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Tea Time with Terrorists: A Motorcycle Journey into the Heart of Sri Lanka's Civil War
Armed with a map, a motorcycle, an infectious sense of humor, and a dim understanding of Sri Lanka’s war, author, artist, and adventurer Mark Stephen Meadows arrives in the country intending to have, as it were, afternoon tea with terrorists. Figuring that the first step to solving a problem is understanding it, he journeys north into the war zone, interviewing terrorists, generals, and heroin dealers along the way.
He discovers an island of beauty and abundance ground down by three decades of war. As he travels north through Colombo, Kandy, and the damaged city of Jaffna, Meadows gives his riveting take on the war. Known for child conscription and drawn-out torture methods, he explains, the Tamil Tigers also invented suicide bombing and were the first to lace together terrorists and financiers into international networks of militant uprising.
In Sri Lanka, Meadows discovers a deep view into an ancient culture. Along the way, he learns to trap an elephant, weave rope from coconut husks, and cast out devils, and he actually has tea with a few terrorists. This is the inspiring story of his journey and an enlightening meditation on the interconnectedness of globalization, the media, and modern terrorism.
He discovers an island of beauty and abundance ground down by three decades of war. As he travels north through Colombo, Kandy, and the damaged city of Jaffna, Meadows gives his riveting take on the war. Known for child conscription and drawn-out torture methods, he explains, the Tamil Tigers also invented suicide bombing and were the first to lace together terrorists and financiers into international networks of militant uprising.
In Sri Lanka, Meadows discovers a deep view into an ancient culture. Along the way, he learns to trap an elephant, weave rope from coconut husks, and cast out devils, and he actually has tea with a few terrorists. This is the inspiring story of his journey and an enlightening meditation on the interconnectedness of globalization, the media, and modern terrorism.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 27, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 4, 2010
I was mailed this book by a friend in Colorado, or else I may have never heard of it. And what a gift it was, considering that I lived for the first 24 years of my life in Sri Lanka and also took a motorcycle journey around the island once, albeit when things were much saner.
Mark Meadows, avid traveller and adventurer, takes it upon himself to travel to Sri Lanka in 2003, during a ceasefire in the country’s 26-year civil war, to interview both government and rebel leaders on how they viewed their respective causes, and to sample life among the simple folk in villages and towns across the island. He takes tea with leaders on both sides, recording the ensuing conversations on tape. Given the respective track records of the combatants as highlighted in the world press, one wonders whether the word “terrorist” mentioned in the title applies to all of his fellow tea drinkers.
It is revealing to discover how those who commit mass murder in the name of freedom, subsequently enjoy positions of ministerial and senatorial power in the Sri Lankan Government by simply turning in their guns and switching allegiances, by giving up the military option and seeking a political one. Is atonement and forgiveness that easy? If it were, why did this conflict start in the first place?
One of Meadows’ hosts, a former Tiger cohort, likens the Tamils’ struggle against the majority Sinhalese as similar to moving an elephant. You cannot shift the creature, it must move on its own. “You have to make it feel something, prick it with something small”. A military leader on the rival side claims that the Sinhalese “have a better history.” And so goes the battle for supremacy without accommodation, leaving behind carnage in the northern half of the country, which is littered with landmines except for a strip of narrow potholed highway that leads Meadows through the bullet scarred shells of towns and villages of a once-thriving society.
And yet there are also heroes and saints along the way: the woman who gave up her life to run outside and shut the gate of the Kandy Temple and foil the terrorists from blowing it up completely, the soldier at Elephant Pass who took on a makeshift rebel tank with a grenade, the man who accosts Meadows on the street to give him a message from God—“Unity is Divinity.”
In between his peregrinations, Meadows observes and ruminates on the state of war: fear is our most basic instinct, our most social emotion; in war zones people cough; in war zones the sky is terrifyingly large (i.e. all tall buildings have been knocked down); sometimes we have to destroy our bodies so that the power of the soul can find its way out of the clogged unreality of life; war defines limits, war creates identity ; (in war) an equal is needed, otherwise we call it genocide, massacre, holocaust; we are as warlike as we are sociable. If these quotes are originals, they are priceless and Meadows’ reward by his muse for putting himself in harm’s way.
