and the cobalt flutist still continues to make me gush with awe !

in proportion to the scale Janmashtami is celebrated in the divine flutist's homeland, Colombo's ISKCON centre had only a parade that took a ebony skinned kid decked up as the divine flutist taken in a made up chariot. There was also makeshift Radha sitting cosily beside him, the passing chariot made me smile, reminding me of the hundreds of paintings I had seen on the inner ceiling of ISKCON Bangalore and Mumbai....Nobody and Nothing can come closer to the charm that the real flutist possess. Unlike in the streets of Mumbai there was no customary games of being the first

reaching for the pot of milk hung on a higher plane. The ambience was not as fun as it was in Krishna country but the fact that Janmashtami was still celebrated was nice in a way. I yearn for the day I can get to stand on the bank of river Yamuna and absorb the whole episode.

Until then I can only conclude by saying if there is a synonym for charm it is Krishna period.

Govinda Jaya Jaya

Stumped by blue boy's charm !

I stumbled upon a blue faced flutist, who graced many romantic memorabilia in a book store, and naturally driven with curiosity to know who this cobalt complexioned Adonis really was….

During many visits to craft stores, I often saw images of the slim, lanky, youth with a frisky demeanor, surrounded by many dancing damsels, swaying to the melody flowing, from this adorable looking flutist.

Oozing with magnetism, the peacock feather peeping behind his ears and the flowing sunflower coloured gown only enhanced the charm of this enchanting being. In some images a white cow stood nearby, fondly swaying towards her master….in others it was a lissome lass who leaned closer to him.

Probing further, I found that, eating butter was his childhood obsession, so much so, stealing it, was a passion, fun and frolic with the village damsels was his favourite past time.. His childhood upbringing in the dairy farming villagers, tending to the cattle, the charm he carried in his youth, the impish pranks in his adolescence and gallantry in manhood…all these blended him to be the much loved idol of the hindu pantheon,

identified by so many names….but all of them radiating so much appeal ...so much fondness and attraction….

I do not know how to greet the very magical essence that makes me flip every time I see it …be it on the walls of a temple, greeting card, agarbatti pack, wall hanging and the other numerous things…

Do I chant ……………….. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, ……

Beyond the deep breathing and stretching ………..

I looked forward to visiting the quaint little place filled with different shades of green. A large elephant god sat at the entrance with the fragrance of incense burning sending out feel good vibes for all who came by. The ambience was perfect to spread out a mat, listen to the chanting, breathe deeply and stretch.

I had to admit it. I was hooked to yoga. With each ‘breathe in and breathe out’ accompanying a single movement of an asana, a great degree of tranquility was creeping into me, giving me a better grip over life’s little hum drums. Something was clipping my restlessness. My addiction also came with a prize I had to pay with unending cramps, muscle twists and stiffness. I was determined to learn the technique of this ancient art where today, it’s originality has been distorted with the likes of pilates and aerobics.

I loved the silent buzz of the Himalayan chants seeping through my ear drums while I gathered myself to pose like a tree, a plough, tortoise, flipped over countless times in trying to achieve the frog pose. The winding off session was the best and the most amusing with everybody lying on the floor, supposed to be totally relaxed in the pretext of being a corpse. During the process of relaxing each and every part of the body starting from the toes and moving onto the head, some dozed off to a mild slumber which brought out smiles in the faces of the rest.

I was restless, this wasn’t adequate, I had to know more. Over the days and months that followed, I read extensively about its history, origins, famous yogis, the art of training the mind to be a more productive being. What I gathered was an interesting collection, how the great maestro B.K.Iyengar started and went on to open the finest training school. Somehow everything that connected to yoga became my passion (including the strange shaped wooden beaded jewellery).

Did I stop at merely reading ? no, that wasn’t enough, the urge was severe….I had to see things for myself. A couple of visits to land of the origin really nailed me flat. The first thing that caught my attention was the serenity of every single human face that crossed eyes with me. Many questions crossed my mind, “is this pretence?’ “are they real?” It wasn’t only the looks, this sombre manner was evident even in the manner they spoke, responded. No they were not like zombies. They were perfectly normal human beings but with a better grip of things should I say ?

My spells of temptations were getting bad, I had to now spend a day or two and check this out. I convinced the unhurried souls to let me stay a night. I relished the dhal that washed over the plate of rice, fresh spring water. Chanting before bedtime, wake up at the crack of dawn, cold shower, yoga to start off the day. Hey this was good. Felt lighter, easier and more relaxed.

