𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒍 ( දුක් ගන්නා රාළ )

 

I was saddened watching the above-titled Tv programme for a few reasons. Firstly, like most of our other local programmes, it was just another failed attempt to imitate a foreign setup. Secondly, there were no invitees either from the Tamil or Muslim community and I wonder why? They have acknowledged the contribution of many segments of the society but have conveniently ignored to acknowledge the contribution of our Migrant Overseas Workers to the country. And again I wonder why? Lastly, despite their initial claim that social distancing will be maintained and all instructions given by the authorities to prevent Covid Virus spreading will be adhered to, they were mere words and never materialized into real actions in the end. And I wonder, what the authorities are going to do about it as well?

  Why I miss Jottify? It is a funny question to answer but let me try and see how successful, I would be at the end. Accidentally I stumbled upon this site, after watching a Click programme on the BBC news channel. It was a good place to start up a good conversation and also to stir a few hornet's nests too. I think that I was successful in both ways. We had good conversations and banter too. When one day I found that it was gone, I felt part of me has gone missing. A few weeks later, it appeared back again miraculously. It stayed a few more months and then it was showing the signs of gasping for the last breath. I was lost as I did not know what to do to keep it alive. So were many. We tried individually and collectively but eventually the worst happened. It is gone now for almost half a year. Some of us still keep occasional contact through other media but sadly, I have not done anything constructive, after it disappeared. All that I have done was to Spit & Polish my past wor...

I do not know the effectiveness of this latest Dhammika Paniya ( පැණිය)  against the Covid virus. But, many are convinced and trying their very best to secure it, no matter what. The purpose of this write-up is not to give my two cents on the effectiveness or its ineffectiveness. However, it has somehow managed to get the seal of approval from the Ayurvedic Authority and it was all over news media last night. I hope it would not create another influx of people again and increasing the possibility of contracting the dreaded virus while seeking protection for the same. In the latter part of the Media Announcement, the lady spokesperson said something very interesting but many, I am sure have failed to get the full blast of that part of the statement right because they were just in euphoric mood for no apparent reason.  What she mentioned was “The Scientific Testing of this Paniya (පැණිය)  is yet to begin but we have decided to grant our Seal of Approval” to it. This it...

Transforming a donkey to a scholar is considered an easy task by some these days.  But, it is not. Loading a load of books on the back of a donkey will not immediately turn it to a scholar. The load will only break its back and that is why the present day, the world is full of (so-called) scholars who are without backbones. Yet a few others opted to live like a donkey with their backbones intact. That is their choice and they are indeed not donkeys but truly wise ones. Others who opt to have more books than they can carry and at the end having their back-bones crushed are the real donkeys, even if they pretend to be scholars.

My present work involves dispatching items to various parts of the country. Last week, someone requested certain items and since it was bulky in shape decided to give it to a private courier service. The parcel was given to them in the afternoon and the following day morning I received the confirmation from the receiving party that the item has reached them intact. Again the same party requested the same item ordered previously but it was in small quantity. Despite previously having bad experiences with them I foolishly decided to trust the Sri Lanka Postal Service again. Not to save money or anything else but I was not having the appropriate packing materials with me and I was aware that the Postal Service have their own bubble-wrapped manila folder, just well enough for my need. In fact, it cost me more than using a private courier service in the end. At the time of accepting the item, the Kottawa Post Office staffs behaved very unprofessionally and were making not only me to feel bu...

