whole body like billas is not civilized. This is quite interesting, because that single statement might demand you to rewrite the whole accepted notion of civilization. The day that naked ape tried to hide his nudity, I thought was a step forward to civilization. Now you are telling its opposite as the way forward to civility. In that sense, the naked ape will be the most civilized. If wearing too much is a sign of incivility, what do you have to say about our folks wearing full suits and ties in 100 degree heat in Sri Lanka? Are they uncivilized too? Sajith, please stop this joke. Let them decide what they really want. Under our law, there is no restriction to limit wearing cloths. But there is a restriction to the exposure of your nudity. But when you say polygamy and cattle slaughter, all those things must be dealt with the law of the land. There cannot be ten laws. There can be only one law and that must be the supreme law of the land for everyone including Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils.
    Sajith, main thing we must learn is that we have come out of one problem very recently and that was Tamil terrorism. Even in that issue, Sri Lankan people behaved extremely civilized, and reacted to all sorts of provocations in utmost restrain, and that was appreciated by whole world. Terrorists interpreted it as our cowardice. But people never fell into their trap. Under that background, even our enemies appreciated it. We never treated whole ethnic group flatly as terrorists. Instead the society dealt with terrorism separately and ultimately we won.
    Besides, after the war, the Sinhalese have extended their arm toward all minorities to build a nation collectively. They want to build this family of the nation of Sri Lanka, in which all ethnicities must get the sense of belongingness. But some external forces want to push wedges between us to destroy the solidarity that is gradually forming up. We are living in a very sensitive era Sajith. Do not ever be mistaken to think that our problems are over. And also do not forget, you are submitting comments to a global forum; the whole world will see them. Lankaweb is not like ‘Sawasa’ paper to break ‘mutti’ inside our kitchen without being noticed to others.
    Having said that, I am asking you, do you think that Sri Lankan Muslims must take the responsibility of what is happening elsewhere in the world that related to Islamic terrorism? Is Mareena responsible for those issues? If that is the theory, then you must be thinking that Sri Lankan Christians also will have to take the responsibility of the crimes that has been committed by Christians elsewhere. To my understanding, these stereo typical attitudes are not for the benefit of our country. They will definitely harm our society.
    Do you know the story of that monkey who loved his master in his bottom of heart? One day, having traveled miles and miles by foot, a master and a monkey lay down under a tree to take a rest, and master falls asleep. The monkey honestly loving his master tries to chase-off all the flies that bothering his sleeping master. When he realizes that the flies never cease to come, he decides to kill them. Then monkey takes the sward of the master and after waiting until a fly lands on the neck of the master, he strikes with the sword. He kills the fly but with his beloved master. I do not need to tell you the moral of the story. I hope you will understand it.

    Happy new year buddy.

  16. Sajith Says:

    Parinda,

    Looks like you cannot write anything straight. Corrections and more corrections!

    This Mareena woman (you try hard to pretend you are not that shepig) is looking at everything from the extremist angle of her middle eastern culture of …………need I repeat?

    If you are not a Christian why don’t you let them have their fun their way instead of imposing your middle eastern satanic crap?

    That is my point.

    It is not about wearing too much or too little. It is about wearing dresses that suit the climate, society we are in (Sri Lanka is not a middle eastern country).

    Most women who cover their whole body engage in polygamy daily. Their husbands have 4 women at the same time. What an uncivilised, barbaric act is that? What’s the point in them covering their sinful bodies if they share their husband with other women? This is prostitution by the name of religion. Their religious leader set an example by doing incest! His followers do prostituion and polygamy every day.

  17. De Costa Says:

    Parinda,
    I am sorry I am not ready engage in dialogues with those who cannot understand the core of the other persons ideas, not just the words. Don’t argue for the arguments sake.
    Eye sore is because the woman is asked or lead to believe what the man preaches- nothing to do with enjoyment of those who see the woman but those who see what the torture is. Why not the man wear that horrible Goni Billa dress ? This is not about your desire to see scantly clad women this about your compassion towards tortured women by extremist muslims. Why are they doing this to women ?
    What is wrong with celebrating Christmas with some traditional decor ? It is the eye of a muslim who want to conquer the world with stupid ideology. It is very close to wearing the cyanide pills by brainwashed LTTE cares. This has to be stooped in Sri lanka before complaining about snow.

