𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒍 ( දුක් ගන්නා රාළ )

A mail doing rounds with a heading “The Greedy Buddha Restaurant” somewhere in the United Kingdom with a couple of pictures of it and a passionate appeal written to the owner of the establishment by a shocked Buddhist, who discovered it recently. Should the Buddhists be alarmed of this development? No! First, the name itself is self-defeating. Because the word “Buddha” means the” Enlightened One” and no enlightened one can be greedy. The Gautama Buddha was the second in the long line of Teachers who have shunned the idea of idol worshipping and it was almost 500 years after the passing away of this great teacher that the erection of statues took roots in the Buddhist culture. The intention of choosing such an eye catching name is to get an instant attention, and then the owner of the establishment is quite successful, given the attention it gets on the internet. If the reason is ignorance, insult or both, then the owner has done a great favour to those who believe that they are follow...

The Chairman, Seylan Bank Limited, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dear Mr. Narangoda, The purpose of this mail is to formally notify you of my displeasure of the way my remittance matter was handled by the Asia Express Exchange in Oman, which is under your management. I have been dealing with the said Exchange from the inception in Oman. On the 27 th October, I deposited some money in one of your branches in Seeb to transfer the funds to my wife’s account in Sri Lanka. At the time of the transaction, I was assured that the money would be available in Sri Lanka, the following morning and I had no reason not to believe Teller then. On the 29 th morning, I received a call from my wife to inform that the money has still not reached her account. Immediately I contacted Mr. Don Malinda, the person who assured me that the funds will be made available the next morning. He took down my contact and promised to check that out and call me back. Sadly that promised call never came up...

The recent News item “24 nails hammered into the maid’s body” may have angered some but this was not an isolated or one off cases. Such incidents happen almost every day in this part of the World but seldom get the media limelight. I am happy that except of her traumatic experience and entailing consequences, the lady is now out of any danger. Should Sri Lanka stop sending unskilled labour abroad? I think this incident should be used as a springboard to start that process in earnest. The initially the financial consequences of such a decision may felt. But the adverse social consequences come along with the exporting of unskilled labour abroad such as this are far greater and long lasting then the financial consequences, hence now it is time for the Government of Sri Lanka to take the bold step and impose a total ban. It said that the Paradise is open only to kind hearts and I wonder where would the couple go after what they have done to their maid. I am sure not to ...

How unforgiving the World has become now. Caesar was right when he said “Evil that men do, lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones”. I think; The Cricket Sri Lanka almost took the correct action by fining the erring bowler and one another senior player, 100% of their match earning for their parts in this incident. It would have been a complete act, if they have gone little further by imposing the same fine or more to the Captain of the side. Every country has its fair share of troubles on and off the field due to a few unscrupulous characters but is it fair to tar all of them in the same brush. “It is easy to see faults in others but not in us” was Gautama Buddha’s (The Enlightened one) words. Kithsiri Sasanka De Silva Blogging from Oman

As I entered the house, I got a SMS from my wife that a Motorcyclist has knocked the car and broke one of the Tail lights. My quick response was, if no one is injured and the bicycle is not damaged that we will get it repaired on our own. After flashing that one, I called her and my daughter who was with her in the car answered. She said we were going to the nearest Police station. What happened? Before my SMS reached them, that they have decided to go to Police and the cyclist has agreed to meet them up at the nearest station and the fled in a different direction. I convinced them that they will be wasting their time only trying to go through the legal process to bring that man to justice and recover our damages. Because there is no law or order in that land any more. Earlier it was known as the land where even the Gautama Buddha (The Enlightened one) has visited many a times. But not any more my friends, it has now gone to dogs. Sasanka De Silva Blogging from Oman .

The matches were far and a few and a limited number of countries were playing then, when the great West Indian Lance Gibbs surpassed the elusive 300 wickets mark and went on to established a new world record. I was thinking that this would be another record that no one would be able to break, like the giant leap of Bob Bimon in Mexico Olympics. A few decades later I was proven wrong and reminded me harshly that the records are only meant to be broken. What the Kandy-man did a few hours ago in Galle is monumental. And with the craze for Test matches is waning in the world of cricket, as the other forms are taking the centre stage that I could not help wondering again whether this would be another unbreakable world record and also how long this record would stand if ever it is broken. Even if it is broken some day, that Murali will be remembered not only as one of the finest cricketers that we have seen but also for him sportsmanship. His name has never ever been embroiled a...

