tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10436994348219115532024-03-16T00:08:16.168-07:00Dream into RealityRajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.comBlogger359125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-2690906898353202642013-07-10T10:03:00.000-07:002013-07-10T10:03:08.451-07:00Letter to the Minister of Injustice of Sri Lanka for 'Justice'!<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">July
8<sup>th</sup> 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Mr
Rauf Hakeem MP<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Minister
of Justice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Law
Courts Complex<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Aluth
Kade, Colombo 11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Dear
Sir,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Re:
The accident caused by your MSD protection vehicle on 30<sup>th</sup> January
2011</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
believe it is still in order for me to remind you of the above incident, which
no doubt you are perfectly aware of the circumstances, and the extent of the
distress it has caused me. I am taking this opportunity to reiterate that I am
still suffering the effects of the aforesaid accident, especially in as much as
the injury to my body has not yet healed, and I am due to undergo further surgery
at the National Hospital on my leg, today the 8<sup>th</sup> of July, with the
hope that it may improve the condition of that leg, which to date has kept me
in pain and unable to perform most of the tasks I was engaged in prior to my
accident.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
might remind you that at the moment of the accident I lost the business, I had
been engaged in for the previous 8 years, namely a one stop farmer, who
produced, delivered and marketed over 72 different food items to customers in
Colombo, including many who you and your wife, personally know and also are
acquainted with. I have not been able to resume the business, as I have not
even been able to replace the vehicle that was completely written off as a
result of the accident, to say nothing of the inability to gain full use of the right leg.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As
you know there was nothing forthcoming from the party responsible for the
accident, and I might also remind you that the driver of the vehicle was not
even remanded at that point for the incident, and had the luxury of apologizing
to me for his actions, at the Polonnaruwa base hospital that night, blaming it
on faulty brakes that had not been repaired. Be that as it may, with Government
vehicles not having any insurance, and a physically injured party having to go
through the nightmare scenario of obtaining justice from the Ministry of
Justice, I chose instead to concentrate on getting back my physical health,
without further aggravating it by affecting my mental health also, in pursuing
justice!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
still putting my physical health before any other, if I am to be able to live a
fair life of comfort, and have to resort to using the services of the state
health care system towards it as I am unable to pursue another course of
recovery. I trust they will eventually be able to get me back to some semblance
of normalcy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Whilst
the economic loss to my business, is I believe approximately Rs20M, I am in no
way now able to recover from that devastation, but not being able to get the
best of health care money can buy in Sri Lanka has been a source of irritation,
especially as there has been no assistance forthcoming from either your
department or the Ministry of Defence whose vehicle and driver were at fault. I
recall when you visited the apartment I was living in at Gregory’s Road, you
did say you will help me in some way, but how do I pursue such promises?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
have had to give up the Gregory’s Road apartment as I have not been able to get
back to the level of health I hoped and am now living on the farm, at the
address above.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Whilst
you acknowledged that I was more a mercenary at giving something back to my
country, over personal gain, having that intention so cruelly denied by the
very state that I am supposed to help is ironic. There is much I can still
offer Sri Lanka from a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from many
years of education, and training overseas, it is a shame that those who
sacrifice a life of plenty overseas, for the benefit of the motherland, are
then treated in such a manner, when tragedy befall them. Is it any wonder, why
others who may wish to emulate this gesture think otherwise, especially in
light of the experience I have undergone? What recommendation can I give, when
I am constantly asked for my personal experience on the fruitfulness of such a
gesture?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
know you are an impossibly busy person with many roles and responsibilities, it
is worth reminding that their importance in the scheme of things is only
relative, denying others possibly of even more important service to one’s
country, despite being devoid of title, power or position or any other craving
for personal aggrandizement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Is
it incumbent on me to make an issue of this whole incident again? I rather
think not, and appeal to your good senses to do what you believe is right in
addressing some of my grievances, and making restitution where there is some
reasonableness, as nothing will compensate for the loss of the business and
time lost to ill health.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Is
there a point in pursuing the legal processes? I am sure you know the answers
to that without further burdening a process, that rarely meets justice to the
aggrieved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">On
a lighter note I was asked a while ago, to retain the learned Counsel, Mr Ikram
Mohammed to represent me in a Civil case against the responsible authorities,
and took the decision not to, which I believe in hindsight was fortunate, as he
is I understand the father in law of your daughter. My logic is therefore
clear, if I was to prevent myself from being further pauperized. Divine
intervention perhaps!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
hold nothing against you personally in this regard, and wish to see some
closure, as accidents do happen, and it is time that the state takes some
responsibility for its haphazard treatment of its citizens, when there is abuse
of power, and shirking of responsibility as in this case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
look forward to a favorable response from you, as a human being, to do what you
believe is just and equitable in this situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Thank
you and best wishes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Yours
faithfully<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-10389674816280098742013-03-07T22:14:00.000-08:002013-03-07T22:14:03.864-08:00JAD Caralina Alwis – 27th January 1933 – 4th March 2013<br />
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">She
was at work till the day before yesterday! She was admitted yesterday, and died
today 4<sup>th</sup> March 2013. Funeral set for the day after tomorrow, 6<sup>th</sup>
March 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
is important to me on my personal blog to recognize the significance of the
above lady in the development of the farm I live in over a 40 year period.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">She
was a remarkable woman who had been widowed in her 30s prior to coming to work
on the farm that my father had, in 1973. She was a single mother with three
young sons, of 8, 10 and 12 to bring up, with little personal wherewithal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">As
was mentioned at the funeral she was able to raise these three boys, to be
pillars of the local business community of Godagama, where they live, in
various trades as the owners of their own businesses. Further raising these
boys with one going to Jayawardenapura University was a feat in itself, and the
closely knit family who now live almost next door to each other, is a testament
to a united family with wives and children, (also in University) something that
is rarely found in Sri Lanka these days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Though
her family were now economically in good health, she still chose to go to work
on the farm, to manage it and come every day of the week between 7.30am and
4.30pm is a testament to her dedication to her work, her love for the farm, and
her interest till the last moment on arranging new plantings and recently even
hosting a forum for Coconut Seedling cultivation group is an indication of a
rare quality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">I was
telling her sons at the funeral house how interested she was till the end about
farming, and new types of plant and planting techniques. I have collected all the
cuttings for the last few years from newspapers as it pertains to farming and gave
the file to her to read. She had gone through the whole file and had picked out
the relevant tidbits to implement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
were talking about a new variety of Goraka, and she also told me that all this time
she was planting the “kiri ala” a potato type legume, in the wrong manner, and that
she has now learned of an easier method. I said to plant as many of these in the
new system, as it is a very nutritious and if cooked well a delightful dish that
one can use as a breakfast meal. She had also started a new coconut seedling nursery
using good nuts for me to take to Polonnaruwa once they were of a size ready to
be replanted, an indication of what one can learn from an 80yr old farmer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">She
told her sons, that she would be bored at home, and enjoyed coming to the farm
about half km from her home, only latterly by a three wheeler, earlier she used
to walk to and from. She could boss the workers, sell the produce to those who
come to the farm gate, chat with her friends who turn up to buy a coconut or a
bunch of bananas. Her lunch was delivered to her from her home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Up
until last Saturday, Caroline, as I called her, came to the farm, sorted out
the weekly food basket my father takes home with him, along with his laundry
washed, and folded, and seemed perfectly well. The following day, Sunday, she
was not feeling too well, and did not come, and her family had taken her to the
local hospital, in Homagama (well equipped with modern facilities) and did not
seem too serious. She had a heart attack the next day Monday at around 11am
when she died, with less than 24 hours in hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Since
my return to Sri Lanka in November of 2004, I have used the farm as my
principal abode, and had close contact dealing with her, as she was the person
who ran the farm here, whilst I was travelling to and from Polonnaruwa on my
farming work, and then once I was unable to work due to my accident, was able
to take care of the daily routine on the farm till now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">In
Sri Lanka, for whatever reason when the final speech of thanks is made before the
casket is closed and taken for cremation, all those who assisted at the funeral
are mentioned. What is uniquely Sri Lankan is that all the names of the
politicians who paid their respects is also mentioned. IS that the reason they
come to funerals so the crowd gathered at the final rites hear the names of the
politicians? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Just
for the record, lest we forget! I shall just repeat the list; Ravi Karunanayake
MP, Senior Minister Fowzie MP, Leader of the Opposition of the Western
Provincial Council – Manju Sri Arangala who gave the final address, Gamini
Tilakasiri PC, Upali Kodikara PC, AD Kumarasiri PS the Chairman of the Homagama
Pradeshiya Sabha, and a sprinkling of other provincial councilors and
pradeshiya sabha members.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Caroline
had helped a struggling Pirivena in Sooriyawewa in the Hambantota area for many
years, arranging an annual pilgrimage from Godagama of a bus load to take gifts
and books and dry rations to the young Samanaras (monks in training some as
young as 10) of the pirivena. When they heard of her demise, the Chief Priest
brought over 40 of the trainees in their saffron robes to the funeral in a bus.
That was a memory one would not easily forget, as a token of their appreciation
for her efforts over the past many years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">I
would also like to mention one point to explain her dedication to her work,
where after she had gone on a day trip with her family and grand children to
Galle on 25<sup>th</sup> February, a Poya Day, as the 25<sup>th</sup> is
usually the pay day, she told her son that she must get back in time to pay the
wages, and so she had come by 3pm to the farm to pay the monthly wages to the
staff, before I dropped her in my vehicle afterwards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Coincidentally
I was sent a facebook quote today, which I copied below to give an indication of
the similarity of this lady to the mother in the quote, one can more visually understand
the struggle one must have had to bring up a family, with no husband for support,
to single handedly bring up three upstanding citizens who without doubt contribute
tremendously in their own way to the growth of this country’s economy and the neighborhood
we live in. They are all dedicated hardworking people who have instilled that in
their own children and no doubt the grandchildren will also remember the tower of
strength and unity that their grandmother had brought to their lives that they will
all surely miss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Thank
You Caroline for a life well lived, and an example to us all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">The
link is to a blog entry in 2007, where she organized a Kiri Amma Dana.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://rajaratarala.blogspot.com/2007/11/kiri-amma-dana.html">http://rajaratarala.blogspot.com/2007/11/kiri-amma-dana.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/MotivationalAndInspirationalQuote"><span style="color: #3b5998;">Motivational and Inspirational Quote</span></a><span class="hascaption"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One
young man went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed
the initial interview, and now would meet the director for the final interview.<br />
<br />
The director discovered from his CV that the youth's academic achievements were
excellent. He asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the
youth answered "no".<br />
<br />
" Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"<br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"My father passed away when I was one year
old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.” he replied.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">" Where did your mother work?"</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"My mother worked as clothes cleaner.”</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The director requested the youth to show his hands.
