Kalis who controlled the forests
Kalis who controlled the forests
Narmatha (Colombo)
I read the report of your journey towards the goal.
How did you manage it?
How did you manage to roam around in the sound of dogs howling?
How did you manage to listen to the sound of animals in the forests and shed a little tears?
How did you manage to wander alone in the forests in the middle of the night?
How did you manage to embrace the nights, your body stiffening in the monsoon rains?
How did all our middle of the night become a day for you?
You controlled the forest and became attuned to the sea. Are both ways of victory?
How did you make the times when we sleep peacefully so precious?
They say that a woman is a ghost and a pity. How did you crush all the great demons?
How were you able to put your friend’s brain inside and sew it up?
How were you able to sing the blood stains from another woman’s body without moving?
How were you able to take the sperm of another woman who had died and take your own life?
Everything seems like an incomprehensible mystery.
In the villages, when others get injured in fencing or in a fight, women are the ones who shout. If death comes, you are the ones who gather for alms and beat your chest.
The Ampils will stand outside and get angry after hearing our miserable cries.
This is what everyone said. Even Draupada herself untied her hair, and she made the Pandavas tremble with rage by swearing.But in your passion, you destroyed yourself like a horse that was stung by a spear. You shouted in your passion, ‘Give it back to those who caused you misery.’You must have seen yourself in those moments. Your eyes would have been burning. Your body would have been boiling and trembling. Your chest would have been pounding. Your hands and feet would have been struggling for revenge.
In your passion, all the enemy’s strategies have become chaff. This immense power within you has been discovered and developed by the national leader. Now you have shown our power that is hidden within each of us.
You have knocked down the problems of life that we faced in the struggle life with a hammer. We fight for these throughout our lives. All our goals have become mere hammers in your presence.
In the physical pains, tortures, sacrifices and endurance that you have endured, there is peace in the country today. No one bothers us when we call ourselves Tamils. We can walk in a multi-ethnic society whenever we want, with symbols that reflect our ethnicity.
Our young boys can walk upright without being humiliated in the name of testing, our girls can live in peace without being humiliated in the name of testing. Anyone can stand up on public platforms and talk about our problems. Many people listen to our speech patiently.
All these are not the rewards we have received, the price you gave is higher than your life.
You snatched your eyes in front of us and threw them away – we saw that. You dug a hole and buried your dreams. You mutilated your bodies. By selling your eyes, we have got a picture. We enjoyed it. We love it.
Because, our world was different. But you set yourself on fire to some atrocities that happened in our other world. Everything was destroyed in that fire. In this land of freedom that you have shed blood and reclaimed with every step, in this free land, our hearts are filled with joy. Our hearts are filled with joy. That is what you need.
You have written very simply about the great achievements you have made and the great sorrows you have faced. This is not just historical information. They are epics of a great war. There are many things that you have left unsaid in this. There may be many reasons for not telling them. There may not be immediate possibilities.
Those who have left their mark on this land have had and will have many stories. Those of you who have lived the life of the liberation struggle will have them. Everyone who lives in an environment of struggle will have them.
The histories of the times that are being written will only sharpen some. The rest will become side stories or disappear. But your history as the female tigers of the Tamileelam liberation struggle stands up as a great presence, not to be hidden or to be hidden.
– Vilthagi Verumagi
(Translation by Kaanagan)
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