Sri Lanka: the New Country

by Padma Rao Sundarji

Overview

The thirty-year-long civil war in Sri Lanka which ended in 2009 shook the island-nation. Now there is peace, rapid development - and a new government. But questions remain. What do Tamils and Sinhalese feel about their new country? What are their dreams for the future?Sri Lanka: The New Country is insightful and unusual reportage from the dispassionate eye of a foreign correspondent who covered the bloody conflict for two decades. It is anecdotal narrative at its best: about ordinary Sri Lankans, former Tamil Tigers, meeting LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran, princes, 'secular clergymen', army generals, Tamil Buddhists, Sinhalese Tamils, politicians and sailors wary of ghosts. As the writer traverses Sri Lanka's formerly embattled north and east, internationally stereotypes about the nation are challenged. The book is a tribute to a wonderful people, as they pick up the pieces of their fragmented national identity and get on with building a new country.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789351770312
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/03/2015
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	344
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Padma Rao Sundarji is a veteran foreign correspondent based in NewDelhi. As the long-standing South Asia bureau chief of German newsmagazine Der Spiegel till 2012, the Sri Lankan civil war was an intensivepart of her beat. She has also worked for ARD German Television Network,ZDF, Geo and Outlook in New York, Deutsche Welle in Germany andNDR German Radio, Deutsche Presse Agentur, The Pioneer and as specialcorrespondent for McClatchyDC in India. Her work has appeared insyndicate in the New York Times and the Herald Tribune and in anthologiesof writing by foreign correspondents in Germany and India. She currentlyfreelances for various international and Indian publications and writesboth in English and German.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 The Past, The 'fragile Peace' and the Tiger in his Lair 1

2 Vavuniya: Of All Places 30

3 Dosas in KILlinochchi: A General Tells his Story 53

4 Samba Dancers, A Gunrunner and a Fallen Lion 81

5 Jaffna: On Board an An-32 for the Wounded and the Dead 102

6 Jaffna Tamil Buddhists? A Unique Discovery 112

7 Jaffna: A Former Tiger is a TV Producer 128

8 The Chief Minister Designate, A Judge and a Gentleman 138

9 In Jeans at Temple Trees: The Return to Sri Lanka 152

10 A House for Tamils 166

11 The Prince of Jaffna and Royal Kandyan Graves in India 196

12 Mullaithivu: War Tourism & The Final Theatre of War 209

13 Trincomalee: LTTE Shells, Sinhalese 'Tamils' and All Alone on Sober Island 223

14 Passikudah, Batticaloa's Singing Fish and the Infamous White Vans 240

15 In Colombo: A Sri Lankan Activist and in Search of My Grandfather 262

16 The Gulf of Mannar, Adam's Bridge and Young Tigers and Lions 277

A Final Word and Updates 292

Apologies, A Reading List and Thanks 301

Notes 308

Index 315