My mind was churning…what would it be to hang on here for good ? Unanswered question…and many of them too…..I am still looking for the ideal solution one that really fits in with my desires. The search continues, until then I keep stretching to the chants o

Take 2

Unahapooruwa a remote village in Hambantota was my next stop for a live interview with a woman who had truly wanted to learn the art of sewing all her life but had no means to learn the craft. I cross questioned my project colleagues about the woman, her background, village, livelihoods of communities, and all the snippets that would nicely cushion and pad the story I was supposed to spin based on pure truth of course.

I stepped into a compact house and was greeted by a wide grinned round woman who made us sit and enjoy fresh tea with biscuits. A spanking new sewing machine sat somewhere in the living room, with fabric falling over, spools of thread placed on some unfinished garments and some snipped up thread bits and fabric.

I began my usual tonic of ‘comfort talk’ before I proceeded to getting the facts from her for my story. The flow of conversation flowed without boundaries until I spotted the mark to cease casual talk and divert her attention to my mission.

My colleague was gearing up with the video and I was briefing her how she should begin her tale. She nodded to signify understanding and sat in preparation to churn the wheels of the sewing machine just for us. Video lights came on, I clicked the voice recorder and stood back with a notebook and pen to jot down any interesting things that may shoot in between her recital.

“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeow” a loud cat’s screech was heard and a noise of some live thing jumping from behind the seamstress. The interview turned towards a different dimension, with a shoot for a funny video in full force. Our seamstress was standing on the chair with a measuring stick. I lost control and burst into a fit of giggles. I am chuckling as I write this for Asia Digest, recalling the hilarious episode. My colleague was serious for a while and seeing me in hysterics burst out laughing too. We created a racket and a big one too apart from the cat who decided to chase a rat and waited for the moment where the interview and filming was about to begin.

‘Take 2’ didn’t happen for a long time. I had to really come back to my usual sombre ‘work’ mood and I can tell you it wasn’t easy, because I was scotting on the floor and laughing my head off. Our seamstress had got off the chair and she too joined us in our fits which didn’t seem to go away for a long time

The rat kissed goodbye to dear life and a jubilant cat pounded to it’s mistress showing it’s might, holding a limp rat through snarling jaws. Our seamstress patted its head as if to congratulate him and continued giggling.

We took a break not getting enough of the sudden amusing episode. I managed to bring myself down and walked over to the seamstress with voice recorder as the video lights came on. ‘Take 2’ did happen this time, for real.

Rest in peace

Funeral rituals can be as complex as weddings. I am talking of the different kinds of mourners and the ambience at a place and event where everything ‘joyful’ must be banished from the air. I am amazed at all those people who weep as if their supply of oxygen has been cut off due to the departing of the deceased. What leads them to wail and beat on their chest so hard and proclaim that this death has caused a great void in their lives and that it will effect their emotional well being ? In all due respect to a loss of human life, I perfectly understand and can relate to if close family members express their profound sorrow. But I am talking about the ones that sound phoney even when sobbing. It doesn’t stop with merely sobbing, those who are present, will also get an opportunity to hear about the exemplary life lead, how the deceased always put the interest of others before one’s own. Such statements voiced out does not really matter even if deceased has been a selfish miser, conner, swindler or just another loser I have spotted numerous times, where people who genuinely knew the person would tend to wear snickering smiles and eyeball each other as if they were throttled to spit out the appropriate character attestation of the deceased. The rest who probably have known the deceased not quite well, will have no option but to listen to the sorrowful chanting of these sometimes hired mourners. I also tend to think about all the back hand operations that run behind the curtains of some funeral undertakers. All those people who typically hang outside state hospitals waiting to receive news of indoor patients hanging on life’s last strings or has already kissed life goodbye. The total death count for the day would be conveyed by hospital attendants (who are more likely to be rewarded, for providing instant information) This information will instantly be conveyed to the funeral undertaker who will arrange for his representative to go to the respective wards and explore the possibility of securing an order for a coffin. Some turn low to the extent of getting the flower wreaths that stand near the freshly dug grave back so that could be a double sale. My brain rattles in every direction making me ponder on the strangeness of human lives. Funerals always make me look at the big picture. My first one was my dad’s. I was 4 and couldn’t understand why my father lay in a stupid wooden box and so many people standing around. The only memory I have of my first funeral is being quiet until 4 men came along and closed the box confirming that it was the end.

