Visit to Kande Vihare

 

Needs No Intro !

හඳබැදි නත්තල

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?

Has the Writer in Me Died along with Jottify?

 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 work but nothing new is yet to be born.

Has the writer in me died along with Jottify? 

R&D Vs පැණිය

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 itself states the state of this country.

The only thing I can say now is “God save this Country”; if that is the way the R&D apparatus is working right now.

Transforming a Donkey to a Scholar

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.

Inapt and Inefficient Sri Lanka Postal Service

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 but others who were there too that as they were there to do us favours and not to serve us.

Since I have already come there, I have decided to swallow my pride a bit and go along with their directions.

The parcel was accepted and a receipt was issued.

Details are as under.

Receipt No – 4219 dated 10th December 2020.

Since good three (03) working days have already gone and no confirmation received from the receiver, I decided to call the party to get to know that the parcel has still not been delivered.

I called the Postal Service-Hotline 1950 next.

After listening to my issue, I was given another number to call and that was 011 2440159.

I may have tried hundreds of times but no one picked up the call from the other end.

As the last resort, I went back to their Hot Line again, where a totally a different number was given to me this time.

That number was 011 2328359.

After many attempts of ringing, someone picked up the call, just a few minutes after 3pm, where I was told to call back again at 9am tomorrow morning as all staffs have stopped their work at that time.

Needless to say, I was shocked because I never knew that state employees stop work at 3pm and it was news to me too.

However, because of my insistence, the person from the other was trying to give me a Cock & Bull story and was trying to defend their staffs and their lackadaisical level of service.

When I asked him to be identified him, he was very reluctant to disclose details but again thanks to my insistence that he finally said that he was the CC meaning Chief Clark over there.

But again the credibility of that information I doubt very doubtful.

Immediately after getting off from that toxic telephonic conversation, I sent a written complain electronically with a copy to the Post Master General, but I am more than confident that I will never get an acknowledgement from even

Up to now, I do not know what happened to my parcel sent under the registered post or its whereabouts.

Now I have to wait till tomorrow (15th December 2020) to start the same agonizing process again to locate the parcel.

At the moment all I know is that I have lost a very credible and regular client of mine, thanks to inapt and inefficient Sri Lankan Postal Service.

How to use Water in Collective Farming.

 

රාවණා කරේ තියාගෙන සුද්දාට බැන බැන හිටියට ?

 

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 දියුණුවක ඉංගියක්වත් දකින්නේ.

දියුණු වෙච්ච රටවල් දිහා බලලා ඒවයින් පාඩම් ඉගෙන නොගෙන, ලෝකේටම බැන බැන වංසේ කබල ගෑවට රටවල් දියුණු වෙයිද?

පිට කවුරු හරි කවදා හරි අපිවත් දියුණු රටවල් ගොඩට අරන් යයි කියලා බලන් ඉන්නේ මෝඩයෝ.

ප්‍රශ්නේ තියෙන්නේ රටක් හැදීමේ අඩිතාළම තියන්න අපි ලෑස්තිද කියන එක.

Stone Age or Digital Era ?

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.

Language the Stumbling Block !

 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 block.

That is the language barrier.

There are not enough materials available in the local language for them to go through and the very few materials only appear in newspapers and journals but they are of not much substance either.

Either their sources are not so credible and or most get badly mutated due to poor translations.

Can you remember the story where someone recently reported finding “Building Blocks on Mars” as finding Bricks on Mars?

One way to encourage aspirants to seek beyond our shores is to Quizmaster to include at least 30% of the questions from beyond our shores. 

Sadly, I have seen even the Quizmaster was making some very technical mistakes too.

Like the questions, “Is Australia an island or a continent?” or mispronouncing some of the well-known sport personals names were some of the recent ones.

Sadly, there is no way available to report such mistakes to the Quizmaster and the purpose of reporting such occurrences is to reduce and or eliminate such mistakes in future and it would be good for the credibility of the program in the end.

Not a Bad Readership !

