For those who have shown concern, I am writing to share my inner thoughts.
I am afraid it's a bit long but I want you to read it right to the end; I want everyone who expressed concern to read it. And also others including those who were silent!
Actually I was very concerned for Bavan; it was easy for him to make the announcement – which came spontaneously without any prior arrangement – he did not even consult me. Moved by the situation in the East he made the pledge at a meeting organized to focus attention on the suffering in the East. Having tried everything, he decided he would fast with the hope that people would hear him; that Canadians would notice.
We had earlier both planned a six day fast and sought and got permission from the authorities to do it in Parliament Hill in Ottawa when 51 school girls and 2 teachers were killed by Sri Lankan Kefir jets which deliberately and intentionally targeted and bombed the Chencholai Complex. We had to call it off because Parliament was late in opening and the weather was getting cold and the authorities did not allow a tent in Parliament Hill.
This time too the plan was to still to do it at a public venue for maximum impact but the plan had to be scrapped due to pressure from certain quarters. I am only sorry that his sacrifice of denying himself any sustenance for six days was not used to best advantage to generate widespread sympathy for our suffering people in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka; mobilizing more and more Tamil Canadians to join and thereby drawing the attention of possibly the mainstream media, politicians, the world and if at best ordinary Canadians.
In all this I was beginning to get worried, although I was with my husband all the way, fully supporting him in his endeavor from day one, I knew our children, our families and I would be the real and ultimately the sole losers if anything happened to him. It would seem some what irresponsible on my part, encouraging him the way I did. So much so I was extremely alert at night checking to see if he was still breathing. That's how worried I was.
My heart was getting heavy as the days went by seeing him taking only water. We had to make him drink a small glass of skimmed milk at nights to prevent low blood sugar in his system, resulting in a coma. We also had to add some salt to his water as he was starting to get cramps. The reason I did not fast together with him was because I wanted to be able to look after his needs although most of the time I missed meals as I did not want to arouse in him, any thoughts of food.
I am 13 years younger to him, he is the best husband and father ever; we do everything together; we share happiness and sorrow together, face life's challenges together and pray together; I cannot imagine my life without him.
Yet I was strong and I know from where I got that strength. It was the will and resolve we both have to stand and be counted together with our freedom fighters and many hundred and thousands of fellow Tamils involved in the struggle to emancipate our homeland; further strengthened by our faith in the divine and our constant efforts to connect with IT.
Bavan was amazing!
His resilience was extraordinary. He was in an inspired state going about as normal, doing his everyday routine of helping people. There were concerns that he would not complete the full six days with some people casting doubt in his ability saying "Ivar naalu naal koody needikka maatar, paarpom." (Let us see whether he could last even four days). There were some who suspected that Bavan could have cheated as he did not fast in public. To all of them, all I could say is we believe in the age old saying "to thine own self be true." He has to answer only to God, His Higher Self and to his own conscience and to no one else. And for all those who thought we were seeking publicity we are sorry for they do not know the real us.
But mockery and suspicions aside I have to tell you that Bavan never once felt hungry; it was so surprising for he is someone who likes his food and cannot be stopped from eating and snacking late at night which he does. Although when the occasion demanded he has fasted many a time. He has fasted for "Pirathosham" often and for "Kanthashashti" on many occasions and and on our first year of marriage at age 32 when I was 19 years he fasted all six days for "Kanthashashti" only taking water; I was in awe then of my new husband and still am. Last year for "Kanthashashti" both of us fasted, we had only fruit and milk in the evening after prayers.
There is no question there was divine protection all the way. I knew my husband was in safe hands.
One thing I noticed he felt connected more than ever and radiated a kind of optimism that everyone’s prayers would be answered, that the suffering would end and freedom was not far off.
My husband is my hero. He is a pioneer of the freedom struggle and a lifesaver. At age 19 he saved the lives of over 90 Tamils who had taken refuge in his family home having to flee their homes and run for their lives in the 1958 island wide pogrom against Tamils.
It was when SWRD Bandaranaike was Prime Minister and both he and J R Jayawardene a leading opposition politician at that time fueled communal hatred against the Tamils and was responsible for the violence that erupted against them.
The Tamils had virtually come running to the Sri Skanda Rajah home in Ratmalana a suburb of Colombo, some already stabbed on the way, leaving their burning houses and possessions behind, in the faith that they would be safe in Bavan's home. His father was then District Judge of Jaffna and it was hoped his family and home would be given protection (his father Justice Pon Sri Skanda Rajah later became Judge of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the island at that time next to the Privy Council in Britain).
Soon Bavan's house was surrounded by a mob of more than 300 Sinhalese thugs and arsonists with petrol bombs in hand; ready to set fire to their house and burn to death the people inside. The terrified Tamils, number of them old and feeble, ran to hide under beds, screaming and crying; overcome with abject fear that they were going to die. As the frenzied mob surged ahead Bavan had no alternative but to use a gun which he had got only a few days earlier when he knew the violence was seriously irrupting and something told him he would have to protect lives.
He shot into the air from the balcony of his home to keep the killers at bay. He managed to keep shooting until he was able to disperse the mobsters who started to run away in panic at the rapid succession of shots that were fired into the air.
He held on tenaciously, resisting and repelling the mob and defending the lives of the 90 Tamils whose lives were in his hands, while his older sisters one of them who was a young doctor at that time (who later became a renowned eye-surgeon) and the other a Physics graduate (who later became a Barrister of Grays Inn London and wife of one time Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UK) along with the help of Bavan's younger brother were dressing and caring for the wounds of Tamils who had earlier been stabbed. More than 24 hours later Col. F C De Saram and his troops came and evacuated them to a refugee camp.
(It must be noted that these pogroms took place long before the LTTE was ever conceived to respond to the dire need for Tamils to take up arms to defend themselves, their life and limb, property and land before they’re are subjugated and eliminated. Now Tamils in the capital Colombo are free from Sinhalese mob violence and pogroms against them; thanks to the profound psychological advantage that Tamils have due to the LTTE and the fact that they exist; although Tamils in Colombo are still subject to unlawful detention, torture, abductions and disappearances and are killed at an alarming rate by the Sri Lankan state and its armed forces the mobs cannot touch them).
Bavan’s ordeal did not end there, but had only begun. He had to leave Ceylon soon after the incident, interrupting his university education at the engineering faculty of the University of Colombo, to sail to England as his life was in danger. He was forced to leave because there were a number of Sinhalese thugs still after his life because of what happened. Ten years later, he returned to Ceylon hoping to live there to make his parents who were pining for him happy. Four months to the day after he returned his father passed away and his mother died 9 days after that.
If Bavan's fast had helped to change some people and draw attention to the plight of the Tamils in NorthEast Sri Lanka in some small way, he would have accomplished his goal.
For all the support he received (to the more than 200 people who came) both he and I feel indebted and humbled.
We thank you again for your concern.
Yours truly,
Usha S Sri Skanda Rajah
