These images started as a photograph of a wave taken at Trincomalee. As is often the case with me there is less photoshopping in here than one might suspect. Mostly it is about careful cropping and then some simple options to intensify the resultant image; Gaia has done all the rest with beautiful patterns and colours, all there for us to see, admire …. and take good care of.

And cropping is sometimes and interesting discussion between myself and Muse&Mentor. M&M usually prefers a closer crop so that all is reduced to abstract pattern and colour; I prefer at least some clues as to the image’s origin with which to marvel at what our beautiful planet has produced. Usually I listen to M&M, without whose guidance and encouragement this blog would probably never have happened. Yet sometimes I rebel and prefer my own version; on this occasion I supply both.

And the sting in the tail …. Our visit to Sri Lanka was amazing; we saw many beautiful and fascinating places, we were fed to repletion, and toasted in the wonderful climate. Of special pleasure was the time spent in Jaffna, the Tamil/Hindu north where we were not tourists, just staying with a dear friend’s family and taking part in the temple celebrations; a joyous experience of a people’s religious devotion. M&M, who is a Buddhist was profoundly moved, as was I. We were both made so very welcome. Yet we also saw and heard some very disturbing things. The war between the Tamil/Hindu North and the Sinhalese/Buddhist South ended 5 years ago. The Tamil rebellion was sparked by genuine grievances over economic oppression and sidelining,  coupled with religious colonialism. And as in all wars some terrible acts were committed by both sides. I have struggled in my mind to try and reconcile the beauty that I saw, with the visible remains of the conflict and tried to take a balanced view. So these last few blog entries have been difficult to write and thus slow to produce. The war ended in total victory for the Buddhist/Sinhalese south, yet 5 years on, and despite there being no militaristic actions from the North  there are armed soldiers everywhere, huge monuments built to the ‘brave’ soldiers of the North yet no money for orphanages or hospitals. I saw barrel bombed Hindu temples, and hospitals with shell holes in the walls, I saw the continued economic oppression and religious colonialism which can only in time lead to another cycle of violence. In victory there should be acknowledgement of wrongdoings, magnanimity and rebuilding, but I saw nothing of the sort. The country is now controlled by a militaristic Buddhist theocracy, Buddhism gone wrong; M&M who is a Buddhist was very shocked; Siddhartha would have wept to have seen it.

And the further sting … driving south with our Tamil friend and Tamil driver we were asked to give a lift to a couple of young Tamil women to their home near Trincomalee. And though Trincomalee used to be part of the Tamil North it was a multi-cultural society and there was little or no violence in the area. But Trincomalee has now been annexed by the South, and Buddhist holidays and customs enforced. All part of ‘reconciliation’. And as a further act of ‘reconciliation’  the government pays a bounty every time a soldier gets a Tamil girl pregnant. And rape is an option. Rape as a weapon of reconciliation! So we were driving south with these girls and were stopped at a military checkpoint. Very little was said, but this young armed solder noted the girls and then tried to outstare M&M and myself. Maybe it was folly but I was in no mood to back down so I stared back, no blinking, no shift of gaze. He blinked first and we were sent on our way. As to what, if anything, might have happened had we not been there; who knows.