PRIVILEGE

AMIDST MISPLACED PRIORITIES AND PRIVILEGES, WHERE DO WE STAND?

While returning from Belagavi sessions along with Rakesh Prakash, Niranjan Kaggere and Sathish B S, our discussion slowly turned towards politicians of yesteryears like J H Patel, Bangarappa, S M Krishna, Ghorpade and others. Sathish had an interesting story to tell, which J H Patel told him during their first meeting.

When Patel was Member of Parliament, he went to a party with friends. He had couple of pegs more than usual and it was late in the night. Though his friends offered him to drop home, Patel assured to manage as Shivamogga was a small town.

Little while later, Patel realized that he was unable to locate his house. By then, he was high and his dhoti had fallen down and was desperately looking to locate his house. A police constable approached him and started questioning. When Patel said that he was local Member of Parliament, constable slapped him on the head, took him to police station and put him in the lock up. That was the last Patel remembered and went to deep slumber inside the lock up.

When he opened his eyes in the lock up, the constable was falling at his feet and begging for forgiveness. Then Patel recalled what happened previous night and started laughing. Though his followers wanted to teach a lesson to constable, Patel laughed and said, the constable made him realize that he did not look like a Member of Parliament.

There are any number of such stories of another former Chief Minister R Gundu Rao, who cracked jokes with police personnel, who had given him tough time as budding politician. What would have happened today? The behavior of our politicians would not have been even closer to above incidents. The privileges of the elected representatives would have been mercilessly invoked.

In 1997, I slowly started peeping into corridors of Vidhana Soudha, covering Legislature Sessions for Indian Express. As a cub reporter, I used to see stalwart politicians like the then Chief Minister J H Patel, Speaker Ramesh Kumar, Ministers M P Prakash, M C Nanaiah, C Byre Gowda, Jayaprakash Hegde on one side, Mallikarju Kharge, M Y Ghorpade and others on other side.

The first and second time MLAs used to sit around the stalwarts, listening to issues pertaining to Parliamentary democracy. In Brishish Parliamentary system, they are termed as shouting brigades. It was a great learning process and as junior reporters, we waited some opportunity to get acquainted with the stalwarts. When we did, they used to tell us about what they thought about journalism and point out our mistakes. When cross checked later, they used to be right.

In two decades of journalism, I came across `privileges’ of legislators only once, when Legislative Council summoned an IAS officer to the house and reprimanded him. I thought it was harsh, but did not attach much importance to it.

Till last week, I had misconception about privileges of the legislators. Now, it has turned out to be confusion… Two journalists – Ravi Belegere and Anilraj have been sentenced to one year of imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 10000 each.

Quickly, I got copy of the report submitted by Privilege Committee to Assembly and went through it. I don’t want to get into merits and de-merits of the report, how it concluded `breach of privilege’ in both the cases. However, some of the facts are worth mentioning.

In the report, the Committee admitted that there was no proper definition for `privilege’ of legislators as well as prescribed punishment for breach of privilege. However, they have quoted relevant parts from the book: `PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE OF PARLIAMENT’ by KAUL AND SHAKHTAR as reference. It reads:

`It is breach of privilege and contempt of the House to make speeches, or print or publish any libels, reflecting on the character of proceedings of the house or its Committees, or any member of the House for or relating to his character or conduct as a member of Parliament’.

Speeches and writings reflecting on House or its Committees or member are punished by the House as contempt on the principle that such acts, ``tend to obstruct the House in the performance of their functions by diminishing the respect due to them.’’ 

The house may punish not only contempt’s arising out of facts of which the ordinary courts will take cognizance, but those of which they cannot, thus a libel on a member of Parliament any amount to a breach of privilege without being a libel under civil or criminal law.

I know Ravi Belegere of Hi Bangalore for the last two decades, but not Anilraj of Yelahanka Voice. While the complainant against Ravi is Speaker K B Koliwad of Congress, Yelahanka MLA, who is a BJP member S R Vishwanath is complainant with respect to Anilraj.

I read Ravi’s article against Koliwad. Of course it was bad in taste, but no way would it come on the way of Koliwad discharging his duty. I have read Ravi’s tabloid for decades and at times, I told him point blank that particular article was in bad taste. Going by the precedent set by the committee report, Ravi should have been jailed hundreds of times by now.

When Koliwad filed the complaint against Ravi, he was not Speaker, but Chairman of Privilege Committee. The then Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa admitted his privilege motion and referred it to the Committee. So, he was the complainant and as well as the judge for the case. By the time he became Speaker and handed over privilege committee Chairman Post to Kimmane Rathnakar, the report convicting Ravi was ready.

Kimmane Rathnakar completed inquiry into case against Anilraj and submitted both the reports to house during this session. The conviction has opened Pandora’s Box, with Bengaluru Development Minister K J George moving privilege motion against TV9 and opposition leader Jagadish Shettar, quoting similar reasons.