 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.

Being Frugal Means

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 to King Sasa's Exploits for more.

More details are given here How to Join the F.I.R.E. Movement

Use it Wisely & Reap Benefits

 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 initiate a few community projects in and around the neighbourhood and they were well received too.

Buddha Statue - Mihindu Mawatha - Makumbura

Those efforts have helped me to metaphorically speaking to build new bridges and repair old ones in the neighbourhood.

They were previously put to the backburner, obviously due to the nature of my employment.

Then the pandemic came in and that gave most of us extra free times as the movements of many have been restricted and fun and outdoor activities curtailed.

However, despite having so much free time in their hands, many could not cope up with the extra free time fell from the sky.

I have seen in many social media sites where many were cursing the free time they are now endowed with.

One way to get their frustration and boredom out of their the system is to go and flood social media sites to portrait themselves as pious, patriots etc.

Then they go and indulge in many unhealthy activities and most of them are on the borderline of vice and unwise, yet have the audacity to post them everywhere, despite their previous claims of being very pious, patriotic and the list of Ps galore.

Instead of wasting their time and others too, these people should use this gift from above to upgrade themselves and be prepared for the next wave of things to unfold.

Use the same tool, the social media platforms that many are either being misused and or underused to upgrade one’s skills than cursing of everything under the sun from morning till night on social media platforms.

Once someone learns how to manage the available time well, many things will fall into the right places and complete the big picture.

Extra time in hand is not a curse but a blessing, but only if you know how to avail it wisely.

Time is one commodity that had been fair to all living beings from the time it came into existence.

Therefore use it wisely and reap the benefits.

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Before the Tragedy Strikes ( පටාචාරා වෘතාන්තය ).

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.

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Join the FIRE Movement

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 determine this, one needs to record all expenses for a couple of months and then only a proper budget can be prepared based on averages worked out on the collected data over a period of three or more month.

This is the very reason why I mentioned that patience and discipline are some of the cornerstones of your ultimate success.

The spending can be categorized into many subheadings,

1. Rent,

2. Food,

3. Clothing & Accessories,

4. Conveyance,

5. Obligatory & Emergencies,

6. Entertainment,

7. Medical,

8. Others.

Let’s say the total sum of all the above expenses amount is Y.

If the X factor is greater than Y, only then you would have a saving.

This amount remains as the saving can be called the Z factor or real saving.

X > Y

X – Y = + Z

But if the Y factor is greater than X, then you will be in debt.

X < Y

X – Y = - Z

Here the Z factor will be a minus figure, which is a RED FLAG situation.

If the situation is having a –Z figure, then you need to constantly borrow funds and that would not a healthy sign.

Some of the Headings above are having a fixed amount and some others can be adjusted if closer scrutiny of the spending in the last few months is carried out.

The spending under headings such as Food, Clothing, Conveyances, entertainment & Others can be revisited and see where meaningful adjustments can be made to bridge the gap and bring Y figure at least equals to X or in other words to bring the Z factor equals to Zero in value.

X – Y = Z = 0

But having a Z factor equals to Zero value is of no use anyone.

What one must try to do is to make the Z factor have a positive number figure in the end.

This is one part of the discipline requires to achieve the first part of the F.I.R.E. trend.

Let’s assume that you have managed to achieve a consistent Plus Z factor in your monthly balance sheet.

Once you identify this + Z factor clearly, what you need do it to ask your banker to transfer at least 75% of the Z factor amount to another account by way of a Standing Order every month. 

If this figure can be somewhere around 10% of you X factor, then it will be a very good effort.

The execution date of the standing order given should be synchronized with the date you will get your X factor into your general account to avoid any banking mishaps and cancellation of the given standing order or roll into some form of debt.

This way you will not be touching the entire saving and leaving 25% of it to cover if any unforeseen spending that would drop from above and out of the blue.

The next part is the interesting part.

Initially, 75% of the Z factor may look like a very small and insignificant but a few months down the line, it would not be a bad and or insignificant amount with the accumulation of both funds received in and the interest accrued for the total sum.