The Catholic Church is being ravaged by new allegations of inappropriate behaviours of men of authority. These are not the first and will not be the last either. From time to time such allegations do surface, linger a while and disappear. The reasons for this perpetuity and why nothing has been done to avoid if not totally eradicate such possibilities is a mystery to me. But one thing that is not a mystery is as to why many fall prey for such advances. I think the problem lies with us, the parents. Even today still many parents believe that the disciplining a child is the responsibility of the teachers and priests and not the parents. Further Boarding schools are the best way to instil discipline and good values in children. Many parents in their quest to figure out how to make more money and establish more social contacts that they are ready to forfeit their primary parental rights, thrusting and hoping that the teachers and priests would step in and take over their re...

Sri Lanka Guardian: A Plan for a Campaign of Blackmail and Political Harassment

Religious leaders meet again over Fonseka

Here are some very interesting data for your comparison. As always, Haiti is in the news for all the wrong reasons. One island is shared by two different countries put juxtapose. The eastern side is occupied by Dominican Republic and the western side by Haiti . I have put Sri Lankan Data too there in the chart below for our easy comparison only. Do you know why the Dominican Republic is doing well when Haiti the next door neighbour is doing so badly? The Dominican Republic has a relatively good governance . No Country GDP (Nominal) USD Millions Per Capita Income (USD) Population (Millions) Land Area ( square miles ) 01 Sri Lanka 40,000 1900 20 25,000 02 Dominican Republic 45,000 4900 10 18,000 03 Haiti 6,900 800 10 10,000 I hope you got the message. Sasanka De Silva blogging from Oman.

I was trying to analysis as to why many of us (Sri Lankans) are not willing to embrace changes or look positively for completely overhauling of the present system of governance. On every occasion when the issue of changes was brought up in open forums and in Media as well as in friendly discussions, instead of having a dialogue of substances, many started hurling insults and misquoting many religious texts that neither they properly fathom nor practice or cultural baloney to scuttle the process. Those who behave in such a fashion can be categorized into four main groups, namely, 1. Frogs in the well. 2. Inadequacios’. 3. Feudalists. 4. Fast Track Dreamers. Frogs in the Well. My sympathies are with them because they are unaware that there is a different world exists beyond their hamlets. They are not necessarily peasants. Some of them are neither poor nor illiterate. Someone I know who is dirty rich but has never gone beyond the shores of Sri Lanka was confused and...

Like any other election in Sri Lanka, the presidential election is also getting uglier by the day. However, I am getting confused trying to keep track of the trends and swings, not because it’s getting uglier but because of some of the outlandish claims made by the ruling party. The first one is that if the main opponent comes to power, he will allow the defeated LTTE to rise up again, when everyone in Sri Lanka knows that the President barely made it to the winning line last time, only thanks to the LTTE’s refusal to allow Tamils to cast their votes freely. Rumours flew that the LTTE had acted in that manner to ensure his victory, and to add to that suspicion, a photograph appeared in the media not long ago, showing the grooming scion meeting with a well-known LTTE Diaspora member in one of the western countries that he and his cronies publicly despise. Another rumour now permeating is the way very large sums of money recovered from one of the notorious LTTE leaders now in captivity...

The much awaited presidential election in Sri Lanka is just a few days away but unfortunately we the migrant workers who are one of the highest foreign currency earners for the country’s coffer are left without a voice. All successive previous regimes have plundered most of the remittances, we earned by working in 50 plus Celsius degrees by spending them on many white elephant projects but never even considered giving us a voice, in return for our magnanimous contribution. We do not ask for permits to import luxury cars duty free to the country. Even if we ask it, I do not see there is anything wrong with it because many of the unproductive public sector employees, celebrities, sportsmen and many more (the list is too long to mention here) have already been granted this facility. The universal suffrage is something we Sri Lankans have been enjoying from early 1930s. All what we have been asking is to give the migrant work force also the voice but hitherto it has fallen in to deaf e...

Never in the history of any developing country has there been an opportunity to hand over the helm of the running of the country to a victorious and decorated soldier. In many instances, men in uniforms have taken over running countries, but the process of taking over was not democratic, nor were they victorious and decorated for what they have achieved on the military front. However, such instances can be found in the developed world (France & USA, to name a few). General Sarath Fonseka  has proven his mettle as a soldier serving the Sri Lankan Army for more than 40 years and led the country to victory on the military front over the terrorist group, The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a few months ago. Now he has relinquished his uniforms and the privileges accompanied by the title and has entered the presidential fray to take over the helm of running the country in a democratic way, putting his life in danger once more for the economic salvation of the land. Everybody ag...