In my journalism career, I have come across seven speakers, including Koliwad. He is the first Speaker with whom the journalists literally entered into verbal arguments twice. Soon after he became Speaker, Legislature Housing Cooperative Society allotted sites to Koliwad’s daughters. When journalists questioned him, he was upset and said that there was nothing wrong in such allotments. He defended vehemently and even shouted at media.

Secondly, he made a proposal to spend Rs 26 crore for recent Diamond Jubilee celebration of Vidhana Soudha. When the journalists questioned about extravaganza, that’s too when state was reeling under drought, Koliwad argued that it was his prerogative. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened and scaled down the budget to Rs 10 crore.

With above facts, I rest my case.

But, the tussle between legislature and media is nothing new. During the last few years, there were efforts by legislators to gag media. This was in the form of undercurrent, which erupted during last legislature session. Karnataka MLAs took up the issue and debated in the house for hours together, running down on the media, making individual attacks also.

They wanted to form a committee to control media. Cutting across party lines, members from Congress, BJP and JD(S) explained how they were suffering from media reports, while their presence in public life had already ruined their personal lives. They wanted the media to report only the good works they did and the people oriented debate they make inside the house.

One JD(S) MLA, without naming H R Ranganath of Public TV, vent his ire and said: `how a person, who used to walk without slippers in Mysore two decades ago, could own a television channel.’ Recently, the same MLA’s son and his friends were caught on camera, locking up a youth inside his garage, beating him up. This is just a passing reference of the debate.

After Ravi’s review petition was rejected unanimously by Assembly, I spoke to two MLAs.  Suresh Kumar of BJP, who opposed conviction of journalists and Privilege Committee Chairman Kimmane Rathnakar (Congress), who submitted the report. Kimmane Rathnakar is a thorough gentleman. Since I had promised that the talks would be for my academic consumption, I will not reveal the details. However, I told both of them that I expect nothing constructive from more than 10-15 of total 224 elected members of the house, as the quality of people getting elected to Assembly had deteriorated drastically. So is the case with upper house – Legislative Council.

When I started covering Assembly proceedings, Ramesh Kumar was Speaker. The house had stalwarts like J H Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, M P Prakash, C Byre Gowda, Jayaprakash Hegde, M C Nanaiah, M Y Ghorpade and others. Later in 1999, they were joined by people like S M Krishna, Kagodu Thimmappa, K H Ranganath, H Vishwanath, D B Chandre Gowda and others, while some of the prominent from Janata Parivar, including M P Prakash were defeated. Suresh Kumar was first timer and Kimmane Rathnakar got defeated from JD(S) ticket.

I enjoyed the company of many of these leaders who stood for what they believed in. During our informal chats, I could sense that they pointed out mistakes in our reports and it could be termed as a learning process. Not that all the 224 members were of high quality. However, leaders with quality got due recognition inside and outside the house.

When Ghorpade was Rural Development Minister, Mandya MLA Athmanand wanted to know if the government earmarked local area development funds in local bodies like Zilla Panchayats for MLAs. Mr Ghorpade said that he would not make such provisions and if anyone wants to work at Panchayat levels, they should contest those elections. Legislature was to make legislations and not taking up civil works.

This created a furore and back benchers, cutting across party lines rose to their feet and started demanding separate funds for them in Panchayat Raj institutions also. Ghorpade did not budge. Speaker M V Venkatappa requested Ghorpade to make an assurance to consider their demands, as at least 100 MLAs were up in their arms. Ghorpade was adamant and said that he would not make any false assurances, even if he needed to resign from the ministry. The senior leaders, including Chief Minister S M Krishna remained silent, expressing their solidarity with Ghorpade.

After an hour, the shouting brigade was defeated by handful of silent leaders with conviction.

The change came just after next election in 2004. While Ghorpade retired, most of the so called stalwarts had bitten dust. The new breed of legislators had got elected and entered the house. MLC Gali Janardhan Reddy of BJP had called M P Prakash `Gomukha Vyagra’ and no one came to his rescue also. Both the houses were steadily being taken over by mining barons, real estate agents and other businessmen. The quality of debates and knowledge based discussions slowly transformed into personal allegations and muscling through numbers.

Today, the discussion in the Assembly longue would be about how much is one capable of spending during next election and how much is their opponent is planning to spend. The issues, which are going to stall the house proceedings, major issues that would not be debated at all.

Even inside the houses, the discussion is about allegations and counter allegations, where shouting brigade plays major role. Even the front benchers lack depth and opposition parties bear a lost look.

Even the journalism has witnessed ocean of changes. Earlier, it was era of only print media.  Slowly, electronic media sneaked in. The politicians preferred electronic media to print, as they would show them live and moving. Later, politicians started investing in television media and TRP based news started getting prominence. This forced partial silence among journalists over issues and learning process lost track.

