The week that was

A typical view of village Sri Lanka, my neighboring fields taken on Friday 30th November 2007

We are almost in December 2007. Time has really flown. I have had to hold the fort at Raja Ela as Sudath my man Friday there has had to go to his village to sort out a major personal problem as his wife who has just returned from the middle east after four years, does not want to be with him anymore.Her excuse is that he has taken another woman, and I know for a fact that in the past three years he has worked for me there has been no evidence whatsoever of that. So he has made police entries trying to forbid her from going back as the children are with his wife's family, and he at least wants custody of them as he is the only parent in the country, but the wife's family who are dependant on her for their well being want to pack her off at whatever cost so they can live off her and blame him for non existant indiscretions! and use the excuse of taking care of the kids as the reason for her going.Anyway so much for that I can do little to solve his problem excapt that I need him desperately as I have to transplant my paddy next week at the latest and have to prepare my fields. I spent a whole day myself weeding my bandakka beds as otherwise I may not be able to salvage that. So there is an awful lot of work to be done in the fields with not much time left.

I returned to Godagama yesterday with coconuts and rice. For those who know prices here, a coconut now retails for 40/- and the 5 varieties of rice I brought are as follows. My Rosa Kekulu samba that now retails for 60/-kg by Rathu Kekulu Samba which is also 60/- and my par boiled red samba that retails for 65/- a kg.I then brought Sudu Kekulu Samba that retails for 60/- and Sudu Cora Nadu which retails for 55/-. All this amounts to over 60% increase in the space of two months which is unbearable for the majority of this country who survive on three rice meals a day and is very much their staple. Bread of course has gone up more and with a coconut also a staple in the diet for both curries and sambol, I do not know how one lives.

My calorific intake is barely 1000 a day and with my bottle of fresh milk a day I am able to survive on what I grow.

All the fields in Sri Lanka are beautiful now fully planted with rice and I hope there will be a bumper harvest this season so the prices will become more affordable. I did allude somewhere as to one of the reasons for the price increase, and it is shameful how a few can take advantage and get away with such behaviour unpunished. Why not they are government ministers who no one dare criticise.

SK Subasinghe the JVP MP for Polonnaruwa has made the criticism in Parliament, but as they have no clue how business and oligopolies work, don't seem to attack the problem in a solvable way, as his criticism sounds more like sour grapes and jealousy rather than one which can clearly show conflict of interest, and therfore illegal as opposed to just profiteering from opportunism.

Must dash, King Coconut delivery in Colombo on Saturday and then more king coconut searches around Meegoda for Monday delivery. Then Saturday afternoon to Kitulgala, to Paradise Farm, to review operations and this time actually walk around the 90 acre estate to get a better understanding of what is grown and what more can be practically done soon to improve revenue; returning Sunday night.Back to the 7 day treadmill.