Two years have passed since I went to Jaffna. I realized that no matter how bright the sun is, it has a strange charm. Needless to say, the harmony of my Tamil friends, who did not know a single word of Sinhala and who did not know a single word of Tamil, added a strange beauty to my university life. Among them, there was one of my favorites, a lovely Tamil friend. She is from a Catholic background, and her family did not wear ‘pottus’ or flowers in their hair. She often attended church prayer on Sunday mornings, and unexpectedly, one day she invited me to the church.
The church is four to five kilometers away from the Kondavil Hostel on Palali Road where we were staying.
It is the St. Mary’s Cathedral, built in the shape of a cross that rises majestically to the sky, beside the famous St. Patrick’s College in Gurunagar, Jaffna.
This cathedral was built on the martyrs of history. It was the largest and most popular cathedral in the Northern Province. According to legend, after the son of King Sankili, who reigned in Jaffna, converted to Christianity, he killed his son in the place where the current cathedral is situated. It is said that the prince’s ashes were buried in the place where he was killed, which later became the foundation for the construction of the present cathedral.
The interior of the cathedral did not have many colorful decorations, but its splendor lay in the simple grand constructions. A marble altar. A large carved wooden cross is planted above. A statue of Mother Mary is mounted on a wooden platform.
Bomb blasts during the war damaged the roof and some parts of the cathedral. One of the wooden doors still has bullet marks. All this makes me think that even the cathedral has endured dark memories.
Although a Buddhist by birth, I loved to hang out in Jaffna and it was a good opportunity for me to participate in the service. After the yatika was over, my colleague went to Chavakachcheri house and I reached Palali Road via Old Park Road and boarded a Vayavilan Petti bus near Nagadeepa Vihara and came back to my lodging. From Jaffna town to the hostel was about twenty rupees. When you go a little further on the A9 road you come across the old Kachcheri.
Tucked away in a corner of Jaffna, the old Kachcheri is now in ruins but is the perfect place to see the beauty of neo-renaissance architecture. Although mosses and vines have invaded the grounds, Roman arched doors and windows can still be seen around the central courtyard. Looking up one can see the sky through holes in the collapsed roof instead of the roof today. Although all the interior rooms have been destroyed, the grandeur of that era still remains today.
Kachcheri is a District Secretariat that acts as a liaison between the Central Government of Sri Lanka and its activities at the district level. A bureaucratic branch of this size would require a large facility to accommodate the Kachcheri government projects within its own district, collecting revenue and organizing elections. Jaffna, the capital of Sri Lanka’s northern province, is also home to the local Kachcheri.
Before delving into the old Kachcheri buildings, it is necessary to know about Jaffna’s tumultuous colonial past. Portugal conquered the island in 1619 and finally the Dutch in 1658. The final twist in the colonial story came in 1796 when the British took control of all Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka.
British government agent Percival Acland Dyke bought 27 acres of land and started construction of an administrative center. The administrative center became Kachcheri of Jaffna, now known as Old Kachcheri. History has not always been kind to the old Kachcheri. It was targeted by rival forces and later abandoned. The presence of a large building for administrative purposes did not go unnoticed by the country’s forces. Since the late 1970s, the Sri Lankan Army has been based in old Park and made the most of the old Kachcheri buildings. In the late 1980s, a militant Tamil organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, occupied Jaffna, and they also used Old Park and Old Kachcheri as military and police headquarters.
When Sri Lanka forces regained control of Jaffna in 1995, a military camp was briefly located in Kecheri, but the building was vacated and abandoned after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war. The dissolution that began through human agency is now carried out by nature. Vegetation has taken over the buildings and the weather is slowly but surely grinding its encroachment on the building.
On the box bus from Jaffna town, the same few song patterns were heard. A song from the movie ‘Ninety Six 96’ starring Vijay Sethupathi as ‘Ram’ and Trisha Krishnan as ‘Janu’ is being played. Mini Buses are small in size. For someone quite tall, the pavement itself was suitable. As soon as the people are loaded in such a way that there is no room to lift a finger, the bus tilts to one side and starts the journey. Words cannot describe the sweetness of the experience.
Dashes…… Dashes……. (gets down from the front)
Munnukku Ponga….. Pinnikku Ponga…….
Sometimes it is difficult to even find the direction of the bus. Road 764 is always closed.
Dashes……… Dashes………
Jaffna University is located near Parameswaram Junction. Two to three kilometers from the town. The Faculty of Medicine is in Tirunaveli. Ammachiya when passing Tirunaveli Junction. ‘Ammachchi’ is the perfect place to enjoy Jaffna’s unique cuisine. Then Condaville Hostel. Bajji, Gundu Vadai, Paruppu Vada, Kadala near the Bank of Ceylon between Parameshwara and Thirunaveli is a cart with food unique to Jaffna itself. It was also the main bus stop for many who went to the hostel.
The students who had finished their lectures also scrambled to hang onto the box buses to get to the hostel early? Or maybe it’s because the next bus is coming hours later, I don’t know. Whether they went by bus or foot cycle, they did not forget to stop at Ammacchi’s and eat a vada and sav hopper on the way.
A calm Sunday ended restlessly with the intention of starting a hopeful Monday.
No matter how the politicians label the Tamil people, I have enjoyed their brotherhood, hospitality and closeness. I am still enjoying it today. Although we cannot communicate well in Tamil, the friendship between us cannot be expressed in words.
Viduni Basnayaka