{"id":124741,"date":"2014-05-18T00:17:44","date_gmt":"2014-05-17T18:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=124741"},"modified":"2014-05-25T02:48:31","modified_gmt":"2014-05-24T21:18:31","slug":"when-memory-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/when-memory-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"When Memory Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Mahendran Thiruvarangan<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"<\/a>

Mahendran Thiruvarangan<\/p><\/div>\n

Hushed faces, benumbed and betrayed,<\/p>\n

many a wrinkle, many a scar,<\/p>\n

many a story must they be mumbling,<\/p>\n

spoke my researchy voice in a foreign tongue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A pair of worn-out feet stumble into a hovel,<\/p>\n

a tiny one and a thatched roof atop;<\/p>\n

somewhere stood a smoldering lamp,<\/p>\n

darkening the dumb gods on the dust-ridden shelf.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Behind the heavenly portraits lurks a framed figure,<\/p>\n

stiff and smile-less in a striped uniform;<\/p>\n

the valiant neck drops<\/p>\n

thousands\u2019 freedom into a single capsule,<\/p>\n

and on a shoulder hangs<\/p>\n

a gun that foes and friends feared alike.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ageing fingers grope for an umbilical secret;<\/p>\n

behind Shiva\u2019s son,<\/p>\n

a hidden son,<\/p>\n

a fallen martyr in a freedom-quest,<\/p>\n

in a homeland cleansed<\/p>\n

of traitors, prostitutes and Allah\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the proscribed portrait awaits<\/p>\n

the mourning cry of motherly memory,<\/p>\n

in another land, another world,<\/p>\n

where jubilant monks make holy laws,<\/p>\n

and famished men are fed in plenty<\/p>\n

with the sweet wines of a bubbly nation,<\/p>\n

trumpets sound and children sing,<\/p>\n

towering flags flutter in the winds,<\/p>\n

a beaming King walks in majesty,<\/p>\n

and newspapers re-craft a loss-less victory.<\/p>\n

\"Tamil\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":107210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Memory Lives - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/when-memory-lives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Memory Lives - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/when-memory-lives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-17T18:47:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-24T21:18:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Mahendran-Thiruvarangan.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/when-memory-lives\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/when-memory-lives\/\",\"name\":\"When Memory Lives - 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