"My Reality" this year is one of extreme hardship

I have been asked numerous times to update this blog as my traditional readership has now left this site due to inactivity. You all know that my Dream turned into a nightmare on January 30th 2011 and I am yet to recover from it. In fact the bad fracture that I had at the accident, has yet not set properly, and I am entering the National Hospital tomorrow, hopefully to be operated on Wednesday morning, as I require a bone graft to help me along in the healing process.

After this there will be usual recovery and rehab which will effectively put me out of action for the rest of this year. I wont have access to a computer from tomorrow, so I will be out of touch with the world for a while.

Since the accident, most of my agricultural activities had to be curtailed. Much of the produce being sold on site for a fraction of what I could get if I was able to market it myself, and further due to the lack of responsible people to oversee the operations, I have incurred significant losses and so decided to let someone else farm the paddy lands for a share.

Just to illustrate the point, my mangoes are falling off the trees in their thousands, or being eaten my the monkeys, as it is hardly worth selling it on site. I had a person bring me 350 mangoes by bus the other day, and I distributed them to friends and family within an hour of their arrival. However the cost to me for their transport was not even covered as I gave away everything. In the days I was delivering and selling I would have received at least Rs30 per Mango. So that is the reality. I have a waiting list for the bees honey, but I have to go and pick it up, as I don't trust anyone with the purchase or transport. These are all the issues.

My vehicle was a write off in the accident, and I am currently living on the proceeds of the insurance for the vehicle, how I am going to get back on my feet is something I will confront when I can walk. I am told that now I should sue the Ministry of Defense as the police vehicle that crashed into me and was uninsured belonged to the Ministry of Defense. They are building a Rs20B headquarters for the Army but would fight tooth and nail to give me a dime for their negligence. If only you knew how the driver of the vehicle was treated you would not want to confront them. He lost his job, and was asked to pay Rs400,000 to repair the Police vehicle that crashed into me. The driver tells me the brakes failed and that is why he could not control the vehicle that ploughed into me.

Of course it is 7 weeks since the Minister, whose convoy was the cause of the accident came to see me, but despite many reminders he seems to be ignoring the issue hoping it would go away.

I have kept myself very busy these days and try not to worry too much of the current disability, but after I return to normal will have to re asses my options to be more practical in what I do, as I will no longer be able to carry king coconut bunches(around 25 nuts per bunch) up three flights of stairs single-handedly which I could before the incident!

Bear with me, and trust me there will be even more interesting stories to tell in the future. In the meantime try and obtain some level of consolation from my writings in the other blogs, some of which are quite controversial, but then why have an opinion if one cannot express it?

Thanks guys and gals for your patience and understanding. We have to face life's challenges in whatever form they are thrown at us and make the most of the circumstances.

Is it ever too late to apologize?

It was the 30th of January 2011 when my life completely changed, as a result of an errant security vehicle of a cabinet minister, losing control and ploughing into me in Minneriya. It was just a few minutes ago that Rauf Hakeem the Minister of Justice of Sri Lanka, left my apartment on Gregory's Road after having spoken to me for the first time since the incident. Actually I believe he only came because an aunt of mine having heard of my incident, knowing him well confronted him and scolded him like a pickpocket for his callous disregard for responsibility.

What could I tell him? I just had to give him a brief history of myself, and explain that what I had achieved by sheer hard work over a long period of time just disappeared in a moment, with no glimmer of hope on when I could resume some element of it. I said that he as the Minister of Justice should ponder on the justice of this, as I was not begging for anything from him, but some sense of self respect.

I also informed him of the latest bad news where the surgeon not happy with my slow progress suggested I have a bone graft to speed up my recovery, which would entail a further recovery period of not less than 5 months. All this means nothing to him who was more concerned has lost his backup vehicle. Well does he need a back up vehicle anyway? to backup what I may ask.