  18. Sajith Says:

    Parinda (Mareena)

    I too find it worthless to talk to an extremist like you who cannot understand simple logic and civilised behavior.

    Dr Mervin Silva is no worse than you.

  19. jimmy Says:

    agree with Parinda
    Amen Parinda
    I am a born again Christian and I do not see any offense what Doctor wrote

    It is unnecessary for people to be mean

    I respect Islam Faith There are so many wonderful people who follow Islam .

    Sajith says”Most women who cover their whole body engage in polygamy daily. Their husbands have 4 women at the same time. What an uncivilised, barbaric act is that? What’s the point in them covering their sinful bodies if they share their husband with other women? This is prostitution by the name of religion. Their religious leader set an example by doing incest! His followers do prostituion and polygamy every day”

    Shame on you Sajith to talk BS . Not sure you are a kid just want to bother people. Go and read your book instead writing in this forum

  20. Parinda Says:

    Sajith,
    Up until now I respected you as another forum member who had equal intelligence and dignity. But since you demonstrate your animal qualities each and every time you open your mouth, (in the form of writing) I have lost that respect. Now you even call another forum member as a ‘she-pig’. And you still believe Mareen writes under my name. If you are a Sri Lankan brought up in this compassionate, peaceful culture, and truly belonging to it, you wouldn’t act like a paranoid animal like that. You still cannot stomach the fact that there are many other Sri Lankans who do not approve or appreciate you animal civilizational crap. You are acting like you are the guardian of civilization in Sri Lanka. If you call you a civilized, then I am definitely not one of them.

    You are the exact model that supply evidences to wild accusations of the enemies of the nation who labeled Sinhalese as racists, although in reality, your type is only a handful in numbers. Every ethnic group have your model, the one who was there in the north is now suffering in the hell.

    I tried to tell you a lot of things to see if you have an iota of intelligence left under your skull to understand many aspects and their significance to your behavior and its relation to national and world politics. But your animal skull full of sawdust had no brain cells to process these ideas. You have demonstrated in every aspect that you are living in the depth of a garbage gutter full of hatred. Ten individuals of your kind can engulf the whole nation for another round of racial flames again. For the benefit of mother Lanka, at least I hope you will stop acting like that monkey in the story I told you.

    There are so many burning issues worth to fight, but instead of seeing priorities, you are trying to strip Muslim women. If Muslim women are willing to dress like the way they dress now, who the hell you to tell them how to dress? If they have complained about their men for taking away their fundamental rights, then the authorities can address the issue according to the law. But it is not the case. They have never complained about it, instead they are willingly doing it. That is also only a minority of Muslim women dressing like that. But if that is their will, why do you want to make a big issue about it? Are you going to begin an ethnic cleansing, to purify our land without minorities like Prabhakaran did? Their sight on our streets is irritating you? Before you use the term civilization, learn what civilization is all about and the history of the concept before throwing the words all over. And stop acting like that stupid monkey.

  21. Parinda Says:

    De Costa,
    If there is an issue of raising the ugly head of Islamic extremism in Sri Lanka, which is a different issue that must be handled in different forums with different, political, legal and defense tools. It is not nice to throw all those things on another member of this forum for simply asking a question like “why can’t we rejoice without snow, isn’t that our country joyfully beautiful?”, asking that is not a crime. On the other hand, see the content of her article, isn’t she asking to love our country instead of glorifying unrealistic alien things?

    The stuff that critics of Mareena said in this forum were not civilized at all. It is exactly lack of civility that made those critics to attack the writer just because she was baring a Muslim name. I think Lanka web is for all Sri Lankans irrespective of differences of their race, creed, cast, gender, and religious practices. I hope you would agree with me if I say, that a man cannot preach civility while acting like an animal. Not like a just an animal, but like an animal with a burning tail like a ‘Hanuman’.

    I am sorry for being little too harsh in previous comment. I owe you one.

    Happy New Year, De C

  22. Parinda Says:

    This comment is for Mareena.

    Hello Mareena,
    Sorry for all the mental agony and suffering that you had to go through for writing a simple request asking all Sri Lankans to love our country in this happy New Year.

