𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒍 ( දුක් ගන්නා රාළ )

Why do some think that one has to be politically correct all the time? A video doing the rounds on many social media platforms shows a woman being caught red-handed by the owner of a lost credit card. The gist of the incident was that the lost card was found by someone and given to a security guard on that premises, and instead of trying to restore it to its rightful owner, the guard called his wife and told her to go shopping with it. When the owner realized the card was lost and it had been used twice, he deactivated the card and identified the woman who was using it after watching the CCTC footage of one such establishment. Then he rushed to the nearby keels and the woman was caught red-handed trying to use it again for the third time. When I read many of the comments posted by other users, I could not help but wonder what is wrong with society. Many posts are in favour of the woman who was caught red-handed because she was poor, and the other reason is that there are many other l...

This morning I went to the department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla to get an amendment to my passport. It was so chaotic with thousands of people trying to gain access and with no proper arrangements to have any orderly entry. If people are given online appointments within specified time slots, then why does it have to be so chaotic and disorganized? The guards who man those entry points are of no help to anyone; they live in their own aloof worlds. And there is no proper signage either. After speaking to many in different uniforms, I finally found the right entry point and got access without much hassle. When I reached the acceptance counter, I was asked by the female staff who was manning the counter whether I had spoken to Madam. I wanted to enlighten her that there are no Madams in public service except public servants, but knowing well, that antagonizing a government servant means that you should be ready for a big and long battle, and I was not in the mood for...

විදුලි ජල බිල් වැඩි වෙනකම් ඉන්න එපා අරගල කරන්න. තමන්ගේ ලඟම කෙනෙක් ඉස්පිරිතාලේ බෙහෙත් නැතුව මර ඇඳේ ඉන්න කම් එපා අරගල කරන්න. තමන්ගේ ඉගෙන ගත්ත දුවා දරුවන්ට රැකියාවක් හොයා ගන්න බැරි වෙන කම් ඉන්න එපා අරගල කරන්න හිතන්න. වැඩවසම් යුග වල මුත්තා, සීයා, තාත්තා කරාට කමක් නැහැ. උඹලත් ඒවාම කරන්න ඕනේ කියලා කොහේවත් නීති පොත්වල ලියවිලා නැහැ, උඹලාගේ හිත්වල මිස. මේ සියවසේ ඒවා කරගන්න ඕනේ තරම් ක්‍රමවේද දියුණු ලෝකයෙන් අපිට දැනටම ලැබිලා තියෙනවා. ඒ නිසා පරම්පරා ගානක් කරගෙන ආපු නිසා අපිත් කරනවා කියන මානසිකත්වයෙන් මිදෙන්න උත්සහ කරන්න. ඔය පැලඳගෙන ඉන්න පාට කණ්නාඩි ගලවල ලෝකේ දිහා ධනාත්මකව බලන්න පුරුදු වෙන්න. ලෝකෙන් උතුම් රට ලංකාවයි කියලා සිංදු හදලා සම හරක් තව සම හරක්ව ඇන්දුවට, මේක අපායක් කියලා ලෝකේ දැකපු අය දන්නවා. වැඩි හරියක් ලිං මැඩියන් වගේ ඉන්නකම් අර මුත්තලා, සීයලා වැඩ කරපු අය ඉතා සංතෝස බවත් මතක තියා ගන්න. ඔය ගම වට වෙලා තියෙන කඳුයාය මුඳුනට දවසක නැගලා බලන්න උත්සහ කරන්න. එතකොට පුලුවන් වේවි ඔය කඳුවැටිය මෙච්චර දවසක් නොපෙන්නා හංගන් හිටපු අනික් ලෝකේ කොච්චර සුන්දරද කියලා. තාම පරක්කු නැහැ. අඩුම ගානේ තමන්ගේ දූදරුවන්ටවත්...

Manning the radio transmitter on the company frequency was sometimes fun.  Sometimes it gets unusual requests. Once, a Royal Jordanian flight flying over Omani airspace had a medical situation and requested a doctor to come on the frequency. The airport doctor was called in and, after a lengthy conversation, the PIC decided to divert the aircraft to Muscat, and later, the child, who had some issues, was rushed to the nearest hospital. A couple of times, I had to chip in by providing the latest cricket scores to the Sri Lanka aircrew while overflying Oman territory. The British Caledonian crew used to call in on approach to give their bar uplift order to the catering unit. That was one of the most challenging conversations. One, they spoke with a hefty accent, and the second was that most of the names of the spirits they ordered were not so familiar to the guys who were only used to Old Monk kinds of Indian stuff. There was a KLM flight at the same time, and their station manager, M...

India's naval air fleet does long-range training flights and Oman was their favourite place to land for technical support and layovers. A fleet of at least three to four accompanying Indian-built Dornier aircraft used to come a couple of times a year on their training missions. Once on such a mission, I went to meet them on arrival to facilitate their requests. On that occasion, they were on a short transit and the fleet commander informed that they wanted to go to the Duty-Free area to see the place and do some shopping as well. I had to politely decline their request because all of them were dressed in military fatigues and the Royal Oman Police does not allow anyone in military fatigues to enter the transit area. Arrivals and departures too were through strict security and with a proper escort only. I explained the reasons for my decline, and the commander seemed puzzled. He said, "On our last visit, one of your colleagues’ call signs, Mike India Kilo, allowed us to do so....

A few who were sent to represent the country in the 2022 Common Wealth Athletic event in the United Kingdom have disappeared without a trace, and that includes an official as well. This is not a very uncommon incident and it is not only confined to sportsmen and women only. Some of those who proceed on scholarships and overseas postings for a limited period of time do not come back after their studies or tenure is over. Many blame those who have taken that route for bringing disrespect to the country and brand them as non-patriotic as well. I have to agree with some of the concerns, but why does it happen often is it something that no one wants to talk about in public? We have seen enough of political defections and those who were sent for overseas studies and to represent the country in any sport, even disappearing into thin air. All political defections are purely for an individual’s safety, but for others, it is more economic than anything else. So the next question is how to avoid...

The Red Arrows, the renowned British aerobatic team, were scheduled to perform their routines above the Muscat sky that evening because it was the Muscat Festival time. I went out with a load controller who was interested in trying out live flight dispatching. She felt sure she could handle things on her own because she had been guided through the process. I was merely there to watch her first solo performance and to help her if anything went wrong. As we were getting into the interesting phase of dispatching, she came running, stating that she was unable to get in touch with the boarding gates to get the clearance to board the flight. I checked my handheld radio as well as my mobile phone, and both were unusable at the time, as the Red Arrows had already got into the air. My thought on that was that some radio frequencies must have been disabled to stop any interference with communications between the performing aircraft. We were parked in a far-flung, remote bay, and driving down to...