However, one should be mindful of the fact that the interest rates paid by the banks are directly related to the country’s inflationary figures.

Therefore keeping money in banks and see it grows will only give you a pseudo satisfaction as the inflationary factors have already eaten into it and the real value of the sum saved is much lesser.

Because of this very fact, keeping money in banks in any form will not help you to achieve financial independence in the end.

It will only give you more liquidity.

Then how to achieve financial independence by saving?

No doubt the saving habit is the very first step in that long journey but putting these savings to earn more by beating the inflationary factors is the only way out.

There are a few good ways to do that.

1. Startup a business,

2. Invest in property,

3. Invest in Stocks are a few of those among many more such options.

However, to start up a business fresh from the scratch and or to invest in property may need large sums of money for someone who just landed in his or her first-ever real job.

My recommendation is to invest in the stock market by selecting good shares.

Even today, some fundamentally sound shares can be purchased for less than Rupees 20 a share.

The reason why shares instead of others are recommended is it requires less start-up capital and less monitoring too.

It is proven beyond any reasonable doubts that investing in fundamentally good shares are the best form of investment in any parts of the world, not necessarily in the northern hemisphere alone.

Putting money in good share can give you two forms of growth.

The first one is by receiving regular and consistent dividend payments and the other is by the share gaining more value over the years or capital gain.

One way of achieving success is to divert the dividend payments back into the market again so your portfolio will get bigger in size as well as in value over the years. 

If this pattern is followed like a prayer, it will give you success.

Whenever you follow the ritual, there will be some the residual amount left in your bank accounts and that too would come very handy when it comes to liquidity.

Once you are settled into following this pattern, a few fine-tuning can be done to increase the gross effect.

One way is to increase the Z factor.

You hardly have any control over your X factor.

But some adjustments can be made wherever and whenever it is possible to bring down the Y factor, whereby increase the Z factor in the end, which is our main goal in the whole exercise.

To do that one needs to revisit regularly to the expenditure and see where adjustments can be made to increase the net gain.

1. Rent,

a. Move into a less expensive location without unduly compromising the convenience, safety, security & well being,

b. Downsizing,

2. Food,

a. Buy locally and seasonal food whenever possible,

b. Buy items with longer shelf life in big quantities when on promotional sales,

3. Clothing & Accessories,

a. Invest in lasting and quality ones,

b. Buy off seasonal items on promotional sales,

c. Stop Being Brand Loyal fanatic,

4. Conveyance,

a. Use of public transport,

b. Buy season tickets,

5. Obligatory & Emergencies,

6. Entertainment,

a. Watching a movie or a sports event on TV at home is much cheaper than going to the theatre or to the actual arena,

b. Cancel unwanted subscriptions,

c. Lending a book from the library is much cheaper than buying it outright,

7. Medical,

a. Shift to generic versions whenever possible then go for ones with a brand name and patents

8. Others.

a. Buy only essentials and durables,

i. Look for promotional sales to buy such items,

b. Do not hoard things but use up before the next shopping visit,

c. Go shopping with a List to avoid impulsively buying

d. Do not invest in things that you will only be using once or twice a year or even lesser than that,

e. Do it yourself than seeking professional services, whenever possible,

f. Associate more likeminded people,

i. This in no way to suggest that you ditch your friends but high spenders & Brand Slaves can easily detract you in your embarked journey,

Being frugal is one’s spending will not make anyone a fool but spending as if no tomorrow on useless things with your own and borrowed the money will surely get you there sooner than you think.

Regularly revisiting and checking your financial situation is a habit that has cultivated.

If the revisit can be done every month, that would be fabulous but even if it can be done in every three or six months too are not so bad choices either.

It all depends on how complicated your financial involvements are and keeping an easily accessible record is the best way.

Microsoft Excel is a great tool to use in this respect.

The target is to get your savings to create more wealth by beating the inflationary factors.