The book is an interesting addition to the canon of post-LTTE literature on Sri Lanka because it goes behind the scenes of this ethnic conflict that provided the world with suicide bombers and child soldiers. It records verbatim the experiences and thoughts of some of its main characters (it’s a pity that Prabhakaran did not grant an interview) while also giving us the photographic view of the outsider-looking-in through the viewpoint of a foreign author, or the “pink” as Meadows calls himself.
I held back giving this book a fifth star because there were certain historical inaccuracies within its pages, and the author’s Sri Lankan sources did him a disservice by not correcting some incorrect English translations of the vernacular. These are not major flaws and do not detract from the main story line, but to someone knowledgeable about the country and its genesis, these nits draw you back to the proverbial ink spots on an otherwise spotless white shirt.
All that notwithstanding, it requires physical and mental courage to undertake a journey like this, on an unfamiliar motorcycle, through a dormant war zone that could erupt at any time (and it did; the ceasefire was abandoned in 2008 after transgressions on both sides, and the Sri Lankan armed forces launched their final onslaught soon thereafter, defeating the Tigers and ending the war in May 2009), tip-toeing around landmines, eating unfamiliar food, sleeping in flea-infested rooms, and communicating in a foreign language. It also takes moral and spiritual courage, and a caring for humanity, to attempt to plumb a foreign culture, its religion and psyche, and expose its warts as lessons for us all, while running the risk of being labelled “Ugly American.”
In the end, Sri Lanka is revealed as a crucible of mankind’s foibles; a country ruled for the major part of its history under the principle of “might is right.” Will she emerge from this last quarter century of bloodshed and reverse the equation to that Arthurian utopian ideal: “might for right”? Will she even try?
I hope more people around the world, let alone in Sri Lanka, read books like this. It may hopefully moderate our warlike nature and influence us to seek political solutions first, instead of pursuing the military kind. Is it that hard to imagine elephants and tigers grazing in harmony together?
Mark Meadows, avid traveller and adventurer, takes it upon himself to travel to Sri Lanka in 2003, during a ceasefire in the country’s 26-year civil war, to interview both government and rebel leaders on how they viewed their respective causes, and to sample life among the simple folk in villages and towns across the island. He takes tea with leaders on both sides, recording the ensuing conversations on tape. Given the respective track records of the combatants as highlighted in the world press, one wonders whether the word “terrorist” mentioned in the title applies to all of his fellow tea drinkers.
It is revealing to discover how those who commit mass murder in the name of freedom, subsequently enjoy positions of ministerial and senatorial power in the Sri Lankan Government by simply turning in their guns and switching allegiances, by giving up the military option and seeking a political one. Is atonement and forgiveness that easy? If it were, why did this conflict start in the first place?
One of Meadows’ hosts, a former Tiger cohort, likens the Tamils’ struggle against the majority Sinhalese as similar to moving an elephant. You cannot shift the creature, it must move on its own. “You have to make it feel something, prick it with something small”. A military leader on the rival side claims that the Sinhalese “have a better history.” And so goes the battle for supremacy without accommodation, leaving behind carnage in the northern half of the country, which is littered with landmines except for a strip of narrow potholed highway that leads Meadows through the bullet scarred shells of towns and villages of a once-thriving society.
And yet there are also heroes and saints along the way: the woman who gave up her life to run outside and shut the gate of the Kandy Temple and foil the terrorists from blowing it up completely, the soldier at Elephant Pass who took on a makeshift rebel tank with a grenade, the man who accosts Meadows on the street to give him a message from God—“Unity is Divinity.”