    Mareena, I am writing to ask you to send your article, “Why is it snowing at our TV station?” again to Lanka web, but this time under my name. You must send a separate letter to the web master of changing the name of the author, for the purpose of what we call “journalistic Semiotics’. And let all Lanka web forum members to read it again under my authorship; but without your name. Let us see how it looks then.

    Thanks,
    Pasindu Parinda

    Happy New Year.

  23. mjaya Says:

    Hi Parinda,

    As a member of the Lankaweb forum for a signfiicant time I think I should tell a few things.

    First of all, there is a reason why people go after Mareena. If someone like A.H.M. Nizam from Matara were to write an article and post it on Lankaweb, I have no doubt that the very people who scorn Mareena would praise it. The reason is simple, Mr. Nizam is a true Sri Lankan and if you were to read his articles it would be apparent. Its nothing to do with the fact that Mareena is a Muslim.

    Please read some of her previous articles like the one on the prices of coconuts, on the ban on cattle slaughter, the one titled “Nailed Woman” (on Mrs. Ariyawathie) and you may notice the extremist tone and subtle humiliation of everything that is “non Muslim”. Also read something that a fellow Muslim has said on her (http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/02/03/main_Letters.asp#let3).

    In fact the one topic which Mareena always avoids is the topic of RIZANA NAWFEEK, the poor Muslim girl one death row in Saudi Arabia. For a person like Mareena who expresses her “concern” for the children of mothers going to the Middle East and victims of domestic violence (http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2010/02/28/an-outpouring-of-concern-for-fathima-faika/), it is surprising why she cannot even write one sentence about this poor girl.

    Finally, I should proudly mention that when it comes to saving RIZANA NAWFEEK, what we can see is that people are united as Sri Lankans.

    http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/10/26/please-save-the-life-of-the-innocent-girl-rizana-nafeek/

  24. De Costa Says:

    Parinda,
    OK, this time you have come back directly and many thanks for that. Now I can easily judge your thinking. To you class problem is more important than the religious extremism problem – you may be right.
    Assuming this writing is in your name,
    1. Others no clue that this is coming form a Muslim with something against practice of common westernised christians.
    2. If one is biased against a certain class of Lankans ( the way they celebrate ) and read this writing then her article may be percieved dirrerently.
    3. Although my comments were somewhat influenced by comments by others, my comments were based on long time observation of her articles and particlularly her lack of respect for a poor Lanakn women going to middel east eran some money. ( Lack or freedom for women in her religion too influence my comments.)
    I accept that “raising ugly head of Islamic extremism in Sri Lanka” should have been addressed seperately and I strongly believe that such awareness in long overdue.

  25. De Costa Says:

    PS: I still do not know the connection of Eluwa( or Aliya) with Sinhala. Priyantha faded away after figthing with Sunil- he never explined.

  26. cassandra Says:

    Parinda,
    You have asked Dr Reffai that her article be re-published under your name, adding, “let us see how it looks then?” Well, I am afraid it might look rather silly. Are you saying you share ALL the views she has expressed? Are you also saying you have had the same experience of and feelings about snow and the wintry English weather she says she did? It would be strange, very strange, indeed, if you did. It seems to me you cannot have thought through this request very carefully.

    As far as I am concerned, the views expressed by the doctor will be just as illogical if stated by someone else – so your ‘attributed authorship’ will be of no consequence.

    I think you are being very chivalrous towards the doctor but she did not only make a “simple request asking all Sri Lankans to love our country in this happy New Year.” As I pointed out in my earlier response, she has a whole host of things to gripe about. And I do not think her comments are as ‘innocent’ as might at first seem. Is it not interesting that, while writing ostensibly only about the ‘snow’ in the TV station, she also saw fit to add “The fact that Jesus (peace be upon him) was not born in December is another matter”. What is the need for that statement? It suggests that her gripe is not really only about the ‘snow’ in the TV station.

    You have taken issue with Sajith for statements made by him “even without knowing what her religion is”. Here, you are the one making the assumption. What Dr Reffai’s religion is, is not a matter of conjecture. You have said this is the first time you have read an article by her but regular readers of Lanka Web know from her previous offerings on this site that she is a Muslim.

