Introducing ‘Friends of Jaffna’ initiative

The Friends of Jaffna event in Vaddukoddai hosting architect Channa Daswatte

Channa Daswatte (right) speaks in Jaffna 

of promoting architecture as a living entity 

in northern tourism

Led by diverse professionals primarily from Jaffna, ‘Friends of Jaffna,’ is a citizen endeavour that encourages meaningful exchanges with experts from across Sri Lanka for promoting the Northern Province. Marking the first step of this effort, a guest visit of Channa Daswatte, a well-known architect from Colombo was organised to contribute to the overall objective of understanding how architecture can be maintained as a living experience across time to support a vibrant tourism industry in the north of Sri Lanka. 

Identifying and conserving the architectural heritage of Jaffna was a commitment arrived at, at this first event organised by Friends of Jaffna, held in Vaddukoddai at one of the oldest houses in the district, now functioning as a cultural/experiential tourism based venue. The talk by Channa Daswatte was on the theme of finding ways and means to preserve archaeological and architectural cultural treasures in Jaffna through tourism. 

Anu Rakavan, Manager at the Jaffna University Business Linkage and Technology Transfer office, Ajantha Subramaniam, former accountant of Geoffrey Bawa and currently a tourism practitioner, Channa Daswatte, well known architect, and Muhunthan Murugaiah, Hospitality Entrepreneur and academic are some of the main forces behind the formation of the Friends of Jaffna initiative. The collective hopes to invite Sri Lankan professionals from varying districts to Jaffna to create a stimulus for northern entrepreneurship and tourism development especially in heritage and cultural spheres. 

By Surya Vishwa 

To look anew innovatively at breathing life into the architectural heritage of the north of Sri Lanka and rescue it from rote immobility and oblivion were among the main goals at the first event arranged by the ‘Friends of Jaffna.’ This is a collective of individuals who hope to further expand their networks across the island for the purpose of promoting the development of the Northern Province, especially in travel and cultural tourism related domains.

They plan to promote the Northern Province in general and Jaffna in particular, by highlighting the expertise it has and integrating it with the rest of the country. 

The first such expertise exchange was held at the Catamaran, the Vaddukkoddai residence of Ajantha Subramaniam who is one of the key founders of ‘Friends of Jaffna.’ Her home could be categorised as a heritage building, constructed by her parents and grandparents around 80 years ago. It is one of the buildings in the peninsula that showcase typical traditional Jaffna style architecture and had been renovated 10 years ago under the supervision of Channa Daswatte. Channa had trained and worked with the iconic Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, later serving as the Chairperson of the Galle Heritage Foundation. 

Aesthetically reframed

The ancestral residence of Ajantha Subramaniam which had suffered years of neglect and wartime destruction had been aesthetically reframed by Channa’s team to match its previous architectural prototype. This is to be the main location for the cultural programs and gatherings curated by the Friends of Jaffna in their effort to shape the North into the vibrant tourism alcove it is fast becoming. Among their list of priorities, encouraged by those such as Channa, is to help officials of Jaffna connected to areas such as tourism and archaeology identify heritage homes and other buildings which may have been overlooked for their time based significance.

“My parents and grandparents who were connected to Malaysia, having lived there for many years, built this house which is considered to have the typical Jaffna architectural style mixed also with what was considered modern at the time, interweaving some Malaysian oriented designs,” explains Ajantha. This house is now turned by her into a tourism centred location that provides traditional Jaffna cuisine and facilitates experiential cooking events. Meanwhile, several meetings to discuss the best presentation of Jaffna at the recently held India International Travel Mart segment in Chennai, was held in Ajantha’s home, attended by several tourism practitioners.

Encouraged and supported by Channa Daswatte, and members of the Northern Tourism Board such as Muhunthan Murugaiah (who is also a veteran hospitality practitioner and trainer), Ajantha is currently liaising with different government and private institutions to conserve and preserve heritage buildings of Jaffna in order to integrate these within the realm of tourism.

Her house was named Catamaran by Ajantha, referring to the traditional boat with twin parallel hulls used especially in the islands of Jaffna and this is the first object, spanning a length of several feet, that one sees when entering the garden of this heritage home.

Prioritising the traditional

It is to be noted that keeping to his architectural principles of prioritising the traditional, Channa Daswatte had strongly advised Ajantha not to replace the Palmyra fencing around the property with brick walls. Thus the garden of the Catamaran premises is at present encircled with rows of large dried Palmyra leaves as seen across the Northern Province in areas where brick obsessed modernity has not invaded. 

“Architecture is not about bricks and cement. Architecture encompasses the entirety of a culture that includes the natural world, traditional values and indigenous priorities,” explained Channa, speaking as a guest of the Friends of Jaffna initiative, held at Ajantha’s residence on 14 July. 

This introductory event was attended by many in Jaffna affiliated with tourism, arts and culture, academia, investment, archaeology, government and business sectors. 

“Everything connected with a particular culture is heritage,” Channa emphasised, noting that the responsibility of safeguarding such a legacy of a nation is the responsibility of not just governments but citizens at large. 

The fact that Jaffna citizens take their responsibility seriously for what they hold sacred was seen in the large number of attendees for the first Friends of Jaffna event as well as their active participation in the discussion that followed Channa’s talk. The discussion focused on the diverse ways that Jaffna could creatively promote itself to the foreign and local visitor by also researching on the pre-colonial heritage which has been largely lost in amnesic decades of foreign occupation. 

Means of transforming the Jaffna Fort to a place that signifies more than a pile of stones denoting history was discussed, including the possibility of making the northern heritage sites accessible to local artistes for open air cultural performances. This was seen also as an alternative to spaces officially considered as venues for cultural events but which have price tags to them, which make it impossible for struggling Jaffna artistes, especially youth, to afford hiring to hold their performances.

Art and science of aesthetics

As Channa stressed architecture is the art and science of aesthetics that uses the medium of construction but communicates all the dimensions of the human psyche connected to a particular time, place and ways of thinking. 

The holistic anatomy of tourism was ventured into by Channa in his talk, pointing out that tourism was not merely about a set of buildings that people seek out for accommodation. 

“Why does a person travel? What is a tourist really seeking in a new place?,” he asked his audience, highlighting that it is the humanistic connection that a traveller wishes to make and that this is enabled by bridging the present and the past by giving new reasons for heritage buildings to be appreciated. He encouraged the younger generations of architects in Jaffna to re-look at architecture and heritage sites to assess how their cultural worth could be re-framed to create tourism models that cater to all age groups across the world.

Anu Rakavan, an IT connected professional affiliated with the Jaffna University Business Linkage and Technology Transfer office was the moderator for this pioneering event of Friends of Jaffna and thanked Channa Daswatte for the wealth of inspiration and encouragement he provided. 

“We will continue in this effort and we will be in contact with all of you for the necessary follow up discussions,” he stated. One of the key outcomes achieved from this event was that a Jaffna based investor volunteered to bear the costs of printing a publication containing information of heritage buildings and sites of Jaffna. This decision was reached after an archaeology department official who attended this first Friends of Jaffna event stated that she and her team were compiling a list of heritage buildings in Jaffna. 

“This is how a country develops. It is not just upto politicians. Action is in the hands of the citizens,” Channa Daswatte noted, appreciating the commitment displayed by this Government official and the local business community.

Note: The Harmony Page will be following up further on the Friends of Jaffna initiatives in a bid to support tourism in the once war scared northern region.