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Morning Spice by
Ginger Another weekend paper warned locals not to be gulled into entering for degree examinations and paying for courses to prepare them for degrees that do not seem to be recognised. In fact one such imposter had been prosecuted according to that same journal. All this goes to show that Sri Lanka could be a happy hunting ground for those who make their money out of unsuspecting hopefuls. With universities closing frequently due to student problems and so forth there is always a demand to obtain degrees from alternate seats of higher learning. Those who have the money can afford to go to more recognised universities elsewhere and obtain degrees that are generally fairly widely accepted. But there are many who lack the funds to go abroad and so get their degrees as overseas candidates and many obtain spurious or valueless degrees that get them no where. Now it the education authorities here would be rendering quite a service to the young here if they get our missions abroad to check on the credentials of these universities and then publish a list of recognized institutions and warn parents that paying money to other so called universities could mean throwing good money after bad. For garlic fans Garlic in its raw form may be a different proposition to the capsule. What really happens is that the process of making the capsule destroys the allicin in it which is what knocks off the cholesterol in the system. Those who are pro-garlic say that though a medical cloud may hang over the capsuls the tablets are yet effective. The wedding of the year There were tents all round the house and loud speakers carrying heavy metal noises that drowned the ceremony proper. What was really different about the wedding was that Babras son gave his mother away in marriage and Brolyns son was the bestman. The press got a message of sorts when the couples press agents made a statement on their behalf later in the night. About five years ago I happened to tune in to the English News on Rupavahini, and I was shocked to hear the newsreader commence the bulletin announcing 'You are watching news LIVE on Rupavahini'. This guy sported a full beard and his name suggested that he was either of Malay or Moslem origin. I later observed to my horror that some of the lady announcers too were following this lunatic's example. Anyone knows that a news bulletin is a rendition of pre-recorded material, whilst a LIVE programme is the display of a spectacle or event while it is actually taking place. Therefore, a newsreader of all people, who does not know the difference, is a nut and a misfit, and should be kicked out; as by his antics he is discrediting and degrading the very establishment he is working for. So, I wrote to the press on those lines imploring the hierarchy of Rupavahini to take necessary action to stop this shortcoming. Several more letters on the same subject by others also followed. The results were rather disappointing. The ladies discontinued their silly practice, but the chief culprit boxed on with impunity and gay abandon. My impressions then were: 1. Rupavahini top brass considered the issue a very trivial matter: in which case they were absolute dopes themselves. 2. The lady announcers came to their senses probably on reading the derogatory letters in the press. 3. The chief culprit wields some power in the institution. I stop-ped watching Rupava-hini English News in utter disgust. Five years later I was watching a world football cup '98 fixture, when Rupavahini intervened with the English news. And there was 'Our Man' reading the news starting with his famous words 'You are watching news LIVE on Rupavahini'. His hair has thinned somewhat and his luxuriant beard has been reduced to something that looks like a hairy doughnut encircling his mouth. Having seen this same performance of his after five years, I am convinced about my aforesaid impressions. Subsequently I tun-ed in to ITN English News on two occasions. Well, the canker has set in there too. We are going from bad to worse. The first offender, going by his name, is from the same community as 'The Imbecile' and the other happpens to be a very senior person who sports a Hitler-type moustache. I don't think there is any point in appealing to the Rupavahini authorities again. As the rot appears to exist only in the state-run TV stations, I am of the opinion that it is time that the Media Minister stepped in. Dear Minister, this absurd situation has been for over five long years. By now we must be the laughting stock in the international scene. Also remember that you too are being discredited by the asinine antics of these nutty nitwits. Please take immediate measures to clean up these two madhouses. Instil smartness, knowledge, spirit and dash, and kick out ignorance, incapacity, obstinacy and stupidity. P. Alles On the 16th of June around 5.30 p.m. 14 of us were returning home to Moratuwa, Panadura and Wadduwa from Colombo, in an office van, and were in the usual traffic grind at Dehiwela. Our route took us along the Zoo road to Karagampitiya Junction, near the police station. Just before the junction, a Hi-ace van parked on the left side on the