This paved way for creating lot of jobs in journalism involving new breed of reporters, anchors, cameramen and other crew. Many television channels closed down, leaving large number of unemployed journalists and crew. Every day, new channels are coming up and old ones are closing down. The uncertainty has given rise to unhealthy competition for breaking news to survive in the industry. Most of the reporters are always on the search for greener pasture.

After two decades into journalism, I started feeling that this was turning out to be a place of misplaced priorities and privileges. Wonder, where we stand.

Vinay Madhav

INDIRA GANDHI

DURGA, WHO SAVED TIGERS

For strange reasons, I grew up with anti-Congress stand. In childhood, I used to hear about emergency, defeat of Indira Gandhi and later a comeback through my home district of Chickamagalur.

Those days, I had heard about Atal Behari Vajapayee and I was his great admirer. When I learnt about him comparing Indira Gandhi to goddess Durga, I had felt little let down. But, I chose to ignore it. At one point of time, it was fashion for me to be anti-Indira Gandhi.

As I grew up, I started understanding politics and politicians better. I concluded that the politicians from different parties were different faces of same coin – taking shelter under different ideologies, while searching for opportunities. As a journalist, I realized that there were few good people here too, if I ignored their personal weakness. Consequently, started ignoring the party lines.

There were great orators, highly knowledgeable people and people with great social concern. All looked struck in the whirl pool called `system’. There seemed to be difficulty in transforming their ideas into action. During last two decades, the quality of politicians I am meeting has deteriorated.

Indira Gandhi came back to haunt me when I started trailing wildlife, especially involving with people working against mining at Kudremukh in Western Ghats. My friend Praveen Bhargav, who was in the forefront of the legal battle could recite Wildlife Conservation Act and Environment Protect Act by heart and I used to be wonder struck. I realized that both the Acts were enacted in 1972 and 1980, while Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister.

I knew little about Indira Gandhi’s brought up – barring sketchy details like she was daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, student of Santiniketan, lady who won war against Pakistan to create Bangla Desh and the autocrat who imposed emergency on India.

In the beginning, I ignored enacting these Acts, as Congress and India were under her iron fist. Later, whenever I recalled the path Congress travelled, changing party symbol from cow and calf to hand, I realized there was more to it. There were multiple mutinies in the party, splits, personal defeat in election, before she could emerge as unquestionable leader in the country.

The question was how and why did she enacted these two Acts? Only those who read and understand these Acts would know the depth of the issues. Unless someone has proper knowledge of environment, ecology, sustainability of ecosystem with scientific temperament, it is impossible to understand the subject. Let alone enacting such an Act.

This could not be result of routine bureaucratic exercise, unless someone had applied their mind properly, I presumed. I realized that I was right when I caught hold of this book; `Indira Gandhi, A Life in Nature,’ by none other than former Union Minister for Environment and Forests Mr Jairam Ramesh, who also hails from my home district of Chickamagaluru.

The book is a bit difficult to read, moving to and forth on timeline. Someone who loves to read the book like a fairy tale would definitely brush it aside for a good reading. However, it gives a graphic picture of what shaped Indira Priyadarshini into Indira Gandhi. In some places, it leaves the reader stunned about the personality, which we never aware of.

I was taken aback when I read: ``Off she went early the next morning, accompanied by her grandchildren, to see the chinar trees in all their glory. She also visited her favorite Dachigam National Park – literally walking on a carpet of leaves. A strange sense of satisfaction engulfed her.’’

Most of my friends envy me for vanishing in wild without notice and returning with some memories. Of late, I am struggling to divide time between work, my daughter and wildlife. At times, I impatiently wait for months to get lost in the wild.

Here is the lady, who is not only a grandmother, but also leading a country and largest party of the largest democracy. It was on Oct 27, 1984, four days before she was brutally gunned down, when she made the trip. Such passion for nature was beyond my comprehension.

Coming back to the two Acts I was talking about, both was promulgated at most turbulent times of Indira Gandhi. Between 1971 and 1972, she was in midst of hectic activities like Nationalisation of Banks, Indo-Soviet Treaty, War against Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh. At the same time, Naxalbari movement broke out, which is now termed to be Naxalite movement. Her Secretary P N Haksar was guiding Indira, who was in her third year of being Prime Minister in tackling these issues.

Meanwhile, without Mr Haksar, Indira was silently working on another issue. She promulgated Wildlife Protection Act 1972, which resulted in saving most of the wildlife in India.

In Aug 1980, while acknowledging condolence message from noted ornithologist Salim Ali on death of her second son Sanjay Gandhi, Indira wrote back: You will have noticed that I am referring all issues concerned with ecology to you. I hope it is not too much of a burden and that you will help us to find amicable solutions. As you know, the State governments are very persistent with their demands.

