{"id":120386,"date":"2014-02-23T00:25:22","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T18:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=120386"},"modified":"2014-03-02T13:33:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T08:03:39","slug":"wiggie-and-mavai-have-a-word-brawl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wiggie-and-mavai-have-a-word-brawl\/","title":{"rendered":"Wiggie And Mavai Have A Word-Brawl"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile in a parallel universe ..<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is not uncommon for two people in the same family to have widely divergent opinions.\u00a0 Brothers, after all, have set upon one another from time immemorial.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing wrong then about two individuals belonging to the same political party quarreling.\u00a0 Politicians quarrel over all kinds of things.\u00a0 There\u2019s the infamous preferential-vote dadi-bidis<\/i>, the \u2018manaapa poraya\u2019<\/i> that is.\u00a0 These days we see more intra-party rivalry than inter-party clashes.\u00a0 So when C.V. Wigneswaran<\/span><\/a> contradicts R. Sampanthan<\/span><\/a> or Mavai Senathirajah about this, that and the other, it\u2019s just normal.\u00a0 \u2018News,\u2019 yes, but still normal.\u00a0 Fun, though.<\/p>\n

The two chit-chatted over a cup of tea outside a kiosk called Reality along a street that ran parallel to that on which fellow TNA members met to discuss policy, strategy, bitch about Douglas and Mahinda, praise and blame India, whisper about what they called \u2018Diaspora\u2019, squirm and keep straight faces [by the way on other streets, inside other houses and offices, people belonging to other political parties and subscribing to other ideologies do pretty much the same].\u00a0 Anyway, there was conversation.<\/p>\n

\u2018Wiggy Annai you really should watch your mouth!\u2019 Mavai started.<\/p>\n

\u2018I do.\u00a0 Once in the morning, once each time I have a meal and once at night,\u2019 Wigneswaran was surprised at Mavai\u2019s concern and deep inside told himself, \u2018I have judged him too harshly!\u2019 and added a post-script, \u2018I forget that I am no longer a judge, damn!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Watch, not wash! Watch, watch, watch, like wrist-watch watch!\u2019 Mavia said sternly.<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh really, are you saying I put my foot in my mouth or something?\u2019 Wiggy was not happy.<\/p>\n

\u2018You did worse.\u00a0 You are making me feel that Prabhakaran was right about you Colombo people.\u00a0 Docile.\u00a0 Gullible. Ever ready to submit to the Sinhalese.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Oh, yeah?\u00a0 And where is he now, do you know?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s not the point.\u00a0 You don\u2019t know anything about politics.\u00a0 The moment you say you are willing to go with what is practically possible, you get bulldozed!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018But is politics not about the art of the possible?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We have to play brinkmanship to get to Possible!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018That brinkmanship adorned Tamil children with cyanide capsules and saw 40,000 people being killed in the last days of the war!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018One hundred and seventy five thousand!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, I thought we agreed to go with the 40,000 lie.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 We have to inflate the problem.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018So that the slightest scratch with a fingernail will burst the bubble?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You are playing word games now.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018But that\u2019s what it has always been, hasn\u2019t it?\u00a0 From Chelva and GG through Amirthaligam and Sampantha to you and I, we\u2019ve done the word-thing.\u00a0 The only one who didn\u2019t was Prabharakaran.\u00a0 Where is he now by the way?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You are starting to get on my nerves!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018You have any?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018What? Words?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018No, nerves.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Come on, let\u2019s be serious.\u00a0 You know we had to stick to Eelam so that we could get away with Federalism, right?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Yes, now that we are not getting federalism, shouldn\u2019t we go for what is realistically possible?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018No!\u00a0 That\u2019s the wrong way.\u00a0 You don\u2019t know the first thing about politics.\u00a0 We really don\u2019t have a problem.\u00a0 From the beginning we only had aspirations, not real grievances.\u00a0 We crafted grievances to justify aspirations.\u00a0 We\u2019ve already got much more than any other minority in any other country with equivalencies have.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been fighting for a bonus all these years.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I know, I know.\u00a0 I am aware of all that. I wasn\u2019t born yesterday.\u00a0 But you know, I am Old School. I subscribe to Old School Wisdom: A little now, more later.\u00a0 You up the stakes and fail and you don\u2019t get to \u201cConsolation\u201d, you get to \u201cZilch\u201d.\u00a0 Your buddy Prabhakaran took us Tamils down the road to that destination.\u00a0 He went with \u201cAll or nothing\u201d and now we are struggling with \u201cSomething is better than nothing\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Watch your mouth!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I did. This morning.\u00a0 And also, after lunch.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018#$%@&&+@#%$#!\u2019<\/p>\n

The invective was too much for the universe to suffer. The parallels melted away.\u00a0 Words dried up. Stares remained.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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