slope, near the Lanka Gas shop there, started reversing slowly and hit our van which has already come to a halt in the traffic jam. We shouted and called out to the driver but could not see anyone inside!! Then we saw the sole occupant, a small child 3 or 4 years old! She was locked up in the front with the windows turned up. The mite looked stunned and shocked. A crowd of people gathered and a bystander asked her to lift open the door lock but she could not, poor kid. The driver was missing for quite a few minutes. Then the driver, presumably the father, came strolling along with a bag of groceries. Everyone there was so upset and angry that we forgot about the damage to our van. We asked him what on earthh he was doing all this time, and what kind of a parent he was to leave a child, almost a baby, alone in a vehicle like that. His story was that he had gone to leave his elder child at tuition. He even said that the kid would have played with the gear lever and shifted it to neutral! Couldn't he had taken the kid with him as well? However he did not seem to be shaken at all by the incident. He did not even bother carry his child afterwards, to reassure her. Yes - he practically dragged this 3 or 4 year old along to the Karagampitiya Police Station, up the road, to report the incident. He is, by the way a sales executive in a private company and gave us his card saying "I am not a rogue" "I will help with the repair..." However when the driver of the van went to see him a few days later with the bill for repairs, he said he could have got it done cheaper and paid only a bit more than half the cost. Is his child's life worth only so much? And what if his van reversed and hit a fast moving bus or container truck? I do hope the mother of this child will read this article. What does the law do to people like this? Will he repeat the same thing again? I would love to hear what other mothers have to say about this. One who was with us said that a lot of men are like that and would not bother about leaving a child alone in a fully closed vehicle, unattended. Over to you fathers - are you all like this? Manel Thondaman and Prabhakaran's divine power In an interview with a Sunday paper of June 28th, Soumyamoorthy Thondaman, (ST) trade unionist, arch negotiator and probably the most successful Sri Lankan politician, has this time gone a few steps further to claim that Velupillai Prabhakaran, (VP), the megalomaniac, the most ruthless murderer and destroyer of the time, has some sort of divine power and divine guidance. Whoever this god may be who conferred such power and guidance on a murderer cannot be any one of the gods mentioned in any of the religions in the civilized world. ST stands with one leg in the UNP, the other in the PA, his heart with the LTTE and the eyes on a possible Malayanadu in the plantation areas in the event of VP winning his Eelam. Grievances of Tamils, their being exploited and being treated in cavalier fashion by the Sinhalese, the Traditional Tamil Homeland theory (TTH), the Sinhala army mercilessly killing Tamils who are carrying on a peaceful struggle for their lost homeland, their rights etc. are topics that have been hacked for two decades or so. These claims have been proved absolute nonsense by learned historians, some of whom are Tamils; statistics with regard to educational facilities, job opportunities etc., that were available to them for a long period of time, the absence of any communal outbursts during normal times in the south and the good relations maintained between the two communities prove that there is no ill treatment of the Tamils by Sinhalese. But all Tamils fighting for an Eelam on one third of the country for 6 per cent of the population while the larger percentage of the Tamil community live amicably among the Sinhalese have short memories. They have forgotten the history of the country, that there has never been anything that could be called a TTH; they have been misguided by the erroneous statement of a historian that they simply refuse to stand to reason. They are so biased and brainwashed that they can never weigh facts and figures and reason out clearly, but glibly take in anything that is to their advantage. ST and all his cohorts have to be told that the Sinhalese never wilfully denied any of their rights, or overstepped on their dignity and that any lapses have been rectified. He has forgotten the time when Tamils were holding sway in the public service making it almost a monopoly; he has forgotten the time when after passing Medawachchiya how Tamils travelling to Jaffna used to change the dress and straddle or lie across the seat with utter disregard for other passengers. Here he backs VP's demand for an Eelam to the hilt when Tamilnadu, his own land of birth, with millions of Tamils still remains a state under writ of the Indian central government. ST accuses the Sinhalese of treating the Tamils in cavalier fashion after he has got from JRJ and RP citizenship for lakhs of estate labourers who were to be repatriated under the Sirima-Shastri Pact. He considers the upcountry tea estates as his legacy from his ancestors and therefore refused to give a few acres to build houses for the Sinhalese who were