    I am not a Muslim and I do not know all about the religious traditions and practices of the Muslims and whether or not some of them are alien to Sri Lankan culture. It does not bother me if they are. The religious observances and rituals of the Muslim religion are matters of concern for those of that faith. I will not venture to lecture to Muslims on practices that are not consistent with Sri Lankan traditions and culture. It would be good if Dr Reffai would similarly refrain on griping about the traditions of people of other faiths.

    It seems to me also that Dr Reffai has some irrational ‘hang-up’ about Sri Lanka’s colonial past. Last year she was advocating that Sri Lanka “should also do away with the Independence day as it is more of a reminding day of the colonial imperialism rather than of the freedom”. Does that make sense? I don’t know how her mind works.

    Having said all this let me add that there are some sensible things that Dr Reffai has said in some of her articles – not on this occasion, though.

  27. Parinda Says:

    Cassandra,

    My answer for your question that if I share ALL the views that Mareena has expressed, is ‘no’. Although I would have written an article on the same subject she had undertaken, I would have written it in a different way. But the reason why I asked to present the article under my name is, not to demonstrate my association with her ideas, but to demonstrate how significantly a meaning of a thing or idea can shift with their association with different connotations. When an article brings one meaning with Mareena’s name, it might bring a different meaning with another name. In other words, meanings generated with the mechanism of one thing contacting/clashing with another thing. In this case, the contents of the said article had collided with the history of the author generating completely a different meaning. But the meaning of the same article would be drastically shifted with its association with a different name of someone else. Let us see how it works….please be advised, in this experiment, the reader doesn’t know the religious affiliation of the writer.

    Why is it snowing at our TV station?
    Pasindu Parinda

    It is amusing, nay irritating to see a TV station has taken to show continuous snowing when the news is read. Hello, this is Srilanka, remember? It does not snow here. We are blessed with gorgeous sunshine and rainbows right throughout the year. We have lovely showers, plentiful vegetation from January to and including December, birds signing, people on the roads laughing and merry making.

    We are blessed with the best of the weather in the whole world. Being a small island we have the monsoons bringing rain right throughout the year throughout the island and we have no problem with the temperature either.

    So why are we glorifying the snow? Has Christmas got anything to do with snow? Certainly not. The fact that Jesus ( peace be upon him) was not born in December is another matter. Even otherwise what has snow got to do with Christmas? Nothing, except the English gloried it to cover their annoyance with it.

    One single thing I hated most in my stay in England for four years was the snow and the thing I missed most was the sun shine of my pretty little island, Srilanka. Snow may look beautiful in pictures and on TV, true children may play with it for a few hours but when you are living there, you realize it is horrible to have it for any length of time. You have to dress so thick, that you cannot breath properly, you cannot walk properly and you cannot use your fingers properly for all have to be covered including your nose in so many layers of clothe. The roads are slippery and many will be closed till the snow melts. You have to wear special anti slip shoes called wellingtons and until you learn to balance yourself, you keep slipping and falling. You cannot drive your cars for the roads will be frozen with many feet depth of snow. You are stuck indoors for days sometime. Almost all vegetation dies leaving bleak white horizon.

    The English have learnt to make merry with it to overcome the misery of it since they have to live with it. Why should we? Why do we have the fricking snow at TV stations when we have our bright December with glorious sunshine, rain, rainbows, multicolored flowers on majestic trees with beautiful singing birds hovering around our lush trees what more can you ask for?

    So why are we still depicting Christmas with snow? Nothing but the vestiges of our slavery mentality from our colonial masters. We still cannot let go the stifling ties in this sweltering heat, we still cannot give up the stinking socks for our little school children’s feet, we still cannot give up the coat and suit – a sign of our gaping at and glorifying the west, even if they have been proven to be exactly the same as us with a sickeningly paler skin.

    So let’s get out of these meaningless slavish habits. Let us be truly and wonderfully Srilankans, singing praise of and enjoying our own weather, our own sunshine and rainbows.
    (End of article)

    Now this article sounds more like a redemptive appeal of a fellow countryman for the salvation from colonial servitude. And don’t forget, it doesn’t reject Christianity as a part of the cultural make up of modern Sri Lanka.

