“It is unfortunate many great intellectuals of the Tamil community have been killed by the very forces that are seeking some humdrum Anglo-Saxons to take up their cases. Bruce Fein may have impressed some suckers through the smart guys of the community that he can bring the curtains down on President Rajapakse and his brothers. While this will be a dream that can never be realized, how will this help to solve the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka? Why cannot some of the Tamil lawyers in Toronto take up this issue instead of most of them doing hardly any court work but spending their time largely with guys who buy and sell houses?”
______________________
by Catapult Thangavelu from Sleuth Street, Slave Island in Toronto
(June 23, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian)On this my first visit to what has now come to be known as the Tamil homeland of Canada, I have been in for many surprises. Some strange guys rule the roost especially in Scarborough, Toronto with terror threat generated from Wanni. Canadian bureaucrats, for too long a time, thought this was one of the features of Tamil culture. In multicultural Canada anything strange and peculiar can also be seen as cultural norms and therefore have to be accepted and protected.
Some Canadian politicians too love the adoration they receive as the superior beings, the Anglo-Saxon angels and saints. It is said a Federal Member of Parliament of Greek origin is often seen in fancy clothes adorned with kumkum and sandal paste in some temples along with his Tamil hangers-on. He must be loving all that adulation. People I have met had wondered whether for those hangers-on the deity comes first or this clown.
So much so even an American lawyer is in town convinced the Canadian Tamil community is a mine that could be dug further for diamonds. He parades as the current Anglo-Saxon deity. Even temple premises are being opened to him and with his arrival the term “Fund Raising” has assumed a dimension. There is nothing faint about Bruce Fein that is the lawyer’s name. In the US, attorneys are popularly known as ambulance chasers and they will seek clients by any means they could design.
It is unfortunate many great intellectuals of the Tamil community have been killed by the very forces that are seeking some humdrum Anglo-Saxons to take up their cases. Bruce Fein may have impressed some suckers through the smart guys of the community that he can bring the curtains down on President Rajapakse and his brothers. While this will be a dream that can never be realized, how will this help to solve the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka? Why cannot some of the Tamil lawyers in Toronto take up this issue instead of most of them doing hardly any court work but spending their time largely with guys who buy and sell houses?
Raising funds in the name of the LTTE is firmly entrenched in Ontario; may be in other provinces too. Though most people are against it yet many support it through fear. The community is being held in ransom. There are many homes that keep their curtains closed especially during the weekends. Children have been told not to open them or even answer the telephone or the door bell. They have had enough of the callers at the door who have long ceased to be polite collectors of funds.
They arrive at the door like tax collectors of a tyrant kingdom and their demands are precise and particular and are also told about the consequences of not paying up. The Canadian Tamil community is treated as vassalage of the guy living in the hole in Wanni or whatever power that is running this evil contraption. The Fund Raisers have been told by the Wanni authority to pay a certain sum of money to them by the end of the year. Whatever they collect over and above that, they could keep for themselves. Many of these collectors have mansions mostly in the Markham municipality and live in utter splendour. Brand new white vehicles, almost always an SUV is the symbol of their arrogant authority. In Sri Lanka too this is the much feared vehicle today.
Some of these fund raisers are paid commissions ranging from 10 to 30 percent and their gas bills are met as well. They are allowed to have vadai, valaipalam and coffee whenever they needed refreshments. Some order packed breakfast from a popular Take-Away in Scarborough that venerates the man from Wanni on par with Lord Muruga; even Lord Ganesha has to accept that demeaned stature. Lord Kandasamy’s seat in Toronto is used as the under cover hub of the LTTE public activities and that was where, the new Anglo-Saxon deity called his durbar the other day,
Word has it that a Mr Sakthi Sangary now metamorphosed as Gary Sangary is splitting angry that the World Tamil Movement has been banned in Canada. This was the guy who cried foul when the Human Rights Report was published and shouted at the author, “How dare you?” and earned for him the forename for life “How dare you Sangary?” Name change is very much on his track. When he applied for a university loan he was Sakthi Sangary! There are many interpretations as to why he Anglicized his first name to Gary. But this is a small matter even if he has gained a few dollars as a result. Some Toronto Tamil guys seem ashamed of the names given to them by their parents and have opted for the Anglo-Saxon types. Nathan has become Neighthan! What a miserable horse laugh!
The Grand Tigers of Canada, apologies to the Grand Masons, are “How dare you” Sangary and Mr Poopalapillai alias Pillaivarl wanted in Batticaloa by his clients who inquired from him about immigration to Canada by the second route. Sangary thinks with Bruce Fein by his side, even God has to support him. It is understood regular worshippers at Canada Kandasamy Koil are concerned that some weird guy may even propose the temple till boxes should also be taken over by the Tiger fund raisers. But then the temple itself is being run by the LTTE having seized it some years ago from a committee from the public.
