Human Protectors

Why some dare to cross lines

Wade waters

Conquer seas

With the intention of

Protecting Gods (or and even Goddesses).

Do Gods (even Goddesses)

Need humans as their

Protectors or

Why cannot they do it themselves?

Why not leave humans to protect

Their own kind

From murderers to rapists to wife beaters

To you name it.

What is our role here

Sometimes I wonder

Is it

To protect Gods (or even Goddesses)

Or

Protect our own kind.

This was something I wrote a few years ago and thought of reposting again after yesterday's bombing in Sri Lanka.

සිංහලයා මෝඩයා කැවුම් කන්න සූරයා

Kaum (කැවුම්) is an essential item in the Sinhalese New Year celebration.

The people of yesteryears knew Kaum is not only a sweetmeat but can be turned into lifesaving drug too.

Well before the western medicine identified the value and usefulness of Penicillin, people in this land knew about it and put to good use of it without calling the substance any particular name.

The first Kauma made according to the auspicious time during the Sinhala New Year Celebrations time is dedicated to Fruit flys (කොදුරු කැවුම) and hung in the kitchen for days until the surface of it turns into light greenish.

Fruit flies are essential in this transformation and with them, they bring in the Penicillium (ˌpɛnɪˈsɪliəm) ascomycetous fungi.

The fungi grow on the surface of the Kauma and turning the dark brown colour of the surface of it into a light greenish in a few days’ time.


Once that process is completed, the Kauma is then kept in a safe place and use as a First Aid, where all cuts and bruises are treated with by squeezing a few drops of oil into the affected area.

There is another saying concocted by the British that Sinhalese people are a foolish lot and they are only capable of eating Kaum.

සිංහලයා මෝඩයා කැවුම් කන්න සූරයා.

This saying came into being during battles with the British.

While searching bodies of the Sinhalese soldiers died in battles, the British have discovered that everyone was carrying a small pouch containing a few Kaum, so they presumed that Sinhalese were no good soldiers and only fond of eating Kaum, even during battles, not knowing that those pouches were indeed their life saving First Aid kit in the battlefields.

So Kaum is not only a sweetmeat prepared on a very special occasion and also a lifesaving medicine for the people of this land.

New Facilities at MMC

Makumbura was another sleepy village along the High-level (Colombo – Batticaloa Highway) road a few decades ago but suddenly came under the spotlight, when the Kottawa-Galle Highway (E01) was planned.

Makumbura got the first Entry / Exit point to the E01 Expressway then and everything started to change rapidly.

While the construction was going on, another place a kilometre away from the Entry / Exit point was commissioned to have a weighbridge to weigh in the heavy construction materials being brought in for the project.

Once the construction was nearing completion, the weighing facility got another life.

With the help of Japanese government grant, it was converted to a new Multi-model transport hub, the first of its kind in the country and seven more to be followed soon around the country.

With this novel concept of Multi-Modal Transport Hub, Makumbura got another facility.

In an era where everyone is concerned about the wellbeing, the newly laid Walking Path and exercise pad behind the main terminal building is the icing on the cake, so to say.

The Walking Path is well paved and well lit as well.

The rainwater drain adjoining the path is a good place for those who love Bird Watching as many marshy land birds and a few migratory birds can be seen there.

With the impending rains, the water level is to rise and so will be the bird population.

And preserving its serenity will be everyone’s responsibility.

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?