Exodus from Jaffna

Letters from JAJ Philips (Chinna Rasa Mama), a paternal cousin of my mother who taught English in the Catholic Boys' School in Jaffna.

 

"We are refugees from Jaffna. Mabel Aunty and I are staying with my brother Gunam. Krisha, Katpagam and her two sons Kevin and Kenneth are with Katpagam's aunt at Wellawatte. We came here on the 15th of May. we left Jaffna on the 17th of November when the Security Forces took Jaffna. I am sure you must be knowing the North and East of our country are war zones. When the army advanced towards Jaffna, the LTTE demanded we evacuate the town. On October 30th, a vast exodus of about four lakhs left the town and went to Vadamarachchi and Thenmarachchi-more than fifteen miles away. This was a tragic scene with thousands "trekking" in heavy rain and under constant shellfire in search of refuge. There were instances of people abandoning their sick/old parents and relatives and fleeing the town. Christian Missionaries and other charitable organizations took these destitutes and for a few days succoured to them. Later they too had to be removed from the town.

 

We first decided to stick to Jaffna whatever happened. we had to leave our home and take refuge at Chundekully Girls' School. We were there till November 17. But as days passed we found it impossible to stay in Jaffna. The streets were intimidatory in their emptiness. The town was a ghost-town.The hospital closed and doctors left.All shops put up shutters.We were just a handful who remained and every day the sound of gunfire was coming closer. My two grandsons are small(five and three years). They were frightened of the shelling and we knew they would get no medical care if injured. We too decided to move out of our dear town. We came to Chevakaccherie 18 miles away. Even the transport had to be provided by the LTTE. By the time we came to this small town it was already congested. Somehow we were able to get a small room and three families stayed there. In that small house there were 37 inmates! There was no privacy at all. But we were much luckier. people who were in comfortable houses in Jaffna were living on roadsides or in improvised shelters exposed to the ravages of an inclement monsoon! We were almost destitutes, having abandoned our house and belongings, except for two small bags in our case. I came to Chavakacheri on the pillion of my son-in-law's scooter and for the first time in my life I had a blackout. I was very sick in Chavakachcherie, It was a nightmarish experience because of the crowds, unhygienic conditions etc and we stayed there for three weeks. The LTTE was now exhorting us to leave Chavai and move to the mainland out of the peninsula because the secur ity forces were threatening to advance into Thenmaradchchi. On Dec. 10th we left the peninsula and crossed into the mainland. We made an eight hour journry by boat and for some time in a heavy shower of rain. This was another tedious experience. Then we came to Navajeevanam in Paranthan. Navajeevanam is a charitable in stitution founded by a protestant missionnary- a relation of Katpagam. I was really edified by the dedicated labour of the management there. The big gates of Na vajeevanam are never closed. No refugee is turned out. Everyone who comes is assured of a meal and a bed for the night. There are homes for orphans, for the ret arded and deformed, a child care centre, hostels for girls and another for boys and a home for the elders. It was community living and meals were taken in a big hall. No fees are charged but we made monthly donations. There were refugees who made no payment. I felt really mortified because the Catholic Church though richer does not offer such sacrifice. Really Navajeevanam is a bright star in that firmament of cruelty and wretchedness. At my age I had suffered much but through Navajeevanam I have been taught that all hope is not all lost for mankind as long as precious institutes like Navajeevanam exist. When conditions return to no rmal and if I am still alive, I must take you once to this remarkable place and show you the excellent work that is being done there. Three of the fellowship who run this happy place are over eighty years old and still they work relentlessly.

 

We didn't want to strain their hospitality by staying indefinitely. We knew that our being there was imposing limitations on their exemplary work. Also the Government had marched its forces into Thenmarachchi and Vadmarachchi and Kilinochchi and Paranthan would be next target. The LTTE too discovered their blunder in ordering the people to evacuate Jaffna without making adequate provision for housing the refugees, they relaxed their restrictions on passes and we were able to get a clearance to pass the LTTE territory and come to army occupied zone.

 

This again was another horrible escapade. We had to creep under barbed wires, we were herded into lorries(including my grandsons) and remain in two camps with w ater shortage, poor food and only a mat to sleep on at night. At last we came to Colombo on the 15th of May, having left Navajeevanam a happy place on 11th May. My wife and I plan to go to Damayanthi, my younger daughter in Canada. She insists we come there. Krisha and Katpagam don't want to return to Jaffna: because although Jaffna is a "Liberated" area it is still not a safe place. I do not know what has happened to our house- our home for 36 years. I am writing this to tel l you how inhuman man has become and also tell you what a comfort plces like Navajeevanam are. An oasis of love in a harsh world.

