ගෑනුන් පොඩ් දේටත් වෑඩියෙන් හිතනව නෙවෙයි...

අම්මා එක්ක පොලට ගිහාම, මනුස්සයෙක් මගේ පියයුරු අල්ලුවා. බයට, මම අම්මට කිව්වෙ නෑ - මම, අවු 10

ඉන්ග්‍රීසි පේපෙර් එක ලියල, අම්ම එනකන් ඉන්නකොට, මනුස්සයෙක් ඔහුගේ නිරුවත් යටකය මට පෙන්වීම - මම, අවු 14

බසයේ මගේ පිටුපසේ සිටගෙන හෙත්තිවී ජරා කතාවක් කීම - මම, අවු 14, යුනිෆොර්ම් එකෙන්
ක්ලාස් එකක් ඉවර වෙලා අම්මා ඉන්න කම්, මනුස්සයෙක් මට දිව එලියට දමල බලන් ඉන්නව - මම, අවු 16, යුනිෆොර්ම් එකෙන්
බස් එකේ මගෙ එහා පෑත්තෙ ඉදගෙන, තමන් අල්ල් අල්ල් ඉන්නව. මම දෑකල, නගිටල ගියා - මම, අවු 21
වෑසි දවසක, බස් එකේ, කොන්ඩක්ටර් මගෙ අන්ගේ ගෑවෙමින්, සින්දුවක් කියාගෙන යනවා. මම වස්සේ බසයෙන් බෑස්සා. ඈන්ඩුවා. - මම, 24
"ළස්සන බුරිය" - අවු 25, සුලන්ගට මගේ බ්ලවුස් එක එහාට වුන නිසා.

"මොකද තරහෙන් වගේ? හිනාවෙන්න සුදු... ගෙදර රන්ඩු වුනාද?" - ගිය අවුරුද්දේ
පාරේ අවිදගෙන යනකොට සින්දු කීම... එක එක ඒවා ඈහෙන්න කීම... - හෑම්දාම.

පාරේ යනකොට, මනුස්සයෙක් මගේ ඉස්සරහෙන් එනකොට මට හිතෙන්නෙ ... මෙයා මට මොනව හරි කියයි ද? ඈන්ගට ඒයද? අල්ලයි ද? සමහර විට, මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවන් වගේ සිරුර සම්පූර්නයෙන් වසාගෙන යන එක වඩා හොන්දයි කියල හිතනව. එත් සහනයක් නෑතුව ඈති.

මෙකද අපේ මහා ලොකු සන්ස්කෘතිය? මගේ ජීන්ස් දෙකද වරද? මම සුදු හින්දද? පාරේ යනකොට ඈත්ත්ටම සහනයක් නෑ.

ගෑනුන් පොඩ් දේටත් වෑඩියෙන් හිතනව නෙවෙයි... අපි එහෙමෙ වෙන්නෙ, අපිට පොඩි කාලේ ඉන්දන් වෙන අපරාද නිසා.

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A campaign by Stop The Violence Sri Lanka

Please share to create awareness.

The Pavement is Mine.

It's around 7PM and I'm taking a short walk from the Coffee Bean towards St. Bridget's Convent where my husband was to pick me up from. I'm wearing a dress, flat shoes, my handbag, a paper bag in one hand and my phone in the other.

I see a man in trousers and a shirt coming towards me. He looks like any ordinary man in the city.

I hardly think, but I mechanically avoid him to take a longer route, away from the pavement, away from him.

I catch myself doing this and stop in my tracks.

WHY? - in the question my mind asks itself. Why the hell should I mechanically... instinctively... do this? Yes, the dress which I wore to work does make me feel like a bull's eye target painted red and white. A dress which easily reaches down my knees but the mateiral which fits my body a little closer than chiffon would, or cotton would. A dress which does not draw comments in my office - only because the embarrassment of an HR inquiry stops it. I feel my legs are an attraction to the myriad of men in cars on the other side of the road, a sight to gawk at while they wait for the fucking green light to come back on. Men in three-wheelers literally twist back from their seats to look at me - yes, I'm out of your league gentlemen, move on..move on... but all I'll give you is the sight of my 'pretty white legs' which you remind me of in Sinhala while passing by.

The man who's walking towards me is closer. I brace myself, then again I tell my mind to -fuck-this-.