The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">" Have you ever helped your mother wash the
clothes before?"</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"Never, my mother always wanted me to study
and read more books. Besides, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The director said, "I have a request. When you
go home today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow
morning.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The youth felt that his chance of landing the job
was high. When he went back home, he asked his mother to let him clean her
hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her
hands to her son.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His
tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's
hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some
bruises were so painful that his mother winced when he touched it.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">This was the first time the youth realized that it
was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay
the school fees. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the
mother had to pay for his education, his school activities and his future.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">After cleaning his mother hands, the youth quietly
washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">That night, mother and son talked for a very long
time.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Next morning, the youth went to the director's
office.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes,
when he asked: "Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday
in your house?"</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The youth answered," I cleaned my mother's
hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">“I know now what appreciation is. Without my
mother, I would not be who I am today. By helping my mother, only now do I
realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done on your own. And I
have come to appreciate the importance and value of helping one’s family.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The director said, "This is what I am looking
for in a manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of
others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a
person who would not put money as his only goal in life.”</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">“You are hired.”</span><br />
<br />
<span class="textexposedshow">This young person worked very hard, and received
the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and worked as
a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-15181165795933683222013-02-18T20:51:00.001-08:002013-02-18T20:51:37.803-08:00Richard Briers – January 14th 1934 – February 18th 2013 – AKA Tom Good<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k_yoQvrg3bg/USMEwRopPoI/AAAAAAAACJA/zMmrYXALs-M/s1600/RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k_yoQvrg3bg/USMEwRopPoI/AAAAAAAACJA/zMmrYXALs-M/s320/RB.jpg" width="301" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">A
blast from the past Richard Briers has just died from complications of lung
disease. His endearing memory for me was in the Good Life which since its
inception for a 3 year series 1975 to 1978 was a TV series I followed with many
repeats subsequently and shaped my desire for farming and self sufficiency in
later life. Actually it was only 30 Episodes over 4 series only though and must
have been repeated over and over so many times, one loses count. I am sure the whole
set can now be purchased on DVD and no doubt one day I will settle down to watch
them when I am ready to reminisce!! It was a series I could watch many times
over with the same enthusiasm and he played a major role in its success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Penelope
Keith who he always delighted in rubbing up the wrong way, reinforced my
prejudices of what living in Suburbia and keeping up with the Jones were all
about, something I never wished to emulate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">I
therefore mention this and remember the personality as a significant affect in
my life overseas and contributed to my entertainment after a hard day’s work!
There is British Humor and more of it, but it was one I thoroughly enjoyed and
thank the producers for bringing such a memorable series to TV, which I feel is
lacking in today’s programs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Being
able to make fun of run of the mill lives and bring in color of life outside of
the norm, has been part of my lifestyle and therefore I identify with this
program more than many and Richard Briers was an unforgettable face of that
process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Of
course being out of that scene for so long, I had forgotten him and the
program, and when I saw more recent photos of him, I could not recognize the
person I had seen in those programs so long ago. That is a fact of life for
household names, where people remember them for the sitcoms that they acted in
and not the fact that like everyone we grow old and change in appearance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">The
whole series just revolved round 4 people, the other two being Tom Good’s on
screen wife Barbara, Felicity Kendal who had her own endearing personality (having
grown up and being schooled in India) and Paul Eddington more of the Yes
Minister fame rounding out the 4.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Thank
you Richard (TOM) for giving me so many evenings of laughter after weary days of
work and hours of driving home from places in different countries as it was also
syndicated in the US where I subsequently went to live in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com65tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-65953193109172565502013-02-13T05:37:00.000-08:002013-02-13T05:37:18.599-08:00Upali Wijewardene – plane went missing 30 years ago today<br />
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Whilst
there are many theories about what happened, the one I stick to is the one that
due to some malfunction in the Lear Jet he was in the pressure on the cabin
malfunctioned and all the occupants became unconscious until the plane ran out
of fuel as it was flying on autopilot and crashed into the sea. That is because
there were three subsequent instances when it happened to Lear Jets including
the death of a famous Golfer in one such incident.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">There
is also another theory that it was shot down by Indonesian missile mistaking it
to be unauthorized. However that too is compatible with my original theory,
that if it was being flown on auto-pilot with all on board unconscious, then it
is likely that it had strayed into classified airspace, and hence the shooting
resulted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">I
was in the UK at the time, working as a Chartered Accountant in London for an
international accounting firm, and recall being very upset about it and
relieved at the same time that my father who frequently accompanies him was not
on that flight at that time. My father would then have been 55, the same age I
am now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">More
than would be the case for others, Upali Wijewardene had a direct influence on
our lives, as my father was his financial advisor, and unlike many
professionals today, never invoiced/billed/charged him for his time and work, nor requested a
retainer. His accounting firm performed many of the Accounting and Secretarial
services at the time for the various group companies and coincidentally was Auditor of Kandos before Upali bought it. I remember going to the Kandos factory in Kundasale when I was schooling in Trinity, and used to come away with chunks of Chocolate courtecy of the then MD. That is another story.</span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">My father’s personality was and still is, of getting
enormous pleasure from anyone’s success, where if he was able to contribute to that
in some way, that was payment enough. No wonder his life has touched the whole gammet of businessmen in Sri Lanka, with Sir Chittampalam Gardiner being his first client, when he ventured out on his own around in the early 1950s and he has just retired at the end of January 2013 when he reached his 85th year having been an adviser to Ajita de Zoysa of AMW and Associated Electricals, but latterly of Union Bank fame. My mother being a more rational human
being, who was left to put food on the table, influenced Upali direct pay for
me and my brother’s boarding school education in England as much as a decade
previously. I know my whole annual school fees, boarding fees and incidentals
did not amount to more than 1000 pounds, per annum, it was still a lot of money
at the time, and my parents did not have that kind of money and in the middle
of the Sirima Bandaranayake regime where one required an exit permit to leave
Sri Lanka, was a luxury few people could indulge in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">In
those days whenever my father came to the UK with Upali, after their business
dealings in the City of London, (they always stayed at the London Hilton) and
attendance at races at Ascot or Newmarket they used to drive up to Cambridge
where I was at school and we would go to an Indian restaurant for a meal. Upali
went to Queens College, Cambridge and so we walked around the Backs and into
Queens on the off occasion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Sometimes
on their way to Newmarket for the races, or to meet Upali’s horse trainer,
Robert Armstrong, Susan Piggot’s brother, they would drop into Cambridge for a
short visit to see us, as it was only a few miles away and on route.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Robert
Armstrong trained Upali’s horses in the UK and Susan Piggot’s husband Lester
sometimes rode his horses. It was fun knowing that we had a Sri Lankan who
could indulge in these typically Upper Class British pursuits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Stories
are abound of both his audacity of thinking big and achieving the impossible,
but he also believed he would not live to a ripe old age, and therefore was in
a hurry to things others would contemplate for before beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">His
contribution as the First Director General of the Greater Colombo Economic
Commission will be remembered as the precursor to the BOI and beginning of
foreign investment in Sri Lanka that helped with the beginning of the economic
take off we have experienced in Sri Lanka since.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">It
would therefore be safe to say that, but for Upali Wijewardene, my life would
have been very different. I cannot say if it would have been better or worse,
but definitely not as varied and adventurous as it has been. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">I
knew the person more than many alive today, and he was a chain smoking effusive
personality who always found every incident a matter for a good laugh!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Just
for the record, I would like to mention the ties we have had to various
generations of the Wijewardenes, where my Grandfather HAJ was both an Editor of
the Ceylon Daily News, and the Observer for DR Wijewardene’s Lake House working
directly under the big man, whilst my grand aunt, HAJs elder sister was married
to the DR’s eldest brother. In turn in the next generation, my father Upatissa
worked with Upali for very many years. In turn I am now with DR’s grandson
Ruwan Wijewardene MP as a coordinating secretary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">None
of these things in life are planned or predictable, and they happen by chance.
