Major Ilanilavan – Rallied the people to the struggle of Tamileelam.
Major Ilanilavan – Rallied the people to the struggle of Tamileelam.
“A beggar’s stomach, a simple burden, and strong legs.” These are the qualities that a guerrilla fighter should have. These are the words that came from the heart of the world’s greatest freedom fighter, Che Guevara. While reading this, Ilanilavan is one of those who came running to me.
He has wandered in the forests of the Vanni for months, relying only on a ‘string’ that is always tied under the semolina tank on his waist. He has traveled to all the nooks and crannies of the Vanni in his mission to rally the people to the struggle. At a time when porridge and eggplant were the only foods, he was one of the fighters who would fill his stomach with everything he found. A wonderful fighter who, despite all the trials, developed his struggle and his strength. He is a fighter. He has a round face. His head is always straight. He is of moderate height. He is calm only when he is thinking and rolling the small mole on his right cheek with his hand. At other times, he is lively.
A large part of Nilavan’s fighting life has been spent in the primary training colleges where new fighters are trained. Although he has performed various tasks, I have to say more about this primary task. Because the tasks he performed in the training colleges played a very important role in the development of our armed struggle at that time.
The Vanni battlefield was tight. Every day, an average of more than ten fighters were being removed from the field after being injured or killed. But the fighting was getting more and more intense. At that time, additional troops had to be created from among the few hundred thousand people in Vanni. It was necessary to quickly Nilavan’s work in creating clear, determined, and courageous fighters within a short period of time at our training bases was truly outstanding.
The world inside the forest is different. There is a sweet mix of life with pain. The fighters who had just left their families will experience the most difficult moments in their lives only in that forest world. Everyone will be pained by the memories of what they had separated from them. Their mother, who had poured out her love, their majestic father who seemed to be crying and shedding tears, their brothers who were devastated by their separation, and the life they had spent together with friends. They will still be struggling between what they had separated from and the new ideal they had set. Nilavan has stood by and supported hundreds of fighters during those moments to overcome such a period.
Nilavan was a teacher who was not only a training instructor at the training grounds but also a trainer, a sportsman, a cook, an artist, a technician, a library that could feed the fighters’ search for knowledge. He was a charming teacher with all the personalities.
His basic nature was also a reason for his wonderful work. He was the eldest child in Nilavan’s family. The other three were all girls. Two of his sisters had already left to fight while he was still at home. All this had instilled in him a deep sense of responsibility and had made him a man who loved others.
Nilavan´s family had migrated from Thirikonamalai to most parts of Tamileelam. They had to migrate even to the foreign country of India. The social knowledge he had acquired through this life had developed a broad outlook in him. His parents, despite all the hardships, had tried to educate their only son and make him a man. The social involvement and reading habit that was natural to his family had also had a lot of influence on him. He had extensive political and scientific experience.
Nilavan’s teaching work did not stop at training camps alone. Nilavan would keep moving from the short days when a fighter joined the front line of the battlefield where he was fighting. The field environment where the fighters had to undergo sudden environmental changes within a short period of time made this work a top priority for him.
Nilavan would travel on foot from the training camps to the vast battlefields of the Vanni in search of the fighters he was training.
Although Nilavan is very involved in the work he does, he has many mental pains and crises. I have seen him often wallow in those painful feelings. Whenever the fighters he raised fall on the battlefields and die in a very short time, he is overwhelmed with grief. Beyond the pain of death, the deep relationship he has with each fighter makes it even more so.
Nilavan’s heart is the place where many fighters confide their personal sorrows. It is because he was a man with such a heart that he performed another task in addition to his work. That was to visit the homes of his fallen fighters and console them. For that, the distance he traveled increased even more.
Nilavan´s strong legs walked everywhere without getting tired. His soft heart endured all the strong sorrows. He was not a man who only moved with guns but also a fighter who endured the sorrows of others. I did not know that he had any ‘spell’ that could remove the sorrows that settled in his mind. His heart kept everything within itself. That is why, if there was a fight somewhere, he would go to the front of the field and fight with his supervisor for the chance to win.
Whenever Nilavan, who wanders everywhere, comes to the camp, everyone there is happy. If he is there, there is good cooking. There are pleasant fights. There is healthy sharing.
At that time, ten of us were staying in a camp for a course of study. Nilavan is an elder brother to us. He is the one who is older than everyone. In terms of knowledge and experience. He was always our comforter and advisor.
Those times of crisis were the worst times for food. Starting with porridge that was hard to swallow, it would often become a great pain to finish all three meals. It was Nilavan who taught us the tricks of adding flavor to our food with the cheap ingredients available locally. He would grind sambal in leafy greens for the morning porridge and squeeze and flavor the food by squeezing the banana fruit. He would go hunting and bring meat and make it into a delicious curry that we had never experienced before. Nilavan was a master in cooking.
Nilavan’s growth was remarkable in his six years of struggle. He was reaching a mature stage in experience. The experience of dealing closely with hundreds of human minds had grown him immensely. He was one of the future hopes of his supervisor. Another task awaited him according to his maturity and the needs of the time.
It was the year 2001. After the end of operation “Oyatha Alaikal 03”, the enemy’s activities on the northern front had intensified. Even behind the barrage of fire, the Aanayiravu was immersed in the roar of war. Fighters were mobilized from the political department and a fighting force was prepared. Nilavan, who had just been called by the political department to take charge of a new task, immediately got appointed as the leader of a team and went to the field.
The plan was to quickly end the enemy’s operation and reorganize the fighters for work.
The battlefield was being prepared for a major counter-battle. Nilavan worked tirelessly as always.
Early in the morning on 2001.08.16. Shells were being fired at our positions with great fanfare. A great artillery battle had broken out between us and the enemy. The fighters were expecting the arrival of the enemy troops. But in a short time, the excitement died down. The enemy had abandoned his plan to advance. All our fighters were alive, except Nilavan. When the news reached our camp, no one was there in the “haunted house”. Only the bicycle that was arrived for a few days earlier was crying for the tireless worker.
– Liberation Tigers Magazine 120
(Translation by Tamilpriya)
0 Comments