Since you already have a steady income (X factor) let your savings improve your passive income, while even when you are asleep.

One other key to success is to depend solely on X factor alone without touching your savings until you have reached your targeted level.

Another way to increase your X factor is to take up another side hustle.

If you are good in any subject, handicraft or anything that can be taught or sold to others at a fee during your free time is something to be considered.

In this digital age, your opportunities are as only limited to your imagination.

Further, as you get used to following the pattern ritualistically, you will get more confidence and once you have that level of confidence, you can easily increase the percentages mentioned in the diagram above.

75% of Z can easily be increased to 90% and 90% of withdrawal can be increased even up to 100%.

That too will significantly contribute to the overall savings picture in the end.



Let it grow to a level that you want it to grow on its own so that you can think of the second part of the F.I.R.E. and that is to Retire Early.

I think most people have misunderstood the second part of the movement.

Many think that this means to leave one’s employment abruptly, stay at home and live on your savings for the rest of your life.

Just assume that you have decided abruptly to leave your employment and stay at home full time.

Soon you will be bored with that choice too and that can lead to many other hidden issues.

What the Financial Independence will give you is the freedom of getting out of the Rat Race and pursues something else that you want to do.

I was in aviation and as everyone knows that is not only a very glamorous but extremely exciting field too to be in.

I loved my career and gave four decades of my time to aviation.

Retiring early was never an option for me, not because of my finances but I loved the work I did.

So I decided to walk the whole Nine Yards and retire.

I am sure there are many more like me who love their work but many others do not love their work but carry on doing it for various reasons and the most important thing is the worry about their finances if decided to call it a day abruptly.

Therefore getting financial independence early will give you so much more options in life such as;

1. Pursue another line of work that will give you more joy but lesser or even no income at all,

2. Work according to your schedules and terms,

3. Take a break whenever seems needed,

4. Travel and explore,

The list of thing one can do with having the Financial Independence is endless.

However, be mindful that getting from Zero to 100 figure will never be one straight line.

Having the patience and required discipline will help you to navigate and overcome the pitfalls and bumps in this not so straight line but enjoyable journey in the end.

The FIRE movement is not only for those who are 18 and in their employment but others too can reap benefits by following the path. 

However, the younger one starts is far better than later in life. 

This is not a Sprint but a Marathon.

The writer can be contacted at kithsirisasanka@gmail.com should you require any clarifications and or consultations.

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Let's Eat More Milk Rice !

 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).

Stock Exchange or Cock Fighting Arena ?

 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 irreparable damage to the market and the reputation of it.

  

Best Route to Success is not Plagiarism

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 due credit to someone if in case, some ideas are to be borrowed from other’s works to build on one’s own idea.

A simple citation will add credibility to the work and sans such will take the work only to plagiarized paradise.

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Is this the new change many have aspired to have?

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 types of birds are printed can do wonders and clear any obstacle in anyone’s way.

However, I was reluctant to let my birds fly away from my nest on principles and not that I was short of coloured papers with different types of birds printed on them.

Hearing that, the person said the present regime encourages more and more exports and that I should get in touch with the newly appointed task force to investigate such malpractices and punish those who are still engage in them.

I politely agreed to get in touch with this new whatever the force, just to pacify and silence my friend than anything else, knowing well how still works in this place.

Then the person turned to boasting.

How he had accompanied a friend of this person who is also a businessman looking for an opportunity to see the infamous Mr 10% and how he had promised to help my friend’s friend in his request.

When I mentioned that I have no desire to use any backdoor to gain any undue advantages and rather prefer to stay on the usual and available right way, common to all.

The person was shocked and with a resignation in the face said to me that if I do not get such a help from an influential person in a very high place, I would never successes.

Finally I totally agree with that person on one thing.

I rather would stay a poor and free man all my life than become someone who would suck up to another to gain any undue advantages for me or for my family.

I wanted to ask this person, whether is that the change that most of you aspired and expected from the new regime, but opted to say nothing in the end because of two things.

