I can afford to live without it but can it afford to live without us?

The banning of social media platforms in Sri Lanka due to some seemingly communal violence is as despicable as the orchestrated violence.

I think it is the time for all of us to think as one nation and stand up against the banning of such platforms.

Whether you are a Sri Lankan living in Sri Lanka or elsewhere in the World, it is the time for us the show our collective power by not accessing the Facebook, until and unless the full and free status is restored.

We can afford to stay without it but can it afford to stay without us.

Some Doubting Thomas’ will ridicule the idea of Self-imposed boycotting of accessing the site by stating that we are a small nation and the impact will be minimal and or would not even felt at all.

Those who are interested in the history know, how a small bunch of people who were determined to get the due justice brought a big bus company to its knees.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_bus_boycott

I have decided to boycott the Facebook site until the full and free status is restored.

I can afford to live without it but can it afford to live without us?

එකක් කඩතොලු වසාගන්නට ගොසින් මටවු කාරියා?

"එකක් කඩතොලු වසාගන්නට ගොසින් මටවු කාරියා නෙකක් කඩතොලු සදා දුන්නේයි ගාල්ලේ ආචාරියා".

I could not help thinking of this verse every time when I think of the present crisis in the country. 

The ban placed access to many social media sites is doing more harm than helping to calm the situation down is my honest opinion.

“ ඔසු උයන ” ( Herbal Garden ) at Kahathuduwa, Piliyandala Sri Lanka.

A few days back I was fortunate enough to visit a “ ඔසු උයන ” (Herbal Garden) at Kahathuduwa, Piliyandala Sri Lanka.

The garden is full of rare and very useful herbs, plants and trees needed in Ayurvedic treatments.

Everything is given away free of charge.

The place is well known in and around the area and if anyone is interested in visiting the place, one has to take the Kahathuduwa ( කහතුඩුව ) exit on the E01 expressway and ask direction, which is another 05 minutes’ drive away from the exit point.

Snuffing the Life Out of Another.

Show a gentle and

Humane way of

Snuffing the life out of

Another.


Convince me that,

It will be

Easy and painless as

Breathing fresh air into

One’s lungs.


Open pens’ gates

Would they stay or

Would they run?

See what they would opt for

In one’s own eye first.


Convince me and

Show me the humane way

Of snuffing the life out of

Another.


Till then I rather

Prefer to stay

A Veggie forever.

Where are the Innovative Local Chefs?

It is a shame that being a tropical island with some much green around that being a vegetarian is a very difficult thing to follow when one venture out for an occasional Eat out adventure.

The choices available are extremely limited compared to non-vegetarian items on restaurant menus.

The invariably the waiter would suggest “How about a Chopsie Sir?".

See the grimace on the face he would change the tack “Then devilled Mushrooms Sir” or he will blurt out some “Kankun” something or finally cap up the blurting out by suggesting “Bean curd” something.

Where are the innovative local chefs?

I am sure they have not run out of choice vegetables available in the market.

Forget Alu Kehel (Ash plantains), Karawila (Bitter gout), Pathola (Snake gout), Nelum Ala (Louts roots), Kos (Jackfruits), Del (Breadfruit), Maiyokka (Cassava) or Bathala (Sweet potatoes), but what is wrong with Bandakka (Ladies fingers) or Wambutu (Brinjal) as substitutes, if the former ones are too difficult to cook.

The Chefs need to be innovative or we will remain just what we are as backward as we are now in the culinary world where most local recipes are no local anymore to have the local taste, aroma or the looks.

The World is changing fast nowadays.

People are now very much concerned about the Environment, Carbon emissions, healthy food etc and sooner our chefs have to learn to adapt to the changes happening around is better than have a slow natural death.

What is our share in this mess?

Trustworthy and farsightedness should be the prerequisites for anyone taking up a public office.

Not flamboyant educational qualifications and or lack of them.

Are we really seeking them when casting our votes?

I do not think so.

If that was the case, then Sri Lanka would have been a First World Country many decades ago.

The problem here is that we do not want to change the status quo.

Because then we will lose all our own networks and contacts, ( where we can get almost anything done by using them ), and eventually to lose our higher place in the hierarchy of the society's pecking order.

First, we send scoundrels to the legislature and then start lambasting them on social media platforms.

What is our share in this mess?

Dialog Tv Surreptitiously Fleecing its Customers

My family was away from the country for two months in the latter part of the 2017 and has realized on the return that the Dialog Tv connection has been disconnected due to non-payment.

The due amount was immediately paid and an official request was made to get the connection activated back.

After waiting a few more days without getting any positive results from their end, it was decided to call their helpline to get the matter resolved.

Again an official complaint was lodged but like in the past, no help came through.

After two failed attempts to get the connection activated again, it was finally decided to inform them that we were no longer interested in retaining their connection.

The Helpline was given all required details to enable them to finally disconnect us from their listing.

We thought that we have put the matter to rest finally but to our utter dismay, we have received another invoice recently billing us over Rs 5000/= of unpaid bills.

The Dialog had been known to fleece customers in this fashion.

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items08/291108-4.html

And now it is the time that we put an end to this unscrupulous practice.