Zero Seven Seven

When I stepped into the world of work, my address book gave room to write only a contact’s personal address and telephone number. Many of my contacts were my class mates, cousins, relatives and others whom I met at a private class. After I settled well in the working world, I had to get myself an bigger address book with more pages. By this time I had made a few contacts at work, colleagues mostly. As the years went by it was the ‘ in ’ to store all your contacts in an electronic organizer. I remember walking into Robert Agencies down Reclamation Street to browse through the many different models of electronic organizers. I browsed around and quietly glanced at the price tag ranging from Rs.8,000, Rs, 12,000, and ending up with Rs. 20,000. The shock was too much, but I managed to absorb it and retain the elegance that I carried with myself when I walked in. I politely lied to the salesman saying I will make another visit. I haven’t been to Robert Agencies since then. Time went by, IT skills were being the most desired skills in a workplace, I didn’t specifically go for special training to learn the ropes. I kept moving, trying my luck in the world of work in many different workplaces, At a start up company, I was a good looking Compaq desktop on my desk. I didn’t mind the fact that it occupied half my desk, I was determined to learn the hidden trick in making the pc work for me. I succeeded. Meanwhile outside there was something else that was taking everybody by storm. The telephone had shrunk and it was possible to carry it wherever you went. Many of the corporate tie swaying executives began to carry the shrunk telephone and with it landed a more blown up ego, changes in behaviour. The first one that arrived in Sri Lanka, the weight and dimensions of a brick came in at a price of Rs.100,000 by the only mobile service provider Celltel. The women in the higher echelons of society had to have one during their visits to the supermarket, salon, spa while their husbands did business, reserved golf timings. Clearly the mobile phone was only meant to be with a certain segment. With me, I guess the price held me back and did not want to repeat the episode at Robert Agencies. Gradually more players came on the field, By this time I had moved up to the central rungs of the ladder. Many of my colleagues were getting a phone for themselves. My mind was wavering on the notion that do I really need this ? I postponed further on the lines that who will I talk to ? I can use the phone at work or the regular call box on the street or simply pop into a communication centre. By this time, different models of phones began to flood the market. Along the same time Typhoon SMS & KIT pre-paid cards hit the communication circles in Sri Lanka. Fascinating I thought (now when I recall I am embarrassed) Yes…the urge arrived and increased in volumes. I had to have one as well. Sheepishly I pushed a leave application towards my Manager who gave me a where-are-you-off-to ? look but approved it without any hassle. I walked over to the fancy arcade down Duplication Road and spent some time browsing at the neat little gadgets. I settled for a Ericsson AT 100 phone doled out 7 thousand and 1 five hundred Rupee notes. Filled out some paper work and listened to the salesman giving me initial briefing on charging the battery. I watched him deftly slip in the chip into the phone and hand me the entire package. I walked out of the store, head high feeling elated at the thought of actually owning a mobile phone. Yes the Ericsson did provide me a good service. I was able to chat on the way to work, back from work, and also switch to SMS when it was advisable to not move your lips on some things. By this time the image of a mobile phone spelling luxury was slowly fading off. More featured phones hit the shelves with camera phones really stealing the show, then came video, music, radio, virtually driving everybody nuts. With each feature arriving as customary it was the ‘in’ thing to have that phone. Realistically it was not achievable with everybody because the zero’s at the end of the price increased with each new feature. As for me, when my Ericsson died, I settled for a Nokia 2300 with a radio as an added feature and accompanied me virtually everywhere until it peacefully departed and I settled for another member of the same family, who is still with me, giving me a little more extra features like radio, video, voice recorder and even lets me check my mail on the go and reply. I get quite a lot done from the 6070 and can be contented you think ? Not really (no I am not complaining) but with all the innovation that’s creeping into these phones, and being bombarded with a ideas on this and that at unusual moments, my eyes are set on memory capacity, music player in addition to what I already have. My hunt continues for the ideal phone, the truth is if I fancy a particular model, the zeros at the end of the price give me the creeps. Then I have to repeat the Robert Agencies Episode at the store. A part of me is telling me that during a time of recession dishing out so much on a phone is a waste and another part of me is trying to enlighten me on buy back offers. I leave home for work, the fisherman is heading towards our home with my mom waving me to stop, he nods, he cannot answer because he is talking on his phone. When I get into the office transport virtually everybody is hooked to their phone in some way, either glued to the radio, texting, talking. At work different ring tones make me realize that my colleagues are receiving calls. Out on the road, the trishaw driver is picking up hires, salesman are busy negotiating over the phone, a teenager in a bus stop is grinning and texting while some are staring at a mms and giggling. I noticed the subtle change even in the villages where the mudalalis seem to negotiate with wholesellers and even some farmers checking for market prices for their harvests in other villages. I am happy that a simple gadget has made life a little easier for everybody. Now who said that its American Express we shouldn’t leave home without ? p.s. My address book is history because all of them are sitting comfortably in my 6070

Beyond the deep breathing and stretching ………..