The first one is that I value our decades old friendship more and wanted it to stay intact than taking a mere useless political stand points.

The second one is that even if I strive so hard with facts, it would not be possible to remove the coloured glass the person had been wearing for a long time.

If nothing is working out without flaunting the coloured papers with birds printed on them and or using a backdoor contacts, then I could not help thinking, is this the new change many have aspired to have?

Ministry of බුළත් විට & අලි වැට

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.

Do the Number Counts Really Tally?

 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 believe that 2.7  million of former supporters, dissatisfied with him and have abstained from casting their votes? 

Then what is the likely plausible answer to this missing more than 2 million votes.

I am sure your guess is as good as mine known the past track record of the ruling regime.

Stop Crying Tomorrow

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 displeasure of the way the debacle was tackled is surprising to say the least.

I have never been a grower but how the farmers had to suffer without having fertilizer to use is a public secret.

They were willing to pay and not wanted it Free as promised but yet even with money, it was not available.

Despite all that, their respond at the poll was disappointing.

Because of strict import controls, soon many small and medium scale industries will be closed and many with no income.

I am sure they too have not realized the looming disaster.

Same goes with senior citizens too.

After serving the country for at least three to four decades and hoping to live the rest of the life peacefully by their meager savings in banks too were brutally shattered with drastic reduction of bank deposit rates across the board.

But looking at the emerging general election results I doubt that anyone of those categories have responded accordingly.

If they have missed a golden opportunity for them to be heard themselves, so be it.

Stop crying tomorrow is my only advise to all of them.

Can They Really Walk Their Big Social Media Talks in Real World?

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 big social media talks when it comes to the upcoming general election in this country.

But I believe that all those big talks made on social media as only made for social media platforms and not really meant to walk them in the real world.

Let’s wait and see whether my prediction is right or wrong after the election is over.

And now let’s tackle the second matter involving a prominent bank in this country.

I think bank staffs made a grave error in that incident and the bank management has already apologized too.

Is an apology enough?

I think no.

This is solely due to a lack of training for their staff as well as to their outsourced staff.

The bank involved in this incident should have to relook at their communication and training methods to avoid such an incident again in the future.

There are some people who always try to fish in the muddy waters to get political and religious mileages.

As expected some posts have started appearing in social media sites from one segment of the society that they will stop associating with this bank immediately, after this incident.

Keeping someone’s money in a particular bank and or in a Piggy Bank is one’s own calling and no one will suggest any particular mode to any.

But if anyone listens to someone’s myopic advice and decide to go ahead and start keeping money in their very own Piggy Bank, then they will be the ultimate losers and not the bank nor the country.

The bank in question is the one who brought so much innovation and new facilities to the banking sector in this country.

It is the trendsetter and it is going to stay here for a long time to come but I am not so sure of those Piggy Banks that some are going to rely on keeping their extra cash.

On this matter, it will take a few more quarters to see whether my prediction is right or wrong.

Let’s revisit both issues after some time and see who is right and who is not so right.

Use Your Vote Wisely ! ඔබේ චන්දය කාටද?

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 and or having direct links or financial connections to such persons’ or entities,
o මරු කැදවන ආයුධ සමග ජීවත්වන හෝ එවැන්නන් ඇසුරු කරන්නන්,
• Those who are involved in bootlegging and or having direct links or financial connections to such persons’ or entities,
o අනවසර මත්පැන් නිපදවන්නන් හෝ එවැන්නන් ඇසුරු කරන්නන්,
• Those who are involved in rapes and or having direct links or financial connections to such persons’ or entities,
o ස්ත්රී දූෂණ සහ ළමා අපයෝජකයන් හෝ එවැන්නන් ඇසුරු කරන්නන්,
• Those who are involved in Blue Collar crimes and or having direct links or financial connections to such persons’ or entities,
o මුල්ය වංචාවන්ට සම්බන්ද හෝ එවැන්නන් ඇසුරු කරන්නන්,
• Those who got dirty rich in a very short span of time but unable to back their gains legitimately,
o සුලු කලකින් පෙට්ටි කඩෙන් මාළිගාවට පැමිණි අය හෝ එවැන්නන් ඇසුරු කරන්නන්,
• Those who have kept their ill-gotten wealth and family safe in another country but claiming to trying hard to make this place a paradise,
o අස්වාබාවිකව උපයා ගත් මුදල් සහ තම දූදරුවන් පිටරටවල තබා මෙය සුරපුරයක් කිරීමට උත්සහ      කරන්නන්.