 

  ඇයි අපි ජාතියක් හැටියට  දියුණු නොවෙන්නේ? මනක්කල්පිත රාවණා කරේ තියාගෙන ( පර ) සුද්දාට බැන බැන හිටියට මේක දියුණු වෙයිද? එකක් හම්බ කරලා තුනක් වියදම් කරාම රටක් තියා මිනිහෙක්වත් දියුණු වෙයිද? ( චීන ) පොලී මුදලාලි පොහොසත් වෙනවා හැර. ලෝකෙන් උතුම් රට කිය කියා සිංඳු දවස ගානේ කිව්වා කියලා රට දියුණු වෙයිද?. ලෝකේ තියෙන හොදම දේවල් ( පුරාවස්තු, ස්වබාවික සම්පත්, ආගම, අධ්‍යාපනය, කතා කරන ඉංග්‍රිසි ) තියෙන්නේ මෙහේ කියලා සම හරක් ඇන්දුවට රට දියුණු වෙයිද? මේ මුහුදෙන් ඔබ්බට නොගිය හරක් ටිකට නම් මේවා ඇත්ත උනාට, ලෝකේ දැකපු එකා දන්නවා ඇත්ත මොකද්ද කියලා. දුපත් මානසිකත්වයෙන් නොමිදී රටවල් දියුණු කරන්න පුළුවන්ද?  එහෙම කරපු රටක් ලෝකේ තියෙනවද? ලෝකේ ඉන්න දුප්පත්ම රටවල් ගොඩේ නම් එහෙම රටවල් ඔනේ තරම් හොයා ගන්න පුලුවන්. උගත් චරිතවත් මිනිස්සු එපා කියලා, පාදඩයෝ, මිණිමරුවෝ, ස්ත්‍රි දුෂකයෝ, ගනිකාවෝ, කසිප්පු කුඩු මුදලාලිලා නීති සම්පාදනයට යැව්වම කොහොමද රටක් දියුණු වෙන්නේ.. වැඩ කලයුතු වෙලාවෙත් වැඩක් නොකර විතරක් නෙමෙයි, විශ්‍රාම ගිහිනුත් නිකන් පඩි ගන්න බලන් ඉන්න මිනිස්සු ඉන්න රටවල් කවදාද දියුණු...

This matrimonial advertisement appeared in one of the weekend newspapers today.  Quote: Father seeks a graduate daughter,​employed in the public sector or having permanent employment,​ pretty,​ slim, ​born in Kandy or Colombo districts areas,​only for his government employee (in the public sector),​ graduate son, ​born in 1984. Female university lecturers preferred, ​should not be from Galle or Matara districts. Reply with all details.  Unquote. I could not believe my eyes seeing it and thinking that such people do exist in this century still. One may argue that it is his or their choice. Yes, I agree that it was his or their choice but choices, as this made with prejudices, are going to harm society more, if allows to propagate openly and or discreetly. Such people belong to the Stone age and not to the Digital era. I feel sorry for the unlucky woman going into that household if they are really lucky to find one.

  I have been watching Sirasa Lakshapathi seasons, off and on for some years now. Something I have noticed was that majority of the participants was well prepared when it comes to knowledge within our shores. Be its local history, literature, traditions etc, they were well versed. But throw something beyond our shores at them and the majority of them were very shaky.  Sometimes, some have managed to come up with the correct answer but they were not based on solid knowledge but merely guessing it.   Last week, a very young schoolgirl appeared on the show and she has taken the attention of the country by her mastery of many subjects and charm but as I said, it was sad to see how she fumbled at the question involving Adolf Hitler’s life. She was trying to arrive at the correct answer by intelligently deducting unlikely possibilities out but in real life matters sometimes this method does not work right. I see one possible reason as to why many fail at this stumbling bl...

 Just to say thank you for reading. Not a bad readership. Please check out my Youtube Channel  King Sasa's Exploits  too. Thank you again.

I thought an update is in order after my post  Join the FIRE Movement appeared on LinkedIn a few weeks back. A few who are in my network and not total strangers contacted me after reading that, some seeking help and others to share their Feel Not So Good experiences with me. All of them are either already retired or soon reaching that milestone. There is very little help that can be extended to them other than lend an ear to them as they all have passed that threshold of starting the saving ritual a long time ago. One advice I gave them all was to encourage their children to be savvier when it comes to saving for rainy days. The moment the word Frugal being used, many think that it in some way imply being tightfisted and or stingy. Frugal means spending wisely on things that you need and not on things you want. With the present lower interest rates on borrowing, the opportunities are aplenty and your opportunities are only as limited as your imaginations. Subscribe t...