However these chance encounters are for purposes which we cannot foresee and
only time will tell after the fact on its consequence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">I
am sure that Upali will be looking at us today and having a great laugh at the
unpredictable outcomes of peoples and personalities he left behind, and hoping
that one day a Wijewardene would again have a profound positive impact on the
prosperity of Sri Lanka in the foreseeable future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-85116488781741407092013-02-12T19:45:00.001-08:002013-02-12T19:45:13.532-08:00An appreciation – Asanka Mudalali 1953 – 2013<br />
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">We
go through our life and meet people, who become our friends and others who
though never become personal friends, where one would invite them for a
party, are nevertheless part and parcel of one’s life, sometimes more genuine than friends. This was the case of
Asanka Mudalali, whose real name I only read on the banner when I arrived to
pay my last respects. Today is his funeral at the Godagama Cemetery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">He
would have been 60 in September, but on February 9<sup>th</sup> he got into a
smaller vehicle of his, went to the Moragahahena area near Horana, parked his
vehicle and went into a nearby forest took some poison and killed himself. He
must have wriggled in pain while the poison worked itself in the body, as was
seen on the marks on his face touched up. His body was discovered a day later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Over
25 years ago, he had a small Austin lorry and he transported the remains of a
dismantled house on Dickman’s Road to my farm from which part of my and many
homes in the area were built, by my father’s generosity of giving people doors
and windows with frames, roof tiles and whatever that could be of use if people
wanted. At that time he was the only man in town with a lorry in the area who
we could rely on for such transport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">He
was a self made man, who through sheer hard work built himself a thriving
hardware business, and tippers and heavy machinery for transport of soil and
building materials. He expanded his shop, purchased adjoining land and across
on the High Level Road about half KM from the Panagoda Army Camp. He managed to
marry his two daughters off, with the assets he was able to settle on them, and
brought up a son, who turns out to be a wastrel, indulging in most of life’s
indulgences, from alcohol, tobacco, gambling and seems to have wasted a small
fortune along the way. We do not know the real reason he committed suicide, but
I suspect most of it had to do with the son, and his wasteful ways, constantly
having to pay up to retrieve vehicles and pawned goods from the bailiff. Interestingly
he was not to be seen around at the funeral house, preferring to be inside in a
room, unable to face the stream of visitors from far and wide, and when I went
between 10pm and 12pm there were over 150 at the house at the back of the
store.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">He
was always humble, and one could see him shoveling sand into his tippers a few
days before his death, and whenever I passed his shop, and saw him at the
counter from the road, never failed to stop and have a chat, and buy something
I needed be it just a adapter plug or a tape measure. Recently, I was in the habit of assuring him that our nightmare political situation will see a transformation and a new dawn, and he always wished me well in my new endeavors. I always assured him right will eventually triumph over wrong and one just needed a little patience. I just think his patience had just run out.</span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">I had anyway in the past
purchased all my building materials from him when I built my shop and did
various renovations and repairs around the house, and over the years could have
topped a million or two. However he was always very reasonable with his prices,
as compared with his nearby competitors, and he never failed to fetch an item
he did not have in his shop from elsewhere asking me to come in a few hours to
pick up. There was NEVER a question for me as to who I would go in the first
instance if I needed any building materials or hardware store items. I am now in a quandary as I know there will not be the same pleasure in doing business there anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">So
sitting at the funeral house, talking to people from the area, his generosity
and assistance seem to be legendary. Many were those who related instances of
him giving items at cost, and even though there was a board clearly saying not
to ask for credit, did in fact give items on credit on a nod, not on a note
book we had to sign off. His personality seems to have touched so many people,
which I do believe even his family were probably unaware of. I think it is that
streak in him, that was a genuinely nice personality that endeared him to so
many and helped in get such a regular clientele.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Many
were the instances he would say he did not carry the particular item, and asked
us to go to the competitor close by, where we knew we would be gouged, but he
had the stuff! Interestingly when I was there his competitor came to pay his
respects, looking very upset, but I wonder if he realizes how much business
Asanka sent him!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Then
the local three wheel driver was telling me, how a few times, he sent him on
his three wheel, to get some items for customers, because he had run out of
them, and he had sold the items to the customer, at prices lower that what the
three wheel driver had bought them for, not even taking into account the three
wheel hire that had to be paid for going to purchase the item out of stock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">With
these stories talked about by the locals, his death at such a young age, where
he seemed quite hail and hearty full of energy and life, has come as a shock to
the community. I think we are all in shock, and I took three of my staff that
night to the funeral house, and how they had individual stories they had to
relate, as they all knew this man personally. One of them did confirm that he
had said how much trouble his son was to him, and how he has helped get him out
of many financially damaging instances. The son’s friends are all friends when
alcohol flows freely. They seemed strangely absent at the funeral house though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">His
wife, like him is a simple and modest lady, and I trust she can cope with this
loss, with the memory that he touched so many people, and hope it will inspire
more to his genuine human qualities that are fast disappearing in today’s world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0f0f0f; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">May his soul finally Rest in Peace and may he travel in his journey towards the Ultimate bliss unhindered from worldly matters.</span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-40124278386129793742013-01-01T01:58:00.001-08:002013-01-01T02:01:09.466-08:00Wishing all my readers a new year 2013 where your individual goals, hopes and aspirations will come to fruition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6q8t4Hzjd_o/UOKwZu3Gs8I/AAAAAAAACIY/z5t-PcFXCbk/s1600/P1010031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6q8t4Hzjd_o/UOKwZu3Gs8I/AAAAAAAACIY/z5t-PcFXCbk/s320/P1010031.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">As is traditional, we began our day in the office, (New Years Day is a normal work day in Sri Lanka - despite the infamous New Year's Eve Parties that this country is quite infamous for!) with the boiling of cows milk in an earthenware pot on a fire made of twigs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is traditional that events such as a new year, a house warming and new beginnings begin with the boiling of milk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The photo shows us lighting the fire and one shows the boiled over milk and the final one shows the staff of the office here in Borella.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I wish my readers that they also achieve their goals and aspirations set for the year, and it turns out to be a fulfilling one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E74muK9e-UA/UOKwSCKQsHI/AAAAAAAACIQ/nA84LoyZZDY/s1600/P1010001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E74muK9e-UA/UOKwSCKQsHI/AAAAAAAACIQ/nA84LoyZZDY/s320/P1010001.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">I know I have not been blogging in this blog as I used to, but have more than made up for blogging in my related blog of <a href="http://www.kalpanakaranna.blogspot.com/">www.kalpanakaranna.blogspot.com</a> which has included my opinions on subjects of the day, and have drawn a fair degree of debate and discussion, which I believe is for the best.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KMo39K7IcVo/UOKwf7zrgRI/AAAAAAAACIk/0nxGjbFNLdI/s1600/P1010042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KMo39K7IcVo/UOKwf7zrgRI/AAAAAAAACIk/0nxGjbFNLdI/s320/P1010042.JPG" width="282" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">I will attempt to blog a little more of my life here in this blog, and make the time required so to do.</span></div>
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<br />
<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-77535880457928491212012-12-01T10:00:00.000-08:002012-12-02T06:41:37.697-08:00Nothing goes according to plan, especially if you have too many!<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
has a structure to one’s life, and hopes, as time progresses. It is according
to some plan. However, many unforeseen events take over and ruin some of the
best laid plans. Often a serious accident calls for a rethink of a strategy and
that was one I encountered, that completely changed my course of action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
was happy growing, going to homes in villages buying what I considered unusual
items such as wild oranges from trees and transporting them and finally selling
them to my customers. It was fulfilling, rewarding but very tiring and
extremely strenuous as much of the work was done by me personally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
unexpected accident on January 30<sup>th</sup> 2011 completely put paid to all
that. My whole way of life completely changed. Not even having the only vehicle
I possessed as it was condemned, and the insurance proceeds were not sufficient
to even remotely consider a replacement, meant I had to quickly figure
something else to do, to keep bread on the table. Independence disappeared!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
was fortunate in being asked to take on a new career in enabling a young
politician with his work, and have now put all my energies in fulfilling his
political ambitions, whilst at the same time taking some of the flack directed
at him, and trying my best to perform under often trying circumstances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
job is the art of the unexpected. Whilst agriculture was also the art of the
unexpected weather, growing conditions, diseases, unpredictable harvest and
price, this was of unexpected requests for assistance in unexpected quarters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
job has turned into a social service project, aimed at not disappointing people
who come for assistance, but who often ask for the impossible. It is all about
juggling people’s expectations and when it is practically impossible to
fulfill, ensuring that it is not your boss who the blame is directed at, as it
is not his fault.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just
to quote one example, people believe it is only politicians who can fulfill the
desires of those who wish to enter their kids into certain schools. There is
very little one can do, as even when the relevant politician is approached, he
signs a letter asking the local education officer to take note of the request. The
education officer who handles it is the one making the decision, not the
politician or minister of education, as the parents believe. So, all the best
laid plans come asunder with this sort of expectation going unfulfilled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
is therefore how one leads one’s life that is important, and in doing so reduce
the obstacles in one’s way and grab hold of the crutches that help in achieving
one’s objectives. It is always humans who are the biggest obstacles, and also
humans who can theoretically contribute to one’s fulfillment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many
would argue with that last statement, saying one must learn NOT to depend on
anyone, and remove all desires from one’s mind. Well chum that is not me and
that is not my philosophy. I know what I want, and I will try to get it without
grabbing or forcing by making someone else uncomfortable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
short I am still in search mode, I am still finding myself, and I am not still
in that theoretical utopia of life. For those who don’t know me, I do not have
kids, and neither am I married, so I am not carrying any weight with me and
onerous conditions that I have to fulfill. This permits me to go for work, at
5am and get back home by 10pm and not feel I have deprived someone else of love
and affection or duty. I can therefore comfortably commit the time, to the best
extent of my physical constraints.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
lack of a companion to share one’s thoughts and the pluses and minuses of one’s
day is a source of angst. I have yet come across any who would suit the bill
even in a compromising way where one has to meet one’s desires halfway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
put it down to the strange multi country outlook that is open, and critical,
not hidden, and accepting anything goes. We can ask for what we want and we can
give what we can, and we need to balance both of these with a suitable person
who feels the same way. It is a need of equals. When one gives more than he
receives not of the same, but on balance, the imbalance will not provide a long
term solution, and instead lead to grief before long. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
is the latter attitude that deters the numerous possibilities put forward as a
solution. Of course it goes without saying that the instant mutual attraction,
a hoped for ideal has not happened and may never happen, so the compromise
referred to above is the alternative and so a compromise balance that is
needed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
huge hike in the cost of living in an apartment in Colombo meant the biggest
adjustment made in the year was to reduce one’s abodes by one, moving back to
the relative calm of the farm, with the resulting cost and time of commuting
daily from there, and contending with the traffic, meaning an early start is
all one can do to avoid the stop start traffic nightmare; something I thought I
was free of, and not to be repeated! On balance it was the right decision in
the long term and adjustments will be made to make this the most practical solution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-29352280792101669062012-11-30T05:33:00.000-08:002012-12-02T05:33:59.431-08:00Eight Years and Counting – a good chunk of life!<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
is now eight years since I returned to Sri Lanka, after 33 years living
overseas, 18 in the United Kingdom, and 15 in the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There
are so many who consider a return to their roots at some point in their lives,
but cannot summon the courage to do so. It is the security of finances, an opening
to return in case things don’t work out, and a better quality of life that they
look for as compared with what they currently have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Very
few return to Sri Lanka on account of their children, because they wish to
educate them on a value system that is different to that in the host country
they currently live in. What does that say about their confidence in the system
they left behind? Simply that they are concerned that the standards, morals,
and way of life is deteriorating, and not better than their host country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If
one lives in Sri Lanka one is exposed to a high degree of finger pointing to
the big bad West intent on exploiting our people. However the reality is that
people line up to get away from Sri Lanka for innumerable reasons, and are
willing to pay exorbitant sums, selling everything they got, as well as borrow
as much as they can to do so to any one of those big bad Western Countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
I look back on my decision to return, my main desire was for a new life, which
I could start afresh, not an extension of a previous life, not a better life or
any form of retirement. That I have experienced all this in huge amounts is an
understatement. I believe I have documented numerous instances in this blog,
and the related blogs about my new experiences and frustrations, but they are
all new to me. That is the distinct difference in my outlook, experience and
looking back on the very serious and risky decision I took.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
first shock was the Tsunami which struck within 4 weeks of returning and the attendant
horrors, post tsunami clean up and scramble to share the spoils, a very
unseemly process that both Western and Local people engaged in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
did not come back with money, I had even closed all my bank accounts. I did not
plan for a quick exit if things did not turn my way, I came back and that’s
final. There was no looking back just forward, and I really did not know what
to expect. As I just noted, I was not returning to familiar territory, it was
to completely strange surroundings that I turned to, to new acquaintances, and
to call them friends I would have to be sure I could rely on them in times of
need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
latter was shattered when I had my accident and people I thought I could trust,
took what was left after the floods in Hingurakgoda, had washed away part of my
belongings two weeks previously. So much for good neighborliness!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
lesson one learns is in a society where people expect something free, they all
think that they are the most deserving, and taking something from someone they
think has more, is not considered bad! You pick your friends from those who
never expect, and are grateful for what they have or are given.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
am asked what I consider myself to be. After all when I returned, I had lived
more in England than I had in Sri Lanka. I lived independently and so I was not
exposed to a Sri Lankan home or culture there. So I lived as one of the Host Country
and appreciated everything that country had to offer, and did not harbor a
prejudice against the people living in either the UK or USA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Therefore
I am a product of these three countries, not particularly purely of one. It is
an advantage to be this way, as one can appreciate the best of three cultures as
each has good and bad traits that one can measure using one’s own experience of
immersion. In that I feel fortunate, as it is a privilege not open to all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
don’t have a great desire to return to either of the countries I left, mainly
because of my economic circumstances, and would not be able to make the most of
a trip to do what I like. After all there are a few things I would do and buy
if I was there, and if one is unable so to do, there is no point in making the
journey just for old time’s sake. That said all my ambitions, goals and desires
have turned inward to Sri Lanka, and in that respect it is a manageable route
to keep focus of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
new life post accident has been traumatic, with the loss of much of the
independence I took for granted, and I have still to recover completely from
its effects, and disabilities, not an easy process, but one I try to forget with
the work I am currently engaged in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
have not intentionally forgotten many of the friendships I made in those years,
but have realized that keeping them going with just email exchange does nothing
for mutual fulfillment. I always tell people check on my blogs, but lately I have
not been good at keeping up with my activities here, and only adding to my thoughts
in my related blog <a href="http://www.kalpanakaranna.blogspot.com/">www.kalpanakaranna.blogspot.com</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: TA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hopefully
in 2013 I will try to document interesting events during the year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-34385663664685810442012-10-18T06:41:00.000-07:002012-10-18T06:41:40.579-07:00Time is something we must have control of – that is if I can have 48 hours for a day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL3ayBzZXdc/UIAGpk_3NZI/AAAAAAAACGE/PpzmZAkgdfo/s1600/DSC_0388.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL3ayBzZXdc/UIAGpk_3NZI/AAAAAAAACGE/PpzmZAkgdfo/s320/DSC_0388.JPG" width="279" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Hours, days and months keep passing.