rendered homeless due to an earthslip. Most unfortunately, the vociferous and powerful politicians of the time who shouted themselves hoarse to defend the rights of the Sinhalese were tongue-tied and bowed down with their tails between the legs. Not one, not even those representing the upcountry areas, raised a finger against this high handed action of the all powerful Thonda. Today the present Govt. is giving blocks of land carved out of the estates and in addition building for estate labourers while the Kandyan peasantry who lost their ancestral property and all their worldly possessions get nothing. This is the slavery and the cavalier fashion treatment that the Tamils are being subjected to by the chauvinistic Sinhalese, and it is not Tamil chauvinism when VP chases away thousands of Sinhalese who were residents in Jaffna for generations. His next argument is, "The LTTEers are clever politicians and they won't deface their image by throwing bombs. Those throwing bombs are interested parties, may be Sinhalese groups, who are doing it in view of the possible provincial council elections and trying to give the LTTE a bad name". How nicely and cleverly he tries to wriggle out and wash off all the blood on the hands, nay the whole body, of the Tigers. No, Mr. Thondaman not the waters of all the oceans can ever wash away all that blood and the Tigers have no image left to be defaced by others. After exhaustive investigations India has established that her PM Rajiv Gandhi was murdered by the LTTE. There are warrents issued for the arrest of the culprits including Prabhakaran. It is true that the Tigers have not taken the responsibility for all the killings and bombings. Therefore this theory by hero worshipper that the Sinhalese are responsible for all the killings and bombings to give a bad name to the saintly Tigers will have to be accepted by us? Fine! Now we know that truck loads of arms, cement to build bunkers and millions of rupees were given by a late VVIP to Tigers to help them defend themselves from attacks by the Sinhalese. On the other hand the Sinhala army has nothing better to do than mercilessly kill innocent LTTEers sitting duck in their bunkers in the jungles carrying most modern lethal weapons and wearing the cyanide capsule round the neck through fear of the army and the murderous Sinhalese. He now boasts of his exploits with the UNP and the PA. He won the worker's rights and citizenship for a few lakhs from the UNP and is now a minister in the PA cabinet -- with one foot in the UNP, of course holding the all important portfolio of Livestock Development and Estate Infra-structure covering the whole gamut of health, education, living conditions, culture, sports etc. in the estates. He shamelessly boasts while being a cabinet minister, the trade unionist in him organised two strikes and successfully negotiated a pay rise of Rs. 29 a day, and says that "the strikes in various other sectors have been failtures and were brought under the Essential Services Act." No other minister or MP who resorted to such acts would have ever been tolerated by any government. He denies, despite claims in certain quarters proved by statistics, I believe that he has lost his grip on the estate workers. Acc. him even those who had broken away from him are now flocking back to him for guidance and leadership. He also accuses President DBW and Sirisena Cooray because the former did not take him seriously and tried to keep him in his place. According to him provincial councils are a waste of money and we have 225 members in Parliament to look after the people's welfare. This is the only truth, other than his achievements, he has spoken in the whole interview, but of course , PCs are good if only the North and East are permanently merged. He has failed to say that the merged North and East must be declared the TTH and given over to his hero on a platter soon so that he may with VP's help and divine power start his struggle for a Malayanadu in the plantations. S. Abeywickrema I am happy to find so many people - even associations, organisations and firms saving the lives of innocent cattle from slaughter. I admit it is a great merit to save the lives of animals. But I wonder whether these people only save animals for the purpose of fulfilling vows or to receive publicity , and are not concerned much about what happens to the lives of these animals since saved from slaughter. It is possible that these animals ultimately end up in slaughter. Our Society, the Kandy Humanitarian Society not only saves animals from donations received, but finds them suitable and safe homes. We give them on terms of contract so that they are well looked after and never sold. We keep a tab on them and even provide them with cattle sheds when the person to whom the animals have been given needs assistance. We also provide medicare and undertake to hospitalise them when necessary. Of the 450 animals we have sold to date, I can consciously state that none have reached the butcher eventually. But saving animals alone is not enough. The way to reduce the suffering caused to these poor animals is to give up eating flesh. Dr. C. Godamunne |
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