 Approaching retirement age was something I was looking forward to for many years ahead. As I felt, it came faster than I expected because I really had a good time performing my tasks day in and day out. However, after being in the so-called Rat Race for four decades or so, getting adjusted to the new lifestyle will be somewhat hard thing initially for most, unless if you have not prepared yourself both mentally as well as physically to face the new challenges. Retirement means No more schedules to meet neither the current weather is no longer an issue after that and because of that one is left with so much freedom and more time for indulgence. I had no issues getting into the new Retired lifestyle and I did it like a duck into the water. I had a few good habits cultivated in me long before this Retirement saga begins. Reading is one of them and the rest too fit well into the extra available pace without any qualm. Initially, most of my spare time was funnelled to ini...

Before the Tragedy Strikes   Desperate cries Pacing back and forth Seeking attention and help. Cries and eyes turned to plead Hoping the help is at hand  That someone with miraculous powers  Has finally arrived. Like most of us I am as helpless as anyone else Or more and broken too In front of the death. Thought the death means An end of another chapter A fresh start to begin In another cycle once more. Philosophical thought is Futile Especially to a grieving mother.   All she wants now is  Her precious gift back It’s a trick that no one can Perform. Subscribe to  King Sasa's Exploits  for more.

Social Media are awash these days with this new trend called FIRE (acronym for Financial Independence Retire Early) movement in many parts of the northern hemisphere. The first part is a real gem, even if you have decided to ignore the second part and go the whole nine yards and retire at the right legal (stipulated) age. Financial independence is something that can only be achieved with patience and discipline than knowing all the theories of investing etc. The theories will not take you anywhere but patience and discipline will. The best way to have the financial discipline is to first identify; 1. From where the money comes, 2. Where it goes. Let’s assume that you land on your first job in the city, just after your high school at the age of 18. This employment will pay X amount every month as your remuneration, Now, the source of income is known and how much amount would be is no secret too. Let’s get into the second part now of identifying where it would finally end up. To de...

 The High court’s decision to end the hearing of Thajudeen Murder Case is a landmark decision. It will save lots of  tax payers’ money waste on such issues. The layman’s interpretation of this decision will be that "since the victim is dead and there is no way the justice can be served". Those who already have blood on their hands and those who are thinking of taking this easy way out only will be applauding the decision. The sensible people here and around the World will scorn it. It will be viewed as another step taken towards creating another fully fledged  Banana Republic in this World. එන්න අපි තව කිරි බත් කමු ( Let's eat more Milk Rice).

 The Colombo Stock Exchange's decision to charge a fee from investors to look at company financial reporting is a deplorable decision. No sensible person will invest in any company shares, without first looking at their financial standing. Only punters will go there basing on what they have picked up in the grapevine. If law requires all listed companies to submit their financials within a stipulated time frame and failing that means to shift different boards until the company complies with it means the authorities are keen in protecting the investors. At a time when the Colombo Stock Market is struggling keep its head just above the sinking line, decisions of this nature will keep investors but companies who are willing to list there too think twice before going in. Unless of course, if they want this turn into a Cock Fighting Arena and give manipulators the upper hand, they should rethink about their latest decision and do the needful immediately, before it does irrepar...

Build on someone else’s idea without giving due credit to the real owner is amounting to plagiarism. Even in an era where the plagiarism can easily be detected with a few clicks, some are still willing to take chances. Some believe that taking a shortcut and cutting corners will get them to their goal faster. But it will be a totally different ball game, the day, peers and other academics in the world realize that the work submitted is nothing but a plagiarized work, with a few extra frills added to disguise and cover up the original idea. Thereafter, later in life even if he or she comes up with an original idea and the research done with immaculate precision (which is a very remote possibility), no one is going to take that person and work seriously. The credibility is paramount in life and especially in the academic world. Lose that once and one loses everything with it. Therefore, the best route to success is not plagiarism but build on original concepts. There is no harm giving du...