In between his peregrinations, Meadows observes and ruminates on the state of war: fear is our most basic instinct, our most social emotion; in war zones people cough; in war zones the sky is terrifyingly large (i.e. all tall buildings have been knocked down); sometimes we have to destroy our bodies so that the power of the soul can find its way out of the clogged unreality of life; war defines limits, war creates identity ; (in war) an equal is needed, otherwise we call it genocide, massacre, holocaust; we are as warlike as we are sociable. If these quotes are originals, they are priceless and Meadows’ reward by his muse for putting himself in harm’s way.
The book is an interesting addition to the canon of post-LTTE literature on Sri Lanka because it goes behind the scenes of this ethnic conflict that provided the world with suicide bombers and child soldiers. It records verbatim the experiences and thoughts of some of its main characters (it’s a pity that Prabhakaran did not grant an interview) while also giving us the photographic view of the outsider-looking-in through the viewpoint of a foreign author, or the “pink” as Meadows calls himself.
I held back giving this book a fifth star because there were certain historical inaccuracies within its pages, and the author’s Sri Lankan sources did him a disservice by not correcting some incorrect English translations of the vernacular. These are not major flaws and do not detract from the main story line, but to someone knowledgeable about the country and its genesis, these nits draw you back to the proverbial ink spots on an otherwise spotless white shirt.
All that notwithstanding, it requires physical and mental courage to undertake a journey like this, on an unfamiliar motorcycle, through a dormant war zone that could erupt at any time (and it did; the ceasefire was abandoned in 2008 after transgressions on both sides, and the Sri Lankan armed forces launched their final onslaught soon thereafter, defeating the Tigers and ending the war in May 2009), tip-toeing around landmines, eating unfamiliar food, sleeping in flea-infested rooms, and communicating in a foreign language. It also takes moral and spiritual courage, and a caring for humanity, to attempt to plumb a foreign culture, its religion and psyche, and expose its warts as lessons for us all, while running the risk of being labelled “Ugly American.”
In the end, Sri Lanka is revealed as a crucible of mankind’s foibles; a country ruled for the major part of its history under the principle of “might is right.” Will she emerge from this last quarter century of bloodshed and reverse the equation to that Arthurian utopian ideal: “might for right”? Will she even try?
I hope more people around the world, let alone in Sri Lanka, read books like this. It may hopefully moderate our warlike nature and influence us to seek political solutions first, instead of pursuing the military kind. Is it that hard to imagine elephants and tigers grazing in harmony together?
December 12, 2010
I felt like the author didn't really know which direction to take this book. Some parts were direct statements and analysis of various "independence" groups & individuals in the Sri Lankan civil war (namely, the Tamil Tigers), other parts were larger connections to "global terrorism" and/or the War on Terror and still others were just about him bumming around Sri Lanka on his motorcycle. Maybe that was his intent. Either way, it just didn't work that well for me. It was an interesting read, but I was far from "blown away" and I was hoping to get a greater understanding of Sri Lanka and I felt it fell short. Something about it seemed too shallow or disconnected....or something. Regardless, there are some interesting passages and humorous antedotes throughout. Enough to keep it moving.
July 28, 2018
“Stories we have to tell are always more true, even if less accurate.”
This is, if nothing else, a book of opinions. Yet they are offered with an open hand and a great dose of questioning. Mark Meadows traveled across Sri Lanka to try to determine for himself why Tamil “terrorist” groups were continuing to wage war against the state. He found a complicated racial tension millennia in the making. Perhaps he did not find facts, but he found a story of humanity.
This is, if nothing else, a book of opinions. Yet they are offered with an open hand and a great dose of questioning. Mark Meadows traveled across Sri Lanka to try to determine for himself why Tamil “terrorist” groups were continuing to wage war against the state. He found a complicated racial tension millennia in the making. Perhaps he did not find facts, but he found a story of humanity.