Tell me something mister...whisper something...sing me something under your breath...swing your arm so you'll 'mistakenly' touch me on my thigh...change the course of your path so I'm forced to move onto the gravel. Force me to change MY path which I CHOOSE to walk on.

We are literally steps away. He passes me by. My eyes are on the pavement so I don't have to look at him, looking at me. He doesn't say anything, and our brief meeting is over.

I keep walking. I am relieved. I didn't have to spew a torrent of words which I thought I'd need to. "Modaka? Prashnayakda? Ammala akkala nangila nadda? Angata enne mokada? Monaada ballanne? Parei yana eka eka gaanunta eka eka kiyanne mokada"...words I've practiced and even uttered at.

I am at the place my husband is supposed to pick me up from. Another man passes by, I am pretending to ignore his staring. Stare. From head to toe. Move on fucker.

A nice, fatherly-looking man passes me next. Whatever, I don't trust any of them. Finally, my husband comes and slows the car in front of me. I walk towards it and he moves it further. I keep walking with a wry smile to catch up. He does this three times for fun, I don't lose patience. I finally get in and close the door. A kiss his cheek and say Hi.

Hi.

It's good to be with him. A man. Because sometimes, its tiring being a woman.

In reply to the Speaker's appalling words. Happy belated Women's Day, Sri Lanka.

One week in Nepal - things to do

Here's my quick guide to Nepal, where I was incidentally, last month.

1. Firstly, get to Nepal through Delhi because there aren't any direct flights from Colombo at all. CMB to DLH is about Rs. 50,000 +/- and DLH to Kathmandu would be about Rs. 15,000 on a budget flight like Indigo. (Indigo is the most AWESOME budget airline EVER). Get a data sim at the airport.

When you get to Nepal, you'll probably hang out somewhere in Kathmandu. It's actually a lot like Sri Lanka!

Heaven!

2. A touristy place to stay in would be Thamel or Patan (I hear). Its like Negombo times 100. Lots of bars, restaurants, bakeries, jazz bands in corners - you name it. It can be as cheap or as expensive as you like. Mostly cheap though, say you'd pay about Rs. 600 for a cocktail. Something like that. A great place to meet fellow travelers, buy little trinkets to take home and just breath in the coolness of it all.

3. Next, go to a Himalayan viewpoint. It's best to view the sunrise of sunset. Nargarkot takes about 1 hour from Kathmandu and is really beautiful (and bloody cold). There are about 5 such viewpoints to visit if you like.

4. People watch. Nepalese people are sweet and a lot like Sri Lankans. The cities are very commercial though, even the temples. I didn't really get the peaceful feeling when I visited a lot of them...they even have restaurants and trinket shops inside the temples sometimes. Apart from that, there's a LOT of beautiful wood and metal work and art to go ape over. (If that's your thing)

5. Get to Pokhara. It's like the Kandy/ Nuwara Eliya of Nepal. Its about 300KM but takes about 5-6 hours in a rented car and Rs. 15,000 for about 4-5 passengers. I'm told you can fly there for about Rs. 5000pp...not sure about that though.

In Pohkara? Great. Try Paragliding. You literally run and jump off the face of a mountain. The parachute drags you back but you have to keep going, hoping for the best. The initial flight is terrifying but you get your air legs back and it's quite rad. A must try. One trip would cost about $90 +/-

 
6. Visit Davis Falls in Pohkara, visit the adjoining cave of Davis Falls. It's quite magical. Davis? A Swiss lady who died there. :(

Nepal is most water-rich country in the world after Brazil. You can see a lot of gorges, lakes and rivers which are super click-worthy. (BUT WHY do people litter so?!) Also, have authentic Tibetian food in Pohkara. They also have a lot of Tibetian art and handicrafts close to the Tibetian Refugee Settlement. Close to the SOS Children's Village.

7. Back in Kathmandu? Visit Bhakthapur/ Durbar Square, a 17th century royal square where ancestors of those who built it still live today. Get a guide for about Rs. 500-1000 and get him to take you around. The Karma Sutra carvings are ahem!... (All these sights are quite close by, so take a cab from the street and haggle for a acceptable price! DO NOT take hotel cars... Rs. 3000 IS a rip off)

 8. Buy a Thanka and a Singing Bowl. Thankas are traditional Tibetian/ Nepali/ Buddhist art. No, I didn't buy the one below.

