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I noticed with much dismay that today’s Tamil language Government
text books often carry conversations in colloquial Tamil. This could
quite confuse the children since the colloquial languages differ from
place to place.
Obviously, these conversations do not fit into the grammar they are
taught. For a child from Kandy the Jaffna Tamil can be quite difficult
to understand and vice versa; there is a chapter based on how the
Muslims speak Tamil too - even that is not uniform throughout the
country.
It is not fair to make the lesson difficult and useless for the
children. Besides, languages must be preserved and taught in their pure
form to protect them from adulteration, and the future generation must
have a uniform language to use.
One might argue that language is for communication, therefore must be
changed as it is used. This argument will hold water if the spoken
language is uniform throughout the country which is not.
We have enough corruption in the country; let’s not corrupt the
languages too.
DR. MAREENA THAHA REFFAI - Dehiwela
The cost of living is rising not only in Sri Lanka but in the whole
world. Even in America the people are taking to home gardening.
No violent demonstrations or change of administration could change
the effect of this global disaster.
So let us see we who eventually bears the burden individually and
severally could ourselves do to ease its effect. So let us -
1. Stop drinking, smoking, gambling and taking drugs.
2. Pool resources of travelling to office and work
3. Walk upto two bus-halts.
4. Save on water and electricity.
5. As far as possible make maximum use of public transport.
6. Make maximum use of the home garden for cultivation of vegetables.
7. Minimise the degree of imitating the neighbour.
8. Limit watching television to the minimum possible.
9. Use firewood at every possible opportunity
10. Make a determination to cut the coat according to the clothe.
Apart from the above, there are many other ways to cut down on
unnecessary expenditure. We have to discipline ourselves to live within
our means. No politician or any other will come to unburden our own
problems.
E.M.G. EDIRISINGHE - Dehiwala
The JVP is screaming to reveal the outcome of talks the Government
held with the high level Indian delegation which visited the country
recently. They also stress that President Mahinda Rajapaksa did not get
a mandate to implement a Federal Solution?
The seeds of terrorism was sown by them, as it was they who thought
to explode transformers and burn buses. They were the ones who wanted
the I.P.K.F. to leave our shores when the Tigers were on the verge of
being defeated.
The biggest question is during the reign of terror in 1989. From
where did they get weapons? Was it from the Tigers, Leopards, Eagles or
Pigeons? They were the ones who pronounced the ban of all Indian imports
and to everyone’s amusement when the late Rohana Wijeweera’s residence
was raided, all were surprised to see a bag full of Indian dhal and a
cupboard full of Indian drugs stored.
A few months ago the late Wijeweera’s residence at Kotmale was raided
by a set of thieves or thugs. They dug up a wooden box which was buried
in a room.
I wonder if this box had contained pebbles, marbles or tennis balls,
no one on this planet would have taken the trouble to dig it up? Well
your guess is as good as mine? We all saw the JVP’s double standards
when it came to voting at the last Budget.
It is not good to eat egg hoppers on the sly for dinner and have
string hoppers for breakfast in the same person’s house and agitate
against him at noon in front of the Fort Railway station or at the
Lipton’s Circus roundabout?
This nation has suffered enough and enough is enough, as to many
innocent lives have been sacrificed.
The time has come to settle this problem and when there is a war
going on, the talks the Government had with the high level delegation
from India in closed door should not be revealed, because something done
in secret cannot be discussed in the kitchen, market place or at
roundabouts.
We are at a decisive stage and it is high time to shed all our
differences and seriously think of bringing peace to our land. This
curse which was befallen on us for the last 25 years, should not be
further prolonged for the future generations to come.
LI KUANG SHU - Kandy
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