21St October 1966 Uprising Merging the North and East Water and Big Business
December 2006 21st October 1966 Uprising SK Senthivel Merging the North and East E Thambiah Water and Big Business Krishna Iyer; India Resource Centre Poetry: Mahakavi, So Pa, Sivasegaram ¨ From the Editor’s Desk ¨ NDP Diary ¨ Readers’ Views ¨ Sri Lankan Events ¨ International Events ¨ Book Reviews The Moon and the Chariot by Mahaakavi "The village has gathered to draw the chariot, let us go and hold the rope" -one came forward. A son, borne by mother earth in her womb to live a full hundred years. Might in his arms and shoulders light in his eyes, and in his heart desire for upliftment amid sorrow. He came. He was young. Yes, a man. The brother of the one who only the day before with agility of mind as wings on his shoulder climbed the sky, to touch the moon and return -a hard worker. He came to draw the rope with a wish in his heart: "Today we shall all be of one mind". "Halt" said one. "Stop" said another. "A weed" said one. "Of low birth" said another. "Say" said one. "Set alight" said another. The fall of a stone, the slitting of a throat, the flight of a lip and teeth that scattered, the splattering of blood, and an earth that turned red. A fight there was, and people were killed. A chariot for the village to draw stood still like it struck root. On it, the mother goddess, the creator of all worlds, sat still, dumbfounded by the zealotry of her children. Out there, the kin of the man who only the day before had touched the moon is rolling in dirt.
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