There was a time I had time for blogging, to take photos, and include them in
the blog from time to time in a relevant piece. It seems a very sought after
item these days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">As time gets tough, the tough get going
and I have had to cut down on some as the need arises. So I reduced my abode’s
by one moving out of the apartment on Gregory’s Road, at the end of August and
moved back onto the farm, to commute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Not having had a vehicle at my disposal
since the fateful day in January 2011, when my only mode of transport was mowed
down by the Justice Minister’s convoy, it has been difficult to get about and
see whoever I wish to see. I am dependent on lifts and the whims of drivers. I
hope to have the use of a set of wheels shortly, but am not sure when that will
be. Perhaps before the end of the month, I hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">On a day such as this marooned in the
office at 7 pm, after a days work, waiting for the rains to cease, before I
attempt the public transport commute back to Godagama, I decided I would spend
the moments fruitfully blogging a few notes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Thanks to the walking stick the trek by
bus is bearable, as I have got a seat each time but once. On the journey from
Polonnaruwa, I had to stand all the way overnight by train once as the young
karate forces team needed to rest on seats! Sights and sounds of public transport,
the tight squeeze, the almost dangerous exercise of getting down, hoping the bus
will not take off until I have both feet on terra firma are parts of the daily grind.
Even worse the three wheelers that decide the journey to the farm is one, they will
not undertake as the road is broken up is probably the worst prospect each evening.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">My leg is still not OK and needs more time
to get back to normal, despite my attempts at believing relief is round the corner.
It has its off days, but I have to work almost every day due to various commitments
and the days do get long as a result. The variety and the different circumstances
is what makes it interesting. Much of it is meetings in different parts of the country
and sometimes a day has six or seven different types of events, from laying a foundation
stone, to attending various ceremonies, danas, lunches and rallies, to meetings
and even musical evenings as part of the required diet, making for a return from
duty after midnight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The date with the blog is what suffers in
the above routine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-23061382995138259692012-10-02T05:24:00.002-07:002012-10-02T05:24:56.334-07:00Siyane Golden Star<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WXDA4lggKNU/UGrb-AiuRfI/AAAAAAAACFI/-eYEeVGsnRE/s1600/DSC_0410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WXDA4lggKNU/UGrb-AiuRfI/AAAAAAAACFI/-eYEeVGsnRE/s320/DSC_0410.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Golden Star in the Center with the joint second place on the right and the third on the left</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Amateur Singing Competition held at the Delgoda Public Grounds on Friday 28th September 2012</div>
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<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VKi1fV9L5v0/UGrcCacUwaI/AAAAAAAACFQ/e9xtSX2skKk/s1600/DSC_0367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VKi1fV9L5v0/UGrcCacUwaI/AAAAAAAACFQ/e9xtSX2skKk/s320/DSC_0367.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Joint Second placed stars receiving their award</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iJxuURJiEzk/UGrcHpa7KaI/AAAAAAAACFY/RyzPdTIQ7MM/s1600/DSC_0129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iJxuURJiEzk/UGrcHpa7KaI/AAAAAAAACFY/RyzPdTIQ7MM/s320/DSC_0129.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Dancing Group with one of their performances</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2xsIe8_EeYM/UGrcLVU-IXI/AAAAAAAACFg/Ed4myJw9Q04/s1600/DSC_0044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2xsIe8_EeYM/UGrcLVU-IXI/AAAAAAAACFg/Ed4myJw9Q04/s320/DSC_0044.JPG" width="197" /></a></div>
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One of the bevy of helpers and runners! Hemamali from the office</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dhyv8kNHsks/UGrcOSGaLUI/AAAAAAAACFo/RmlHGax5q2Q/s1600/DSC_0271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dhyv8kNHsks/UGrcOSGaLUI/AAAAAAAACFo/RmlHGax5q2Q/s320/DSC_0271.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The other helpers organized by Maduri</div>
<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-51251950005612185412012-09-01T08:40:00.001-07:002012-09-01T08:40:28.001-07:00A weekend of campaigning in Polonnaruwa<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NLzEA9kGNQk/UEIsDU2nMJI/AAAAAAAACEc/e_ZeftzV2f8/s1600/P1000348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NLzEA9kGNQk/UEIsDU2nMJI/AAAAAAAACEc/e_ZeftzV2f8/s320/P1000348.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I am now
unabashedly political, defending the direction and objectives of the party and
believe the most important part is to impart one’s opinion to those who really
matter in the context of attempting to change the system for the better. It is
the traditional UPFA voter who needs to be talked to and convinced that they
are being taken for a ride.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What better
place to do this than in the electorate I happen to live in which is Minneriya?
It was the electorate that gave the President the highest percentage vote of 78%
(of all electorates in the country) and which has suffered the most in the recent
catastrophe to hit the peasant farmers, namely the bad water management. I have
my little cabin there and my agricultural property that I struggle to keep
against numerous odds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So it was an
interesting exercise when a bunch of people from all parts of the country, all
of whom other than two colleagues in the office, who I did not know, and were
willing to give of their time and commit two or three days to a cause they
happen to believe in and who were willing to come of their own free will, cost
to an unknown destination to meet another set of unknown people and go
canvassing on behalf of candidates who none of them knew. To me that is what I
call really committed, and I hope they will one day be rewarded for their
efforts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7bofTtCbg4M/UEIsGWUvzzI/AAAAAAAACEk/GlHdNg-rM3Q/s1600/P1000378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7bofTtCbg4M/UEIsGWUvzzI/AAAAAAAACEk/GlHdNg-rM3Q/s320/P1000378.JPG" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The results from
the limited number of homes we visited were very encouraging. We went too far to
reach homes that had never been canvassed by any party or anyone. So they were actually
pleased to see people from other parts of the country canvassing for their votes.