In coming days, Indira Gandhi promulgated Environment Conservation Act, 1980. God! What do you call this conviction? Beyond anyone’s comprehension…

Whatever opinion I have against Jawaharlal Nehru, I should admit that his best contribution to India is Indira Gandhi and shaping her into environmentalist. Of course, she became politician later. It started in 1930, when he gifted her book called `Life of the Bee’ by Maurice Maeterlinck. The letter correspondence between father and daughter that are mentioned in the book suggests how it went on to shape her personality. In 1932, Indira Gandhi had read over 60 books in English and French.

The book gives graphic details on how Indira Gandhi, as a child, was fond of climbing trees, hiding and reading books, so that no one disturbed her. Her maternal uncle Mr Kailas Nath Kaul, a leading botanist was a great influence on her. His passion for snakes made her friendly towards animals. Mountains remained a common thread running through her lift. Her association with birds even in prison, just trying to identify them with their sounds is amazing. She lived the life with nature to fullest extent, amidst her hectic political schedule.

It was appalling to know that Indira Gandhi’s fist encounter with tiger in wild was in Karnataka, while she was visiting Jog in 1952. Though the Teen Murthy Bhavan was converted into a mini-zoo, with three tiger cubs – Bhima, Hadimba and Bhariav, she describes this encounter as an exceptional one.

 

Her conservation path was not as simple as enacting two Acts and letting the government machinery sit on it. Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary haunted her for almost three decades, since 1953, when Jawaharlal Nehru was alive. In 1982, finally Indira Gandhi succeeded in declaring it as National Park and provides complete protection to it. So is Sariska, which was in news recently in news for all wrong reasons of tigers being poached to extinction.

The book also throws light on Indira’s sense of perfect balance between economy and ecology. She was more concerned about demographic changes that would affect country’s future, as natural resources were limited. When the population was looking to reach 50 million, she brought out family planning. Unfortunately, today, even when population has exceeded 1.25 billion and still racing ahead, none of the political parties make introspection. Instead, bureaucratic statistics are used to justify the category and age group of population that would trigger GDP. Amazing!

I don’t think anyone – even in Congress have completely understood Indira Gandhi and her convictions in life. The book has, through many letter correspondences gives a chance to interpret and understand the most misunderstood leader and Jairam Ramesh deserves great appreciation for bringing out the book.

But, I am puzzled about Mr Jairam Ramesh himself. He admits that his 26 months stint as in charge of MoEF, he got transformed from being a zealot for rapid economic growth at all costs to someone who came to insist that such rapid economic growth must be anchored in ecological sustainability.

He continues to say that this country cannot afford to follow a blind `grow now, pay later’ model. We are already a nation of around 1.24 billion and we will add a third of that number by middle of the century. Climate change is a devastating reality, and is affecting our monsoon patterns, glaciers and mean sea levels. Pollution and chemical contamination are having very substantial public health consequences.

The very same UPA government enacted Forest Dwellers’ Right Act, which is detrimental for growth of forest dwellers as well as wildlife. A proper rehabilitation program would have helped the forest dwellers to merge with mainstream, while wildlife, which is struggling in as meager as three per cent of total land would have a longer chance of survival. This would have been a win-win situation for both, which was long term ambition of Indira Gandhi also.

Did Mr Jairam Ramesh tried appraising party bosses and convince his party bosses on Indira Gandhi’s ideals and dreams? I don’t know if he did or caught in a whirl pool like situation and remained a mute spectator.

In 1943, while in Ahmednagar prison, Indira Gandhi writes to her father about a neem tree falling in the prison premises:

`The potent bear whose hug

Was feared by all, is now a rug.’

This holds good for the two magnificent laws enacted by Indira Gandhi. Mauled and mutilated by all political parties to garner votes, brushing realities under carpet called economical statistics. However, the original structure of both remain intact – thanks to intervention of judiciary.

Being daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru or wife of Firoz Gandhi did not transform Indira Priyadarshini into Indira Gandhi. Her close association with nature, her conviction to protect them, persuasion to achieve goals, striking a balance between economy and ecology and more importantly, protecting long term interest of the country instead of resorting to cheap populist measures.

I had a lot of reservation about Indira Gandhi’s style of functioning, especially imposing emergency. A letter in 1969 to Dorothy Norman comforted me to a large extent:

``Need I assure you that I am not closer to the communist or dictatorship of any kind. Unfortunately, the institution of bossism created a clash. Each state boss came to believe that he was the State. Perhaps because I have tried to be accommodating, they all thought I was weak. The last two years have been of tremendous pressure and difficulty. If it had been a question of myself or my position, it would not have mattered. But the manner in which I was pushed around, with a view to finally pushed me out of office, not only split Congress, but weakened it in long run.’’

Finally, I endorsed Atal Behari Vajapayee and agree that she was Durga. Not for riding a tiger, but for saving it for us. I feel, this was the woman I hated, later the lady I adored and finally fell in love with.