 

Yours lovingly,

 

Rasa Mama. 3.6.96

 

 

(To) Dr. Prabir Chatterjee   EJFM Hospital, Jidato Mission, Pakur 816107, INDIA

 

My dear Prabir,

 

Thank you very much for circulating my "Exodus" letter.We have taken print-outs and sent them to others. The situation in my country is worsening. Power corrupts Our benefactors at Navajeevanam are now refugees themselves and Navajeevanam is now in shambles The place was destroyed when the Security Forces took over Paranthan. One of the custodians Ariyam Uncle is dead. He was a man I admire very much. His daughter is virtually in charge of the organization. It is a mystery to me why God permits the destruction of Goodness.

 

My love to you all

 

Rasa Mama 13-3 -2004 

Our Mother

Our mother was born in Colombo. Her own mother was born Elizabeth Muttiah in Pandatherripu in the north of the island. And her grandfather Muttiah retired as Head Clerk in Anuradhapura Government Kacheri. My mother's grandmother (Anna Annamma Muttiah nee' Seenivasagam) taught Tamil at Ladies College Colombo, where my mother went to school. The old lady was also the Aachi (grandmother) of the Radio Ceylon Tamil Children's Programme. Though my mother was called Olive by all her relations and most of her friends, she decided to switch the order of her names in school because there was another Olive in her class and so she became Gregoryne Olivemalar instead of O.G. Philips.

 

At around the age of 12 my mother was balancing (possibly on a desk) and fell off and broke her elbow. She took up Elocution at Wendy Whatmore's School of Spoken English after school hours and won a prize in a competition run by Young Men's Buddhist association. She got a prize- a copy of Edwin Arnold's "Light of Asia". Ladies College was upset and she got told off for taking part and reciting a Buddhist piece. After completing school my mother joined Eileen Hemple (Aunty Lilo to us) at the Wendy Whatmore School and they became Vice Principals there.

 

My mother also travelled to Catholic schools in the Kandy Hills and taught Elocution there. She had a driving licence herself, but also had an accompanying driver. My grandfather (mother's father Joseph Anthony Philips) was born Catholic, but got excommunicated automatically in those days for marrying a Protestant. This was solved when his wife and daughters become Catholic (when my mother was a teenager), due to encouragement from an aunt who had converted in Bombay. Curiously, Aunty Mummy's (since she was my mother's aunt and her cousin's mother) husband was Methodist and I think her son remained Anglican!

 

My mother was involved with Young Christian Workers movement at the time. Later she went to England and started training as a nurse. To support her expenses she did a part time job, serving behind the counter. Some Indian students who met her there called her to weekend parties. At one of these (some time after completing first year) she heard a recent song being played and asked whose record it was. It turned out that a specsy dental surgeon with prominent front teeth owned all the records being played. she struck up a conversation with him and found at that his name was Jayanta which sounded very Sinhalese. 6 months later they got married and moved to Birmingham, where my father had his pracice.

 

My mother was also an avid Girl Guider and started a Bulbul Pack when teaching at at Carmel School (Deshapriya Park, Kolkata) many years later.

 

At School

With parents and sister Jeanne

In Belgium with Aunty Chris (Janelli)

August 20th 1960

With Baba and Alok Kaka (his brother)

At Lake Club with my sister Deepika and me

With Bani Pishi (my father's sister) at 140B Rashbehari Avenue

Ma and Jeanne Mashi at Earthcare Bookstore, Kolkata

Rajah Mama- GF Sethukavelar, a cousin of my mother's

Rajah Mama's mother (she was my Colombo grandfather's elder sister) on the verandah at Havelock Place

 

My brother Pratap Chatterjee writes -Thanks for this! I will read this to Jeanne mashi and check the details. I can think of a couple of corrections- Baba was playing Irma La Douce not Joan Baez. He would have been truly ahead of his time to have played Joan Baez since her first album came out the following year I think? - 1960 Ma worked at Veeraswamy’s, not sure if she worked at a pub.

 

Photos contributed by Deepika

1969

At Jamir Lane around 1980

At Anandamela Guest House, Santiniketan December 1995 (Susan- Amal's wife and my wife are also seen)

At Simultala in 1979 December

With Fr Percival Abraham SJ at Boys' Town near Colombo in 1975. Rosemary Aunty (sister of Fr Percy and wife of Rajah Mama is seen too)

 

https://prabirkc1.blogspot.com/2021/09/diary-of-old-man.html

5 brothers L to R Kalyan, Sukumar (Sejho), Jhetu, Aloke (Kaka), Jayanta (my father) in December 1995 https://prabirkc1.blogspot.com/2021/09/diary-of-old-man-ii.html

 

https://prabirkc.blogspot.com/2025/07/exodus-from-jaffna.html

Now We are Four

Well Just a little bit more
Next we will be five
And if we manage to stay alive
Soon we might be Six tee Six!
And learn a lot of lickle tricks!

With apologies to A A Milne



"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head —
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."


"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door —
Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment — one shilling the box —
Allow me to sell you a couple?"


"You are old," said the youth,
"and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak —
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."


"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose —
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!"

by Lewis Carroll

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