In the meantime, a popular story is having its rounds here in Toronto and also in Sydney, Australia. The LTTE hierarchy in Australia in collusion with their Toronto counterparts invited the well known Carnatic music artiste Pon Suntharalingam and his daughter to perform a vocal concert in Australia to raise funds for the LTTE or WTM. What does it matter LTTE or WTM; they are same just like the four-footers whether they are from Bengal or Siberia. The gentleman that he is, he obliged but the cads they are, they left him high and dry in respect of travel fare and even hospitality in Australia. He is now down at least by $5,000 hard earned by him as a teacher of Carnatic music.
The aging head of the World Tamil Movement in Canada, Sitha Sittampalam, now that he is without a job and also faces certain dire consequences, seems confident that the ban against the WTM will be lifted and if not, the courts of the land could be directed to lift it. His hopes have been placed heavily on Bruce Fein which will also stimulate further the fund raising tactics of the LTTE.
What is so tragic about the Tamil community is that they have not the confidence to search for answers themselves. They have for too long a time come to believe that only the Anglo-Saxons can lead them, a bad habit they evidently learnt in Malaysia and promoted it in Jaffna when they returned soon after the war. Walk into any court in Toronto and one will see the spectacle of Anglo-Saxon lawyers appearing for Tamils and yet Toronto has many Tamil lawyers.
The Tamil cause must have a Tamil mind, a Tamil spirit and a Tamil vision and this has not yet dawned on the largest Tamil community outside Sri Lanka even if Tamils from Tamilnadu are included in this count. A spirit of nationhood must be founded on our own culture that is rooted through generations over hundreds of years. What is prevailing in Canada among the Tamils is a kind of shallow fad culture dictated by over-enthusiastic profit for the self at any cost motivation.
Even the deities – Hindu and Christian – have been pressed into this pursuit, for so numerous are the places of worship. One of my contacts told me that all the deities from Jaffna are now in Toronto and the priests who serve them are millionaires. Every summer astrologers and readers of the future known as kandam experts from South India visit Toronto and raise fortunes for themselves. Since many people are regularly consulting psychiatrists and also the priests to help ward off evil spirits, one guy is planning to bring a “Devil Chaser” to Toronto. Whether he would apply to Immigration Canada for an entertainer or an exorcist is yet to be seen but certainly he has a better chance as a cultural entertainer of a sort.
Amidst all these, US lawyer Bruce Fein keeps good company and the common factor here is all about raising funds, and the LTTE backers and others feel they need Anglo-Saxons, kandam readers and devil chasers. Canada is a revelation and from my seat in Colombo after my Wanni term I could not have been able to analyze what really ticks life in Toronto for the Tamils without experiencing it myself even if it was only for a few days.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
______________________
by Catapult Thangavelu from Sleuth Street, Slave Island in Toronto
(June 23, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian)On this my first visit to what has now come to be known as the Tamil homeland of Canada, I have been in for many surprises. Some strange guys rule the roost especially in Scarborough, Toronto with terror threat generated from Wanni. Canadian bureaucrats, for too long a time, thought this was one of the features of Tamil culture. In multicultural Canada anything strange and peculiar can also be seen as cultural norms and therefore have to be accepted and protected.
Some Canadian politicians too love the adoration they receive as the superior beings, the Anglo-Saxon angels and saints. It is said a Federal Member of Parliament of Greek origin is often seen in fancy clothes adorned with kumkum and sandal paste in some temples along with his Tamil hangers-on. He must be loving all that adulation. People I have met had wondered whether for those hangers-on the deity comes first or this clown.
So much so even an American lawyer is in town convinced the Canadian Tamil community is a mine that could be dug further for diamonds. He parades as the current Anglo-Saxon deity. Even temple premises are being opened to him and with his arrival the term “Fund Raising” has assumed a dimension. There is nothing faint about Bruce Fein that is the lawyer’s name. In the US, attorneys are popularly known as ambulance chasers and they will seek clients by any means they could design.
It is unfortunate many great intellectuals of the Tamil community have been killed by the very forces that are seeking some humdrum Anglo-Saxons to take up their cases. Bruce Fein may have impressed some suckers through the smart guys of the community that he can bring the curtains down on President Rajapakse and his brothers. While this will be a dream that can never be realized, how will this help to solve the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka? Why cannot some of the Tamil lawyers in Toronto take up this issue instead of most of them doing hardly any court work but spending their time largely with guys who buy and sell houses?
Raising funds in the name of the LTTE is firmly entrenched in Ontario; may be in other provinces too. Though most people are against it yet many support it through fear. The community is being held in ransom. There are many homes that keep their curtains closed especially during the weekends. Children have been told not to open them or even answer the telephone or the door bell. They have had enough of the callers at the door who have long ceased to be polite collectors of funds.
