Novel Concept of Travel in Sri Lanka being unveiled

Makumbura Multi-model Centre, a novel concept of travel in Sri Lanka will be declared open and handover to the public this evening.

All long-distance travel by road and Railway will be connected to the new facility.

At a later stage, the use of one ticket to avail both road and rail travel will too come.

By far this will be the most advanced and modern railway & bus stand in the country.


Most of its energy requirements will be obtained by Solar panels installed on the roof.

We moved into this idyllic and quiet hamlet called Makumbura from a very congested and noisy city, two decades ago after falling in love with the green surrounding, open spaces and calmness. 

Now looks like that we may have to vote with our feet again after the new facility is in full swing. 

අපිට විතරද පායන්නේ?

ඊයේ අපිට හිසරදේ ගෙනාපු එවුන් අමතක වෙලා,

අද අපි රවියාටයි, බදුර්දීන්ටයි බනිනවා,

හෙට අපි බෝට්ටුවල නැගලා අවතැන්වුන් අය හොය හොය යනවා කෑම පාර්සල් බෙදන්න.

අපිට විතරද පායන්නේ,

අපිට විතරද වැහි වහින්නේ.

මේ වැටෙන වතුර කන්දරාවට අපි මොකද කරන්නේ,

අවුරුදු සියයක කාලයක් අපි මොනවාද ඉගෙන ගත්තේ.

බැරි වෙලාවත් හිම ටිකක් එහෙම මෙහෙට වැටුනොත්,

මැද පෙරදිගට වගේ තද රස්ණේයක් ආවොත්,

අපි මොකද කරන්න හිතන් ඉන්නේ.

රැල්ලට කුණු අදින්න,

රැල්ලට ගස් හිටවන්න යන්නේ නැතුව,

කුණු කසල පාලනය සහ කළමණාකරනය කරන්න පුළුවන්,

ගස් කොළන් වන සිව්පාවන් රැක ගන්න පුළුවන්,

රැල්ලක් හදමු.

තප්පර 15 වේ ප්‍රසිද්දිය පස්සේ නොදුවා,

දශක 15 ක් ඉස්සරහට හිතලා,

වැඩ කෙරුවොත් නරකද,

අපිට.

Let Us Help Him Now !

A printing establishment in Ampara, Tharindu Offset Printers, had gained the attention of many in the country recently as its owner Mettananda Rubasinghe had cut off parts of a very expensive printing machine in order to save the hand of an employee. 

However, sadly the insurance company had refused to pay compensation for the machine. 

As a result, this printing press owner is facing a very pathetic situation,

I spoke to him little while ago and suggested to him that we would like to start a “Fund Him” campaign on social media, for which he politely declined to receive anything as “Donation” but would be delighted if someone or some institute can lend him Rs 1.5 million right now, so he can pay his previous loan areas straightaway and get his name out of the CRIB.

His compounded loss due to damage to the machine, loss of business etc run up to Rs 7 million but he was confident that he could make his business flourish again if his initial difficulty of finding Rs 1.5 million and get his name out of CRIB soon.

Also please note that he has to still take care of his injured worker, despite his own difficulties and the worker is responding well to the treatments and recuperating.

Share as much as possible and see if anyone can lend his the initially required funds to restart his business.

Was he xenophobic?

After watching the recently concluded Child Genius UK 2019 a couple of times, I think it is reasonable to assume that the conductor was openly favouring one contestant.

Every time when William gives a correct answer, the conductor was quick to compliment him by saying “Well done William”.

This he did five times to William during the competition and once to the other and that too was very tersely.

I think she deserves complimenting openly more because she managed to give the correct answer twice when William failed to do so.

How would you describe this behaviour?

Was he xenophobic?

Should such people be given such opportunities even in this century?

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.

Should such people be trusted and help anymore?

It was a bumper harvest for pumpkins this year.

The government intervened and bought large sums to ease the situation but many had to be thrown away later due to poor storage.

Another wasteful expenditure by the government again.

Recently a friend of ours sent an SMS asking those who visit outstations to buy as many pumpkins as possible without bargaining from poor farmers.

And it seems a reasonable and timely request.

Help another when in need is not a bad thing.

Last weekend we visited deep down south of Sri Lanka on a pilgrimage and on our way back bought as many pumpings as our car boot could hold.

No bargaining and paid the requested price.

We were thinking that we made both the grower and neighbours happy with that gesture as we distributed all the pumpkins among the neighbourhood later.

Today we went for our groceries to one of the nearby Supermarket and there I found pumpkins similar or larger than the ones we purchased on our way back on display.

Out of curiosity, I picked up the biggest among the lot and asked to weigh it and tell me how much it would cost us.

We were aghast to find that the grower has overcharged us at least 25% more than the current city price.

Last night on Tv news too I have seen paddy growers were going to Private vendors offering lesser prices than the government collecting centres.

And later blaming the government of not paying them a fair price for their products.

Should such people be trusted and help anymore?

Reached 60 & What's Changing ?

Yes, I am changing,
After loving my parents, my siblings, my spouse, my children, my friends, now I have started loving myself.

Yes, I am changing,
I just realised that I am not “Atlas”. 

The world does not rest on my shoulders.

Yes, I am changing,
I now stopped bargaining with vegetables & fruits vendors. 

After all, a few Rupees more is not going to burn a hole in my pocket but it might help the poor fellow save for his daughter’s school fees.

Yes, I am changing,
I pay the taxi driver without waiting for the change. 

The extra money might bring a smile on his face. 

After all, he is toiling much harder for a living than me.

Yes, I am changing,
I stopped telling the elderly that they've already narrated that story many times. 

After all, the story makes them walk down the memory lane & relive the past.

Yes, I am changing,
I've learnt not to correct people even when I know they are wrong. 

After all, the onus of making every one perfect is not on me. 

Peace is more precious than perfection.

Yes, I am changing,
I give compliments freely & generously. 

After all, it's a mood enhancer not only for the recipient but also for me.

Yes, I am changing,
I've learnt not to bother about a crease or a spot on my shirt. 

After all, personality speaks louder than appearances.

Yes, I am changing,
I walk away from people who don't value me. 

After all, they might not know my worth, but I do.

Yes, I am changing,
I remain cool when someone plays dirty politics to outrun me in the rat race. 

After all, I am not a rat & neither am I in any race.

Yes, I am changing.
I am learning not to be embarrassed by my emotions. 

After all, it's my emotions that make me human.

Yes, I am changing,
I have learnt that it's better to drop the ego than to break a relationship. 

After all, my ego will keep me aloof whereas with relationships I will never be alone.

Yes, I am changing,
I've learnt to live each day as if it's last.
After all, it might be the last.

Yes, I am changing,
I am doing what makes me happy. 

After all, I am responsible for my happiness, and I owe it to me.