I am sorry but my regard for people in power lost a few more notches, as I realized this pathetic figure would be hard-pressed to find a job as a security guard in a foreign country, and he was instrumental in meeting out justice in this country. A sad state of affairs!If he was walking down Gregory's Rd on his own I don't think anyone would even notice him, and hence need for security just to get noticed. It is interesting that even the gate keeper on being told by the security that they were police and the minister wanted to meet me was non plussed, wanting more information on his credentials. I hope the police got a sense of their self importance thinking that providing security to them does not mean much to even lesser mortals.

I told him, a political turncoat, I had never accepted a bribe in my life, and would never want to for the rest of my life, having worked hard for everything I have. (for those who don't understand why I refer to him as a turncoat, is because he got elected from a group which he then abandoned, and it appears took money to change sides and join the government with a promise of a cabinet post.)

So what next? I know not and he left with the parting words of " lets see if I can do something. "

An enforced TIME OUT or Recovery from atrocity coming to an end

These past few months have been life changing, difficult and frustrating and I do see some light at the end of the tunnel as the physical healing process is noticeable . The lack of transport to go places and get things done has also meant a big financial loss to me in the agricultural field as well, and something I had not expected or bargained for.

The insurance proceeds for the loss of the vehicle finally came through nearly 3 months after the accident from my insurer, but that hardly provides 50% of the funds necessary to purchase an alternative vehicle leaving me in quite a quandary as to what to do. I will not be able to drive for a further three months rendering a further question of how to get along till that time.

I use the tuk tuk mode of transport, to take the dogs to the vet, go to the bank and the basic shopping. I have been unable to go to outside physio, being on the farm, these past few weeks. When I go to Colombo in a few days, I will have to recommence that, by either home visits or rely on some transport from family to get to the hospital for such therapy.

In the meantime, it is the IPL (Indian Premier League Twenty20 Cricket) on the local channels, as I don’t have cable to keep me occupied in the evenings and sorting out other matters during the day.

There was the Royal Wedding too, on my birthday, which surprise surprise was telecast live on Rupavahini, the main state Channel. Otherwise I would not have been able to watch as the aerial I have does not allow other channels on my set. Of course I reminisced as I was in the Mall that day 30 years ago when the grooms parents were wed and saw similar outpourings of joy and laughter. I was working in London at the time and living not too far away from the proceedings of the wedding, though the service itself was near my workplace at St Pauls Cathedral.

It is noteworthy to point out that I had made some payments some years back on some EPF/ETF contributions based on an totally unfair assessment which insisted that I have a domestic on EPF when no one in Colombo does. Now having made all the payments and penalties, they are now hassling me for the same amount saying they have not received the same. We therefore have to go and dig out check stubs and obtain copies of the cheques from the banks in order to prove that the payments were made, as there must have been some form of misappropriation of funds at the department, which they are not able to get to the bottom of. If this is one incident, I dread to think how much money has been misappropriated by those responsible in safeguarding the workers contributions of the country’s citizenry.

The forthcoming Pensions Bill therefore will again be full of anomalies, where in the end the onus will be on the employee to prove their contributions, which is really a very impractical request. In this day and age of computers it should be a matter of just logging into the database to find out one’s contribution at any moment in time, with no problem.

When the cat is away the mice are fighting

I am both immobile as far as walking is concerned and without transport, so I have had to manage the two properties in Polonnaruwa by remote control and have had to face an untold amount of issues. I decided that as it was impossible to manage the staff to allow them to do the cultivation of paddy, that task was dropped and the land given to others to farm for a rent, usually payable in paddy.

Then I had to deal with one member of staff (in a drunken state) who had hit another in the adjoining property owned by my sister. I told the recipient of the blows to make a police report, as I was concerned there would be a repeat of the incident. The Minneriya Police refused to take the statement at first, as they are also resource constrained and each of these incidents have to be investigated. (This is an indication of the ground realities in Sri Lanka where there are so many disputes in villages of this nature and the Police are stretched in being able to investigate them, and so their initial inclination is to refuse to take on board any but the most grave incidents. My name had to be mentioned in order that they agree to take the statement. (Hand written in a large book – no computers yet in the SL Police)

When the investigating officers arrived the next day to speak to the accused, on my property he had evaded the Police, much to my annoyance as this causes further problems for me also. He was then asked to show at the Police the following morning where the accuser was also asked to be present, which he failed to attend, thereby mounting his and my problems.

