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    Rites of Passage

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    keg.en.2021.f.0018
    This document contains three passages from Richard de Zoysa describing encounters while traveling in Sri Lanka that highlight tensions and dangers during periods of civil conflict and democratic unrest. In the first passage from 1985, de Zoysa and others are confronted by armed guards while taking a late night walk in an unfamiliar town. In the second passage from 1984, de Zoysa recounts narrowly avoiding stepping on a landmine after being stopped by a lieutenant near the perimeter of an army camp at night. The final passage from 1988 reflects on the earlier incident and death of the lieutenant, questioning the costs and meanings of defending democracy during wartime.

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    Rites of Passage

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    keg.en.2021.f.0018
    1K views3 pages
    This document contains three passages from Richard de Zoysa describing encounters while traveling in Sri Lanka that highlight tensions and dangers during periods of civil conflict and democratic unrest. In the first passage from 1985, de Zoysa and others are confronted by armed guards while taking a late night walk in an unfamiliar town. In the second passage from 1984, de Zoysa recounts narrowly avoiding stepping on a landmine after being stopped by a lieutenant near the perimeter of an army camp at night. The final passage from 1988 reflects on the earlier incident and death of the lieutenant, questioning the costs and meanings of defending democracy during wartime.

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    This document contains three passages from Richard de Zoysa describing encounters while traveling in Sri Lanka that highlight tensions and dangers during periods of civil conflict and democratic unrest. In the first passage from 1985, de Zoysa and others are confronted by armed guards while taking a late night walk in an unfamiliar town. In the second passage from 1984, de Zoysa recounts narrowly avoiding stepping on a landmine after being stopped by a lieutenant near the perimeter of an army camp at night. The final passage from 1988 reflects on the earlier incident and death of the lieutenant, questioning the costs and meanings of defending democracy during wartime.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    1K views3 pages

    Rites of Passage

    Uploaded by

    keg.en.2021.f.0018
    This document contains three passages from Richard de Zoysa describing encounters while traveling in Sri Lanka that highlight tensions and dangers during periods of civil conflict and democratic unrest. In the first passage from 1985, de Zoysa and others are confronted by armed guards while taking a late night walk in an unfamiliar town. In the second passage from 1984, de Zoysa recounts narrowly avoiding stepping on a landmine after being stopped by a lieutenant near the perimeter of an army camp at night. The final passage from 1988 reflects on the earlier incident and death of the lieutenant, questioning the costs and meanings of defending democracy during wartime.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    RITES OF PASSAGE

    1956
    Api yamu ko josey
    Api yamu ko josey
    Api yamu ko josey, yumo ko josey, chandey damanna .......
    Dakuna kakula perata dama; shata pata gala
    (Electioneering Song)

    1985 Tangalle
    Going in search of democracy
    Off to the election Down South
    Lands of milk and honey and guns
    (They call it shotgun democracy)
    40 miles away from democracy,
    The enterprise falters it’s 2 a.m.
    Drive’s tired, the girls need sleep
    Pull into the Rest House.

    No room at the inn, but parked under a tree


    The others sleep. We can’t. Strange town. Strange smells.
    Strange night sounds drive us out into the streets
    In search of excitement maybe in the South
    Things happen near dawn that happen nowhere else.

    Up and down narrow, winding, ill-lit streets


    Past guesthouses a sleeping petrol shed -
    Back to the curving road that follows the coast
    And the surf roaring faraway, nearer,

    HALT!

    The searchlight comes screaming out the dark


    Blinds and freezes you, cat in the path of a truck.
    Hands fly up
    Then it hits you
    Now you’ve done it
    Now you’re guilty

    Now can’t put them down till told to


    And he can’t lower the gun till told to
    That faceless voice behind beam
    This is the moment of truth
    Wherever there’s a fence
    Manned with guns

    APPROACH!

    Stumble over the rough grass


    Eager to show identity
    Show we’re on the right side

    -We were just taking a stroll. We’re going in search


    Of democracy, going to see the by-election next door.

    -DON’T YOU KNOW THESE ARE NOT THE TIMES


    FOR NUTS LIKE YOU TO BE ROAMING AROUND
    LEAST OF ALL IN SEARCH OF DEMOCRACY
    THIS IS OUR ROAD AND IT’S OUT OF BOUNDS

    -We didn’t know we’re strangers here


    -IN THAT CASE YOU SHOULD BE FAST ASLEEP
    NOW MOVE BEFORE I CALL UP A JEEP

    -We’re going
    In search of democracy
    (They call it shotgun democracy)

    1984 Elephant pass


    Surely it was before this that I stood
    Nerves shot to pieces, while the lieutenant
    Who found me blundering sleepless though the camp
    Brought me up sharp with a command to halt
    Then told me gently the whole perimeter
    (I was not a meter away from it)was mined
    Mind, he said
    So is the water below the barbed wire fence
    The searchlight glared at the shallows, fiercely challenging
    Anything to move
    -And I was thinking of a swim!

    1988

    Well, he’s dead now, and I’m alive


    The war got him in the end
    And he got a decoration

    Defender of Democracy and the Nation

    Still searching for democracy?


    Mind those fences
    Richard de Zoysa

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