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From the dense forest of the Tiger base, to the thatched hut of the average dweller in Wanni. It was a change in environment and climate, but the hospitality remained the same. Like the typical Tamil living in the North East, they held me up as the 'foreigner' and gave me the 5 star accommodation that they could provide.

The home that I stayed in was that of a widowed woman. Her 2 children have their home in the same compound, but next door. Her home is a thatched mud hut, 2 bedrooms, and a kitchen. The bathroom is outside, and it is not that you would find in any average hotel. The water well is where they wash, and the toilet is a single unit, kept at a distance – this is your average Tamil home in Wanni.

She is a wrinkly old woman, with enough curves on her face like a rippled sheet, an adorable one at that. Her grandchildren are similarly adorable. They were six in total, their ages varying by a year or two. The youngest was six months and the oldest 8 years of age. They are evidently naughty to say the least and a handful I am sure.

During my stay there I noticed that this grandmother was not your average woman. She was the equivalent of many. She would wake up in the mornings at 4:30, make tea for everyone, wake them up, and get those that need to head to school ready and cook breakfast as well. When I say cook breakfast, do not be confused with toast and juice or cereal.

Here, breakfast is just that, a break from the fast, and a feast at that. Hot meals are the standard preparation, dosai, pittu, string hoppers, idly, or hoppers are the standard preparation. With them comes the complimentary dish of curry and even a chilli coconut sambal if you the cook is feeling extravagant. On a day off, the food is hot bread with curry or banana.

In addition to preparing the morning meal, this 'old wrinkly woman' known more commonly as Kannamma, meaning 'darling amma', would prepare the lunch meals for her grandchildren and one of her daughters and son in law, both of whom head off to work six days a week. She packs their tiffen for them and then after that would get down to feeding those left over grandkids the morning meals and gets them groomed with baby cologne and powder. I was eager to carry one of the younger ones, a little girl of about seven months. However, I noticed that the children here fail to wear nappies. Instead, they are covered with only a thin linen clothe. Again, the job of cleaning them up is that of super woman, Kannamma. Watching her work was like watching one’s life in London in fast forward. I had been told that life was much slower here in our motherland, but watching Kannamma, I realised that this was only true for a specific few, and although there is no train to catch, few schedules one must attend, for those living life here, daily chores in itself can wear them out.

However, Kannamma was an exception for even Tamileelam. Her daughter in law one day told me, "Without Kannamma I would really struggle bringing up my children. My husband, he is doing service in the 'Elaipadai', the Tamil Tiger auxillary force, and so I mostly have to bring up my 3 children alone. I keep telling my husband to come home and help me, but he insists that the country needs him more. You see, he used to be a Tamil Tiger fighter, but in 1999 he was sent home by the LTTE administration, after his only other brother who was also in the movement became a martyr. He did not wish to return home, but since his mother was alone, the LTTE ordered him to do so. After returning he got married to me.

“We are happily married, do not misunderstand, but my husband felt his call was in the battlefront, and so he joined the auxillary force. It is tough, but I suppose it is what he wants and since Kannamma is here it is okay."

The Tamil Tiger Auxillary Force is a paid miliary force. They, like the Tiger fighters are sent to battle, and may have to sacrifice their lives, as they have in the past. I asked Kannamma what she thought of her son joining the force again after being sent back.

"It was only 5 years ago that I ago that my son returned home. I had not seen him for over 6 years and was very exciting to see my son. He returned after the death of my younger son, who had died in 1999 during the battle to recapture Elephant Pass. I was distraught, and the presence of my elder son was comforting.

However, I know that his life goal was not within the home. He wanted to take care of more than 'one' amma. He would always tell me that his duty is not confined to the home, but rather to the homeland. He returning to the force was expected, and although I get worn out with the work I do, I am still proud of my son.

“Anyway, he is not the only one. There have been married men who have died at battle when at the same time, their wife gave birth to their first child.”

Listening to her speak of the past made me realise that every wrinkle on this woman's face held a long history of pain, sorrow and hardship. Her ability to straddle on, despite all this was fascinating, and inspirational at the least.

But not all was gloomy with Kannamma. In fact it was far from that. During my time spent with this super woman, I had some of the most simple and natural moments of joy. It was also most definitely an adventure. I did more daring things than which I had done at the Tiger base.