It was surreal to hear the explanations of many of the people of the conditions
they live in and the trials they have had to undergo recently. Not one person was
willing to defend the record of the government. I am sure there are those who will
vote for the administration, but fear to say so, but that in itself is encouraging,
as previously they would have batted for MR with more vigor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dpyShugISpM/UEIsJZ7WtgI/AAAAAAAACEs/Wagr_oVTbL8/s1600/P1000381.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dpyShugISpM/UEIsJZ7WtgI/AAAAAAAACEs/Wagr_oVTbL8/s320/P1000381.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It was an interesting
time, and Saturday, the road show of the UNP came to the village at 11pm though
the appointed time was 6pm and at that late hour Sajith Premadasa took to the mike
and sang for a crowd of 100 people who had stayed up that late, when bed time is
8pm usually.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-7112147738042606002012-09-01T08:12:00.000-07:002012-09-01T08:12:00.037-07:00If I was in a three wheeler I would have been dead meat!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MxVL2-ijplc/UEIk9YiYGHI/AAAAAAAACD4/xH6nd9ram6I/s1600/kantha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MxVL2-ijplc/UEIk9YiYGHI/AAAAAAAACD4/xH6nd9ram6I/s320/kantha.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7r6LFYnn_Q/UEIlENfl6xI/AAAAAAAACEA/dqY362lrrtw/s1600/three.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7r6LFYnn_Q/UEIlENfl6xI/AAAAAAAACEA/dqY362lrrtw/s1600/three.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In Yesterday’s
Island paper (August 31<sup>st</sup> 2012) there was the caption of an MP’s
security vehicle (why does an ordinary run of the mill first time MP need a
back up security jeep?) having collided with a three wheeler and a young lady
lost her life with a host of others injured. </span><a href="http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=60477">http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=60477</a></div>
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Whilst
facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/lankaenews">http://www.facebook.com/lankaenews</a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">said that
the MP was in the vehicle that was involved and was quickly spirited out of the
vehicle. He is a wealthy man, and a first time Polonnaruwa District MP for the
UPFA, and it would be a shame if he is trying to get out of being implicated,
and worse not taking any responsibility for the incident.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is for the reader
to determine which is the more believable, and I hasten to add that the Island has
turned into a Govt. mouthpiece with occasional balance, rather than a balanced paper
with the occasional Govt. slant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The reason I
point this out is that I was also the victim of a similar incident not too far
away from the place of this particular one on the same road a few kilometers
apart. I would have been minced meat if I was in a three wheeler and am
thankful at least I was in a Tata Cab. To date there is no assistance from the
culprit Cabinet Minister to come up with anything considering the huge cost
that accident has claimed on me, which only I know and it is now over 20 months
on, still hobbling!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The lack of
justice in these circumstances where the driver of the Land Rover Defender will
have to face legal proceedings, and a small fine placed on him with the MP
footing it would be all the victims family can hope for. The real culprit is
the system that permits the speeding vehicles to act as if they own the roads,
and the system must compensate the family of the victim for at least the value
of the human life lost. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If this is not
done, there will be NO care taken in the convoys speeding across the country
and people continue to die on the roads uncompensated and just become another
statistic in their lengthy list of horrors on the road. Until there are just laws
to deal with such gross acts of savagery on the roads without impunity by the VIPS
of the administration we will never be classified as anything but a Banana Republic
with a Happy Banana to rule over us and not serve us!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-21525057615655164722012-06-08T11:22:00.002-07:002012-06-08T11:22:48.138-07:00An evening courtesy of the Norwegians<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6gQ_-z6dfg/T9JCipDNZHI/AAAAAAAACDA/cumvQdJBqvQ/s1600/ims.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6gQ_-z6dfg/T9JCipDNZHI/AAAAAAAACDA/cumvQdJBqvQ/s320/ims.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">I wondered what
I would do this evening after a day’s work. I opened my email at 5pm and had an
invitation for a Norwegian musical evening at the British School by a Norwegian
friend from the 60’s, Arne Fjortoft. I called him immediately at 5 and said I
will come. I got the best seats!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I did not have a
vehicle to take me home to change and shower, so I walked over to the venue
from my office about a hundred meters away and met a mutual friend and sat with
him. I Chatted with Mano Chanmugam, who I had not met in decades, and exchanged
pleasantries before settling in to an enchanting evening of music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I was hoping for
some Norwegian folk songs from the three musicians but instead was treated more
to their version of English language American country music, and then the soul
sounds of Soundarie David Rodrigo really got it going with a selection of old
well known soul music and sprinkling of pop music from her female choir of 20.
It was the first time I had heard them and was pleasantly surprised at their
talent and they also sang together with the Norwegian trio for a while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Soon after, I
went to the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence which is right opposite where I
live. I was the only guest who lived so close to the cocktail party venue. I
chatted with many I knew like Bhavani from CPA and Ismeth’s wife and many I
introduced myself to who knew of me, like Sanjiv Gardiner and Jehan Mendis, a
relative, Orania and Mohan’s son who I was introduced to by Bhavani and only
then realized who he was as I had met his mom earlier when I was walked up the
stairs to the show. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Talked to
artists, diplomats, and avoided the political types like KJ and Dayasiri,
Sumathiran, Nimal Siripala and the NGO types like Jehan Perera, Pakiasothy and
the Pafferel guy and a host of likeminded. Chatted with the host’s husband who
was returning to Oslo in a week and the Ambsassador herself was leaving in a
few weeks, after a record 6 years as deputy and then head. Her position will be
filled by another lady.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The food and
wine was great, and I only sampled the cheeses at the end, before walking
across the road, home about 10pm. The music was a three piece jazz type band to
keep things humming along. These places sure do pack out with a motley
collection, all talking nonsense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-51207612786839283292012-06-05T04:28:00.000-07:002012-06-05T04:28:20.832-07:00A break in the dry zone – a worthy place to spend some time <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"> </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0yOYFCCtGdE/T83sY3YOpSI/AAAAAAAACCk/PqxpW0FeLJs/s1600/P1070133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0yOYFCCtGdE/T83sY3YOpSI/AAAAAAAACCk/PqxpW0FeLJs/s320/P1070133.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Getting the most
of a 4 day break, even while taking public transport is an opportunity to savor
some quiet tranquil moments, even though it was interspersed with the
occasional socializing and chats with friends and neighbors which forms part of
one’s circle in these desolate parts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Ratmale, while
in the wilderness is not too far away from the center of town in Colombo. I
left Gregory’s Road at 4 am on the 1st, calling a cab, and which came to the
gate in 10 minutes. It was a Rs300 cab ride to the Private bus stand at Pettah
and then onto an intercity bus to Minneriya costing just Rs230 for a one way
ticket. It is a very pleasant time to travel with little traffic on the roads, and
cool to beat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x9vSs6luhcY/T83sfUZwidI/AAAAAAAACCs/9y8mqfmyqMk/s1600/P1070132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x9vSs6luhcY/T83sfUZwidI/AAAAAAAACCs/9y8mqfmyqMk/s320/P1070132.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I could have got
off at the Minneriya (Railway) Station Handiya to take a Rs150 three wheeler
ride to my property, but I went on and got off at the town, as I needed to get
supplies for the few days stay. So technically using public transport I could
be at my place at 10am the latest having left Colombo house at 4am and if I had
caught the earlier bus that had just left, I would have been here an hour
earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is the windy
season, and there is a cool breeze that blows due to the tank by the property
as well as the two ponds in front of the verandah, where I am typing this. There
is no requirement for a mosquito net, and at nights a covering sheet is in
order to keep out the excessive blowing. I sleep in the verandah which is open
on 3 sides so I maximize on the wind blowing from all sides. The windy season
in these parts are generally from May to October, and I recommend this time as
the best time to be here to relax and unwind from the daily pressures of city
or working life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The abundance of
bird life makes it all the more eventful, especially if you are an avid birder.
Today comes to an end, a visit to the temple next door decorated today as it is
Poson Poya, and then onto Gal Oya Railway Station riding pillion on the back of
a bike sans helmet, to take the express train at 11pm to be in Colombo fresh
for work in the morning!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NTk-isjA0xA/T83skFLy6GI/AAAAAAAACC0/MTb2LlVaRTA/s1600/P1070135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NTk-isjA0xA/T83skFLy6GI/AAAAAAAACC0/MTb2LlVaRTA/s320/P1070135.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The lack of
transport ensured a more relaxing time. I was also able to spend time at the
property and discover all the little things that need to be attended to. There is
still a lot of work to furnish, but just for my relaxation, the place is
adequately equipped and that can happen in stages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The photo above is of the lush paddy fields of the village which are fed from the stored waters of the local village tank adjoining my property, the Ratmale Tank.</span></div>Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-41274272061068169822012-06-02T03:58:00.000-07:002012-06-02T03:58:07.935-07:00The love-nest for a newly married couple – or is it just a mud hut?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mgWEEehVHbE/T8nwlSuJhfI/AAAAAAAACCI/WCyiarR-zgA/s1600/P1070111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mgWEEehVHbE/T8nwlSuJhfI/AAAAAAAACCI/WCyiarR-zgA/s320/P1070111.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 19px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I was invited to
a wedding of a close associate of mine, in Hingurakgoda, whose runs a small rice
mill close to my agricultural property there. The wedding photos are in the
previous blog entry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is considered
normal for a man in this area to get married before they reach 25 and the girls
before they are 20. I do not know the reason, but I fear parents do not want
their children to go astray and often it is they who encourage early marriage.