After a very long time, I met a person at a funeral house immediately after the recent general elections and knowing that the person is a avid supporter of the present regime, I was determine not to talk any politics. Once the initial greetings and chit chat were over, the person knowing that I was a grower and selling my stuffs, wanted to how the business was running. Because of my previous resolution I was initially a bit reluctant to talk facts but when the person prodded me more, I had no avenue to turn than to disclose that doing business in this country is not as easy as one would thought. I confessed how I failed to register a company, the very first step to be taken if anyone is thinking of doing any business. The failure is partly due to my stubbornness and but mostly due to corrupt officials who instead of helping a business, instead throw more and more obstacles in one’s path with only one intention in their mind. It is no secret that coloured papers with different...

Someone I spoke to regarding these new ministries appointed said, these new ministries are given according to the present needs of the country and he further mentioned the අලි වැට to drive his point home. The need to have an effective control and remedy over human animal conflict is needed but why it can't be dealt by the ministry of Wild life is puzzling. Take the existing ministry under the ministry of Defense and improve that creating a totally new ministry is just a waste of money only.   Now I see more and more people are selling බුළත් විට on roadsides to get a few extra bucks to supplement their ever shrinking and meager household incomes thanks to Corona and this government's foolish monetary policies. I am sure now we can expect a new  ministry called ministry of බුළත් විට , just like the අලි වැට soon . Another need of the hour.   What a disappointment it was.   It proves the fact that Small minds think SMALL right again.

 I was looking at the voting numbers in the recently concluded General Election and I see an anomaly in them. Let’s break them down for easy deciphering. Here is the comparison. In the Presidential Election 2019, GR received 6.9 million votes and SP received 5.5 million votes. In the General Election 2020, the party that had the GR’s blessing received 6.8 million and the decrease in numbers is so minute, which can be attributed to many valid reasons. Surprisingly, SP received on 2.7 million votes in the General Election 2020 and the decrease in numbers is enormous.  It is almost half of what he has received in the Presidential election. No doubt the turnover for this was much lesser than the Presidential elections. It was 85 % in the PE and has come down to 75 % in the GE. Let's say, around 1.4 million less votes in total count due to lesser turnover factor and then this reduction should have to be felt across the board and not only on SP's vote count. Does anyone want to be...

I was not a government servant but seeing their plight in the recent past, I was expecting them to respond differently. Allowances were reduced, overtime payments were not paid and to add injury to insult, part of their meager salary have been taken away even without their proper consent. I am no longer an overseas foreign worker and their plight is similar to the government servants. Their privileges have been drastically reduced and now they want to come back to their own country because most have lost their jobs due to Covid outbreak but the authorities are not allowing them to return instead they are being ridiculed as undesirables with no value to the country. How many have died over there due to Covid and taking one’s own life due to financial worries due to lose of work are everyone’s guess. Sure enough, they have no voice and or voting rights while staying over there but what about their loved ones still in this country. How their relatives and loved ones have expressed their d...

There are two incidents taking traction in social media these days. The first one is match-fixing allegation. The second one is the Sampath Bank  incident. First thing first and let’s get to the match-fixing issue first. An accusation was made by a prominent politician and some sort of an inquiry was held. The finding of the inquiry was that no credible evidence to pursue the matter more, hence no further charges and or inquiries to be made. Now the accuser is asking for another inquiry. I think it will be a waste of time and waste of public money too because in this country no guilty will ultimately be punished, even one is found guilty by any inquiry if he or she has good political connections. Now, most social media are awash with showing support to the players and lambasting the accuser. Incidentally, one of the players and the accuser is from the same region of the country. Let us see those who pledge support for the players are capable of walking their ...