I looked forward to visiting the quaint little place filled with different shades of green. A large elephant god sat at the entrance with the fragrance of incense burning sending out feel good vibes for all who came by. The ambience was perfect to spread out a mat, listen to the chanting, breathe deeply and stretch. I had to admit it. I was hooked to yoga. With each ‘breathe in and breathe out’ accompanying a single movement of an asana, a great degree of tranquility was creeping into me, giving me a better grip over life’s little hum drums. Something was clipping my restlessness. My addiction also came with a prize I had to pay with unending cramps, muscle twists and stiffness. I was determined to learn the technique of this ancient art where today, it’s originality has been distorted with the likes of pilates and aerobics. I loved the silent buzz of the Himalayan chants seeping through my ear drums while I gathered myself to pose like a tree, a plough, tortoise, flipped over countless times in trying to achieve the frog pose. The winding off session was the best and the most amusing with everybody lying on the floor, supposed to be totally relaxed in the pretext of being a corpse. During the process of relaxing each and every part of the body starting from the toes and moving onto the head, some dozed off to a mild slumber which brought out smiles in the faces of the rest. I was restless, this wasn’t adequate, I had to know more. Over the days and months that followed, I read extensively about its history, origins, famous yogis, the art of training the mind to be a more productive being. What I gathered was an interesting collection, how the great maestro B.K.Iyengar started and went on to open the finest training school. Somehow everything that connected to yoga became my passion (including the strange shaped wooden beaded jewellery). Did I stop at merely reading ? no, that wasn’t enough, the urge was severe….I had to see things for myself. A couple of visits to land of the origin really nailed me flat. The first thing that caught my attention was the serenity of every single human face that crossed eyes with me. Many questions crossed my mind, “is this pretence?’ “are they real?” It wasn’t only the looks, this sombre manner was evident even in the manner they spoke, responded. No they were not like zombies. They were perfectly normal human beings but with a better grip of things should I say ? My spells of temptations were getting bad, I had to now spend a day or two and check this out. I convinced the unhurried souls to let me stay a night. I relished the dhal that washed over the plate of rice, fresh spring water. Chanting before bedtime, wake up at the crack of dawn, cold shower, yoga to start off the day. Hey this was good. Felt lighter, easier and more relaxed. My mind was churning…what would it be to hang on here for good ? Unanswered question…and many of them too…..I am still looking for the ideal solution one that really fits in with my desires. The search continues, until then I keep stretching to the chants of Morning Ragas

Trawler to gondola - rocky voyage to smooth sailing ?

I am heading to Puttalam, my eyes trail the familiar sight of coconut trees gracing the landscape passing many of the coastal towns along the Western Coast, not unusual you would say, except that coconut trees and catholic churches in abundance. As Marawila, Chilaw appears there seem to be a change that has crept in, More of an Italian essence coupled with the Lankan flavour. Cloth banners hang at the entrance of bare plots of land calling them ‘Naples Valley’ ‘Little Rome’ ‘Sicilian villa’ ? am I seeing right ? Passing the lands up for grabs, I stop to marvel at the Italian style villa peeping through the coconut trees that seem to spoil the Italian ambience intended to be given by the owners. An immediate splurge of curiosity creeps in to my head, I am trying to figure out the reason for this transformation. More villas begin to show up and many Euro money exchange centres in the busy town. I spot a couple of signboards screaming out ‘Spoken Italian classes’….. Bingo ! yes of course this is where the Lankans in Italy flush their earnings back home for a more comfortable tomorrow. Perhaps in appreciation for a better chance in life, the lands, houses were named after Italian towns, provinces ? I had read and heard how many youth in sheer desperation to succeed and make it big in life, spend enormous money and embrace risk to go in trawlers, in the rough seas to Italy looking for work with decent pay. A pay that they could never dream of getting back at home. Quite recently the local daily said that there was a youth who simply hung around for 10 years waiting to go to Italy. He still hasn’t made it but he did make it big in a different way through his musical talents. The rest who do make it, take up any kind of …… that would make them save enough to build a Italian style villa, or something closer, educate the children in a private or international school, a nice comfortable vehicle and all the rest of the never ending list of things that make one’s life. Not only a hand up in life, but both legs, feet and arms all of it. I am somewhat fascinated, somewhat amused at the thought of realizing how Sri Lankan can quickly embrace and adopt to a new culture. I begin to wonder what it must be like at the other end, when these youth land, not knowing the dialect, not fully understanding the culture lost in a total alien land. My brain is busy recalling the many success stories I read in several newspapers. Somewhere down the memory maze, I recall the Sinhala dailies talking of musical shows, February 4th celebrations and Avurudhu games in Italy. A sampling of Sri Lankan fun in the land of Pisa and Pizzas ! Sadly not all make it through to gigantic boot shaped land in Europe, but despite the struggle and agony endured, many others continue to take the plunge not knowing if the trawler they are cramped in, would throw them into the sea or shove them in to a Gondola. Santa Maria ! God help them.