No Footwear ! Who's Rule ?

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 outside the building and everywhere else.

I obliged but then realized that No Footwear rule applies to a few only.

All staffs were in their footwear, including the yelling security lady at the door.

Then someone entered the place in his deck shoes and he was not stopped and so was another armed force fellow in full uniform.

Later, I understood that the fellow who was in deck shoes was one of them, so the rule does not apply to staff.

I wanted to talk to the Manager there to get this clarifies, but the person was not in the seat.

Who brings such rules which have no any apparent benefit to combat the spreading of virus?

And if they are the recommendations from the authorities, then why they are not been observed 100% or unless these are locally made by someone who wants only to harass the customers.

Over to your Sri Lanka Telecom if you are listening.

𝗟𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱

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.

Arrogance can be Tolerated but not Hypocrisy

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 know the reason why it had not been approved.

So, for the third time, I posted it again and requested the reasons for not approval.

After my third attempt, it got approved and the Admin / Moderator sent me a PM stating that it was initially not approved because there was not Caption in it, but that was incorrect.

It too got enough traction and part of the information I was seeking came from a source overseas, which I duly updated.

My fourth post was about a coin issued in 1815 and that two had a Caption written both in English as well as Sinhala.

It too got the same treatment as my third post.

Since I knew the identity of the Admin / Moderator by then thanks to the PM he sent earlier, I asked his again as to why it has not been approved.

I felt fishy earlier because I have seen that some guys who are in the friends' list of the Admin / Moderator getting their posts appear quite frequently.

I hate to beat around the bush; therefore I asked him directly if you do not want us to post there, say so then we can stop posting and leave.

At the same time, I reposted the same post again while I can still see him online but this time with a Caption written in Sinhala.

My last comment angered him and started becoming more and more aggressive in his responses.

First, he wanted to know what was my problem and why was I grumbling so much about not getting my post approved.

Then he changed the direction and said that delay was that he was not online for two days.

Then he was complaining about having more than 80,000 members to look after and I am not the only person needs his attention.

Further, he admonished me to try not to teach him how to manage his page which he had been doing since 2014.

The line was changed again and the reason it was not approved due to no Caption which was not true and when I mentioned that it had a Caption.

Then he said that posts with Captions written in Sinhala will not be approved due to many overseas members who are unable to understand the contents.

The man who tries to portrait him as a Busy Bee and have to look after more than 80,000 other members was sending PMs to me from 13.38 till 15.05.

A few hours prior to this conversation, another post was approved with a Caption written in Sinhala.

Even prior to that too, some other posts appeared some without Caption and or some not written in English.

Immediately, I sent him a screenshot of that post and he came back suggesting me to check my eyesight first.

I have put an arrow mark near the Sinhala Caption to draw his attention.

His last response was that he has no problem with his eyesight and Goodbye.

I knew what was to come so I made him read that I can tolerate arrogance but not hypocrisy.

With that parting remark, I was trying to access the page and as expected he had removed/ banned me from his page, which I have no issue but the purpose of this is to expose such hypocrites on social Media.

As Good As Having No Data

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 epidemic, again announcements were made but this time an officer was visiting from door to door with a member of the community police of that area, handing over another form seeking the same sort of information sought after the Easter bombing incident.

Except for the details of temporary residencies taken up between last April to May this year, very little would have changed in the information that is being sought and further they are already readily available with the government machinery in one form or the other.