One of the most extreme of this occurred one morning, the third day into my residency with Ms. Kannamma. I woke up around 7 am, to find the kitchen utensils all outside laid out on the front yard. Inside the kitchen was Kannamma, crouched on all four, patting some mud mixture on the floor. She was repolishing the floor, not with your hardware store vanish, but with cow dung! That’s right folks, the floor of the kitchen was being polished by dried cow dung, mixed with mud and water. At first this made me want to throw up all the food that I had eaten the last three days. However, Kannamma sat me down and explained the ancient Tamil tradition of using cow dung. Apparently, cow dung is used to polish floors as well as sacred sites. During Thaipongal, the harvest festival in January, cow dung is smeared on the floor before setting up the fire and cooking in offering to the sun, in thanks for providing the harvest. She also tried to convince me that it was highly hygienic, though I still have my doubts on that, and explained that it keeps the mud floor below from cracking.

What came next was the adventure. After the explanation, she then held out one of her hands, full of the cow dung mixture and offered it to me. "Here. Do you want to have a go?"

Daring as I was, I was not so sure about this offer. I hesitated, grudgingly started to hold out my hand, withdrew it and then thought, "Hmm... another amusing story to share with my friends I am sure, and hey, not an opportunity available in London!" With that I stretched out my hand, took the dung in hand, got on all four and got down to work. At first, I have to admit the smell was a bit off putting, but once I got over that, then it was quite fun. It was like being a child again, playing with mud, but doing it for a constructive purpose of course!

Repolishing the floor is a regular routine for a mud hut like Kannamma's. The amazing thing of the local Tamils is their ability to live life ecologically sustainable. Any green environmentalist would admire the way of life here. Nothing is wasted. Apparently, not even cow's shit! Produce from a coconut tree is used from top to bottom. Coconut fronds are used for building fences, for roofing, weaving baskets, making brooms, and firewood. Coconuts are used for cooking, their shells used for making jute rope, gardening and for firewood. The same applies for the palmyrah tree and many other natural products. Everything necessary can be received from the one compound. Kannamma explained to me that it was the Tamil people's ability to be self-sustainable that got them through the harsh times during the war. During 1997, when the Jeya Sikuru operation by the Sri Lankan army was underway, food, medicine and all else was blocked from entering the North East. During these times, it was their ability to make do with what was within their reach that got them through at the end.

This was also the saving grace for the LTTE during this time of blockades. Kannamma recalls, "We often say that the Wanni paddy fields fed our Liberation struggle. It was the Wanni rice that that was the strongest weapon we had. I used to help with cooking for the fighters at battle. We would work around the clock to cook and pack the parcels for those at the frontline."

What was very much apparent through my stay with Kannamma was that war was part and parcel of life here. The world tries to understand the psyche of the Tamils by looking through the Western eye. However, by looking through the Western eye all they achieve to do is misunderstand the Tamil psyche. Living here means living the liberation struggle, you can not escape it as that is the political reality that they live in.

Even during the ceasefire period this reality continues and Kannamma, like many, continues to live life that way. Currently, she is one of the many that are undertaking the daily 'self-defence' training for civilians organized by the Tigers. While on one end the Sri Lankan government cries to the international community that the Tigers are training the people, on the other hand, women like Kannamma go down to the local field everyday to get trained in basic shooting and physical exercise.

This has got to be the biggest fear for the government. The Sri Lankan government has stated that they are at war with the LTTE not the Tamil people. However, at the same time they evidently attack Tamil civilians as in Pesalai, Mannar. Now their enemy is not only the Tigers but those thousands of civilians, including Kannamma, that have taken training.

The Tigers must have faith that the people too want a liberated self governing state or else they would not train them to fight. Otherwise, the people could easily turn and fire on them. What was once a guerilla movement, which then expanded to be a conventional military movement, is now turning into a people’s movement; one which is going to be very difficult to control and win against for the Sri Lankan government.

Asked what she thinks of this training program, Kannamma laughs. "Its tough, leaving the children and attending the training, but it is also necessary. Nothing is meant to be easy for us Tamils during this time of struggle. I do not have to attend the training but I go out of choice. May be then the next generation of Tamils won't have to go through this hardship. That is what keeps me going". Sacrifice is like daily bread here.

She looks at her children's creations, and I sensed that she saw her lost son in their faces. She would have dreamt of so much for him, and now those dreams were being fostered in her grandchildren. But we both knew that there was no guarantee that this fight would end within their time. We could only hope, and in the case of Kannamma, she was also ready to fight.