{"id":201710,"date":"2019-05-17T14:45:31","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T09:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=201710"},"modified":"2019-05-20T11:40:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T06:10:49","slug":"the-eighteenth-of-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eighteenth Of May"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mahesan Niranjan<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Prof. Mahesan Niranjan<\/p><\/div>\n

This day, the Eighteenth of May,
\nas a Lankan, I remember,
\nremember our dead of a decade ago,
\nin the heat of the battle,
\namidst the shrubs of the Vanni:
\nOur dead who perished in their tens,
\nhundreds, thousands, or More.<\/p>\n

Strafed from above, shot from sides,
\nblown from below, and shelled from afar,
\nhiding in shallow bunkers, running on thorny lanes,
\ntrapped on sandy beaches with nowhere to swim,
\nshielding offspring with both bare hands,
\nhuggings of love, whisperings of comfort,
\ncomfort of a God that never came.
\nClosing their eyes, shutting their ears,
\nfrom those deadly sounds of
\nstrafing, shooting, blowing and shelling.
\nThat\u2019s how, on this day, a decade ago:
\nOur dead perished in their tens,
\nhundreds, thousands, or More.<\/p>\n

The Coward and the Callous:
\nentrenched traits of our Lankan evil
\nfirmly engraved in their warped brains,
\nfinding comfort in their respective caves
\nof ignorance and air-condition,
\nto run and hide, to seek and kill.
\nIssuing of orders,
\norders of rudderless leaders.<\/p>\n

Fighter volunteers of the North:
\ncajoled and conscripted,
\ntrained to kill and themselves be killed,
\nruthless to blow up and themselves be blown.
\nArrogance in power and emptiness in purpose,
\nunder cover of fake promises.<\/p>\n

Fighter volunteers of the South:
\njob seekers and heroes,
\ntrained to kill and ready to torture,
\ninfused with fear and hate of the Other.
\nGuiltless in practice of learned skills,
\nunder cover of lies and deceit.<\/p>\n

So well-rehearsed was that drama,
\ndrama enacted across battle lines,
\nso on this day, a decade ago:
\nOur dead perished in their tens,
\nhundreds, thousands, or More.<\/p>\n

Oh, Lankan, do you as me remember,
\nremember knowing our better days,
\nof politics with Our good at heart,
\nof free health, study and speech,
\nof the Anthem we brothers sang,
\nof bringing Peace,
\nof gaining Knowledge, Truth and Faith,
\nof being children off one Mother’s womb,
\nof offering grains, flowers and fruits?<\/p>\n

Yet today, the Eighteenth of May,
\nmind devoid of meaning I cry,
\ncry why in the heat of that battle,
\namidst those shrubs of the Vanni:
\nOur dead had to perish in their tens,
\nhundreds, thousands, and More.<\/p>\n

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

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":336,"featured_media":201713,"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-201710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Eighteenth Of May - 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\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Eighteenth Of May - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-17T09:15:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-20T06:10:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mahesan Niranjan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mahesan Niranjan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/\",\"name\":\"The Eighteenth Of May - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-17T09:15:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-20T06:10:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d4b68193782be17d9d371840a02247\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Eighteenth Of May\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d4b68193782be17d9d371840a02247\",\"name\":\"Mahesan Niranjan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4780965d25c810aacbeaa7f9c88c14119919ae10e29f93cc17dd630f2de0bdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4780965d25c810aacbeaa7f9c88c14119919ae10e29f93cc17dd630f2de0bdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mahesan Niranjan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/mahesannir\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Eighteenth Of May - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Eighteenth Of May - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2019-05-17T09:15:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-20T06:10:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mahesan Niranjan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mahesan Niranjan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/","name":"The Eighteenth Of May - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-17T09:15:31+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-20T06:10:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d4b68193782be17d9d371840a02247"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg","width":960,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-eighteenth-of-may\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Eighteenth Of May"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d4b68193782be17d9d371840a02247","name":"Mahesan Niranjan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4780965d25c810aacbeaa7f9c88c14119919ae10e29f93cc17dd630f2de0bdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c4780965d25c810aacbeaa7f9c88c14119919ae10e29f93cc17dd630f2de0bdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Mahesan Niranjan"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/mahesannir\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/candleTwo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201710"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201818,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201710\/revisions\/201818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}