Be prepared for "The Day after !".

It is said that, "if there is a will, then there is a way" too.

How appropriate, it is in the context of the present situation is Sri Lanka.

The bloody war has been dragging on for almost three decades due to lack of (political) will to settle the matter, militarily once and for all.

However, with the change of political scenario and the new found will to settle the issue of terrorism militarily, Sri Lanka has achieved great success recently.

 The dawn of a new era and the total annihilation of hither to label as the most dedicated, ruthless and invincible (paper) tigers, is just a few days away.

But, are we ready for “the Day after” is really a worrying issue for me.

I strongly think that we all Sri Lankans have to be prepared, both physically and mentally for that day and we cannot be complacent and Squander this great opportunity now.

So let us “Be together for all”.

PITFALLS OF GOING GREEN

This letter was published in the Week magazine, published in the sultanate of oman and i think the contents therein are applicable in sri lanka too. thus decided to put it up in my blog.  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

March 18, 2009

Shopping mall failing The norm today is to go green and use only renewable and reusable products. But be aware of the pitfalls and unwarranted troubles one invites by doing that. Recently someone gifted me a reusable jute bag. Since then I have been using it when I go for my weekly shopping to the nearest mall. The mall started selling the same jute bags, but they are only available at the checkouts and customers do not have access to their display location. If you need a bag then you have to request the person who is behind the checkout to give you one. Despite all these precautions, on every single occasion when I have approached the counter, I have been questioned as if I have committed a crime. The queue gets held up, security personnel converge on the scene and other customers start giving you dirty looks. After the latest incident, I lodged a complaint with the mall’s management and they have promised to look into it and educate their customer service people.  As a precautionary measure, I asked their security to stamp my bag once and for all and they have obliged. I hope that they will stick to their promises and I am writing this to perform a citizen’s act, so other environmentally concerned people should not have to experience such embarrassments in the future.   Please get your bag stamped at the entrance because you do not know who is sitting behind the checkouts. Sasanka De Silva, on email

What is good for the Gander is not good for the Goose.

Human Rights, Democracy, tolerance of other religious believes etc are some of the topics, often we hear when the West or the so-called developed world talk about another country.

Some of the big institutes in the so-called developed world, such as The United Nation, Lending Organizations and the European parliament etc are happy to hurl such topics, when discussing an internal affair of another country, especially a poor one.

Let us take the issues one by one and see who is right and who is wrong.

First tackle the human rights issue.

Even up to this moment, many people are being held against their wills in Military camps, without any credible charge being brought to justify their detention.

Who indeed was instrumental in killing leaders like Major Thomas Sankara or Patrice Lumumba?

The list is long and bloody too.

The latest reported case is Binya Mohammed, who was released without being charged after holding and torturing for more than six years in a Military camp.

If they want to export the kind of democracy that they want the rest of the world too to follow, then the legitimate questions that come to my mind are, why certain members have more powers vested than the others in a democratic forum like the United Nation or why the top positions in some of those lending agencies are only reserved for a few countries?

Not long ago, one of those nation’s National football team managers was sent packing for his view on those who are born physically challenged.

 His views did not go down well with the believes of them, but if he had uttered the same words in another part of the world, they could have gone down well, because such believes are easily compatible with the believes of that part of the world.

Is it not another kind of religious prosecution?

When such things have been happening under their own noses for so long and unabated too, then where were those crusaders, one has the right to ask, who are claiming to make the entire world a free and better place?

Practice what you preach or otherwise one becomes a hypocrite.

Those cries that we often hear now days are not bleeding real or genuine calls.

They are made loud and as often as they can because they still want to control us and want to export their junk and toxic goods, values and believes only.

Beware!  those hypocrite wolves are still lurking in sheep’s cloths.

And for them, what is good for the Gander is not good for the Goose.

Isn’t it a shame?

 

TIGERS EXPOSED

The suicide bomb attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) in southern town of Matara in Sri Lanka on the day of The Prophet Muhammad’s birthday celebration, tells us two important messages.

The first and the most important one is that the Tigers have no respect or tolerance for peoples of other faiths, except theirs only.

This was not the first instance; the Tigers have killed innocent peoples of other faiths, during their religious celebration times or desecrated their places of worship.

But I am confident that this would be their last.

The second message is that there is no truth in their or their acolytes claims that the Tamils are not safe anywhere else except in north of the country.

If that is true, then how come a sleeper can wait for it’s pray in a town predominantly Sinhala Buddhist and a southern city like Matara. 

Heroes Are Born Instantly !

Heroes are born instantly. 

Some get due recognition and others fade in to obscurity.

When the Captain of the airliner ditched his aircraft safely in the Hudson River, few weeks back, he was transformed instantaneously in to a hero.

Indeed, it was a heroic act and he deserves all the credit he gets from media and others.

Unfortunately, when the coach driver of the Sri Lankan Cricket team drove his coach to safety amidst gun fire in Lahore recently, he did not even get mentioned in the media.

My understanding is that aircraft pilots are taught and trained to glide aircraft without engine power and ditch in water.

It is part of their training.

But I do not think that anywhere in the world, coach drivers are being trained to drive with deflated tires and that too amidst gun fire.

If one puts those two incidents juxtapose, one has performed an act that he was taught and trained to perform successfully and became a hero. 

The other too has successfully performed an act the he has never been taught or trained to perform but faded into obscurity.

Sorry Sir! 

I do not even know your name, thanks to Media’s selective and preferential reporting practice but please accept my humble salutation for your heroic act that saved many lives.

"Lie down with dogs & get up with fleas”.

What happened in Lahore Pakistan this morning was despicable and shocking but it was something that was expected to happen sooner or later.

Pakistan has been a friend of Sri Lanka, politically and sportingly for many years.

We all remember their support given, during the 1996 World cup cricket tournament times.

However, not that we were concerned about some issues going on there, but we were like a hapless but concerned fellow watching his good old friend going on a destructive path.

The predicament, our good old is in now, reminds me of an old Sinhalese saying that says “when you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas”.

 

Kudos to those invisible(invincible too) boys for Job well done !

My salutations to all those invisible (invincible too) guys, who were manning the anti-aircraft batteries for job well done.

If the intelligent reports are spot on then the score is, three down and only two to get only.

Six air-strips are already in Army’s control and one more to fall soon.

Do not blame the government, if there is another island-wide power failure again.

This is another defense mechanism introduced to protect us only.

Let’s stop watching all those imported soap operas being telecasted every night.

Instead let’s all scan our skis for any intruders.

Like the President once said, let us use our own resources and know-how to protect our own land than depending on more expensive and sophisticated equipment.

Finally, let us stop using Fire-crackers, whenever there is anything military or otherwise to be celebrated, instead use beating of drums like the good old days to show our appreciation.

It would also be a boon to those who are there to maintain law and order in the other parts of the country.

Sasanka De Silva

Blogging from Oman