Happy birthday Indiramma…..

Vinay Madhav

LANKAN DIARY-6

LIFE FINDS A WAY EVEN AFTER TSUNAMI….

While enjoying beautiful coastal drive to reach Bantota, driver Lalu asked if we wanted to see the fort. Even before we could answer, he had driven inside the fort. Scorching sun outside made me apprehensive of getting out of air conditioner.
Since he had stopped, we stepped out and started exploring the fort. Like many forts in India, this fort also had a small establishment inside. Built by Portuguese, it was standing tall in the small city of Galle. While teenage lovers had occupied nook and corners of the fort, city looked beautiful from the top of it.
A beautiful bus stand opposite to fort, a cricket stadium, a port and fishing Warf were beautifully maintained. While returning to the vehicle, Chinnappa said that there was an Indian restaurant there and we could try lunch in that place. He told me that a girl gave some pamphlet about the restaurant. I had seen a girl in black dress and black cap talking to people and presumed that it was she. Since Prasad had already left for India, I, Chinnappa and Radha aunty headed to the restaurant.
The Moksha restaurant was inside fort complex. A small, but neatly done and only North Indian dishes were available. A very young girl was trying to understand the English slowly and taking orders. The girl in black dress entered the restaurant and asked what we had ordered. She reconfirmed our orders and asked the younger girl – Shalini to do something. They were conversing in Sinhalese and gave direction to the chef also.
The girl, may be in 19 or 20, was very smart and active. I noticed that she had wooed another four to five groups of customers to her restaurant. She took charge immediately and started doing most of the works in the restaurant. We three were in all admiration for this dark, short girl.
Her name was Shubha and Shalini looked like her younger sister. When I asked about the restaurant, Shubha said that it belonged to one Dr Gupta, an Indian and famous cardiac surgeon in the town. The restaurant was one month old and she was taking care of it. I complimented her saying that she was smart and she would travel a long distance in life, if she kept up her spirit. Even Chinnappa endorsed my views.
As we started our journey towards Bentota, Lalu said that this was one of the worst affected cities during 2004 Tsunami. Over 65000 people perished in the city and it was rebuilt. I remained silent for a moment and slowly said: ``the fort doesn’t look it was hit by Tsunami at all.’’
Even Chinnappa was wondering the same, when I suddenly remembered Shubha, who conversed in bit of Tamil with Chinnappa. The girl would be less than 10 years when Tsunami struck. Had I remembered that we were in the same city, I could have asked her if she remembered anything. The city is so beautifully rebuilt; one cannot believe the devastation Tsunami caused just 13 years ago.
On the way, we stopped for a boat ride in mangroves. I asked the boat driver about Tsunami. He was also in his early 20’s. ``Not much here…. Water had swollen by seven feet. But, they say that mangroves saved it from bigger disaster.’’
Tsunami had occupied my mind completely and the people here appeared to be spirited. At Turtle hatchery, I asked Vasanth, the person who was guiding me through. On the beach, he was showing me tracks of a huge turtle that had laid eggs previous night. ``It was not as big as Galle. But, 800 people had washed away. Even my hatchery had washed away and I had to rebuild it. For the first two years, tourists did not come at all. Life was very difficult and looking after turtle eggs was hard. Slowly they started coming back. Now, everything is alright. We are good now,’’ he said.
I could see entire coast line bustling with either fishing or tourism. Entire sea front, barring turtle breeding area has been given to tourism facility. People are busy making a living and also being very friendly. After all, life finds a way even after a Tsunami.

LANKAN DIARY-5

WHEN SITES MAINTAINED INTACT….

Internet gives a lot of information on any place. However, the thought process in the places we visit gives a different perception of the place altogether.

When I entered Kandy Botanical garden with three others, it looked normal. As we came out of Orchid enclosure, I felt the crowd management by the Botanical garden management was really good.

The garden, sprawling around 148 acres in the heart of the city is a colonial rulers’ gift. It has a lot of alien species of plants and trees. The first thought that came to my mind was that it was better than Botanical garden in Ooty. Besides, those manage Cubbon Park and Lal Bagh at Bengaluru have a lesson or two to learn from here.The crowd management is best here and the visitors will get their own free time and space to see the garden. Secondly, there is no new developmental work taken place within the garden, allowing it to retain its colonial look. This makes the garden more attractive.

The second place at Kandy was Udawattakele Royal Forest Park. It is on par with Golden Gate National Park at San Francisco, created to protect the red wood species. Nothing has been touched and it is pleasure to take five kilometer trek around the park. Historically it belonged to royal family of Kandy and there are mythological stories like Buddha’s tooth relics are in one of the cave. Once you enter inside the park, it resembles an old evergreen forest with very ancient trees.

There were many such serene places along Western Ghats and I know them personally. However, advent of Home Stays and mushrooming resorts have killed the tranquility.