To whom one should cast his or her vote in the upcoming general election one’s own prerogative and it should not be divulged in public too. ඔබේ චන්දය රහස්ය සහ වැදගත් එකක්. එය කා වෙනුවෙන්ද දිය යුත්තේද කියා තිරණය කිරීම ඔබ සතුයි. එය එලිකිරීමට මැළි වන්න. But there is no harm in discussing it in public to whom one should not cast his or her vote. නමුත් එය නොලැබිය යුත්තේ කවුදැයි කියා කතා කිරීමට මැළි නොවන්න. Here are my red flags and if anyone is red flagged during scrutiny; he or she will not get my vote for sure. මගේ චන්දය පහත ක්රියාවන්යේ නියැලෙන්නන් හට නොලැබේ. • Someone with Blood on his or her hand or having the backing of those who have blood on their hands, o අතේ ලේ ගෑවුන කෙනෙකුට හෝ අතේ ලේ ගෑවුන කංඩායම් නියෝජිතයෙකුට, • Those who are involved in dealing with deadly drugs and or having direct links or financial connections to such persons’ or entities, o සමාජය වනසන කුඩු රකුසා සමග ගනදෙනු කරන හෝ එවැන්නන් ඇසුරු කරන්නන්, • Those who are involved in dealing with arms a...

Today I went to Homagama Tele Shop to pay my telephone bill. A long queue has already formed there and I had to join the queue after going through the cleaning up process. The instructions at the clean up station were all written only in English and graphics too were bit confusing to say the least. Then, I heard someone telling that to pay at the Kiosks, one needs not to queue up. Just go and feed the machine. Those machines were lined up near the entrance in the corridor. The body temperature was checked before I was allowed in to that area. My attempts to pay at the Kiosk were not successful and then the lady who was trying to do the same at the other Kiosk told “these Machines do not accept any notes”. So, I stopped feeding process and decided to join the queue again. At the entrance, the lady security was yelling at everyone to “Remove Footwear” before enter the carpeted office. My first impression was that, it was because of the last rain and the puddles left ...

The whole World cries and moans When a celebrity dies in a speeding frenzy On a busy highway Or a singer dies in a drug-induced coma Drowns in her own bathtub. Thousands die hungry and Without medicine To treat a simple aliment Every second around us But do we cry or moan For those poor souls. What a lop-sided World We are living in today Oh I am ashamed Yes to be part of that Uncaring World Today.

Recently someone invited me to join a Facebook page called Ceylon Then Sri Lanka Now . There were some interesting historical pictures, facts and trivia in it so I decided to join the group. Then I posted a picture of a not so well know heroes of yesteryear. It was approved without much delay and was well received by former fellow members. The second post I made was about the VOC coins issued by the Dutch in the 17th century. That too was approved with not much delay. The third one posted was a picture of the then CBC (now SLBC) and wanted to know the identities of the personalities in the picture, as I knew the identity of only one person. That post got delay to come up and thinking that there was some technical difficulty that it did not reach the right people ( despite having seen the prompt I got on the screen when posting that it has been sent for moderator / Admin for approval ) I repost it once more. Again the same result and I was curious to k...

Immediately after the Easter bombing incident, public announcements were made locally requesting residents to report to some public location for an important Police briefing. Lucky for us it was a nearby temple and that too walking distance. Well before the start-up time, Chief Occupant of most residencies have reported and was given to fill up a form by very junior police officer present there There were no arrangements made to supply writing materials and or a proper place to enable people to fill their forms up. Once that was over, all were asked to wait till the arrival of the police high up who was supposed to be giving the briefing to the public. Many people waited long enough and left the place leaving the already filled up forms with the members of Community Police members of their particular wards. The actual time of the officer’s arrival and the contents of the briefing done to the people who were available at that time are no secrets. Fast-forward to the time of this Corona ...