July 7, 2021
great adventures, a little white savior-esque
April 20, 2026
A good travel narrative, but it left me wanting a thorougher analysis and a more robust history. The actual meetings and interviews are confined to a handful of pages, mostly near the beginning. I do admire how the author was able to weave travelogue, myth, primary sources, and the historical record to give some shape to Sri Lanka and it's civil war. Yet ultimately, I felt more muddled than clarified – but maybe such a feeling has simply to do with confronting the complexity of the issue.
September 26, 2022
Take an extraordinary journey on a motorcycle into the heart of terrorist darkness on the island of Sri Lanka, where the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils have been at each other’s throats for decades. The author learned that terror is as much media art as it is an art of War.
August 2, 2024
This really waxed and waned. I struggled to find a coherent narrative or conclusion or even a substantive thread. And maybe that is symptomatic of the problem of terrorism, but I certainly didn't gain much clarity. Still, the writing was nice.
December 17, 2017
Meadows has a very interesting writing style. It is quirky and fun. He turned a very difficult into a very readable book. I highly recommend reading this book if you are interested in Sri Lanka.
April 14, 2012
I came across the book on Amazon while looking for recent writing on Sri Lanka for a trip that I am planning next month. Recently, I have been reading a lot of travelogues trying to figure out what makes one good or bad. The bad ones are annoying and self-serving; they're about the author more than the location. To those authors: few readers care about you and your discovery that Italy has good pasta and red wine and that is somehow a unique experience.
The good travelogues are about the location, and the author is only the observer. This is what Mark Meadows does well in this book. This book is about Sri Lanka: its culture, its history, its people, its war. The author is only the vehicle through which the reader is taken through this land. He is a westerner. Western readers can relate through his writing. The observations are colorful and clear. He thoroughly researches the country's history and the civil war. The author travels the country by motorcycle and interviews people who were involved in the civil war from both sides. Through these interviews and observations, the reader is guided into seeing the ridiculousness of the war and terror. The author asks each of his interviewees the same initial question: What is the difference between a Tamil and a Sinhala? Each of those interviewed struggle with the question as though they'd never been asked it before. The question boils down to what is the justification for the war. It becomes clear that the killing and hatred has become an axiom which no one has bothered to challenge.
The author takes this up to a larger view of terrorism and our war on terror, suggesting that a disproportionate amount of money and fear goes to fight this perceived threat, which is minor compared to the actual statistics of Americans killed by terrorists.
This book is mix of history, political treatise, and travelogue. Definitely worth a read.
The good travelogues are about the location, and the author is only the observer. This is what Mark Meadows does well in this book. This book is about Sri Lanka: its culture, its history, its people, its war. The author is only the vehicle through which the reader is taken through this land. He is a westerner. Western readers can relate through his writing. The observations are colorful and clear. He thoroughly researches the country's history and the civil war. The author travels the country by motorcycle and interviews people who were involved in the civil war from both sides. Through these interviews and observations, the reader is guided into seeing the ridiculousness of the war and terror. The author asks each of his interviewees the same initial question: What is the difference between a Tamil and a Sinhala? Each of those interviewed struggle with the question as though they'd never been asked it before. The question boils down to what is the justification for the war. It becomes clear that the killing and hatred has become an axiom which no one has bothered to challenge.
The author takes this up to a larger view of terrorism and our war on terror, suggesting that a disproportionate amount of money and fear goes to fight this perceived threat, which is minor compared to the actual statistics of Americans killed by terrorists.
This book is mix of history, political treatise, and travelogue. Definitely worth a read.
December 18, 2012
This book is fundamentally about the characteristics of terrorism and is really not for everyone. Fortunately the central topic is veered away from by the author's observations of everyday life on Sri Lanka as he motorcycles up and down the island in search of terrorists and their truths- otherwise the book would have been relentlessly grim.
The back of the book mentions the author's "infectious sense of humor". Apparently the person who wrote that didn't read the book.
The cultural, political and military histories of Sri Lanka is a twisted Rubik's cube and I think the author did as well as anyone could in describing it.