They arrive at the door like tax collectors of a tyrant kingdom and their demands are precise and particular and are also told about the consequences of not paying up. The Canadian Tamil community is treated as vassalage of the guy living in the hole in Wanni or whatever power that is running this evil contraption. The Fund Raisers have been told by the Wanni authority to pay a certain sum of money to them by the end of the year. Whatever they collect over and above that, they could keep for themselves. Many of these collectors have mansions mostly in the Markham municipality and live in utter splendour. Brand new white vehicles, almost always an SUV is the symbol of their arrogant authority. In Sri Lanka too this is the much feared vehicle today.
Some of these fund raisers are paid commissions ranging from 10 to 30 percent and their gas bills are met as well. They are allowed to have vadai, valaipalam and coffee whenever they needed refreshments. Some order packed breakfast from a popular Take-Away in Scarborough that venerates the man from Wanni on par with Lord Muruga; even Lord Ganesha has to accept that demeaned stature. Lord Kandasamy’s seat in Toronto is used as the under cover hub of the LTTE public activities and that was where, the new Anglo-Saxon deity called his durbar the other day,
Word has it that a Mr Sakthi Sangary now metamorphosed as Gary Sangary is splitting angry that the World Tamil Movement has been banned in Canada. This was the guy who cried foul when the Human Rights Report was published and shouted at the author, “How dare you?” and earned for him the forename for life “How dare you Sangary?” Name change is very much on his track. When he applied for a university loan he was Sakthi Sangary! There are many interpretations as to why he Anglicized his first name to Gary. But this is a small matter even if he has gained a few dollars as a result. Some Toronto Tamil guys seem ashamed of the names given to them by their parents and have opted for the Anglo-Saxon types. Nathan has become Neighthan! What a miserable horse laugh!
The Grand Tigers of Canada, apologies to the Grand Masons, are “How dare you” Sangary and Mr Poopalapillai alias Pillaivarl wanted in Batticaloa by his clients who inquired from him about immigration to Canada by the second route. Sangary thinks with Bruce Fein by his side, even God has to support him. It is understood regular worshippers at Canada Kandasamy Koil are concerned that some weird guy may even propose the temple till boxes should also be taken over by the Tiger fund raisers. But then the temple itself is being run by the LTTE having seized it some years ago from a committee from the public.
In the meantime, a popular story is having its rounds here in Toronto and also in Sydney, Australia. The LTTE hierarchy in Australia in collusion with their Toronto counterparts invited the well known Carnatic music artiste Pon Suntharalingam and his daughter to perform a vocal concert in Australia to raise funds for the LTTE or WTM. What does it matter LTTE or WTM; they are same just like the four-footers whether they are from Bengal or Siberia. The gentleman that he is, he obliged but the cads they are, they left him high and dry in respect of travel fare and even hospitality in Australia. He is now down at least by $5,000 hard earned by him as a teacher of Carnatic music.
The aging head of the World Tamil Movement in Canada, Sitha Sittampalam, now that he is without a job and also faces certain dire consequences, seems confident that the ban against the WTM will be lifted and if not, the courts of the land could be directed to lift it. His hopes have been placed heavily on Bruce Fein which will also stimulate further the fund raising tactics of the LTTE.
What is so tragic about the Tamil community is that they have not the confidence to search for answers themselves. They have for too long a time come to believe that only the Anglo-Saxons can lead them, a bad habit they evidently learnt in Malaysia and promoted it in Jaffna when they returned soon after the war. Walk into any court in Toronto and one will see the spectacle of Anglo-Saxon lawyers appearing for Tamils and yet Toronto has many Tamil lawyers.
The Tamil cause must have a Tamil mind, a Tamil spirit and a Tamil vision and this has not yet dawned on the largest Tamil community outside Sri Lanka even if Tamils from Tamilnadu are included in this count. A spirit of nationhood must be founded on our own culture that is rooted through generations over hundreds of years. What is prevailing in Canada among the Tamils is a kind of shallow fad culture dictated by over-enthusiastic profit for the self at any cost motivation.
Even the deities – Hindu and Christian – have been pressed into this pursuit, for so numerous are the places of worship. One of my contacts told me that all the deities from Jaffna are now in Toronto and the priests who serve them are millionaires. Every summer astrologers and readers of the future known as kandam experts from South India visit Toronto and raise fortunes for themselves. Since many people are regularly consulting psychiatrists and also the priests to help ward off evil spirits, one guy is planning to bring a “Devil Chaser” to Toronto. Whether he would apply to Immigration Canada for an entertainer or an exorcist is yet to be seen but certainly he has a better chance as a cultural entertainer of a sort.
Amidst all these, US lawyer Bruce Fein keeps good company and the common factor here is all about raising funds, and the LTTE backers and others feel they need Anglo-Saxons, kandam readers and devil chasers. Canada is a revelation and from my seat in Colombo after my Wanni term I could not have been able to analyze what really ticks life in Toronto for the Tamils without experiencing it myself even if it was only for a few days.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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