Often the age difference between the young couple is barely a year, and some
associations are made in the school itself. Here very few make it to
University, a normal method, where marriages are delayed due to higher studies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UasUzZdf2Co/T8nxARYL1XI/AAAAAAAACCQ/YUWpYP6Eyrw/s1600/P1070112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UasUzZdf2Co/T8nxARYL1XI/AAAAAAAACCQ/YUWpYP6Eyrw/s320/P1070112.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is also worthy
of note that many who get married at a young age, are not sufficiently mature,
and many of the men are still in their flirtatious stage. It must be noted that
as I write this, my boy who is 19 has just been thrashed (while I was writing
this entry) by the father of the girl he had an affair with in the village here
in Ratmale, where I am at the moment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">She is 17. It
was not my place to intervene, and he took the blows, without beating up the
older man in turn. It is the way parents get it off when such an incident
happens, without blaming their daughter also for the association. By the way
she is gated, not allowed to go to school anymore, which is a worse sin for
this association from which she has no chance of bettering herself. Now tell me
when the girl discovers the Dad has just beaten up her boyfriend, she will be
more determined to pursue a dead beat relationship, than if the parents allowed
them to associate in their presence when both would finally give it up. So who
is the fool?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Anyway to get
back to what I was writing, the newly married couple will be living in the main
house with his parents. So in the end of the property on the other side of the
paddy fields that surround it, the father has built a cosy hut, I went there
yesterday to relax in an easy chair in the shade. It is quiet and with the
windy season in full swing in the area, a clear breeze blows with the sound of
rustling leaves a perfect spot for privacy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: .75in; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0d5PnZMh-9k/T8nxFwxHGqI/AAAAAAAACCY/XvAWwfPcWJQ/s1600/P1070113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0d5PnZMh-9k/T8nxFwxHGqI/AAAAAAAACCY/XvAWwfPcWJQ/s320/P1070113.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is a charming
property well tended, a right little ranchette with about 3 acres of paddy to make
it whole. No wonder those in Rajarata live like kings sometimes, even though in
terms of assets they posses very little.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com108tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-40593226817641692822012-06-01T22:33:00.001-07:002012-06-01T22:33:56.447-07:00Garden party Nuptials 'at home'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1MgT-r4uzYo/T8mhrn0mhVI/AAAAAAAACBU/QWZLfrCIw2A/s1600/P1070121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1MgT-r4uzYo/T8mhrn0mhVI/AAAAAAAACBU/QWZLfrCIw2A/s320/P1070121.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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I attended the Garden Party 'at home' at the home of the groom today. He is the owner of the Rice Mill where I have for many years milled my paddy, before I bring it to my customers fresh the following day. Most of that activity has had to be in abeyance since my accident and this boy Hasantha insisted I come to his wedding.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DAE5_WFCfFM/T8mh62mq49I/AAAAAAAACBs/Inf6t0BUZJI/s1600/P1070117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DAE5_WFCfFM/T8mh62mq49I/AAAAAAAACBs/Inf6t0BUZJI/s320/P1070117.JPG" width="221" /></a></div>
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The main celebrations were at the Giritale Hotel the previous day, and there were about 250 guests at his home today for a lunch time buffet lunch at his parents home which will also be his home as a couple.<br />
<br />
He is 22 and his bride 20, and if one looks at the photos one would realize that the Polonnaruwa District lasses unlike the puny Colombo ones, are quite nourished, living on three square meals a day throughout with the bulk of it being white rice!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rrlJZWtob_I/T8miH96-1sI/AAAAAAAACB8/CHDjwfmrZ3s/s1600/P1070101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rrlJZWtob_I/T8miH96-1sI/AAAAAAAACB8/CHDjwfmrZ3s/s320/P1070101.JPG" width="147" /></a>The photos are of the couple during the day. They had the obligatory videographer and the live band as well for the event. Despite a power outage in the area, they were even able to get an emergency generator to ensure the proceedings went off smoothly.<br />
<br />
Like in all weddings, there was a corner reserved for the gentlemen to indulge in their tipple, to which I was directed for much of the morning, where as the time went on, the talk grew more and more incoherrent not on my part I might add.<br />
<br />
It was very creditable, for this boy, when I see so many young people his age or older, without any direction, to have decided to take on the rice mill at the Kotelawala junction and make a go of it. He even uses by products as fuel to par boil the paddy when he make the par boiled rice for sale in his mill.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b3iHDWcFpV0/T8mhzjCDFKI/AAAAAAAACBk/TMuPeq2V-Lw/s1600/P1070120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b3iHDWcFpV0/T8mhzjCDFKI/AAAAAAAACBk/TMuPeq2V-Lw/s320/P1070120.JPG" width="253" /></a>It shows what one can do if one really puts one's mind to it. I believe the wedding was completely financed by his earnings as his bride is not of any financial means to assist in this regard.<br />
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<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-62348582849407947652012-05-13T10:37:00.000-07:002012-05-13T10:37:27.221-07:00A Sunday in the life of a working MP!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t_KnGwA9p-4/T6_r_Oqu-OI/AAAAAAAAB_4/cr4CkX3xhCA/s1600/P1050877.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t_KnGwA9p-4/T6_r_Oqu-OI/AAAAAAAAB_4/cr4CkX3xhCA/s320/P1050877.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Sundays are usually the busiest days of a working MP who has both to husband an electorate and as is the case now due to the preference voting system, has to travel throughout the District to ensure that people know him in the whole area, where he can expect to garner votes at an election.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">For the Gamapaha District MP, today we had allocated to the Ja Ela constituency, to go around with two local, one Pradeshiya Sabha and another a Provincial Councillor to go about distributing items.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3QOc-l8KyiA/T6_sE3NKkvI/AAAAAAAACAA/QkT9JKmNMYQ/s1600/P1050893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3QOc-l8KyiA/T6_sE3NKkvI/AAAAAAAACAA/QkT9JKmNMYQ/s320/P1050893.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The first stop was at a fairly large Sunday School, of over 900 students namely at the Deepaduththamarama Purana Vihare in Nivandama, where 5 steel desks for the school were given as one is shown in the first picture. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The second was giving a water tank to a very small, you can see all the students above, of a Sunday School that is held in the open for lack of any buildings. It was one of the smallest temples around with a great need for improvements, and this was one that requested a tank for storing water both for the school and the priest.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rANaC-S0QjU/T6_sHkuDbuI/AAAAAAAACAI/FpPlZvKrBgg/s1600/P1050895.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rANaC-S0QjU/T6_sHkuDbuI/AAAAAAAACAI/FpPlZvKrBgg/s320/P1050895.JPG" width="314" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Then it was off to a small Catholic Church to give them some chairs for the school, and also to be shown where they were hoping to build a few rooms as the Sunday School is currently held under the trees in the garden surrounding the church.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfMivwItves/T6_sL5-VUvI/AAAAAAAACAQ/8AsAqXEUzjY/s1600/P1050928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfMivwItves/T6_sL5-VUvI/AAAAAAAACAQ/8AsAqXEUzjY/s320/P1050928.JPG" width="296" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">We then proceeded to a Baptist Church which was over 170 years old, to which we also gave chairs as shown in the photo above.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wy3aAW9iPeE/T6_sQGNuWoI/AAAAAAAACAY/YU3rydeTu4o/s1600/P1050932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wy3aAW9iPeE/T6_sQGNuWoI/AAAAAAAACAY/YU3rydeTu4o/s320/P1050932.JPG" width="288" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">After we were hosted to a scrumptious lunch by Mr Ranjit Govinna, a teacher at St Benedicts College, Colombo, we spent the afternoon giving sports equipment to sports clubs in the area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The photo above shows some boys holding onto the equipment they had just been given and photo below shows, a carrom board at another place where the local kids can play.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Then there was the obligatory funeral house of a long standing party supporter, who had died at a ripe old age, and it was good to show solidarity with a faithful supporter even after his passing.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z1qTRfE8v60/T6_sVU_PZfI/AAAAAAAACAg/wh8V6dYllyA/s1600/P1050948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z1qTRfE8v60/T6_sVU_PZfI/AAAAAAAACAg/wh8V6dYllyA/s320/P1050948.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">After a further gift of a volley ball, and cricket bats and balls at two other places, see photos below we were able to get out of the area by 5.30pm. It was there fore a long day since 9am.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The day was not over yet as we had to get back to the constituency for a series of wedding invitations, and funerals.<br />The day ended when I got back today Sunday the 13th of May after 10.30pm</span><br />
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<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-29762416741192138352012-05-10T04:39:00.001-07:002012-05-10T04:39:55.448-07:00The Vesak that I missed, is that really Vesak or a show of entertainment?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-awGZLj-JG2s/T6umqiUh4ZI/AAAAAAAAB_M/2EMszcUM17Q/s1600/P1050739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-awGZLj-JG2s/T6umqiUh4ZI/AAAAAAAAB_M/2EMszcUM17Q/s320/P1050739.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;">When
I snuck off to Minneriya over the Vesak holidays, people asked me why, as I
would miss all the light shows in Colombo. Living on Gregory’s Road which
completely lit up with lanterns as there is a Temple just up from where I am
and then right along Wijerama is also lit, to say nothing about Bauddhaloka
Mawatha, which is just a flash of light along and across like you have seen
nothing yet!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Then
to the Town Hall, and Nelum Pokuna decorated for the first time, and then walk
along to the Gangarama, and Sirasa and Beira area and it is just a carnival of lights
with thousands of people from all over converging to see the lights and the
Vesak lantern competitions, where the first prize is an expensive motor
vehicle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Each
year these Vesak Lanterns get even more sophisticated, and the show gets more
widespread with the lights around the Beira incredible with its gaudy cacophony
of colors, and quantity to dazzle anyone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSw2ywGu4Q0/T6umvcaQ9aI/AAAAAAAAB_c/vhvr0Xk1eag/s1600/P1050593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSw2ywGu4Q0/T6umvcaQ9aI/AAAAAAAAB_c/vhvr0Xk1eag/s320/P1050593.JPG" width="226" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If it is all part of
the massaging of the minds, to forget our daily hussle to feed our families,
then I suppose it achieves the objective. If it is to remind the people of the
true significance of Vesak, then where I went to was more real here was
surreal! We had a sow dansal in the village and a few local small events,
whilst the line of Minneriya Army camps provided us with the Vesak Lantern competition
which drew crowds from around, all in tractor loads bursting at the bulges with
humanity. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bh79waVPOao/T6unhLcEljI/AAAAAAAAB_k/_b5GpbeJBB8/s1600/P1050594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bh79waVPOao/T6unhLcEljI/AAAAAAAAB_k/_b5GpbeJBB8/s320/P1050594.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;">It
reminded me of the irony, where now Trishaws can only carry 3 people at the
back, and so soon the 20 people packed in a trailer of a hand tractor to see
Vesak will also be a thing of the past. So let us enjoy it while it lasts!</span></span><br />
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">There
is no small amount of money spent to make this show, and it is pure
entertainment for the masses and I cannot think it means anything more. The
time and effort for the few days of show, is a huge commitment by all those
engaged on the various projects of building the pandols and lanterns. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I
wonder considering the hunger, more Dansalas and less light, would probably
