{"id":58308,"date":"2016-09-02T23:43:33","date_gmt":"2016-09-03T05:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=58308"},"modified":"2016-09-02T16:41:17","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T23:41:17","slug":"revisiting-kotmale-five-decades-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/09\/02\/revisiting-kotmale-five-decades-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting Kotmale Five Decades Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne\u00a0Former Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services at Nuwara Eliya\u00a0Government Agent, Matara<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kotmale, a Valley of great beauty and charm,<\/p>\n

where our celebrated poet Wimlaratne Kumaragama once lived,<\/p>\n

The hallowed residence where he penned verse after verse<\/p>\n

When he was DeeArrOoo is no more.<\/p>\n

The waters of the Kotmale River took it all.<\/p>\n

All when the Kotmale Dam was built.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fifty one years ago, working at Nuwara Eliya<\/p>\n

My weekly circuits to Kotmale, to settle paddy land disputes<\/p>\n

I did amicably settled them then.<\/p>\n

But all to no purpose.<\/p>\n

The waters of the Kotmale River took it all<\/p>\n

All when the Kotmale Dam was built<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I recall the Kotmale Valley<\/p>\n

Teeming, vibrant with Sinhala lads and lassies-<\/p>\n

A bold peasantry<\/p>\n

Transplanting paddy, growing cardamoms<\/p>\n

Home gardens thriving with spice and produce<\/p>\n

All \u00a0Gone- now we import what we then produced.<\/p>\n

We now call it trade and development\u201d and acclaim it as great!<\/p>\n

A Valley that thrived with the smiles and laughs of a simple people,<\/p>\n

flowing with innocence from their hearts<\/p>\n

Now, no more.<\/p>\n

The waters of the Kotmale River took it all<\/p>\n

All when the Kotmale Dam was built.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A vibrant Sinhala community shattered at its roots<\/p>\n

Scattered to the Vanni and other areas- far and wide<\/p>\n

Their land grabbed to provide hydro power<\/p>\n

To light the lamps of the rich- the State called it development\u201d<\/p>\n

Their habitats flooded, soaked with their tears<\/p>\n

The waters of the Kotmale Oya took it all<\/p>\n

All when the Kotmale Dam was built<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I relive meeting- associating them again and again<\/p>\n

Faces Laden with gleaming smiles<\/p>\n

Those whom I met incessantly at schools, at\u00a0 the DeeArrOoo office<\/p>\n

Then, I revelled in serving them with mirth and pleasure<\/p>\n

Sad, I cannot trace any of them now.<\/p>\n

Wasn\u2019t my endeavor a waste of time?<\/p>\n

The waters of the Kotmale River took it all<\/p>\n

All when the Kotmale Dam was built<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I visited the Kotmale Dam this August Day gone<\/p>\n

I was sad.<\/p>\n

The Valley was desolate, drab and bare.<\/p>\n

Everything in sight was lifeless, bone dead.<\/p>\n

Tears swelled in my eyes.<\/p>\n

A Valley that was once vibrant with life, farmers ploughing,<\/p>\n

Children upto tricks, fun and frolics winding their way\u00a0 to school,<\/p>\n

Peasants carrying produce to market, cows and buffaloes grazing on verdant verges,<\/p>\n

All taken away by development\u201d<\/p>\n

A Valley teeming with Sinhala folk<\/p>\n

Ethnically Cleansed for good.<\/p>\n

The waters of the Kotmale Valley took it all<\/p>\n

All when\u00a0 the Kotmale Dam was built..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Garvin Karunaratne<\/p>\n

Former Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services at Nuwara Eliya<\/p>\n

Government Agent, Matara<\/p>\n

2 nd Sept.\u00a0 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne\u00a0Former Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services at Nuwara Eliya\u00a0Government Agent, Matara   Kotmale, a Valley of great beauty and charm, where our celebrated poet Wimlaratne Kumaragama once lived, The hallowed residence where he penned verse after verse When he was DeeArrOoo is no more. The waters of the Kotmale River took it all. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-garvin-karunaratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}