All the four of us – Chinnappa, Radha aunty and Prasad just laughed at the idea of visiting Tea Estate at Nuwara Eliya or city of lights. Going by Indian mythology Ramayana, the place has a lot of significances. This is supposed to be one of the places burnt by Hanuman, when his tail was set on fire. Then, while driving towards Yala, there is Sitha temple, where it is believed to be Ashoka Vana. There is huge foot mark like thing on a rock, believed to be of Lord Hanuman. We also come across Rawana (Ravana) falls. Missing this drive is not advisable.

However, this sleeping town has a beautiful turf club in the heart of the city and another beautiful lake. The British tried to develop on the lines with England village and the weather resembles exactly of Ooty, with a lot of tea gardens. However, extremely clean town. Nothing much has changed after colonial rule, barring bunch of hotels to accommodate tourists.

People still grow export quality exotic vegetables here. I felt, the best thing to do in this town is nothing – sitting either in front of the turf club or the lake, sipping a tea. You will return in peace.

After meeting Chinnappa two decades ago, I have been up against captive conservation of wildlife. As I was approaching Bentota, I realized that we would be visiting an artificial turtle hatchery and not a natural place.

After much thinking, I and Chinnappa decided to take a shot at. There were tiny turtles in a tank, aged between one day to one week. In other tanks, there were different types of turtles – ranging from one year to 150 years. There was a separate enclosure of sand, where the turtle eggs were buried for hatching.

``Success rate is 80% and we will keep newborn for only two weeks, before releasing them to sea. We feed them with small prawns. Now, it is not season and daily, four to five turtles will come and lay eggs. In seasons, they come in hundreds. That time, it is a difficult job,’’ the hatchery owner said.

This stretch between Galle and Bantota, there is one small stretch which is popular turtle destination for nesting. The government has not allowed resorts or any other commercial establishment to come up in this area. Instead, the local people have been encouraged to open turtle hatcheries.

They protect the eggs from Iguanas and dogs and protect them in their yard. Once they hatch, they would be taken care for two weeks, before releasing them to sea. The big turtles are injured or sick. While some can be sent back to ocean after treatment, some, which would have lost their limb, may have to be taken care forever.

The hatchery owners are allowed to charge the visitors and most of the visitors are foreigners. This makes win-win situation for both. The extra mile thinking is that giving a boost to Sri Lanka tourism, I thought.

LANKAN DIARY - 4

HIDDEN PARTS OF PACKAGE TOURS

When I asked what the main economic activity of Kandy was, the two youths at Hotel reception were confused. They discussed among themselves in Sinhalese, but could not answer properly.

``Is it agriculture? tourism? industries? Which one is the main source of income here? ‘’ I elaborated.
``It is tourism. Not much agriculture in Kandy city. Next Is handicrafts and they are also exported,’’ one of them said. In outskirts of Kandy city, I had noticed agriculture activity, especially paddy fields. The rural Kandy has abundance of perennial water sources, despite of drought.
During the last three days, I had figured out that Sri Lanka had taken up tourism seriously and promoted every possible site to tourists, especially foreigners. There are different charges for SAARC country citizen and others.
When we talk about package tours, one has to confirm about entry fee to tourist spots. The entry fee is standardized with US or European visitors. The tourists from other countries may feel it bit expensive. Even the food appears to be expensive.
While most of my friends, who visit Sri Lanka would see one or two places and spend their time mostly in Colombo. Such hidden costs would not affect them, as they would be interested in other luxury facilities. However, one going for heritage tourism should be more careful, especially if they keep a budget in their mind.
For example, entry per person for Sigirya rock is around Rs 3000 (Sri Lanka currency), while Dambulla cave temple entry is Rs 1500 per person. Even compared to entry in Indian heritage sites, it appears to be expensive. The vehicles carrying tourists must pay Rs 100 entry fee and another Rs 100 parking fee. There are small temples, where entry fee has been fixed at Rs 300 per person, but vehicle entry and parking would be the same. At Embella temple, we were allowed to enter temple complex collecting entry fee. No one told us that temple was closed and would open only four hours later. We just returned without seeing anything.
I had mixed experience in paying for entry fee with my tourist operator as well as paying them here. For Wilpattu, I had paid complete expenses to my tourist operator, which had come up to Rs 18000 (Indian currency) for four people. However, we had to hire local safari organizers at Harabana and Yala, which worked out less than half of it.
Even the food looks expensive. An ordinary coffee costs anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 150 for foreigners. A normal dish will not cost less than Rs 900. I realized that the tourism still works like a cooperative sector here. The foreign tourists are taken to particular restaurants and hotels, which are part of the chain. There are other restaurants available in every city, but one has to explore it by themselves, without the help of your guide or driver
However, travelling in Sri Lanka is a pleasure. I, Chinnappa and Prasad honestly felt that Lankans are
We just joked among ourselves: ``If our people in government have to learn road engineering, we should send them here. If we want to ruin Sri Lanka, we should send our people to construct road here.’’
Apart from traffic sense, Sri Lanka appears to have better law and order management. Every tourist spot has one Tourist Police check post. The police are friendly and always eager to guide you. The professionalism exhibited is as good as we find in private hospitality industries in India.
The other thing we noticed was girls and women walk alone even in the night. It was not just in towns and cities, but also in rural areas and dark places. It just showed safety level of women in Sri Lanka.
The best part of Sri Lanka is cleanliness. We did find some rural places, where sporadic plastic littering was there. However, we felt that it was one of the cleanest countries in Asia. It is not that the people will clean up the mess, but they just don’t litter….