save a few hungry bellies this Vesak season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;">Even tonight, that is the 10</span><sup style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;">th</sup><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"> of May I can still go and see some of the lights here and there, but I do not have the urge to see a display of extravagance when there are more issues to be concerned about. It is a kind of escapism of the mind to take our minds of daily events to indulge in this but when the state constantly tells us they do not have the funds and that we must tighten our belts through this period, it does not tally with the huge amounts of money being spent on this spectacle.</span>
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<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-72694294357254241862012-05-09T23:59:00.002-07:002012-05-09T23:59:37.891-07:00The overnight train from Gal Oya Junction to Fort<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--gPm5Yln7bU/T6tjXhtploI/AAAAAAAAB-Q/QvEpqNll10Y/s1600/P1050587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--gPm5Yln7bU/T6tjXhtploI/AAAAAAAAB-Q/QvEpqNll10Y/s320/P1050587.JPG" width="221" /></a></div>
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<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I stayed a few nights over Vesak (4<sup>th</sup>- 7<sup>th</sup> May) at Ratmale residence near Kaudulla National Park.(<a href="http://www.ratmale.blogspot.com/">www.ratmale.blogspot.com</a>) I was without transport. I was confined to my house. I am still unable to walk without feeling stiff with the elbow crutch!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">On
reflection the enforced stay was a great relief, as I could sit on the rocking
chair on my verandah and watch a splendid show of bird life pass me by, all
unexpected and a thrill. The pied hornbill was the best in show this time, as
he came every day and sat on a tree eating fruit from place to place almost in
front of me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9zvJnwFTAGo/T6tjgcAK0qI/AAAAAAAAB-g/PhYmYt3k5-c/s1600/P1050559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9zvJnwFTAGo/T6tjgcAK0qI/AAAAAAAAB-g/PhYmYt3k5-c/s320/P1050559.JPG" width="251" /></span></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-au9pJ0MpLKo/T6tjcTww_UI/AAAAAAAAB-Y/NS4tbGA_FdI/s1600/P1050588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-au9pJ0MpLKo/T6tjcTww_UI/AAAAAAAAB-Y/NS4tbGA_FdI/s320/P1050588.JPG" width="222" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The
regulars, like the Serpent Eagle, and the Fish Owl, along with the smallies,
like the paradise flycatchers, four varieties of kingfisher along with barbets,
woodpeckers, oriols, and numerous small finches to eat the jam fruit from the
trees all added to the interest of sitting and taking all natures wonders in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">With
my verandah open the birds fly right through it, and when we include the
butterflies, dragon flies and other flying insects there was a constant
display.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It
was the first time I had stayed so long here and I must say I enjoyed every bit
of it and was sorry to leave. I had to use public transport to get back the
toss up was taking the faster bus, but catching it in Hingurakgoda to get a
seat as the Minneriya Station junction, the closest point in the main road
would mean a tight squeeze in. The second choice was taking the slow train
catching it at Minneriya or the faster express catching it at the Gal Oya
Junction and I opted for the latter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">After dinner at a very close farmer friend who is also a neighbor, I was taken in a trishaw by two friends who are both park rangers at the Minneriya National Park the whole distance of about 5 km to the Station about 15 minutes away.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The train was late the 11pm coming in at Midnight. They only sell the tickets once the train leaves Hingurakgoda station, I do not know why. Anyway each ticket was Rs400, though the ticket itself has Rs220 stamped on it. So I hope I was not overcharged for the second class ticket.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">We got to Fort at 6am on the dot so the train made up all the lost time. I was fortunate to get a seat as the train was full, with people getting back to work after the long weekend. It was the Batticaloa Express to Fort. I nodded off to sleep from time to time so I do not know all the stations it stopped at but unlike the ‘thapal train’ which stops at over 20 stations I think this was about 7. Palugaswewa, Kekirawa, Maho, Kurunegala, Polgahawela, Gampaha, Maradana.</span></span><br />
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<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-72368681423023519302012-05-05T09:04:00.001-07:002012-05-05T09:04:34.452-07:00Vesak - Bucket Lanterns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6VOi6sAiN54/T6VL-S_VZxI/AAAAAAAAB98/Si9KzZJvR9g/s1600/P1050519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6VOi6sAiN54/T6VL-S_VZxI/AAAAAAAAB98/Si9KzZJvR9g/s320/P1050519.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HR3KRI6cfwA/T6VLaHoKmII/AAAAAAAAB90/dzmYWPOEGJs/s1600/P1050517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HR3KRI6cfwA/T6VLaHoKmII/AAAAAAAAB90/dzmYWPOEGJs/s1600/P1050517.JPG" /></a></div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fq0FWDOxRpY/T6VME65JsAI/AAAAAAAAB-E/yMg8lbkj9PU/s1600/P1050520.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fq0FWDOxRpY/T6VME65JsAI/AAAAAAAAB-E/yMg8lbkj9PU/s320/P1050520.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Today is Vesak Poya and as part of old traditions, we usually make a lantern to hang outside the home or we also make and set up some bucket lanterns with candles inside for effect. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So we had to arrange the lanterns carefully as they are rather crudely made, so that we need to ensure the candle does not make the lantern burn.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It is for that reason mainly that the use of the traditional burning lantern is not used,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">We purchased the lanterns and just put it together putting the wires to hang them and the candles inside and carefully lit them and then hung them on a jam tree outside the verandah over the pond.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I am in my property in Ratmale Minneriya, and so we had to improvise a lot as we do not have power here and it is all lamplight living.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The photos are those of getting the lanterns ready and then hung on the trees around the place. They obviously only light up as long as the candle lasts, which is about an hour and so we stuck to tradition, which does not result in a permanent light show that the electrical colored lights would give.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Nevertheless it was a way to spend the evening before popping over next door to the temple to see what was happening there.</span><br />
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<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-57665825798261492772012-04-29T08:58:00.001-07:002012-04-29T08:58:50.196-07:00When it is time for others to retire some only begin their next phase<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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55 going on 25 with nephews to add to the chorus<br />
<br />
My sincere thanks to all who wished me for the day. I am off tonight on a bus with 55 of the NYF to Jaffna for the May Day Rally.<br />
<br />
A busy day in the office, coupled with socializing in between with relatives and friends. It is all part of the mix of life when there is seamless movement from one to another, just as it should be. A long night ahead and a wake up somewhere past Vavuniya for a dip in a tank before lunch! We are taking our cooks with us a right vandanava it will be.<br />
<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-61198566661044211562012-04-25T23:30:00.001-07:002012-04-25T23:30:20.289-07:00Avurudhu Festivals a wonderful tradition – especially at the rural village level<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Szou7-J99Xw/T5jnBcgXckI/AAAAAAAAB7s/1dC2PPb_6oU/s1600/P1050393.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Szou7-J99Xw/T5jnBcgXckI/AAAAAAAAB7s/1dC2PPb_6oU/s320/P1050393.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This
unique tradition of the “Avurudhu Uthsavaya” of which there must be 1000’s
dotted all over the country in the month of April has evolved from the rabana
drumming to the musical. I am really looking forward to the day, I can revive
the rabana with the ladies in the cloth and jacket, and make that a must have
event. I attended numerous avurudhu events this month, many this year in the
Western Province had to contend with the rains coming at the least expected
times, playing havoc with the scheduling which in the best of times can be
tricky!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;">One
common feature today, which I do not concur with, is the stage that is set
along with the sound system, and the usual DJ or even better, Band that is now
part of this tradition. I must confess I am a little bit of a traditionalist and
wish to include more of the games and competitions of the past. The cost of an
event balloons due to these new additions, otherwise just as much fun can be
had by all at a much lower cost. For example the average village fair, stage
varies from Rs10K to Rs20K. The sound system another Rs5K-10K depending on the
sophistication, (remember this is just for one day’s event in a village open
space) The cost of a band can vary between Rs25K to Rs200K for one evening, and
it seems to be a matter of pride for a village to have a band, the next best is
a DJ. </span></span><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oBThTbeYsL0/T5joK-viEEI/AAAAAAAAB8E/5uQHOiGBGws/s1600/P1050417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oBThTbeYsL0/T5joK-viEEI/AAAAAAAAB8E/5uQHOiGBGws/s320/P1050417.JPG" width="231" /></span></a><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CwWoSP9sWp8/T5jo2i5g_iI/AAAAAAAAB8M/B7DpvUzicbo/s1600/P1050391.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CwWoSP9sWp8/T5jo2i5g_iI/AAAAAAAAB8M/B7DpvUzicbo/s320/P1050391.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; text-align: justify;">I
attended many events this month, and one common feature that irks me is the
sound. It is just too loud and distorts the music, and the speeches. It is
possibly because the electronics is also not the best at these price levels for
local hire. The sounds, and music and stage are all businesses which specialize
in these events, and charge accordingly as it is a time there is heavy demand
for such during a short period of time.</span></span><br />
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_epQHR5RBC0/T5jpDzG3YFI/AAAAAAAAB8U/DqYdu6GNPnc/s1600/P1050401.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_epQHR5RBC0/T5jpDzG3YFI/AAAAAAAAB8U/DqYdu6GNPnc/s320/P1050401.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I
was also surprised how few of the lasses of today compete for the Avurudhu
Kumari titles and Kumaraya, latter ones which are usually only for the small
ones. These are random observations in the Western Province, and I trust the
more rural the area, its subtlety and earthiness is greater.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #F6F6F6; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">One
common feature is the incredible variety of the games, that permits everyone a
chance of participation, be it in axe throwing for males, running on one leg,
fancy dress or some other ambidextrous activity. The other is the array or
prizes on offer, from push bicycles, electrical standalone fans etc. and the
prizes are liberal so that everyone has a chance of getting something. I have
not mentioned the marathons and bicycle races that cost a lot to sponsor which
are usually the purview of the bigger festivals, and draws people from a wider area.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-15151246317202573352012-04-15T05:03:00.014-07:002012-04-15T05:39:46.445-07:00A special day of activities in Minneriya<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tbJ_ZVgXIPc/T4q9YWnXA6I/AAAAAAAAB6E/ya7kNrfhQOU/s1600/DSCF0055.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 346px; height: 336px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tbJ_ZVgXIPc/T4q9YWnXA6I/AAAAAAAAB6E/ya7kNrfhQOU/s400/DSCF0055.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731601701867553698" /></a><br /><div>The children presenting flowers for the traditional offering</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>On April 1st we had a packed day of events in Minneriya beginning with a daham pasala (sunday school) of 400 students studying under the trees in Nagalakanda Minneriya, with few school rooms to study in. It was a magical setting and I would recommend anyone to go there on a Sunday morning around 8am to see this awsome sight of so many children in traditional white, sarong or lamasari, for themselves.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9f_hFjR7eNg/T4q9NJ-3aKI/AAAAAAAAB54/0AazuvjGzqs/s1600/DSCF0066.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 361px; height: 336px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9f_hFjR7eNg/T4q9NJ-3aKI/AAAAAAAAB54/0AazuvjGzqs/s400/DSCF0066.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731601509497923746" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>We gave packs of exercise books to these kids</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IjsPZn-Sc4E/T4q79UJpleI/AAAAAAAAB5s/hrDmM2vN83k/s1600/P1050141.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 303px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IjsPZn-Sc4E/T4q79UJpleI/AAAAAAAAB5s/hrDmM2vN83k/s400/P1050141.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731600137837975010" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>The next was another Sunday school this time at Akkara 70 close to my property in Raja Ela, Hingurakgoda. This was a new temple a few years from construction for the new settlers and the priest has done wonders in a short time to bring about a cohesive village.