If it was a concern of those who seek temporary shelter for some reason or the other and to verify the facts, some random checks should have been done after data was collected after the Easter incident but that was not the case.

What would happen to the new set of data collected is no secret to many.

If any data collected is not sorted, filtered and verified is as good as of having no data at all.

Why waste public money for something finally going to end up on another shelf a few days later is hard to fathom.

That is one of many sad such realities of this country.

දුක මේ ටික මේ මීහරක්ට නොතේරෙන එකයි.

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 !

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.

Sri Lankan Migrant Workers (රට විරුවන්) do not Deserve the Step-motherly Treatment

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 soon as possible but hitherto they have not heard anything substantial and or positive from either of them.

That made me think as to why they have not been given any priority status in selecting dispatching mercy flight to bring stranded Sri Lankans back home from all over the world.

Many aircraft were dispatched to far-flung places including to the place of birth of this plague but not to the Middle East or even to South Korea.

Most of those flights were to pick up students stranded in those places and they belong to the network of well-connected people.

How much they have been charged is not in the public domain but the aircraft sent to pick up students stuck in India were overcharged as per the information appearing in many social media platforms.

And if the only criteria to decide where the next flight should be sent is the monetary factor, then the Middle East & South Korea should be given priority over any other places.

Studying overseas and trying to acquire new skills and knowledge has a huge financial strain on the country’s coffer unless they all are on 100 % scholarships.

But it is not the case in most of the case.

They pay tuition fees in foreign currency taken from here.

However, the migrant workers go aboard to send much needed foreign currency to the country and in a pandemic situation like this, if they have been overlooked and a few privileged lots were entertained, it tells a lot about our choices and priorities.

We had been dealing with the Middle East for so long and with so many bilateral agreements including air agreements between respective countries, landing an aircraft and picking the standard Sri Lankans up in the country will not be that difficult.

The next question bothers me is that who will foot the cost of the mercy flight fare.

In that context, my friends are luck because their employer is legally bound to provide them with a free repatriation ticket at the end of their contract but many are not as fortunate as my former colleges.

Many are toiling in those places on the so-called Free Visa, where the sponsor is not the employer and the employer is not legally bound to provide them with the end of service repatriation ticket, let alone other benefits.

This is where the SLBFE comes into the picture.

All those who are going abroad for employment are subjected to a levy and this levy being charged as an insurance cover to bear the costs, if in case if a person is unable to return back on his or her own due to any reasons and or to airlift the remains of anyone who loses life while working in a foreign country.

How the authorities will respond to Rata Weeruwan's pleas turning into real action is something yet to be seen in the ground level but my only hope is that they will not be given the short end of the stick at the end.

Sri Lankan Migrant Workers (රට විරුවන්) do not deserve the step-motherly treatment, especially at a time like this for their healthy and continued contributions to the country’s economy for so many years.

I sincerely hope the authorities will soon do them the justice they do deserve for their contributions.

Over to you, if anyone is reading this.

Walk to Bank or Ride to Prison ?

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 depleting fast and replenishment is badly needed soon to avoid it having the same fate as the famous Titanic.

And I do not expect an unknown person to come and leave a sack full of crispy 5000 notes on my doorsteps either.

From my home to the nearest bank branch is more than 3 miles away.

I am a senior citizen now and someone who has contributed to the country’s economy immensely while working by earning in foreign currency, something we were badly in need of during the protracted civil war,.

If we were living in any developed country in the world, we would have been treated with much more respect and dignity for our contributions.

But sadly it is not so in this country.

Three miles one way to the bank and back by foot is not a joke and I am sure the spokesperson was not really meant it.

Now I am left with two choices.

Either walk to the bank or ride to the prison.

And if you do not see me posting here from tomorrow, you can expect the worst-case scenario.

මට විතරද මෙහෙම හිතෙන්නේ

• 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 අතට ආවම පරම්පරා ගානකට ඇතිවෙන්න බෙදා නොගත්ත එකාට මෝඩයා කියන මිනිස්සු ඉන්න රටක් මේක.