    As Mjaya, another forum member very politely has pointed out, this article has been subjected to severe criticism mostly based on her history, which I never taken into consideration in my critique. That is another subject worth to discuss, but may be not now.

    Human mind is not perfect entity Cassandra; instead it is also a product of nature and social construction, with all their flaws and failures, strengths and weaknesses. It is clear that in all previous occasions, Mareena has received her due criticism from forum members.

    Now the question is, when we critique an article, what we must critique? The article or the person?, Mareena or the article? That might be depending on the writers’ and readers’ ability to change and the strength of our perceived ‘truth’, ‘justice’ and the virtue of our highly cherished ideals.

    If we have demonstrated our compassion to embrace a former terrorist, an alleged monk killer, monks as young as 14 years, Muralidharan (Karuna), based on our above said virtues, why can’t we asses Mareena’s articles objectively without being subjective to attack the person? When we criticize, let us base on the contents of articles. That will resolve many things.

    Mjaya,
    I could not find Mareena’s previous articles, because her name is not listed under contributors or categories. Would you mind giving me some links?

    Mr. De C,
    Elu was the language of Sinhalese before it was mixed with mainland sub continental languages that resulted evolving their language into current state of Sinhala.

    Happy New Year Cassandra.

  28. cassandra Says:

    Parinda,

    I note your response. But if you care to re-read my first response you will see that I did NOT criticise the writer on the basis of her religion, but commented on what I saw as the absurdity of what she said. That is why I said in my response to you, that even if the article was re-published under your name, it would make no difference to me. Your comments about showing compassion and all that are irrelevant.

    Happy New Year to you as well.

  29. Rishard Says:

    Why this unnecessary hype about the ‘niqab’ or the fully covered dress of the Muslim women. Is not our own Government trying to impose it on our own population after the exposure of thousands of local pornographic sites. I mean not the actual niqab but a decent covered dress for our women. This may be bad news for Mr. Parinda and his cronies who would like to feast on the flesh of other peoples’ wifes and daughters. Sorry, Hello, you won’t be able to see half naked women on the road when the Government implements the plan soon.

    Why everytime a Muslim tries to put forward a comment in decent language on some current and worthy issue in decent language some bigots try to twist and turn the issue and bring up unrelated matters.

    Let us be civilized and learn how to interact in a forum keeping to the subject in decent language. Let us all be like Dr. Mareena Thaha – TRUE SRI LANKANS

  30. Rishard Says:

    Sorry, reference is to Mr. Sajith and his cronies and not Mr. Parinda in my above comment. Apolgies to Mr. Parinda.

  31. mjaya Says:

    Hi Rishard

    Please read my previous comment “Hi Parinda”. At first glance I saw your name was “Richard”, anyway, no offense. Just continue reading.

    If you want to see A TRUE SRI LANKAN please read the articles of Mr. A.A.M. Nizam (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/category/aamnizam/). If you want to see a subtle extremist, criticizing every aspect of our society then please read the links below. If Mareena were a true Sri Lankan then she should straightforwardly write an article dedicated to wrongfully convicted RIZANA NAWFEEK awaiting execution in Saudi Arabia. After reading the links below if you still don’t get the message then your in the same (hidden agenda) boat as Mareena.

    You reap what you sow. Mareenas who sowed the seeds of extremism, gets criticism (often impolite!) in return. It has nothing to do with the fact that she is a Muslim. If Muslims were stereotyped in this forum (as you seem to think), then can you find any “bad comment” for an article of Mr. Nizam?? (please continue reading)

    Hi Parinda

    Here are the links,
    *Nailed Woman (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/09/02/nailed-woman/) – it all starts here!
    *Will they ever learn? (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/10/05/will-they-never-learn-2/) – please read the comments you will see that De Costa has in fact praised this article.
    *Are we a civilized nation? (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/10/15/are-we-a-civilized-nation/)
    *Is it a curse? (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/10/28/letter-to-the-editor-is-this-a-curse/)
    *Ban on cattle slaughter (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/12/10/ban-on-cattle-slaughter/)
    *Let more women come back with nails in them! (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/11/18/let-more-women-come-back-with-nails-in-them-ameen/)
    *Who is celebrating? (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/11/20/letter-to-the-editor-who-is-celebrating/)
    *Whats up with a Coconut? (http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/12/23/what%E2%80%99s-up-with-coconut/)

    PS: I had to spend quite a lot of my valuable time for all this. I just hope it won’t go waste!