better committed in their road works. The qualities of even narrow rural road were as good as our highways. No potholes, no speed breakers. People abide by traffic rules. Two wheeler riders, both rider and pillion wear helmets. Pedestrians get preference in cities, when they want to cross roads. No one is in hurry and they wait without honking till the pedestrians cross the road.

LANKAN DIARY-3.

 · 

TEMPLES OF WONDER

As I have observed, most of the people in India talk about casinos in Sri Lanka, which is becoming fast destination. However, the traditional tourism sites are something a traveler can not miss out.
Most of the temples—whether Buddhist or Hindu are old and some are not even on tourist map. However, the temples leave many questions unanswered over the technology used during that period or even some of the designs, similar to ones in India.
I was second time unlucky not to climb Sigiriya rock. First time, I had a decent view of the beautiful rock from main gate. This time, even that was not possible. All we could do was to have a side view from the main road.
But the case of Rangiri or Cave temple of Dambulla was different as I visited the caves second time also. Though Prasad and Radha aunty declined to climb the rock, Chinnappa wanted to give a try. I assured them that there was no need to climb till top of the rock, but they developed cold feet. I found much easier way to climb and Chinnappa was comfortable with it.
The cave mesmerized me as much it did first time, a decade ago. But, the way I looked at it was different. Even Chinnappa had many questions. We wondered how and what technology was used to construct such huge Buddha idols and how, they converted the caves into temples between 1st century BC and 18 century. We wondered if the statues were carved out of hard rock. I argued that it looked like limestone. I pointed at a small hole and some restoration work at arm of one of the statues. Chinnappa was not convinced, but a monk, outside the temple confirmed that it was limestone statues under hard rock. More wondering thing is the waterlines in the caves, which kept inner premises dry even during rains.
The other temple I was inspired with was Sri Dalada Maligawa Royal complex temple. Basically a Royal palace, it was later converted into Buddha temple. Buddha’s tooth relic is placed in the first floor of the complex, which is opened periodically during day time. The temple was attacked by LTTE once, where the suicide bomber had killed more than 20 people. However, it is restored now and well maintained. 
Though there is large influx of devotees, many of them carrying their newborn kids, the system does not allow people to be crowded. The colorful rituals add color to the temple. The temple also has a museum, which is worth watching.
Soon after coming out of the temple, Radha aunty was upset. ``Did you notice the number of tusks they had decorated in the temple? I counted at least 60 of them. How many elephants must have been killed for that?’’ she fumed.
It had gone unnoticed at least from my count. Chinnappa pacified her saying that every elephant might not have been killed. Many must have had natural deaths and the tusks were collected. Indeed, there is huge collection of tusks in the temple.
There are also some less known temples around Kandy and usually miss tourist maps. Nothing special onset, but I had a pleasant surprise when I visited one of them. I pointed at a chain of three temples, including Embekka temple, driver Lalu said that he could not take me there, as it was out of itinerary. I called up the tourist operator, who asked me to pay 50 US dollar more for adding up another destination.
When we went to the temple, I was disappointed. In the first place, we were charged entry fee, without informing us that the temple was closed and would open only after five hours. It was just like tiled roof supported by wooden pillars. When we went inside, there was Karthikeya banner covering the closed door. Next door was a small Buddha shrine.
As we came out of the Buddha shrine, we noticed some small carvings on the pillars that supported the roof. There was carving of wrestling and later, two peacocks locking their necks. Next two carvings baffled me. First was of a Lion, resembling Hoysala dynasty symbol. But, man fighting the Lion was absent. The next one was Ganda Bherunda, the twin headed bird and symbol of Mysore Wodeyars.
While getting out, I tried to collect history of the temple. The temple was built in 14th or 15th century by Gampola kings. Since it was a small temple, no one exactly had idea about either Lion or Ganda Bherunda bird sign. Just left me with more questions than answers…..

