i've been reading several articles of t sabaratnum published in the bottom line every wednesday in a column called "as i see it". as i see it, the column attempts to give a perspective of root causes of the ethnic conflict, as he sees it. i try to understand the facts he is presenting as opposed to being convinced of them.

listed bellow are some articles i found interesting:

• The lesson Tamils were forcibly taught
• Land to which Tamils were forcibly sent
• The reason why the Indians came
• Implementation please

the tamil culture has caste built-in to it. which itself is a form of discrimination. the tamils, as i see it, have been discriminated racially while themselves discriminating each other based on caste.

often i've been asked if i'm tamil or muslim when i read my name out loud. "shehal? demalada? muslim da?". they know that i'm not sinhalese. and they know that i know that they know. and my smiley response is "naha sri laankika" ("no i'm sri lankan"). i say that in protest of brining in race in to the picture.

and then there is the "are you a jafna tamil?". my dad is from jafna which makes me half jafna tamil. a friend of mine was dating this girl and apparently she is a "jafna tamil" and he is a "non-jafna tamil" or a "tamil of a lower caste". the girl's father didn't like my friend because he was from a lower caste. i used to make fun of him by saying "well you could have had some of my half jafna tamil blood if our blood types matched".

i've been discriminated against having long hair. sometimes at banks, when i cash a check or withdraw money, my identity is validated with much more attention than people (male) with short hair. i've been refused job offerings in the past: "we would hire you but your hair does not go with our dress code".

but restaurants and kade's treat me well. but thats 'cos they know that i eat a lot. that again is discrimination isn't it? as i see it, all customers should be treated equally, regardless of how much they eat!!!

lets face it. discrimination is in us. its just not race. it could caste, hair, skin color, income, appearance, inheritance, profession etc. we are all a bunch of discriminating hypocritical bastards!