Is the dot and @ icon on your pc fading ?

When the world of cyberspace and emailing hit Sri Lanka, having your own unique email id was considered somewhat important in the workplace. I remember having one common email id and everyone’s mail arriving in the mailbox that was sorted out for reply. In one of my workplaces, (despite the fact that I was replying on behalf of many others to cover up for their language deficiency or sometimes laziness) I didn’t have my own unique email id. The day I was given an email id with my name followed by the symbol @ something followed by dot com made me feel a little important. As I recall those simple things that gave me a boost it makes me wonder how I ended up having a gamut of web related applications to deal with. I was receiving my own mail now and was able to respond from my unique id. Not stopping at that I also registered in hotmail, yahoo and finally gmail. My work involved a lot of writing and on a personal front, I also had to stay in touch with my cousins, relatives, friends who had crossed the shores of Sri Lanka. I now had to check several accounts but to me that didn’t matter, I guess a part of me was taken up with the world of electronic communication. I was enjoying this, there was no need to wait for the postman, nor have to deal with nail biting moments when the Sri Lanka Postal Service decides to wind up working and call it a day of ‘rights defending’ I was taken up with replies received from distant lands claimed to be a couple of hours behind or ahead us. No more 7-10 day replies, This was live and happening and came within a couple of minutes, hours not exceeding a day. Then came, the trend of chatting, I tried that as well but soon realized that was a huge disturbing element to my concentration in producing quality work. Chatting was not for me although was nice just once in a while with doors opened to make friends, exchanging views and ideas. I find it amazing in different times how technology can create a silent tsunami with your life. While once upon a time hotmail and yahoo was in, it is now facebook, myspace, zorpia, linkedin and many many more that are in the limelight. There’s B2B trade portals that are really a thing with the commercial business’s while the scribes are after google earth and other news sites accessible to everybody. There’s no need to walk into a library and browse encyclopedias for information, A simple key word, hit enter on Wikipedia can provide you the information in seconds while Wapaedia can replace the service on your WAP enabled phone. When the skype craze hit the workdesks, everybody went berserk at the thought of being able to talk to their friends and family across the globe with merely a headphone and neat piece of software installed in a pc. Yes, I signed with skype as well, but not really have had the time to actually use it much. You Tube brings out the movie making skills in you while flickr is generous in letting you maintain a digital photo store house in cyberspace. Who can forget blogging when millions simply maintain their journals online with random thoughts and photos are accessible to anyone. A simple dot before the com surely revolutionized the trends in communicating and gave birth to ‘infotainment’ the new cliché to creep into corporate jargon. I write with ease knowing I can look upto askoxford.com for help in any definition or reaching out to Wikipedia for extra information and multi tasking between responding mails that arrive now and then in my mail box while John Lennon and Paul Mc Cartney is sending energetic music waves of “Here comes the sun” to my ears. I am looking forward to more changes in communicating, I’ll probably get that one into my clutter as well. Just now, I received an electronic invitation to open up a web album in picaso, I already have flickr, Do I need more clutter ? I guess I will receive several hundreds like these as and when more developments take place, until them I’ll stop by wishing more power to

Ideal marriage material

When a Sri Lankan woman arrives at her 20th milepost in life, the usual trend for her parents is to lay the foundation for her future family. No doubt the hunt begins in finding a decent boy with a good job as typically stated by many Lankan parents. If the eligible bride to be owns land, a house or several, in possession of a University degree from a Western European country or North America the scales would tip in favour of her. Often she would be known as USA/Canada/UK returned or USA College Degree and so on. Her family members, if they hold jobs in professional fields such as Medicine, Engineering, Law, Architecture, IT ( recent field to join the list) they would be specifically stated along with the Degrees obtained.If she is not in the professional employable cadre, her employment with a multinational company in an Executive capacity would be emphasized with the added fringe benefits extended to her by her employer. If the bride to be is not employed her domestic & home management skills would be emphasised – i.e. Culinary skills – this would further branch out to two areas – main dishes & desserts, dressmaking, gardening, handicraft. The planetary positions in her astrological chart would be discussed later on. Even though the eligibility criteria is more severe for the potential bride that does not mean that the bridegroom to be is spared. The foreign degrees will naturally cause a great impact, his career and position, family assets all of these will be considered, compared in getting the best deal for both families. Honesty, common sense, practical attitude, sound mentality can always wait to be figured out during life after marriage.. In typical local saying “a good match”.

A contrast of seasonal dressing

The shop windows are decorated with cotton fluff to create an image of snow in 32 degree weather. Pine trees stand in street corners waiting to be picked up by this year’s owner. The neighbouring coconut and mango trees seem to look down amusingly, on the annual strangers who have travelled all the way from the hill stations to the city. Painted images of reindeer are seen on banners and sign boards. The trees continue to have their same dresses in shades of emerald, jade, olive and lime and the sun spreads her rays of heat and warmth all over, making it impossible even for the made up cotton fluff to remain for long hours. There is now way we can accommodate a snowman with all the scuttling shoppers rummaging through things for the best bargains. In any case the snowman would face an instant death due to the scorching heat. The television tells us that one part of the globe is changing colours for Christmas and most of everywhere is white. We see people huddled up in warm clothes sipping coffee, others skating, skiing. Sprigs of holly and mistletoe decorate the windows and doors. Whereas at our end kids attired in the least clothing play cricket mimicking their favourite heroes, the pavements accommodate the street vendors selling their Christmas trinkets, fireworks, export surplus, Isn’t it amazing to think that while the earth rotates that one side of her chooses to turn white at this time of the year while the other side prefers to remain green ?

VAT free Value Added Service

The extent of brokerage services offered over here can be varied. The familiar services include real estate, matrimonial, commodity trading and employment. Providing reliable and the appropriate links to finalise the deal will call for a percentage of the total transaction value. The terms of these familiar services are understood by anyone who seeks their help. There is also an unusual kind of brokerage service extended to funeral undertakers. The services include many different types and may range from providing mourners at funerals. That would mean a single or a group of people who will call over at a funeral and weep as if they supply of oxygen has been cut off due to the departing of the deceased. Based on the amount paid, they will wail and beat on their chest and proclaim that this death has caused a great void in their lives and that it will effect their emotional well being. Everybody who are present, will also get an opportunity to hear on the exemplary life lead, by always putting the interest of others before one’s own. Such statements voiced out does not really matter even if he/she has been a selfish miser or lived a life of deceit Only the people who actually know the person will wear snickering smiles and eyeball each other. The rest will have no option but to listen to the sorrowful chanting of these hired mourners. The other type of service extended is dealing between the funeral undertaker. One could see such service providers hanging outside state hospitals awaiting the news of indoor patients who has expired for the day. The total death count for the day would be conveyed by hospital attendants (who will also be rewarded, for providing instant information) This information will instantly be conveyed to the funeral undertaker who will arrange for his representative to go to the respective wards and explore the possibility of securing an order for a coffin and if required additional services. The simple but tiring services extended to secure a place within the first 10 positions of a queue in a State Department or a Diplomatic Mission is also fully worth the money paid avoiding all the long hours of standing and being baked in the scorching sun. Depending on the hours a fee can be agreed and handed over, once the actual applicant takes over the position. These odd services are indeed a great boon to most people who are grappling with time to get some of these tedious chores done and certainly is a big saver of time as the right links are connected with payments being tax free of course.

Acrobatic Cooks

Amidst the usual chanting of the conductor, my eyes focused on a physical work out by the cooks outside the street café. Several pairs of arms moved in perfect synchronisation it seemed, in turning out a variety of dishes within a couple of minutes. Be it cracking an egg and spilling the contents into the sizzling hopper, or chopping kottu roti at simultaneous movements the agility in which those deft limbs moved were indeed remarkable to watch. At the Beverage counter workout number 2 was in progress. Piping hot tea was poured from outstretched hands back and forth each time spilling into receiving ends of a steel mug and glass. When the workout ceased there stood a glass with an inch thick layer of foam sitting on top. Adjacent to the session of stretching tea, a splitting noise of thambili (king coconut) carving the opening to place in mouth and drink the water. The arm holding the knife flew so swiftly yet so precisely that one smack made a neat rectangular cut on the top. Dessert counter was conducting workout number 3 with pineapple being stabbed with sharp knives at frequent movements in and out, skinned, slicked and garnished with chillie powder to balance the sour flavour. Swift, yet so precise in positioning that leaves no room for any miss. It certainly was like watching acrobats cook the only difference being this wasn’t a circus !!

‘ Does everything really need to be Chinese ? ’

As we lowered our heads and entered through the wide opened mouth of a dragon, We were greeted with the usual homely smiles that we are used to followed by the usual ‘ enda miss ’. The interior décor was very much oriental and very red. Two large dragons seemed to hug the walls on either side of us. The typical red ball like lanterns hung from the ceiling, its tussles swaying to the blowing from the fan. Even more amused were we to hear local artiste Sunil Perera blaring out his chart topper “ Lindha Langa Sangamaya ” we soon realized we were made to feel in China right in the middle of Sri Lanka. The Menu card was laid before us and as our eyes ran up and down the wonderful spread, we realized the comfort of being able to talk and know what actually the dishes consist, and not bothering to come into conclusions what on earth tom-yang, ban fu-zhu, or jin jiao is. Not only we were explained as to what each dish consist of but also recommend the ideal blending of dishes for that perfect meal. We settled for rice, chop-suey, devilled chicken and most favoured dish kang-kung with shreds of chicken, ( although sinhala word for a kind of spinach, sounds very much Chinese we thought at that point),. After much waiting, our spread was laid before us, The flavouring and aroma was simply appetizing. The food tasted very much Chinese to us, although we really do not know as to how they managed to get the real or close to real flavour. We put it down to basic training from a Chinese culinary expert. The Main meal vanished rather rapidly, we were feeling stuffed and seams bursting, again our helpful waiter came to our rescue recommending ‘ lu-cha ’ when asked what it was, a wide grin followed by “ that is Green Tea madam – that is good to get rid of that stuffy feeling after a heavy meal ”. “ OK bring whatever lu-cha you got ” we said feeling really ballooned with food. Lu-cha indeed was great, within a couple of minutes we were feeling lots better. Having settled the bill we walked out, at this point even lowering our head to walk out of the entrance, seemed tiring. So much taken up, we looked up at the name board to make a note of the name for a probable next visit. One look made us to break into loud guffaws and it was quite certain that everything really need not be Chinese after all. Spread across the entire floor the building was the name of the quaint little place “ Ekanayake Chinese Restaurant ”

twisted accent

Before the dawn of a free market economy we were purely Sri Lankan in thought, word and deed. We are now a scattered lot each having a blended flavour with some place where some of us have chosen to call home. This blending has certainly added some colour and fusion to our society where otherwise it was a boring aspect of having to deal with the mostly like minded people. The other day at the famous mega complex in the heart of Colombo, I found an assorted range. Based on my own observations, I have concluded that in reality it takes only a couple of weeks stay in Europe or anywhere in the North America to develop a very real European or American accent of speech. I consider myself an average speaker of English with a typical Sri Lankan accent. Frankly I could not quite comprehend as to what was being said by these newly returned vacationers. It seemed to me that every trace of the local accent had vanished and a severe effort was deliberately taken to speak in this manner. Meeting the same cluster in a local store later on, what was more saddening was in the process of polishing off their local accent, they had also forgotten how to deal and bond with the vendors in getting the best deal. The vendor not wasting any time in letting his selling skills go waste, confirmed sales at double price, assuming they were non-locals. Of course, he was only sticking to the customary practice of selling double fold to non-locals.

