King Sasanka – Sri Lankan Writer & Retired Aviation Professional.

Has anyone recently tried the Sri Lanka Telecom ( SLT ) Hotline 1212 ? First, you will be forced to listen to one of their latest and insipid Ad before an agent come online. The Ad says in ( the nutshell ) that “ We are different than others and that is why they provide different types of internet packages ”. I agree with the first part of their statement that they are different. Because, unlike any other service-oriented industry, they do not care for their customers’ complaints. For the last four days, I had been battling to get my internet connection to a decent level without much success. The agents have a different story to tell you each time for the reason of disruption. Now I am confused which one to believe. The Agents are happy to give their maintenance section number which had been ringing for the last four days but no one was there to pick up and give us the true picture. How long more I have to wait I have no idea and I think it is the time to think of an alternative arran...

Hello there! Looking for people to participate in a HUGE book exchange. You can be anywhere in the world. All you have to do is to buy one of your favourite books ( just one ) and send it to a stranger. The book doesn't have to be a collector’s item; second hand is fine too, just as long as it's in English . Hopefully, you'll receive many books back to you, to keep. And they'll be favourite books from strangers around the world! And the recipient’s details will be sent in a private message. If you're interested in being part of this, please comment “ IN “ below  (Please leave your email in the Comments column).  and I'll send you all the details in a PM. Happy reading!

Dear Mr Pallewatta, •  Surround yourself with people who have achieved something in their life than surrounding with people who have inherited something, • Do not Surround yourself with those who had been " Clock Watchers ", " Paper pushers " and " YES men", (Sadly, most public servants fall into one or all three categories above), • Surround yourself with real academics who have proven past track records than not mere title holders, • I am yet to see that you are blaming any of the past regimes for all our misery and it is a superb quality, so please maintain the same approach, Once you are elected, • Give all those who had been accused of misappropriation of state funds a general amnesty, (You need not follow Mahathir Mohamad or Mikheil Saakashvili ’s styles), (Start with a clean slate so waste of more public funds spent in the form of Investigations & Commissions can be saved), • However, ensure Treason, Murder, drug-related crimes, rape/sodom...

Accidentally or destiny You walked into the neighbourhood  Some years back. Became the Pet of all The Protector of the  Cul de sac. Escorting neighbours  And chasing away the unwanted elements Day or Night. Like all of us Even you must have wished If you had wings too when monkeys Invade your own Domain. You left us on a very auspicious day And were buried with so much care By your neighbourhood friends. Your eyes were closed then So you may not have seen But there was none  Who did not shed tears? Among the crowd. You gave us protection And Joy and Most importantly An Opportunity for us to Earn more merits  In this journey of Life. May you be blessed with A better Birth Next time around With all the a...

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...