9. Visit Swayambhunath and Boudhanath temples - ancient sites sacred to Newar Buddhists and Hindus alike. Remember to read up on the history of the temples, you don't get guides there. They are also close together and a street cab is the best bet.

Well, those are my tips for a short trip to Nepal. Of course there's a million other things you CAN do, like trekking, volunteering, travelling to other cities, bungee jumping, going native or smoking up (yes, it's everywhere and very pungent). I really think we only scratched the surface of Nepal and did a lot of touristy things and there's a lot more to discover.

Oh and the food? Looks a lot like Sri Lankan/ Indian cuisine but about 5 shades blander. Not something to crave after :) 

Happy traveling!

Girl Scouts/Guides are badass

Sorry for the constant copy pasting but I thought this article was brilliant and made me feel all warm inside for being a girl guide for so many years! It truly is a wonderful, empowering organisation for young girls and I can't wait to make my kids join and become girl scouts one fine day!

 

•  From Why I Will Always Be A Girl Scout (Even Though I Never Was One)
•   The founder, Juliette Gordon Lowe, believed so much in the Scouts that she sold her jewelry to finance the first troop. This was in Savannah – one of the coolest cities in the world as far as I’m concerned – but well before women could even vote, and certainly not a mecca for any kind of Women’s Lib.
• The Girl Scouts were one of the first organizations to include the disabled within their ranks, doing so in the first decade of their institution.
• At first, the badges were admittedly a little twee – Child Nurse, for example. But by the 1920s, girls could earn their Economics badge and Interpreter badges. Today, the badges reflect not only self empowerment but social activism. For example, a girl could earn the Inside Government badge, The Entertainment Technology badge, the It’s Your Business, Run it! badge or the Social Butterfly badge, which teaches girls how to navigate friendships in real life and online.
• In a time when girls were supposed to sit around and do needle point while praying for a husband, the Girl Scouts encouraged young women to get outside, be active and learn survival skills in the wild.
• The Scouts are encouraged to reach out beyond their immediate social circle. Leaders include girls whose moms are in jail or who are in the Foster Care system.
• Martin Luther King gave the Scouts props for pushing desegregation on a national level. The first black Troupe was founded in 1917 and the first Native American Troupe in 1921. While ridiculously, laws did not allow these groups to mix with the white girls, the Scouts found a way by holding summer camps all over the country that integrated the Troupes and encouraged inter racial friendships.
• When a 7-year-old transgendered girl was initially denied entry into her local GS Troupe, the national headquarters started the conversation about what it meant to be a girl. Not long after, they pronounced that anyone who identified themselves as a girl was welcome to join the Girl Scouts, and the little girl did join her local Troupe.
• In 1992, girls were allowed to replace the Under God part of the girl scout pledge with any Deity they chose, including, for the atheists, Humanity.
• Famous alumni? Check: Hillary Clinton, Madeline Albright, Gloria Steinham, Sandra Day O’Connor, Martha Stewart (of course), Barbara Walters and Taylor Swift (like, last year?).
• Crazy right wing conspiracy people hate the Girl Scouts… Why, you ask? They think they are pushing a feminist liberal agenda and brainwashing young girls. One church in Virginia even banned them from having meetings in their basement because they actually said they were giving out Jr. Abortion badges (do I really need to say they weren’t?). Even if they were in cahoots with Planned Parenthood (which they are not), I love the fact that a gathering of girls who are looking to empower themselves and reach out to all members of their community is threatening to these whack jobs.

Need I say more? Such badassness! 

High? Our eco system?

A friend who visited Delhi after some years away reported the new, hip thing to do in Delhi clubs. Cocaine. Affluent men, women of the upper classes lazed around getting high, but it was the lax attitude about it that shocked her.

Cocaine is primarily a substance which stimulates the brain and is highly addicitve. I'll leave the pros and cons to the reader, but has anyone really thought about the supply chain and how it actually affects the eco system?

In fact, even the illegal cultivation of cocaine (AND ganja and other drugs) kills acres of rain forests in Costa Rica, protected national reserves world over, acres of the Amazon and supports violent, drug-cartel related crimes globally. In fact, Colombia being the 2nd largest producer of Coca saw its forest cover falling from 82% to 78% between 2002 to 2007 where as the drug crimes in Mexico just gets worse.

Danilo Villafañé, an Arhuaco indigenous leader in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta who is helping his people take back lands formerly controlled by guerrillas and cultivated by commercial coca growers.
Photos by Rhett A. Butler 2010.

The implications are frankly scary, specially in a day and age where we need out living greens to at least sustain the earth as we pollute it from one end. The question is, does a drug have to cost so much?

So the next time, someone narrates me a story about getting high in Hikka and how fun it was, I'll only be thinking how misinformed that person is. That maybe being a little less ignorant where your intoxicants come from would probably take you out of a cycle that cultivates deforestation, promotes poverty/dependency and violent crime the world over.

The Sri Lankan dream

Oh Honey, the Indi Aappa was fantastic!

Historian James Adams wrote of the American dream thus:

"The American Dream, that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of material plenty, though that has doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as a man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class."

- From Wikipedia, since I'm lazy like that.

My American Entrepreneurship lecturer fed us four weeks of entrepreneurial motivation taking American cases such as a man's cough syrup turned a billion dollar global company (Coca Cola) to a Kentucky family's chicken recipe taking on the world, that I really felt like packing up and going there with Journey's Don't Stop Believing in the background.

The question is, What is the SRI LANKAN DREAM?

An education? A well-paying job at WTC? A Honda Civic? Jumping ship to go abroad, clean up old ladies and then send Cadbury chocolates and Ebay shoes home? Your own business? A suitable marriage at a suitable time? 2 children, preferably girl and boy, in Ladies/Bishops and Royal/St. Thomas's respectively? Shopping in Bangkok? A house in Colombo?

I really wonder. What do you think? Taking into consideration that no country can ever compare to the American dream, it is unique, but as a country, what can we be motivated and driven for?

Faith

My neighbour's kid speaks to God
daily, in sing-song, in Urdu I think -
I saw a woman kneeling with her baby
kneeling all the way to the alter of Madhu Church,
and sitting under the cool shades of the Sri Maha Bodhiya
an orange sunset reminds of an ever omnipresent,
With the energy of Mecca, like a sand-storm
like a rock concert in slow motion,
just drops in an ocean of human faith.
Keeping us strong when we most need it.

Muslim pilgrims at Koneshwaram Kovil, Trincomalee

A prayer tree, Koneshwaram Kovil

Voodoo magic, Koneshwaram Kovil

A personal request, Koneshwaram Kovil

4 rupee luck, Koneshwaram Kovil

Practical penalties

One Sunday I was watching Ben10 on Cartoon Network and I heard footsteps on our pergola. I looked up ready to scream melodramatically when I saw a pair of... stripy shorts.

Dad? I inquired. Oh hi, he replied. Apparently he’s heard that the Health Authority found dengue breeding spots next door and my neighbor could literally go to jail, so he was checking our roof for any mosquito nurseries after the rain. My dad, who wouldn’t be bothered really, up on the roof, in the scorching sun prompted by jail sentence.

I think Sri Lanka has tons of opportunities for good change, with the help of penalizing minor(?) offences and keeping it at a standard. Singapore penalized taxed spitting on the roads which resulted in squeaky clean pavements and a social change, while India fines peeing in public (I’m not too sure how that turned out though). In Sri Lanka I think the main problem is that penalties are formed and not carried out. Its practically free potential cash, flowing into government coffers for crying out loud.

Here are some penalties I think should be taken seriously, especially in Colombo.

1. The seat-belt law – I heard it was Rs. 5000 if you’re caught driving without it. I anyway wear mine after seeing a propaganda video where a guy’s spine gets crushed while driving at just 40kmph. (eek!) But the big ha-ho amounted in nothing, and you can still freely drive without it.
2. The bus lane – Aren’t they supposed to travel on the left-most lane? NOT. -__- Plus they do the worst possible traffic offices and some police officers don’t even bat an eyelid!
3. Throwing non-biodegradables while traveling – I HATE THIS! And everyone does it out of convenience! Rs. 5000!!!
4. Spitting – yuck. Rs. 1000
5. Peeing – Oh well, at least it isn’t as bad as India. Rs. 1500
6. Animal abuse – anyone caught abusing should serve a week’s sentence at least. And complaints should be taken seriously, be it pets or livestock.
There should be laws for puppy mills, pet shops and pet licenses to make people think twice about getting a pet and not caring for it properly!
7. Mosquito related disease – Dengue just got totally out of hand last year. I personally know so many people who lost their loved ones. Crazy. It was the same with Chickengunya, I know an aunty who still finds it hard to walk or go up steps. You breed em? You go to jail buster!!! (Plus 50,000 thankyouverymuch)
8. Noise pollution – Anyone who makes noise between 10PM-5AM in a residential area, be it a vehicle, their dog, music, sex – complaints should be taken seriously -_-
9. Littering – each shop owner should be responsible for dirt in front of their own shop. Same with households. I’m sure the city will be cleaner then.

I can’t think of anymore right now. but practical penalties maybe a start to change the majority of undisciplined Sri Lankans who think our urban issues are someone else’s problem.

Russian illustrations

When I was young, my dad was away at work a lot. Amma worked as a teacher so most of my time was hanging out with Seeya. He had and has a voracious appetite for reading so I’d say 80% of our time was spent in libraries. I vividly remember getting lost in British Council, bawling my eyes out and finally being reunited with him. He looked down at me briefly and then went back to his book with not so much a shrug.

We also frequented the municipal library, the little libraries built in almost every major town. Our library wasn’t major though, it had a jam tree in front of it, a tuk-tuk park and a Buddha statue next to it. But it had ALL the daily papers to which Seeya honed in like a bee to well…honey. He and I sat in our little dingy corners, him with his nose on the papers, and me sitting in little colourful chairs going through children’s books.

One day I found a stash of old Russian children stories, which bring me to the point of this post. Most were translated to English and a few to Sinhala. I assume now that they were gifted by our great comrades in friendship and delivered to all the public libraries and government schools to remain untouched until someone like me came along.

They were pretty addictive and now that I look back, quite distinctive in its art. Most had stories with wolves and foxes in them. (quite mystical) or stories based on environments with snow storms and ice (quite alien to a Sri Lankan kid). But I poured over them because most of the Russian folk stories had a weird sense of magic in them. I suppose it’s the combination of dark woods, the unknown and then a happy ending at the end.

I found some similar ones on a flickr link too.

Maybe I’ll look for a few publications to keep for myself. For nostalgia and for the love of the distinctive art.

Kill Akon? Really?

With all this negativity about Akon coming down on Facebook, I sometimes wonder what some of us are on about. Let’s reminisce to the day Shah Rukh and his sequined entourage came down. It was purely a show for fans and a good crowd puller to jaded war-tired people, the masses. But a grenade was thrown, over 3 people died, and we instantly forgot how mental the whole situation was. Not to mention, the stars fled back home, made more movies and money, furthered their industry, became more popular world-wide and bought their own cricket teams.

To me, Akon equals good publicity to Sri Lanka and a step up as a brand. Places like Singapore go to town when international artists come down, so this gives us the same opportunity. I heard that 10,000 Maldivians are planning to come over for the concert, which maybe heresay but its good heresay.

About the Buddha statue in his video. Well, there’s enough and more examples where statues are used as ornaments in the West and pictures are used on bikinis. It’s a poor choice and an exhibition of ignorance but then again, what can you expect? During one of my earlier rant-y posts on Buddha Bars, Pseudo gave me some golden advice about substituting the anger for understanding. and something on the lines of what is important to a true Buddhist... I can’t really remember the rest. Sorry P!

Anyway back to Akon; the highly publicized grinding with the 15 year old’ issue, well...it was wrong, but the FB site seems to have a holier than thou attitude whereas at any given Sri Lankan club on a Saturday night are tons of little kids grinding away at each other too.

The point of this post is not to say bollocks to the people slamming the concert on FB. I’m personally not a big fan of Akon either. I find his voice whiny, songs repetitive and lyrics plain dumb. One exception maybe ‘Sexy B****’, but that’s because it’s pumped up with David Guetta’s collaboration. BUT my point is, its music, and everyone is entitled to their likes.

Perhaps we need to close our eyes and sacrifice our *cough* “values” for the sake of development as a country, as a brand. Look at the red light district Vs Theravada Buddhism in Thailand, and the proposed casinos in Singapore. Not that an international star equals development in Sri Lanka, but isn’t it a start? I’m still mulling that over.

Perhaps we need to be a little less angry, give it a chance and see what positives we can get out of it rather than killing him and embarrassing ourselves all together. To the rest of you, I’ll see you on the 24th.