This staff control and management has already been referred to on numorous occasions and I have yet to come up with suitable solutions to this perennial problem. Staff require ever increasing benefits, not reciprocated by reliable and conscientious performance. I believe the core of the dispute was also to do with one person being honest and the other deceitful, with the latter being shown up by lack of performance and the former unable to take the shame resorting to a lowdown brawl. Why not fire him you may ask, but replacements are also a rare commodity in such parts.

It is important to appreciate how difficult or impossible it is to manage an agricultural enterprise in Sri Lanka by remote control, and in order to effectively perform this productively one needs a much larger investment in Land and Manpower as well as a superior quality of the human capital.

A delightful and enforced stay in one place for once

This is the first time since I returned to Sri Lanka nearly 7 years ago that I have stayed in one place for so long (other than the recuperation at my sister’s following my accident and operation) It is also the first time I have not had any means of transport, so I have not been able to go out of the gates of the farm, except once, when I hired a three wheeler to take the new puppies to the vet for their immunizations.

I have not had any visitors, except on two occasions when one set brought me dinner one day, and the others came for Sunday lunch on the farm. So it is just a matter of passing the time playing with the dogs, and listening to the sounds of the farm with birds in every direction. One notable concern I used to have here were the monkeys destroying the coconuts and bananas, but now that we have a gun to scare them away this threat seems to have diminished somewhat.

The above point suddenly came to mind when I was reading yesterday about the threat of predators being the single biggest threat to farmers in Sri Lanka, especially in the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa areas, and that there is no recourse, as the species that threaten the crops cannot be killed by law. I have pointed this issue time and time again, and still there is no national plan. The Rata Nagamu Api Wawamu program is not worth entering into if this issue is not addressed. It will not yield results unless there is a holistic approach to agriculture that covers all the inputs, risks and output outcomes.

I digress here, and being unable to walk and in crutches limits me to depend on our good Sri Lankan hospitality for everything. My main grouse on this is the fact that any request I have is fulfilled in the order of priority of the helper. That is the most frustrating part as I am rendered quite incapable of going through my list of things to do in the order and rate at which I would have if I was able. Patience and lack of any haste in everything is something I just had to learn.

I am unable to bathe on my own and need assistance. I am usually used to doing this twice a day, but in the current circumstance, getting my helper to commit a time even once a day is an exercise in despair. There is no amount of compensation the Government of SL can give me for the loss of my freedoms I had hitherto taken for granted, and not concerned myself about. I now have had time to work out the strategy to counter Govt. intransigence

Each one to his own castle for the holidays- man the roads are clogged!!

The country is preparing for the Sinhala/Tamil New Year and people have begun their trek to their villages to be with family and partake in the rituals traditionally carried out in many homes, but becoming less of a custom due to mobility and distances that separate.

In my case I am on the farm in Godagama, Meegoda (just 20km from Parliament, the Capital City of Kotte or Sri Jayawardenepura) now really a suburb of Colombo just outside the perimeter of the new Half Circular Road that will soon ring Colombo. It is an 11 acre spread where I have the feeling of living out in the country surrounded by fields and Coconut and King Coconut around me and beautiful if rather odd looking farmhouse built in three stages when the need for larger space became apparent at intervals.

The house has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, dining room, hall and verandah along with a pantry and a store room leading from the pantry, where paddy sacks are stored. The whole place is furnished with hand me down bits of furniture that has seen better days and hence is just an eclectic mix, but functional. The house is surrounded by many small buildings from the firewood kitchen closest to the house and the misnamed canteen where coconuts and king coconuts are stored, where the milk is measured and prepared for distribution. Other nearby buildings include the large kennels and run for the dogs, and three new kennels under construction. There is a row of rooms for staff and the cow shed, as well as three little houses dotted around the property, a shop at the entrance to the farm and adjoining buildings where the people who have rented the chicken cages live. The unmistakable chicken cages round off this collection with a large building that doubles as the tractor garage and storage for wood as well as the chicken feed and feeders for that activity. Then the building across the road that used to be a gem cutting factory, has been rented and now houses a MFD furniture assembling plant.

