Life Unlived

Savouring precious peace, Jaffna concentrates on recovery and growth

- Frances Bulathsinghala/Jaff Na

ON A SUNNY MORNING, Sangarapillai Naguleswaran is busy overseeing production at his small factory in Kopay, 10km from Jaffna town. Yam, drumstick leaves, neem flowers, bitter gourd and fruits shrivel in several solar greenhouse dryers, to be turned into instant rasam mix and readyto-fry vadas, or simply powdered for use in soups and curries. Packaged, the products are sold in grocery stores in Colombo. The factory, set up with assistance from international agencies, employs a few local people, including the owner’s two daughters.

“In the 1970s, agribusiness boomed here, and Jaffna was a leader in exporting mango products,” says Naguleswaran, who learnt the art of preservation in Kerala in the early 1980s. “Jaffna led the way in food preservation technology,” he says, claiming that a popular fruit juice brand in Sri Lanka was started in the 1960s by a Jaffna food preservation expert, who later sold the company to a Sinhalese businessman who rebranded it.

The 26-year Civil War, which began in 1983, killed Jaffna’s industries. After the war ended in 2009, small businessmen like Naguleswaran have worked to pick up the pieces, hardly bothering about political cataclysms in Colombo or Jaffna.

Almost every person one meets in Jaffna is least interested in discussing politics, their conversations veering towards economic growth and development. Tamil politicians, they say, are keen on continuing the Sinhala-Tamil divide for political gains.