Let me at the outset inform our readers that any resemblance to any character, either living or dead, is unintentional. This is a short story of Dingiri Banda Sinnelebbe Joyrajah, known facetiously as DBS (Dangerous Buffoon Sinnelebbe) by those who had been victims of his regular rants. His names allowed him the flexibility to assume the different guises of a Sinhala, Muslim or Tamil man as befitted the occasion. He was a very imaginative writer, who let his fertile imagination to do the talking and writing without having to be trammelled by facts. His Uncle Sam had educated him on the merits of writing to please those who commissioned him. He thought and felt like a circus bear with its trainer performing for an audience.

Before the election, Dingiri Banda Sinnelebbe (DBS) had prognosticated vociferously on why Ranil Wickremesinghe was going to be elected President of Sri Lanka. Ranil was Uncle Sam's choice as he also had the support of big business. DBS preached to the Sinhalese as Dingiri Banda, to the Muslims as Sinnelebbe and to the Tamils as Joyrajah. His exhortations went unheeded and the tub-thumping, warmongering Mahinda Rajapakse was elected instead.

Dingiri Banda Sinnelebbe was rendered comatose by shock after the Sri Lankan Presidential election on the 17 Nov 2005. He went into a deep sleep and started to dream. He dreamt that the Tamil voters had listened to him and had voted in large numbers for Uncle Sam's favourite, Ranil Wickremesinghe. Wickremesinghe had claimed that he had tied up the Tamils in knots in the peace process and Joyrajah enjoyed being tied up in bondage.

But soon Dingiri Banda Sinnelebbe’s dream was turning into a nightmare. Mahinda Rajapakse had prepared his stormtroopers for just this eventuality. After Ranil Wickremesinghe was installed as President, Rajapakse brought out onto the streets of Colombo and the big towns, the shaven headed, yellow robed Hamas Brigade of Buddhist monks and the thousands of village children enticed out of poverty by them into their temples as child monks. They demanded the blood of the Tamils who had voted for their bete noir, Ranil Wickremesinghe. The thugs and the criminals who form the political infantry of the JVP also came with their bombs, their guns and their knives in search of the Tamils who had voted for Ranil Wickremesinghe. This is the same Sinhala Buddhist intifada that battered the gates of the Norwegian Embassy and threw bombs into its garden a few years ago. The insurrectionist JVP and their political leaders were at the head of this murderous mob, goading it along to attack the Tamils for having had the temerity to vote for Ranil.

Colombo and the other main towns were on fire and the army was called out to quell these disturbances. The Tamils were again huddled in refugee camps waiting to be shipped like cattle to their homeland where they could be safe. But alas, even here the Sinhala army of occupation held the Tamils under their jackboots.

Dingiri Banda Sinnelebbe Joyrajah was shaken up by the disaster unfolding in his nightmare. He woke up after a month and realised that it was just a dream. He saw how close he had brought the Tamil people to disaster. Fortunately the Tamil people are now politically wise and confident. He had no time to waste. Another cheque had arrived in the post that morning and it was time for him to decide whether he was going to write as Dingiri Banda or Sinnelebbe or as Joyrajah.

 Editor
 TWG

 TWG, 16 Dec 2005