  32. De Costa Says:

    mjaya,
    Thank you for this hard work and dedication. I did not feel like doing this as I knew how some brains work – which is natural. Just one thing all readers should notice, which I should waste a bit of time to reiterate.

    None of the critics of Mareena asked the islamic women to show their body partslike westerners but it is Parinda and Rish(ch)ard who repeatedly twisting the truth and taking it as “undressing the Muslim women” ,”feast on the flesh of other peoples’ wifes and daughters” . This is uncivilized and stupid whatever they write with great philosophy.

    What they critics talking against was fulling covered “goini billa” dress with only eyes visible is something forced by men, on women – depriving of their freedom. Among a lot more other practices, there are many practices worng in Arab culture which are creeping inot Sri lanka gradually- withing the cover of some peace loving great Muslims sacrificing their lives for our motherland.
    This does not mean that western cultures are better but al least on surface, freedom is eveident. That is the freedom( eventually lost) allowed Al-Quida maniacs to exploit and kill inocent people. Whether it happened in Sri Lanka or in the west, terrorism is terrorism which we all ( as SriLankans suffered the most ) should condemn before condemning any other thing.

    If this “Mareena” ( I suspect this is a man) cannot even condemn RIZANA NAWFEEK case and write like a maniac condemning our poor mothers instead, there is every justification for critcs not to be polite to her any more, specially when she criticises practices by others.

  33. Parinda Says:

    Mjaya,
    I did not see all these developments. Thank you for putting a lot of effort into this. I read articles of your links. That opened up an unknown aspect of the story. It is very strange a prominent person among the Muslim community like Mareena had never wrote anything regarding Rizana’s case, when the whole nation, including the president were trying to save this poor Muslim girl’s life.

    Yet again as far as the plight of Muslim woman concerned, as a principle, it must be addressed by Muslims themselves. But we can have a dialogue with them in different forums, a serious dialogue to find out what is the actual opinion of Muslim women about this ‘controversial’ dress. The system can educate them of their rights as Sri Lankans. Even authorities can go for a referendum among Muslim women to find if Muslim men have violated the women’s rights. But if they do not consider the current condition as a violation of their natural rights, then we can do nothing. But still dressing like that is absolutely their personal choice. Because we cannot ban a dress. This is a double egged weapon Mjaya. If we submit to the argument of our right to mend with their affairs, as a principle we are accepting R2Ps in its internal form. We cannot have double standards.

    Now again the question is how the system can ensure whether or not, all our citizens enjoy the individual rights that has been enshrined in the constitution equally. Can individual rights being taken away by religious rules are issues that need to be debated in national level. Who is Sri Lankan, is he a religious freak or a secular freak? What is the thin line separates these two?

    If we believe that we have a right to tell them what to do, then also we must accept the rights of other communities to criticize Buddhist practices as well, because, if we have that right as Sri Lankans, then they also will enjoy the same right as Sri Lankan citizens.
    For that reason the initiative must come from them. Then the law of the land can handle the issue with the participation of Muslims, for the benefit of their own. That will be depend on how far they consider the law of the land is for their benefit and the protection of their rights.

    For nation building I firmly believe that we must separate THE ETHNIC DOMAIN AND NATIONAL DOMAIN in education. Education must be under the national domain other than the Sunday schools where all kids get education of their own religions. But the national domain must create the Sri Lankan civilian or the citizen first, and then they can be a Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims after that. Under that principle, for the benefit of the nation and its unity, we will have to stop all ethnic and religion based segregation in education, in which there will never be Buddhist schools, Hindu, Christian or Muslim schools as national level schools. All those culture and religion specific schooling must be limited to Sunday schools.

    However what I found in her articles is the lack of balance, empathy and the understanding of nation’s feeling over many current issues she had discussed. I hope she will take criticism constructively to change her approach in writing, because I think her ideas also as voluble as others.

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