LANKAN DIARY - 2

DROUGHT AND ELEPHANTS

Holding sketchy itinerary in hand, I was just trying to figure out the alternative sightseeing for the day. Though Sigiriya was on the list, I could not expect the three senior citizens, who have crossed 70, to climb 600 plus meter rock with me.
Though the itinerary mentioned about Habarana, no detail was available. All it said was that we had to pay for entry of Sigirya rock and wildlife safari. I just asked driver Lalu about Habarana and he just said you can see elephants. I mistook it for Pinnawala elephant orphanage and all four of us are against such centers.
Chinnappa had already told me that they would like to see Sigirya rock from outside, but would not climb it. Nor Radha aunty and Prasad were interested in it. That left us with Rangiri cave temple, known as Dambulla cave temple for the day.
At Sigiriya, Lalu was of little help to take us near the rock. I realized that the entry fee was from the main road itself and we could not have proper view of the rock from main gate. It would have been waste of Rs 3000 per head (Sri Lanka currency), if we went closer. We just took a look at the rock from a distance.
I again asked Lalu about Habarana. He told me that it was not elephant orphanage, but a wildlife sanctuary with a lot of elephants. This enthused other three also and we decided to take a shot in daytime itself.
Though Lalu offered to look for a safari jeep, I walked into a nearby resort and fixed it by myself. The driver was young and looked dynamic. I learned that we were visiting Minneriya National Park, which had large congregation of elephants. It was almost an hour drive from Sigiriya and later I realized that we could have gone to Habarana and rented a safari jeep from there. Lalu saved that much of fuel for himself.
On the way, we were discussing about variety of issues. A keen observer, Chinnappa had noticed insulated power lines being drawn near Sigiriya and inquired technical details with Prasad, an engineer and once owned electrical components manufacturing units. The discussion also turned towards solar fencing to prevent elephants, which was done in a much better manner in Sri Lanka, compared to India by forest department.
I was noticing large tracts of lush green open lands and wondered if they were part of any marsh land. Chinnappa had already noticed that and made inquires about it in my absence. ``Like Karnataka, even Sri Lanka is reeling under drought. These are all paddy lands and the people have not cultivated paddy for last two years,’’ he said.
Sri Lanka witness dry season between June and September. We could see mango trees either flowering or bearing fruits. There seems to be some early rain in recent past, which had turned land green. After some distance, I realized that the large land by the side of the road could be a dry lake. A potential conflict zone with such large number of elephants, I thought.
Minneriya is similar to Kabini and Periyar is India. It is adjacent to backwaters of Minneriya reservoir build by local king Mahasena in 3rd century. There is a lot of backwater and fresh grass grows in the backwater area, where elephants graze. Due to rain failure, the extent of backwater had receded, creating a large tract of grassland. During British era, two railway lanes were drawn in heavily wooded area, fragmenting the habitat.
As we entered the park, first 20 minutes had thick vegetation, with undergrowth. Slowly we emerged to large grassland and there stood an elephant, just 100 meters from us. It was a male and to our right, at far end, another single elephant was grazing. We passed by the first one and drove more than two kilometers to reach the second one. That was also male.
``This is also macana (male without tusks),’’ I said.
``In Sri Lanka, there are no tuskers. Most of the males are macanas,’’ he said. First I thought that it was either genetical disorder. But, it was during Tamil Ealam movement that the elephants suffered a lot. Elephant tusks were one of the resource mobilization ways of LTTE. Most of the tuskers were poached and the tusks were sold in international market to raise funds. This left the country with tusk less elephants.
The day was hot and the sun was really bright. We were happy about seeing two wild elephants in Sri Lanka. We thought that we were early in the day to see elephants and they would not come out of shade in such humid conditions. However, Chinnappa asked the driver to take near backwater, which we could not see from the place where we were driving.
After ten minutes of drive, the jeep took a slight left turn, which opened to back water sight. ``Wow,’’ exclaimed I and Prasad simultaneously. There were at least 50 elephants, in five or six groups. I could see little ones in almost every group. Prasad has been visiting Kabini since 70’s and said that it was reminding him of those days. At the end, we had counted around 80 elephants.
Now, there were elephants all around us. I was not in hurry and I could turn any direction and take photos. Contrary to our belief, there were two small elephants, sporting tusks. However, their body growth was not proportionate to the tusk growth, which was disappointing. But, the experience of having elephants all around was great.
Though Minneriya had largest elephant congregation in one place, the problem in the fringes of the forest is similar to Indian one. There are two railway lanes passing inside the forest. In fringes, due to drought, farmers have given up water intensive cultivation. However, the elephants raid whatever vegetables and fruits they grow. This has increased man-elephant conflict. They also break solar fencing in some places to raid crops.
Despite of problems, I felt Sri Lanka forest department was doing much better work than our own forest department. They have not meddled with forests much and appear to be practicing good fire control methods. Consequently, the local species of plants are naturally fighting lantana menace all by themselves and not allowed them to take over as undergrowth. More importantly, the Sri Lankan forest officials have restrained themselves from taking up construction of culverts, storm water drains and other civil works inside wildlife area.