'The Sasia Story' by Maheen Senanayake from Sri Lanka

Your Excellency Ambassador Madanjeet Singh
 
All I can say right now is Thank you sir.  Thank you for your generocity. I would like to share my initial proposal which I am sure will require refinement in consultation with the Vice Chancellor of Pondicherry university. I look forward to your next book and hope I can remain in touch with you. 
 
I have spent several years studying overseas, including France where I received my first five years of education.after which I also studied for a short while in Sri Lanka and subsequently in Egypt. As a result I am quite oblivious to the many differences that people across the world see amongst ourselves on this planet. I am intrigued with the Asian psyche’s ability to search for hidden differences even amongst our very own people. It is almost as if ‘Division’ reigns with Satanic intent.  Your work has found a way of bringing out common denominators and in some of the vernacular terms in the ‘Sasia Story’ I found my own mother toungue.  A good Example is ‘AADI VAASI’ a term which is quite properly pronounced in identical fashion I presume, with reference to ancestral people of our lands.. I have been intrigued by the closeness of Tamil and Sinhala scripts and similarities in religious practices in such philosphically diverse religions; ‘Prasadam’ in both the hindu and christian form.  The sasia story is not just a tale but a Gum that will bind nations.. and in my little attempt I can kick start or better still kinetize a movement towards a SASIA. The more people becoming aware of this the more interest will be created amongst our own people and think Tank. Consequentially perhaps enough people would have dwelved into the subject to make it an unavoidable necessity. A Sasia is a philosophy. I dare say you have dared to imagine the near impossible.  Even as I write this note, SAARC nations are working on individual bi-lateral trade agreements which I feel are detrimental towards a common trading block.  The goal must be one of Asia’s.  this would mean improvement of living standards which must come from as a result of commerce and bringing about a common trading ground. 
 
Only the wheels of commerce can fuel the Sasia as a need. Asia is a mosaic of culture and thinking.. Our equally different ideas must merit a collaborative effort. Perhaps the Sasia will give our people a common goal. Perhaps  To start with 1 SASIA to 1 Euro might be a good enough start, as ambitious as it may seem.. It is just this form of goal that can magnetize the asian mind.. We can perhaps officially start a move towards the ‘SASIA’…  fuelling thinking, passions, and forcing asian leadership to THINK collectively and ACT collectively.  I have looked at the agenda of the South Asia foundation and find that perhaps all of its objectives can be contained under a single South Asia and hence the umbrella vision: ‘The SASIA’. After all our aims of co-habitation, tolerance and a common prosperity would have to be a given before the SASIA takes place. I must admit I have no fear of dreaming: with one sweep of a concept you sir would give south asia back to south asia.  Unlike in the case of the Berlin wall.. A civil movement can perhaps negate the physical boundaries protected by standing armies.  A movement that will first enlist the highest thinkers and philosophers of our land who would then lead opinion amongst small groups growing this group exponentially , fuelled with the civil movement’s formal workshops and others alike.. A project that would be self sustaining. Raising its own funds as it grows, increasing interest in the subject and fashionably showcasing a thought that Politicians would dare dream of calling their own. And at that moment be it tomorrow or in 50 years.. our work would have been done.  
 
I am sorry if I took too much of your time, but I needed to share some of my own thinking with you.
 
I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Sincerely
 
Maheen Senanayake
From Sri Lanka.

Your Excellency Ambassador Madanjeet Singh,
 
I recently had the privilege of reading your book ‘The SASIA Story’. A book that was given to  me by Mrs. Swinitha Perera the contact for the SAF chapter in Sri Lanka when I happen to meet her to enquire after the scholarship for an MA in South Asian studies at the University of Pondicherry.  
 
I must tell you at this point that I debated in my mind as to whether I should write to you as it might be misread as patronizing… but my emotions have taken the better of me and I have decided to tell you the effect that this book has had on me anyway.  All my life I have followed my heart and the consequences as you might figure have not contributed to an easy journey. But then life is such that I am perhaps too old to change. Besides... ‘the well being of others’  where an individual champions the cause of the innocent has to be an Asian concept...So in that spirit I pen my views below.
 
Mr. Madanjeet Singh, you write very well and have taken me on a journey through time and India and then through India in time.  You have taken me through trials and tribulations and shown me burning villages… marauding mobs and amidst them a humane and gritty and compassionate Muslim carter in Lahore who saved your life.  You have shown that humanity surfaces in the most unreasonable of situations. Your attempts with the photographic exhibitions to take the message of what truly took place  during India’s Partition are indeed commendable... but what captured my heart was the lack of a thread of hatred in your tale.  Whilst, as I said before you have a gift with the pen... this is only second in my opinion to your ability to find the positive in a sea of negatives. From a publishing perspective I have not yet come across an almost biographical tale supported by pictures of the magnitude of your work. Whilst all these seem gigantic by comparative standards I must admit, one single vision has captivated my heart: ’The Sasia’. A single currency for south Asia seems a definitive philosophy. With all my reading... having witnessed the formation of the European union, having seen the dollar and exchange rates tick to and fro on television... I have to be honest that this thought of a single South Asian currency never crossed my mind.  I dare say this might actually be achievable target. If the European union can, so can the worthy merits of monetary integration succeed in Asia. I believe this can certainly be a possibility.
 
I also took some time to check on research conducted in this area and find that very little or virtually no research has been conducted towards this outstanding if not groundbreaking goal.  Over the last month or so, I have therefore devoted myself to the development of a proposal that would perhaps take the initial step towards this ambitious goal. This I hope to submit to a university in consideration for a Mphil/Phd level.  
 
This note therefore is to say how great a writer you are but most importantly to tell you that  your story has inspired me. More, I am sure would be  inspired  to think of the future of Asia in general and South Asia in particular because of your work.
 
Sincerely

Maheen Senanayake
From Sri Lanka

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