By Vishwamithra –

In the minds of most men, the kingdom of opinion is divided into three territories,–the territory of yes, the territory of no, and a broad, unexplored middle ground of doubt.” ~ James A Garfield

AKD

Picture yourself somewhere you wish to be; not a Utopian plane  where milk and honey is the daily beverage; not a fairyland where you are up in the clouds disturbed by none other than those lovely angels: an ordinary setting, your own middle-class house, under a tiled roof and amongst your family members watching television in the evening just before retiring to bed with your loving wife after setting the bed for the two sons whose homework has already been concluded and ready for next day school. What peaceful and relaxing setting for an ordinary family without struggling for the next day’s meals.

That was then; one cannot remember how long ago, yet such alluring calm and soothing surroundings are no more. One is not pessimistic to reminisce one’s own onetime life and expect nothing akin would revisit him in the near future, leave alone tomorrow. Yet when a change is petitioned as the country with its leaders and subjects have gone wayward to the extremes of corruption, to the far-reaching boundaries of nepotism and even crossed the threshold of decency and honesty, the demand for a change is essentially a journey back towards the middle.

When Prince Siddhartha, after the great renunciation, indulged for six languishing years, first in material pleasures and then resorting to self-mortification in order to find the meaning and truth about life and the whole wide universe, his rejection consisted of those two extremes. One does not have to be a Bodhisattva (one who has made a resolution to become Buddha) to comprehend these nuanced aspects of one’s ordinary journey of life.

I’m, of course, belaboring a case for the middle-ground in the current sociopolitical context. When the National People’s Power (NPP) is being branded, as a political party, rightfully in this case, as the one that is expected to deliver a system change, one wonders as to why and how the NPP cannot be charged with a party that has already dashed to the fringes of the political spectrum? But we must investigate even with more assiduous keenness whether the current sociopolitical circumstance is ordinary or extraordinary. When Cabinet ministers are being tried for corruption, when some of them are still serving in their capacities as Minsters despite being found guilty of accepting bribes for extending favors to constituents, when no action is being taken to pursue some obvious white-collar criminals like past governors of the Central Bank for openly indulging in corrupt practices, how such acts could be classified as ordinary, normal and acceptable? We have been in a despicable exercise of normalizing the abnormal and countenancing the corrupt and dishonest.

In such a maddening circumstance, the journey of the so-called radical NPP and their leaders, whose declared aims and political principles seem to be founded on balanced and fair practice of good governance and obedience to law and order, could be termed as a deliberate angling towards the middle. Those who tend to depart from the middle are obviously the extremists. That is precisely why I say that the NPP is definitely treading to the middle while the so-called status quo-parties are meandering towards the fringes.

Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Pohottuwa-led parliamentary majority are hellbent on protecting and safeguarding the criminals and the Samagi Jana Balavegaya is not being trusted by the people to do away with the political pariahs who are occupying high seats in the political arena today. Those who publicly defend the status quo are occupying the fringes and they seem to be totally oblivious to what the masses demand and what the masses need.

Unspeakable hardships are being imposed on the ordinary people; Colombo and its immediate suburbs are enjoying nauseatingly sickening celebrations with Rs. 50,000 per bottle of wine, they indulge in the consumption of lobster tails, caviar and Russian vodka that crowd their dinner tables. Beastly-looking vehicles are transporting the bigwigs and other VVIPs to their fine dining restaurants. A completely different image is being presented to the unsuspecting public. Money in all sorts of bundles and purses has become the passport to social recognition and those who profess a contrary picture are being branded as extremists and radicals. Being branded as radicals is perfectly all right. But being called extremists connotes a terrifyingly unacceptable meaning. Such branding creates a sense of fear and suspicion in the ordinary minds of those who do not want to stray from the middle.

In a war of words, which all election campaigns eventually end up in, brandishing cleverly chosen words and phrases becomes a set of strategically advantageous tools. The NPP and Anura Kumara Dissanayake whose distinct character is their near-perfect expertise in vernacular rhetoric and legitimate debating, creating fresh phrases and rich linguistic embellishments is mere second nature. I’m sure they must be quite busy in such creative occupation of time. Hope and expression of hope is no sin; if thugs are unleashed on those who hope for a better and more productive future for their children, those who hope would certainly sacrifice themselves willingly and with a smile on their faces.           

Is such hope, is such aspiration a mirage? Is such ordinary wishing being interpreted as an extremism or is it a meandering to the middle in the social spectrum? That is the question that irritates the ruler and sustains the average man and woman. At a time when the call is supposed to be for a system change, one wonders whether the call would rally the majority of the masses towards an extreme political and sociocultural change. The very notion of a system change does contain within itself a total change, a change that is fundamentally outside the proverbial ‘box’. But, in politics and socioeconomic paradigms as in all human endeavor, everything is relative. One must essentially investigate this social context with a fresh mind and an absolute sense of honesty and authenticity.

I go back to the beginning of this column: picturing what one wishes. It’s well past sunset. Deep inside the hamlet, at the foot of the hillock is located the Buddhist temple. The kapu mahattaya (lay ritual performer) is busy preparing the pre-ritual ceremonies. The village dwellers clad in white are being brought to quietude by the severity of the occasion. A Covid-ridden villager is in the center and the kapu mahattaya is performing a pooja to invoke the blessings of unseen gods. What is intellectually true is not the argument here at the scene. Whether the patient needs to be covered in black or white is the debate. Their faith cannot be questioned; it’s unbreakable. The village customs are still overwhelming the ordinary men and women. When faith demands unquestioned attention, everyone and everything must stand still, period.

But the panorama of village customs and traditions is being invaded by visible and tangible developments, both on the technological and other material vistas; the younger generation is openly challenging the old. Seventy six years of custom and tradition has not saved the country from bankruptcy; it has not effected one iota of sociocultural and economic change. Such traditions and customs have only dragged us down a foggy path of which the end seems to be more uncertain than its beginning. Serenades to lovers and stanzas of lullaby to babies are fading away to the misty night; gathering darkness is ominous and only the young for whom the line between day and night is but an unrecognizable division are at peace with themselves.

The inauspicious toll of the temple bell does not disturb the sleeping children; they perturb the woken elders; yearning for a more just and deeply equal society will wake all of them up, eventually, prompted by their siblings for whom a fresh start and a new beginning is as crucial as breathing each second to survive. They must plod towards the middle, away from the fringes of corruption, from the extremes of nepotism and dishonesty.

If there were social media during the early 1970s, Rohana Wijeweera might have employed a different set of rules and a different set of goals. It’s no time for speculation; such speculation belongs to the past and the past is dead. Dealing with the dead is not beneficial to the living. For once and for all, Anura Kumara Dissanayake must declare that they are indeed trending towards the middle. Away from the fringe.

*The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com