I should not forget to mention the manicured garden with a fish pond and grotto, which my father prides himself in keeping in prime condition at all times with an Anthuriam section under the shade beside it. There are also the two sheds that house orchids and anthuriam plants that round off this menagerie. This really sounds like a farm ha!!!!

I am surrounded by homes built on 8 perch plots (160 perches to the acre), to whom this place must seem outsized and grand. No wonder coconuts get stolen from the trees, a very dear commodity, as we are unable to cook a curry without fresh coconut milk!

I am the sole occupant of the house, for this holiday period, as my young attendant, seems to have decided to extend his stay at home (after going home for a funeral) till after the New Year, no doubt influenced by his mates coming home for the holidays not wanting to miss out on the friends, festivities, food and fun. Needless to say my recent loss of wheels has cramped my style and the wheel chair being the only set of wheels will forcibly keep me at home with just the dogs for company.

Readers will note that last year I had a lot more company including the dogs at my Hingurakgoda, property with rural traditions and gift giving and day trip to Passekudah Bay a short drive away where the dogs enjoyed it too. Nevertheless there is a lot to do and a working farm has daily activity and everyone lives on the farm or just outside.

any film directors out there looking for content!

I am surrounded here today with a cast of characters out of the past, which when I got here originally having given up the western lifestyle, thought I could rehabilitate. I have failed miserably. They lend themselves to a real life teledrama, far better than anything that can be imagined with the real tease being a spectator to the outbursts when all below are inebriated at once. No amount of admonition from me seems to help as I do not take alcohol on the farm, and they know it, and just look sheepish when confronted!

I have Paul, a late 50 something Christian who lives at the far end of the land with his common law wife Anula, and a colorful past in the heyday of Colombo in the 70s a scion of a once well known landed family whose family gifted the land which is now St Mary’s Bambalapitiya. I have never seen him doing any real work, but seen him inebriated more than I have seen him work. Still he is a good soul who brought me breakfast of stringhoppers this morning and wants to die on the property!

Then there is Gamini, (40s) another who gets sloshed most nights, but can climb trees and is more able to do some work, who lives with his wife and 3 of his 4 children. The eldest girl got married at 17, to a grandson of a family retainer, and has a one year old.

Ranji (60s) is tasked with looking after the cattle and milking and lives near the shed with his disabled wife who is completely dependant on him and is with us out of pity, as he is a worse alcoholic, and unable to physically handle it and cannot work in the morning after a binge unlike the others. His three sons don’t even visit, even though they live nearby, and only come for money from the father.

Then there is Siripala (50s) currently single from a local family but prefers to live in a room on the farm, and presently also takes care of the dogs, due to my absence. He needs his fix and has been in and out of prison for distilling moonshine as his brother’s fall guy. He cant help but harrass the ladies, and gets incensed when he is rebuffed!

The only ones at least doing some work is the old dear Caroline(late 70s) who has been the supervisor forever and works only because she wants to get away from the daughters-in-law as all her three sons are well to do businessmen, and Menika (30s) who runs the shop, who lived on the farm at one time, with her family, but now lives in her own place just outside.

Here I am without income and no realizable investments, unable to walk, having also lost my only vehicle, typing this on a MacBook Air with my dogs in my spread sounding very much like those down and out Southern farmers at the end of the Civil War with their raggedy bunch of retainers who don’t have anywhere to go, somehow batting on waiting for the good times!! We just squeak by. The issue in the future will be the lack of a productive workforce, as no one wants to get into any agricultural employment.

I tried to get a bunch of young people in to help from elsewhere, but these guys know where their bread is buttered, and when they realized their number was up, used every trick in the book to get rid of them, with unfounded accusations and then, by getting them to do the work while these older ones sat in the shade and slept driving the youngsters out of disgust. I live with the devils I know hoping they do not bury me first! I have had to change my attitude to suit the situation and be philosophical about it for the moment.