පුතාලා යන්නේ එන්නේ  රේන්ජ් රෝවර් වල. දුව රට ඉදන් මළගෙදරට එන්නේ විශේෂ ගුවන් යානයකින්. මුන්ට බලය දෙන එකාලා තාමත් යන්නේ එන්නේ පයින්. ඉන්නේ ලැයිමේ. කන්නේ පොල් රොටී පුච්චල වැඩි දවසක. පඩිය රුපියල් 1000 ක් වත් නැහැ දවසකට. එදා මේක Bracegirdle දැක්කට, තාම අපේ එකෙකුටවත් මේක නොපෙනුන හැටිනේ පුදුමේ. මේක මේ වතුකරයේ ලැයිම වලට පමණක් සීමා වෙච්ච කතාවක් නෙමෙයි. මේක නගරෙත් එකයි ගමෙත් එකයි. තමන්ගේ චන්දේ වටිනාකම සාමන්‍ය එකාලට තේරෙනකම් මේක වෙනස් වෙන්නේ නැහැ. දුක මේ ටික මේ මීහරක්ට නොතේරෙන එකයි.

සම හරක් සඩ්ඩම්බිරාළලාට නොතේරුනාට, just look at the number of other people who have shared this post on their own walls. The shared figure has risen and I am sure that it had some bearing on the life of many of those who have decided to share it on their own walls. My only supplication is to use your vote wisely next time.

The coronavirus has decimated most of the industries and aviation is one of the hardest hit among many. The other night, one of my friends and a former colleague gave me a courtesy call but apparently what he wanted to convey was that he and many of my former colleagues have been made redundant recently due the epidemic spreading at unprecedented levels. Now they are stuck in a foreign land with no job and no hope of returning home anytime soon. Thanks to the initiative taken by the host nation, they will be paid an allowance to cover their rent and food expenses by their former employer until their repatriation. This initiative is something we should admire. He did not sound overtly desperate but I can pick up the message in his undertone immediately when I asked him whether the Sri Lankan Embassy there is aware of their plight. He and the rest have already contacted the Sri Lankan Embassy as well to the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment to get them repatriated as soo...

I gave up watching Television News for a long time for a few reasons. The first one being that all channels are very badly politicized and no accurate picture would never be portrayed by them. The second reason that most of them are being funded and run by ill-gotten money. However, yesterday I was forced to watch one such channel and at that time they were telecasting the Sri Lanka Police spokespersons statement about lifting the curfew in most part of the island. Unfortunately for us, we are still not out of the woods and that he was advising us not to use our private vehicles, instead to walk to go and get essentials from the closest possible outlet and the last number of the NIC rule still applies too. Thanks to this unwise and prolonged lockdown and curfew; we survived simply by dipping into our “In Case of an Emergency” money jar hidden in some secured place in the kitchen. Now do not waste your time by trying to figure out the location of the hidden money jar. The jar is depleti...

අලි මිනිස් ගැටුමට විසදුමක් නැද්ද ඇත්තටම? චන්ද්රිකා ඇරපු, වේගා හදපු, කොරෝනා හොයන රෝබෝ හදපු විද්වතුන්ට මේවට පිළිතුරු නැද්ද? තුවාලේ තියෙන කෙනාලු ඒකේ අමාරුව දන්නේ. ඔය නූගත් කියලා හිතෙන, අලි එනකොට දරුවෝ කර පින්නන් කැලා වදින මිනිස්සුන්ගෙනුත් අහල බැලුවොත් නරකද. ඔබේ උගත් කමට එය හානියක්ද? චීවරය කියන්නේ ඇදිරි නීතිය වෙලේ ගංජා කසිප්පු අදින්න දෙන අවසර පත්රය වුනේ කවදා ඉදන්ද? බඩගින්නේ ඉන්න අයට මොනවා හරි දෙන්න ගිගින් අල්ලගත්ත නම් අපිටත් ආඩම්බරයි හාමුදුරුවනේ. 5000 දෙන්නේ අවශ්ය අය බලලද නැත්නම් පාට බලලද? ග්රාම සේවකයි, සමුර්දි නියාමකයි හිටියම මදිද? පොහොට්ටුවේ එකෙකුත් ඔතනට මොකටද? සිල් රෙද්දෙන් මිග් වැහුවත් ලසන්තගේ මරණය වහන්න නම් බැරි වෙයි මේ සසරේදී වත්. කෑදරකම වැඩිවි නැවත ඉල්ලන් කෑමට සූදානම්. පරක්කු වෙලා කරගත්ත හදියම ඉක්මන් වෙලාත් කරගනී වගේ? රෑ වැටුන වලේ දවල් වැටෙන්නේ කව්ද? බාලගිරි දෝසේට කරන කෙම කොරෝනා වලට අවවලංගුද? කරලා බලමු. කොරෝනා රටින් පන්නමු. දෙරණ පෙන්නන බා චාර්ට්ස් හරියට බාර් එකට ගිහින් ඇවිත් ඇදපු චාර්ට්ස් නම් වගේ තමයි. මේවට කියන්නේ බයි චාර්ට්ස් කියලා. හැන්ද ...