While I think the author's conclusions about terrorism (it is done to attract the world's attention through the media; that it never accomplishes its goals without moving into politics, etc.) are solid, I also think he needed to say more about the despicable horrors terrorists commit. He quotes one as saying "We selected targets that would have minimum casualties." The last two antiseptic words refer to innocent men, women and children. They would not be so easily written off if they were friends or relatives of the people who found it acceptable to kill them.
We never heard from people who lost loved ones to such evil people.
Nor did we learn how terrorists justify to themselves the maiming and killing of bystanders to address issues that these innocents are possibly victims of themselves. Sacrificing your own life for a cause you believe in is one thing; killing uninvolved bystanders for it is another.
But when you are sitting down and having tea with such callous murderers, would you raise that point?
The back of the book mentions the author's "infectious sense of humor". Apparently the person who wrote that didn't read the book.
The cultural, political and military histories of Sri Lanka is a twisted Rubik's cube and I think the author did as well as anyone could in describing it.
While I think the author's conclusions about terrorism (it is done to attract the world's attention through the media; that it never accomplishes its goals without moving into politics, etc.) are solid, I also think he needed to say more about the despicable horrors terrorists commit. He quotes one as saying "We selected targets that would have minimum casualties." The last two antiseptic words refer to innocent men, women and children. They would not be so easily written off if they were friends or relatives of the people who found it acceptable to kill them.
We never heard from people who lost loved ones to such evil people.
Nor did we learn how terrorists justify to themselves the maiming and killing of bystanders to address issues that these innocents are possibly victims of themselves. Sacrificing your own life for a cause you believe in is one thing; killing uninvolved bystanders for it is another.
But when you are sitting down and having tea with such callous murderers, would you raise that point?
January 17, 2013
Read on my way to Christmas time with Adam, Maja, Carl and Chloe. Lots of air time and thank you, George, for the recommendation. I really liked his bigger question--what really and who really is a "terrorist" and why have we crafted such an "us/them" world, especially encouraged by George Bush's 9-11 reaction. And I like the way he tried to answer it by interviewing some "terrorists" on both sides of the recent civil unrest in Sri Lanka led by the Tamil Tigers. He found his terrorists amazingly human, reflective, passionate about their identities, their roots, their tribes and yet wondering if it was really worth it--all the blood and anger. A question I wish more "extremists" in today's world would ask.
December 20, 2013
"War, like media, exists because we are social. War exists because we organize ourselves into groups, and those very groups create a threat to other groups that are neighbors. We are as warlike as we are sociable. It is because we are sociable that we are warlike. These twins require one another, and will always be linked." (pg.233)
Meadows communicates his experience of Sri Lanka by creating relationship with Sri Lankans through his openness, acceptance and compassion. He links his gathered knowledge of this conflict ridden and now recovering island with that of history and current events. This book is moving and bracketed with emotional, psychological, historical and human reflection.
Meadows communicates his experience of Sri Lanka by creating relationship with Sri Lankans through his openness, acceptance and compassion. He links his gathered knowledge of this conflict ridden and now recovering island with that of history and current events. This book is moving and bracketed with emotional, psychological, historical and human reflection.
April 1, 2013
I don't read much non-fiction, but this was definitely worth the time. A very personal yet intricate view into a conflict that I feel not a lot of folks my age - particularly in the United States - are really aware of, especially in such microcosmic terms.
February 1, 2014
I heard Mark speak at our local library and was mesmorized by his story. He was engaging, so I bought his book. It's a wonderful read for anyone interested in non-fiction tales about how residents of war torn countries handle life.
August 27, 2010
See my review at http://newpages.com/bookreviews/2010-...
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August 16, 2010I'm not quite finished mulling this over yet. It's definitely fun to follow Mark around on adventures!
November 2, 2011
Kind of interesting. I was hoping for more about the people in the country and less about the countries war history.
July 27, 2012
Definitely fills in a lot of gaps in my understanding of the war, nicely done!
February 18, 2013
Very Intriguing...
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews