How Did He Read the Future So Well?

One of my father’s younger brothers was in the Sri Lanka Police, not as a uniformed one, but as a male nurse in the police hospital in Colombo.

My cousin was a couple of months younger than me, and we were in parallel grades in different schools.

My uncle wanted to get his eldest son into the police force.

He was having high hopes and when the ordinary level results came in, his hopes were dashed as my cousin could not secure results to meet even the basic entry-level requirement for a position as Sub Inspector in the police department.

He was at a loss as he couldn't face his superiors after speaking in advance with some of the higher-ups to clear the way for his son’s admission to the force.

He was aware of my results and his next move was to approach my father, his elder brother, to get his blessing for me to step in instead of his own son, who flunked.

The only question my father asked him when the proposal was made was, "Are you crazy?"

His hopes were dashed for the second time.

Seeing how those who are in uniform behave in inhuman ways today and knowing how they have lost the respect of the public, who are calling them derogatory names in their absence as well as in their presence, I could not help thinking how farsighted and wise my late father was.

How did he read the future so well?

Now I am at a loss.

 

 

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.

අනේ සර් අපි මිතුරන් වේදෝ ?

කෙනෙක් අමාරුවේ වැටුනාම මැසිවිලි කියන එක නරක තමා.

නමුත් අපේ පොලිසියේ ක්‍රියා කලාපේ ගැන සතුටු වෙන්න පුළුවන්ද?

පොඩි එකා දැක්කම එලව එලව ගහන එකා, ලොක්කෙක් දැක්කම කුක්කෙක් වෙන හැටි අපි දැකලා තියෙනවා ඇති තරම්.

විජිත රෝහණ විජේමුණිලා ලංකාවේ පොලිසිවලින් කවදා බිහි වේද?

එහෙම උන දාට ලොක්කෝ ඉස්සරහා කුක්කෝ වෙන අය ඉස්සරහා ලොක්කෝ කුක්කෝ වෙන හැටි බලන්න පුලුවන්.

දැන් පොලිස් ස්වාධිණ කොමිසමකුත් තියෙනවනේ.

Asses on Wheels

It was terrible weather last evening, when we were heading home.

The weather warning was amply conveyed on the overhead electronic display boards on the E 01 with a request to reduce speed to 60 Kmps because of the slippery road condition and poor visibility.

Did anyone heed to it?

When the police should have been out there in force to show their presence was sadly missing and only time I saw a police vehicle on the road near one of the accident sites.

Other days, when the Sun is out, they play what small kids do (Hide & Seek) but come rain and where they disappear into, I have no clue.

Has anyone been convicted basing on CCTV footage?

The journey that normally takes me to do in 1 hour and 20 minutes took me more than two hours to complete due to weather last night.

But the weather was not the only factor it took so long.

I say it was due to so many “Asses on Wheels” on the E 01 last evening.

I do not mind people being disrespectful to them but I am worried about our personal safety when many do not heed to warnings and trying to flaunt their wealth, stupidity and F#@&*%$ driving skills that may endanger another’s life.

I do not want to be just another statistic, just because of your stupidity and arrogance.

Keep your show-offs to yourself and tries your driving skills on a track specially designed for that and not on public roads please.