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ycqLyObhUGM/T4q7vGrcqMI/AAAAAAAAB5g/pAx2zTdelFI/s1600/P1050147.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ycqLyObhUGM/T4q7vGrcqMI/AAAAAAAAB5g/pAx2zTdelFI/s400/P1050147.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731599893703469250" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l_sLuATzcFw/T4q7P7nUR4I/AAAAAAAAB5U/hXwBYeMi0jo/s1600/DSCF0097.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l_sLuATzcFw/T4q7P7nUR4I/AAAAAAAAB5U/hXwBYeMi0jo/s400/DSCF0097.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731599358157408130" /></a><div><span><u><br /></u></span></div><div><span><u>Sunday school certificates were distributed</u></span></div><div><span><u><br /></u></span></div><div><span><u><br /></u></span></div><div><span><u><br /></u></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IqLBO8Tcj4w/T4q65dD0uCI/AAAAAAAAB5I/-YGOkXr2jd4/s1600/DSCF0101.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 253px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IqLBO8Tcj4w/T4q65dD0uCI/AAAAAAAAB5I/-YGOkXr2jd4/s400/DSCF0101.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731598971998353442" /></a><br />We also gave 25 chairs for the children at the school</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>One of the girls giving us a dance performance</div><div><br /></div><div>The MC was a girl of around 12 who took full charge of the proceedings a very admirable and unforgettable experience.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JcC3gmnNvBw/T4q6qhGZr0I/AAAAAAAAB48/10wIaP6Pl6E/s1600/DSCF0103.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JcC3gmnNvBw/T4q6qhGZr0I/AAAAAAAAB48/10wIaP6Pl6E/s400/DSCF0103.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731598715384868674" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>A smattering of the parents and well wishes who participated</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o5MhW-Xcmpk/T4q6eFhUFrI/AAAAAAAAB4w/rVvhT3x1ky8/s1600/DSCF0003.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 336px; height: 352px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o5MhW-Xcmpk/T4q6eFhUFrI/AAAAAAAAB4w/rVvhT3x1ky8/s400/DSCF0003.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731598501823125170" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div> We then went to a Sunday school cum school in the Middle of the forest in Ilukwewa near Sigiriya which also falls under the purveiw of Minneriya, Here one of the students lights the traditional lamp</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ati8Fx75OhM/T4q6M5xfRVI/AAAAAAAAB4k/y6ABZg1Yz9E/s1600/P1050186.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ati8Fx75OhM/T4q6M5xfRVI/AAAAAAAAB4k/y6ABZg1Yz9E/s400/P1050186.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731598206611965266" /></a><br /><div>Every member of the whole school were given a pack of 4 exercise books, the first time anyone had come here for a long time to give them anything. They have to fear elephants each and every day as all the parents are farmers who have been recently settled here.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8LG-Asz0rjY/T4q6AuCfBaI/AAAAAAAAB4Y/-GPQUmn_VkU/s1600/P1050176.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 330px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8LG-Asz0rjY/T4q6AuCfBaI/AAAAAAAAB4Y/-GPQUmn_VkU/s400/P1050176.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731597997303596450" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>The Students entertained us with a dance upon arrival</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rN-v8tx9wbM/T4q5zERNtII/AAAAAAAAB4M/YG2z7GqMZ58/s1600/P1050191.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 305px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rN-v8tx9wbM/T4q5zERNtII/AAAAAAAAB4M/YG2z7GqMZ58/s400/P1050191.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731597762752787586" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>Another traditional dance in keeping with the harvest season</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GCTLCE5MlHU/T4q5lQzTNwI/AAAAAAAAB4A/CRtNZdQZghk/s1600/DSCF0036.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 336px; height: 363px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GCTLCE5MlHU/T4q5lQzTNwI/AAAAAAAAB4A/CRtNZdQZghk/s400/DSCF0036.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731597525598811906" /></a><br /><div>We then went to a farmer village and met with farmer families who related their issues with being able to find a reasonable price for their produce. They were given some Chillington Crocodile Mammoties</div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OrMniBywbEU/T4q5ZKkW8VI/AAAAAAAAB30/-J-lQ72f704/s1600/DSCF0039.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 398px; height: 336px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OrMniBywbEU/T4q5ZKkW8VI/AAAAAAAAB30/-J-lQ72f704/s400/DSCF0039.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731597317767098706" /></a><br /><div>There was a meeting in the Hingurakgoda town where local people came and we also gave sports equipment to some sports clubs which are starved off equipment to play sports in the evenings and weekends.</div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3sS9thWf15c/T4q5IkwVyqI/AAAAAAAAB3o/lkYZW5XocHI/s1600/P1050205.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 345px; height: 336px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3sS9thWf15c/T4q5IkwVyqI/AAAAAAAAB3o/lkYZW5XocHI/s400/P1050205.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731597032738900642" /></a><br /></div></div>Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-33094047857602261682012-04-14T09:14:00.006-07:002012-04-14T09:26:25.775-07:00Medirigiriya - a recent visit<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ftac2l3nzqA/T4mjoOPKAeI/AAAAAAAAB24/3tUbk7nbsmo/s1600/DSCF0072.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ftac2l3nzqA/T4mjoOPKAeI/AAAAAAAAB24/3tUbk7nbsmo/s400/DSCF0072.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731291912217428450" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vWF6pbpNgyY/T4mjdGha34I/AAAAAAAAB2s/anjuIk3tR6Q/s1600/DSCF0032.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 308px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vWF6pbpNgyY/T4mjdGha34I/AAAAAAAAB2s/anjuIk3tR6Q/s400/DSCF0032.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731291721167986562" /></a><br />On March 3st 2012 we went around Medirigiriya, first to the famous Watadage, which was deserted, and without even a watcher or guard to protect this famous and valuable site of an ancient Monastery.<div><br /></div><div>We then had a meeting at one of our active members homes, where we distributed Chillington Crocodile Mammoties to a Farmer organization and then after lunch there visited two two temples in the area, giving them small chairs to both for the Sunday school children.</div><div><br /></div><div>Three samaneras at one of the temples are who we see here to the right<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hs12XFYX3Pk/T4mjLaoMLGI/AAAAAAAAB2g/rIxyHfV__hk/s1600/DSCF0025.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hs12XFYX3Pk/T4mjLaoMLGI/AAAAAAAAB2g/rIxyHfV__hk/s400/DSCF0025.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731291417327447138" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ee6Tdf6UDfo/T4mjBh62xAI/AAAAAAAAB2U/K9f3GvwhmOc/s1600/DSCF0030.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 329px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ee6Tdf6UDfo/T4mjBh62xAI/AAAAAAAAB2U/K9f3GvwhmOc/s400/DSCF0030.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731291247486092290" /></a><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-td0AumxdZJo/T4miyHRSvII/AAAAAAAAB2I/ox-Zo5O-eck/s1600/DSCF0009.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-td0AumxdZJo/T4miyHRSvII/AAAAAAAAB2I/ox-Zo5O-eck/s400/DSCF0009.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731290982634404994" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EyOAI2YhOIw/T4midLYWilI/AAAAAAAAB18/x45eHxlEZqE/s1600/DSCF0102.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 315px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EyOAI2YhOIw/T4midLYWilI/AAAAAAAAB18/x45eHxlEZqE/s400/DSCF0102.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731290622960503378" /></a>The Chaithya of the Temple above is unusual in that it is built around the two floors, with the glass round the top floor covering the inner sanctum.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The hostess at the event greeting us and who made us feel welcome at the event, along with a very tasty village meal for all who came.</div><div><br /></div></div></div>Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1043699434821911553.post-73387149590825203092012-04-13T10:12:00.004-07:002012-04-13T10:24:30.283-07:00The New Year Dawns – a time for reflection<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q9Jcsi6fQmA/T4hg_3sxAaI/AAAAAAAAB1w/hEzIv9Iv0AA/s1600/DSCF0075.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q9Jcsi6fQmA/T4hg_3sxAaI/AAAAAAAAB1w/hEzIv9Iv0AA/s400/DSCF0075.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730937176228692386" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><p style="text-align:justify;background:#F6F6F6"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;color:#444444">I wish all my avid readers and the occasional itinerant a very blessed New Year filled with fulfillment of your personal goals and aspirations.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p style="text-align:justify;background:#F6F6F6"><span style="font-size:14.0pt; color:#444444">The auspicious time of 7.20pm on Friday 13<sup>th</sup> April 2012 was when the New Year dawns. It is usually on April 14<sup>th</sup> but this year, I think due to the leap year it came a few hours earlier and was 13<sup>th</sup> night. It was just marked by the ear shattering sound of fireworks all around me. I was more concerned for the welfare of the dogs as they usually get very agitated at the sound of fireworks. I guess it is a traditional sign of something to remember by and the lighting of the hearth time was 7.42. At least I have a hearth in my kitchen, in a separate building next to the house, which uses firewood here on the farm, though I also have a gas cooker in the pantry. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify;background:#F6F6F6"><span style="font-size:14.0pt; color:#444444">Unlike the traditions with no family here to partake in the rituals, I decided to spend the last few hours typing a document on suggestions for improvement in the higher education sector, namely the state one, as I believe the private sector can take care of itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify;background:#F6F6F6"><span style="font-size:14.0pt; color:#444444">We in Sri Lanka are fortunate, in that the 1<sup>st</sup> of the year as well as Sinhala New Year gives us two cracks at the cherry. I am confused when combined with Hindu New Year and not Tamil. Why is one based on religion and the other by a race? I guess those waiting to have a dig at SL will use this as a point, so let us just call it Tamil New Year and be done with it. I googled and in Tamil Nadu they celebrate Tamil New Year, so it is NOT Hindu as Sinhala chauvinists would like to call it!!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify;background:#F6F6F6"><span style="font-size:14.0pt; color:#444444">For me it is a time to spend a few days on the farm in Godagama, catch up on my laundry, time with the dogs, and generally recharge for the next innings.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify;background:#F6F6F6"><span style="font-size:14.0pt; color:#444444">I have received so many greetings by way of texts. This form of greeting has taken over from the traditional cards. Then when one goes into facebook there are numerous New Year cards inserted by people all with traditional New Year looks but except for the girls serving at Food City, I find it hard even at this time of year to find anyone wearing the Redda and Hatta. Despite the fireworks, which signifies any event, it is not the same as the traditional attire at New Year, one of the Hallmarks of our culture, is absent. Let us toast to a revival of that please!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify;background:#F6F6F6"><span style="font-size:14.0pt; color:#444444">I just heard the fireworks again, this is the 10.28pm calling for the tradition of partaking in the first meal for the new year. I have no photos today, and will instead put a few photos taken on April 1<sup>st</sup> when we were giving kids at three different Sunday schools in the Minneriya electorate books, chairs and certificates.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TCe9fzUZwYI/T4hg0SV0fFI/AAAAAAAAB1k/uUuqjgd16Kc/s1600/DSCF0062.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TCe9fzUZwYI/T4hg0SV0fFI/AAAAAAAAB1k/uUuqjgd16Kc/s400/DSCF0062.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730936977221778514" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g8aa1SPpbUA/T4hgq_A7UCI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/os8UKp8Fu9w/s1600/DSCF0094.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g8aa1SPpbUA/T4hgq_A7UCI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/os8UKp8Fu9w/s400/DSCF0094.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730936817415049250" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PDzV8tmTAmc/T4hgfYKcJZI/AAAAAAAAB1M/jVgWXh3wuLw/s1600/DSCF0007.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PDzV8tmTAmc/T4hgfYKcJZI/AAAAAAAAB1M/jVgWXh3wuLw/s400/DSCF0007.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730936618007405970" /></a>Rajarataralahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12458863668453807819noreply@blogger.com4