Donkey to a Scholar Transforming a donkey to a scholar is considered an easy task by some. But it is not. Loading a load of books on the back of a donkey will not immediately turn it into a scholar. The load will only break it's back. That is why the world is full of (so-called) scholars who are without backbones today. But some opt to live like a donkey with their backbones intact. That is their choice and they are indeed not donkeys but truly wise ones. Others who opt to have more books than they can carry and at the end having their back-bones crushed are the real donkeys, even if they pretend to be scholars. Is සිංහ ලේ different from other ලේ ? Some are smart. They adapt to situations quicker than most. They get the lime-light, money, power etc because they are faster than most others. The latest සිංහ ලේ bull-shit is something those so-called Smart Asses have created. People blindly follow them, not realizing that by doing so, they automatically ...

To Celebrate or Not to ?

At a time when the so-called promised Relief Sacks supposed to come door to door is nonexistence and when everyone is trying to make someone a hero by inflating and praising beyond the capacity and the real worth of that person, very little have been said or written about some unsung heroes who keep this unbearable lockdown a bearable one. For some inexplicable reasons, those unsung heroes have not come in the radar screen of many including big media outlets. They are the small-time entrepreneurs who come door to door in their own rickety little mode of transports like Tuk TuK, Dimo Batta and or on a push cycle serving the needs of the people who are otherwise confined to their houses due to the lockdown. Unlike some big entities who have recently tried to fleece their own customers during this difficult times, got caught red-handed and lost the goodwill of the people, these poor chaps have never restored to such unethical business practice by hiking up the prices of the com...

The Salves that we have read about, who were chained and brought from Africa to work on farms and do other hard labour works must have loved to see their Master being beaten in public by someone else for his misdeeds during their times but it never happened. Those Slaves got liberated and now live a normal life like everyone else. However, there is another new breed of Slaves I find very interesting in this country today. They are the political Salves and unlike the other Salves, they hate to see their Master being even challenged, leave alone beaten and of course in the literal sense in public. Their Master has not served them anything good in their lifetimes but they still guard their Master’s image even like a bitch guarding its litter. A whiff confrontation in the air, this new breed of Political Slaves come at the challenger like a wounded water hog with all their guns (read Teeth) blazing. Some very easily identifiable and visible traits of this new breed of slaves are aggres...

J ust like after the Tsunami striking Sri Lanka, foreign aids have started arriving again this time too during this world pandemic situation. The last to hear was the 22 million Euros grant received from the European Commission. Eventually where the large portion it will end up is everyone’s guess but I am sure yours is not that far off from the most others. People in some parts of the country are placed under curfew and lockdown for a couple of weeks now. Despite miserably failed government efforts which were only good during media briefings to send essential food and other items to areas where lockdowns are in place, some entrepreneurs have stepped in to make some fast bucks by providing food and other items by visiting door to door. Despite the government’s assurance that assistance will be given, banks, leasing agencies and other lenders have still not heeded to those promises and are going about doing their business as usual. So far things are working out relatively g...