𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒍 ( දුක් ගන්නා රාළ )

DUMBFOUNDED IN DEHIWELA: What else would you expect on hearing that an owner of a company has gifted, yes GIFTED, his business to his employees. In today’s world of avarice and greed, this is indeed a remarkable story of a man, who given a second chance in life, has shown that the well-being of people is far better than the pursuit of riches. Meet Ranjan Ratnasena, 66, the former owner and chairman of KleenPark Auto Detailing who probably is the only man in Sri Lanka to have given away an enterprise built from scratch, and after 30 years of hard work, to his employees. Why? This is the first question for Ranjan, a very private person, someone who didn’t even want his photograph taken for this story. “Most people think that material success has a relationship to happiness and well-being. Even the government and the media hoist this concept on us as they try to encourage the pursuit of consumerism in a bid to boost economic growth. But this is wrong,” says Ranjan. “I firmly believe that...

පෙරේරා - කොහේද ගිහින් හිටියේ දැක්කෙත් නැහැ හුග දවසකින් මිස්ටර් සිල්වා, සිල්වා - මමත් හිතුවා මේ 20-20 තරගෙට ඉදිරිපත් වෙන්න කියලා, ඉතින් ඒකට ලැස්තිවෙවි හිටියේ, පෙරේරා - ඔවාට ඉතින් වියදම් කරන්න කෝ සල්ලි? සිල්වා - ඔය හොරකම් කරලා යටි මඩි ගහ ගත්ත කෙනෙක් ඉදිරි පත් වෙයි අයිසේ, පෙරේරා - එතකොට මිනිහා නිකම් සල්ලි වියදම් කරයිද එහෙම? අර කතාවට කියනවනේ මීයක් කඩන්නේ අත ලෙවකන්න නෙමෙයි කියලා, සිල්වා - මිනිහා ඔනේ එකක් ලෙවකා ගත්තාවේ මිස්ටර් පෙරේරා, මට තියෙන්නේ දැක්කේ නැහැ වගේ ඉන්න එක විතරයි, පෙරේරා - ඉතින් මිනිස්සු කැගහන එකක් නැති වෙයිද මිස්ටර් සිල්වා, සිල්වා - මිනිස්සු ඔහේ කැහපුවාවේ, අපිට තියෙන්නේ ඇහුන් නැහැ වගේ ඉන්න, ඔය දැන් අපුරුවට දෙගොල්ලක්ම කරගෙන ගියේ, පෙරේරා - තමුසේ තමයි මිනිහා දවසකටවත් මිනිහා මිස්ටර් සිල්වා. මටත් ඉතින් බලලා හොද හැන්දක් දෙනවකෝ එපා නොවෙන්නම බෙදා ගන්න, සිල්වා - බලමු බ්ලමු ඔවට තව කල්තියෙනවනේ මිස්ටර් පෙරේරා, අනික ඉතින් යාලුවෝ අමතක කරන ජාතියේ මිනිහෙක් නෙමේ නේ මේ සිල්වා.

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 fu...

"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.

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.

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.

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...