Speaking My Mind Aloud (Again) !

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 get the much-needed publicity more.

Show me something සිංහ ලේ has different from other Blood.

Then I will join you.

Otherwise, I have nothing to cry about because my ලේ is no different to another's ලේ !



Life and Career

We often confuse life and career as one

"They are entirely two different things"

Pay more attention to career and neglects life

In pursuit of materialistic comforts and possessions

While career blooms, life suffers in silence

Career ends at a certain age

Its the date of expiry is clearly marked

But life, which is still a mystery

No Expiry marked until it comes.



Speaking My Mind Aloud

I speak my mind aloud in Social media sites.

I am not a fool to believe that things will change drastically in others minds, after reading such brash and sometimes controversial comments.

Some respond with their views.

That is what I expect.

Speaking my mind aloud is to broaden my way of thinking.

Not to change others' ways of thinking.

An Empty Plate is No Better than No Plate.

To Celebrate or Not to ?

Heroes aren't Born, They Are Made !

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 commodities that they deal with.

We come across at least a couple of such vendors’ every day trying to make a living by providing an invaluable service, when the authorities have no clue of how to go about doing it except on television talk shows and we are yet to come across anyone who has taken on these door to door rounds, just to fleece us during the lockdown times.

Despite having other extra overheads including permission to operate in lockdown areas and during curfew times, their prices have remained in a very reasonable level hitherto, compared them to the previously existed market prices and I hope they will continue to do so in future even when the normalcy returns back.

These door to door vendors’ help to keep people stay in their houses and that in return would help to curtail the possibility of spreading the deadly virus out of control far and wide.

At a time when many of those living in lockdown areas are showing very clear signs of tobacco and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, lack of regular human interactions driving them even more nuts.

These door to door vendors are not only trying to satisfy people’s physical needs but inadvertently fulfilling their emotional need as well without even realizing the invaluable stress suppressing antidote they bring along with them.

They may never get the due accolades from any mainstream media and or the authorities but they have won the hearts of many of the housebound people and without their diligence, it would have been a helpless situation beyond anyone’s imagination.

Heroes aren't born, they're made.

When a need comes helping others, some people often spur into action rather than run, hide or freeze like others big talkers (read politicians) do in this Corona crisis here in Sri Lanka.

Rise up to the occasion is the real sign of a real Hero.

New Breed of Slaves

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 aggressiveness, the incomprehensibility of even a very simple fact and most importantly the use of vulgar and unprintable words in public.

With those traits and their dispositions too are not in favour of them, slogging them (literally) in public will not be a way to get them reformed.

Like Harriet Tubman, once a Slave herself said: “ I could have freed a thousand more, only if they really knew they were Slaves”.

Let them eat the humble pie someday first and though it will be too late for them, complete avoidance of this new breed of Slaves is the best strategy one could apply if you want to stay sane while discussing politics in public forums.

People First or Face Their Wrath Later

Just 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 good that helps to keep proper control over the crisis situation.

However, cracks have started appearing when most have realized that they have no proper income but sustaining only on their reserves now.

Imagine the plight of daily wages and small and medium businesses with not much of reserves with them but so many obligations to fulfil.

Soon, instead of food, we will be having money scarcity in the country and it could lead to so many bad things.

I do not wish it ever to happen but the looting of food from those who go door to door is a very likely possibility unless the authorities do not take any corrective measures to maintain that people will still have their old spending powers despite the crisis situation.

If the door to door services disappear, it could lead to further complications and I do not even to think of a worst-case scenario.

I am sure we will get more grants from our friendly countries and therefore the authorities should do more to restore the confidence in the people first.

Forget about how to recover later if a need arises but this is the time to pump in more cash into people’s hands.

That will not only be a morale booster but help to keep the commerce going and keep tight control of the spreading virus too.

If the money received as grants are not spent wisely for the benefit of the affected people now and allow to disappear like in the past occasions like the Tsunami, what consequence we will have to face in the days to come is my biggest worry.