Instant's Brood

‘ Instant ‘ has occupied a very important position in everybody’s lives and in different aspects of lifestyles. Instant has many relatives who appeared in various time lines. Take for instance ‘ Mobile ’ who is a close cousin of ‘ Instant ’ who has silently spread her presence into every single shirt pocket, handbag, brief-case. Teaming up with ‘ Instant ’ Mobile sure has shaken the world of telecommunication and made it possible to be reachable at any time and no room for waiting. If ‘ Mobile ’ is not reachable there is always her sister ‘ SMS ’ or ‘ Voice-Mail’ to rely on. After dealing with ‘ Mobile ’ if hunger or thirst sets in there are two very important cousins of ‘ Instant ’ to depend on – i.e. ‘ Ready-to-Eat or Ready-to-Drink (RTD nickname). Reaching either of these two are easy, pull the shutter down, swipe ‘ Instant Cash card ’and reach for either ‘ RTE ’ or ‘ RTD ’. They don’t take too much of your time as they could be dealt with along with ‘ Mobile ’ as and when you are interrupted. While dealing with all these folk, you hardly realize until you either crash against a wall or lamp post…(hopefully not another human being). Now that’s when ‘ Mobile ’ comes to your help ( not forgetting the extensive damage already caused ) to reach one of the recent entries - ‘ On-the-spot’Auto Insurance services. ‘ On-the-Spot’ will arrive within minutes (provided there is no mishap to him as well). Thanks to the arrival of ‘ Instant ’ and her brood, what was termed daily happenings have been christened with new names and changed lifestyles across the globe. Postal Mail has become ‘ Snail Mail ’ telephone calls to get simple product information have been ‘ automated ’ airline travel, medical channeling appointment, movie tickets, shopping, could all be done through Instant’s grand uncle ‘ online ’. Only when either of Instant’s folk decide to take a rest occasionally, we find life next to being impossible, forgetting that all of these were still possible before ‘ Instant ’ and her family came along and stole the human peace of mind !

Hurricane ICC’s toll on production Week : 10th – 25th September 2004

It doesn’t take an astrological prediction to expect a nose-dive in attendance and production levels of all private enterprises during the forthcoming ICC Cricket tournament. The wheels of commerce spinning at full speed will slow its tempo and pave the way for longer tea breaks, lunch breaks, extension of working hours, increase in patronizing of pubs and outdoor gatherings. Corporate marketing Gurus will not thump their sales teams to aggressively on snack food, batteries, liquor and cigarettes. They will decide its time to lie low for 2 weeks and let Hurricane ICC take on its share of victims. Media moguls will exploit this laid back attitude in full swing and offer attractive schemes to voice out their aggressiveness through their channels. An average corporate employee will take on a strange transformation and would be evident in the usual working patterns. Intermittent breaks for Tea, breakfast and lunch will stretch to a couple of minutes. The usual morning tea will linger longer in the palate teaching some traits of tea tasting as well. This will be the time for employees to take on the traits of a cow by chewing their food longer and absorb the excitement from the TV in the lunch room, some will not utter much except keep their pocket radios close to their ear. The carom boards. decks of card will be given some time off from their daily chore of providing light relaxation. Instead the TV would substitute this task. Output and speed of work will be sluggish as the mental concentration will not totally be focused on balance sheets, record keeping, correspondence or telephone calls, but purely on wickets and runs. These symptoms will spread to sales personnel in shops and street vendors and a considerable change in topic of conversation also could be observed, where the entire focus will be Jayasuriya, Attapattu, Vaas and the rest of the team. At the strike of 5:00 calling for the end of a working day, two contrast of personalities will develop - some will either chose to move out as fast as they can, adding to the standing crowds at the TV stores and others will chose to stay back and complete the work with either the TV or Pocket Radio accompanying them ! Such is the impact of this disorder, that every single person from every echelon of the social ladder will reflect even the slightest of symptoms beginning from a simple curiosity to know fall of wickets, fours, sixes, fifties and centuries, to the more serious leading to open air barbeques and gatherings in front of giant outdoor screens and lighting of crackers to complement either the batting or bowling.

Cry for power & demand through rice

The simple packet of rice ( or ‘ bath packet ’ as known to us ) can create a tremendous influence in every one of us. This product has become a promotional symbol of political campaigning and very often it is this humble product that causes many a staunch supporter to forsake its own political beliefs tempting to switch over to a party that is in total contrast to one’s principles. Wondering how ? It only takes a packet of rice and a paltry sum of Rupees for give-away to gather supporters to stand by the road and cheer for the political candidate. The packet of rice also occupies a very primary place in the orchestrating of all the strikes, protests and work to rule campaigns by the trade union activists. Again wondering how ? Well all the famished looking people you would see perched up on the floor of that made up stage is putting on their best act. What would otherwise be a ‘ fast unto death ‘ or ‘ hunger strike ‘ is well complimented by a packet of rice every day, after the entire act has been completed to satisfy the organizers. It is no strange fact that many are getting involved in the entrepreneurship of selling lunch packets. One look at the flourishing mini bath kades will speak volumes of rising sales, especially during election times. Rice for thought ?