In 1410, Chinese admiral Zheng He erected a tablet near Galle with a message in Chinese, Persian, and Tamil. In 2010, we have begun to understand what it means. Sri Lanka is uniquely positioned between China, the Middle East and India. We are also uniquely oblivious. Chinese, Persian and Tamil were languages of power in 1410. At that point the Indian Ocean was dominated by Chinese junks, Arab dhows and Tamil traders, plying the monsoon winds. This was the commerce of the day. Then, for internal reasons, the Chinese effectively bowed out. When the Europeans circled round Africa, they sailed into a power vacuum and – with their technology and ruthlessness – were able to take over the Orient like Sicilians took over New Jersey.

There’s been a debate on The Sunday Leader site about female sexuality, among other things. I thought this comment by Mohottige was interesting (in response to someone else) – ” ‘An educated man will not marry a prostitute from Sri Lanka… Because he has other options’ What about all these educated Sri Lankan men who also have had sex before marriage? And they are many ! (since no woman can loose her sexual virginity without there being a male”prostitute” present). So where should a Sri Lankan girl go to find a male “virgin” to marry? Not in Sri Lanka anyway, beacuse most men here have practised sex before marriage and are thereby, by the standards mentioned by several “thaliban” writers here, simple male prostitutes.” Virginity is a weird thing because it is demanded from women and discouraged in men. Yet, logically, this does not compute. Either both sides need to be virginal, or there needs to be a compromise.

This country is ruled by Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers. Many ministers serve in his court. Two ministers – Wimal Weerawansa and Mervyn Silva are given special ambit. They are the symbolic gladiators of the media colosseum. When Mahinda cannot give us bread, he gives us circuses. Today the government is struggling with post-war issues of poverty, education, environment and education that have caused nearly daily protests. To communicate symbolically to these masses, Mahinda lets out his media mavens, unofficially, to soak up some newspaper ink, fill some airtime, give him a little cover. Weerawansa took a symbolic tilt at the UN, fasting unto drip. Mervyn tied a local government official to a tree to symbolically assume the sins of the bloody dengue scourge. Perhaps I’ve got the metaphor wrong. These are not gladiators, or jesters, or anything else. These are devil dancers, chasing out demons with demons.

Mahinda’s proxy tilt at the UN has given him an external enemy, enabling him to consolidate power and push through his Constitutional changes. The ‘us/them’ narrative of the LTTE is gone, but no one particularly likes the arrogant United Nations. Even opposition MPs like Sajith Premadasa have opposed the UN’s meddling in Sri Lanka which is both pointless, extralegal and visibly driven by lobbying from an unaccountable diaspora, itself a rump of the LTTE. The UN has also cynically misled and tried to exploit ignorance in the media making the government’s own posturing look almost democratic. What everyone misses for the trees, however, is that this seemingly quixotic tilting at the UN solidifies Mahinda’s power at home and largely nullifies the growing protests on Constitutional changes and cost of living.

I think the current protest against the UN has government support. Why? Look at these two photographs. The one above is from the ongoing protest against the UN Panel on the Sri Lankan war. The protesters are literally hanging propaganda on the police barricades. Then look at the photo below. This is from a planned student protest on Ward Place. There were literally hundreds of cops, they secured the entire street and sent buses of cops to break up the protesters en route. If the government wanted to they could have secured the UN compound they didn’t. One thing they have dispatched equally, however, is the most awesome mustache in the Police force, also below.

IIFA Colombo cost the Sri Lankan government about Rs. 850 million. The event was perhaps not a flop, but certainly not a hit. None of the A-Listers (Aishwariya, Amitabh, Abhishek) were there and neither were many of the Khans (Shah Rukh, Amir, Saif Ali). One Khan that did show up was Salman Khan, and he’s back in town today, to film a movie here. Another return visitor was Vivek Oberoi, hanging around with Namal Rajapaksa and visiting former LTTE cadres. Both of these former beaus of Aishwariya have followed through on a connection to Sri Lanka even though her father-in-law Amitabh pointedly has not. Are two visits and one film worth Rs. 850 million? Er. Probably not. At least not yet.

Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Ministry has alerted all missions in Europe to investigate the Buddha Bar chain of restaurants and bars. This is at a time when the Defence Secretary says there ongoing LTTE activity abroad. Sri Lanka is one of the last bastions of Theravada Buddhism, but this type of lame identity politics is unbecoming. Akon was recently prevented from entering Sri Lanka for five seconds in a music video showing models dancing in front of a Buddha statue. The international Buddha Bar chain basically makes a practice of this, so it’s gotten the attention of the government. It’s curious as to why this is a priority now.

Today I rented an Army paddle boat and puttered around the Beira Lake. Last weekend I saw them officiating a wedding. It’s weird, but honestly heartwarming. I was looking at some photos someone took of a Navy cruise ship. There was a small child in the captain’s chair, Navy crewmen grinning behind. It made me laugh. A year ago that ship was ferrying troops and evading LTTE suicide boats. Now a five year old is sitting in the captain’s chair. Last year troops in Jaffna were on edge, troops in the Wanni were cleaning their guns. This year they were making Vesak displays. I guess we still need a military presence, but it has really softened. They’re organizing weddings now. They say militarization like it’s a bad thing, but I’m honestly happy to see how things have changed.

Couples are seated at tables with Ministers, Generals and movie stars. They are hemmed in a solid square by soldiers, lackeys and cameramen. Family and friends watch the scrum from a distance, fifty feet away. These are token couples, swarmed by media, tokenizing the event and obstructing the view for everyone actually there. If you wander back, however, some couples are sitting almost entirely alone.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has dyed his hair black. It doesn’t look so good. Mahinda has been dying his hair and stache for years, but it hasn’t been a sudden change. Ranil normally has distinguished looking salt and pepper hair, and has for years. I think this is fine and grey hair is quite respectable and nice. This jump to black, however, is a bit shocking and macabre. It’s not an especially good dye job aesthetically, nor is it an especially good move politically. But judge for yourself.