Morning
Spice by Ginger
Lapses
in English: most due to carelessness
Now Ginger got a copy of
flawed invitation card from a reader. The
invitation was for a book launching ceremony and
a seminar for teachers and parents. The
invitation had much to do with the English
language and that is why he makes some comments
about it! Though he does not wish to identify
those who sent the card for obvious reasons. The
invitation was for a book (launching ceremony).
Obviously it was a printers devil and what they
meant was lauching ceremony. The more heinous
error was the statement that it was under the
patronage of a late chief minister.
The so called late chief
minister was very much alive when last seen. I
wonder why someone in the organization wanted to
bump him off! I don’t know whether the copy
I got was the final copy or the final proof
reading had not been done. But by the texture and
look of the card suggested that it was all ready
for posting. Now all this I don’t think was
due to an ignorance of the language as sheer
carelessness in not reading the final proof. Such
a lapse could reflect rather badly on an
organisation interested in improving English
hereÉ
Soya food
consumption
Every body speaks of the virtues and the
value of soya. Except for the normal soya meat we
do not see much variety where soya food is
concerned in shops here. Incidentally one
particular brand gets "high" after a
few hours in the fridge. Now with red meat being
declared not the best thing for your health,
there should be quite a demand for soya products
if they are properly introduced to the market.
Now products like tofu
which is very popular in East Asia. There is also
a paste called Miso which is what the Japanese
use for seasoning many of Japanese dishes and
Miso soup is a must for a truly authentic
Japanese meal. Soya sprouts are also highly
recommended because it has less calories per gram
of protein than any other vegetable food.
Chris Pattern to
name in Guinness book
Chris Pattern who was Hong Kong’s
last governor feels he has broken a record and
should be in the Guinness book of records. It was
quite an athletic performance when you come to
think of it. Could you sign 1500 copies of a book
even if it happens to be your book.
He had signed so furiously
that his cuff links had come up. Pattern had come
back to Hong Kong to promote his book "East
and West". Evidently thousand stores had
collected outside the stress where he was to buy
autographed copies of the book believing they
would become collectors items.
Untaxed political
privileges
In a land flowing with milk
and honey, extravagance may be tolerated; but
when the milk turns rancid and the honey
tasteless, the taste buds get dry as those who
are expected to serve, clamour for goat milk and
golden syrup oblivious of the fate of a gullible
public. No doubt the Parliamentary warriors of
state have to exist and are amply provided for
their lives and their progeny; but to vote for an
increase (65%) allowance is a claim that should
neither be entertained nor considered at this
stage of the country’s predicament.
Your comments and those of
other readers are commendable. In comparison to
the pittance claimed by Fidel Castro, these
demands stink to high heaven. None will grudge
reasonable compensation for dedicated and sincere
service, but to pay a group of people, who hardly
render a service to the nation, to maintain an
entertainment of sorts, lacks the spirit in which
the demand is made.
Even the Sangha Sabha has
voiced disapproval and the public have reached
the limits of endurance.
The advantages of the
Presidential System can be put to test if the
holder of that office puts her foot down early
(not later) and prevent further
"amelioration" of the perks, privileges
and pensions granted by her predecessors to keep
their "army" contented by not making
them march on their stomachs, but sing hosannas
to their King to praise his own tail!
It will not be a surprise
if this obnoxious suggestion is temporarily
shelved and introduced later to have
restrospective effect so that a further bonanza
will be available to cushion the disappointment
in the interim.
Disgusted
Voter
The 'Golden sands
of Jaffna'
Once upon a time, we SRI
LANKANS were the gentlest race inhabiting planet
Earth & living as brothers, irrespective of
race, caste or faith. We respected each others
customs with utmost courtesy. Today things have
changed beyond recognition. Still my story proves
ALL IS NOT LOST.
As a young Engineer and
having returned from abroad after graduation, I
was posted to work on a large Engineering Project
in KKS (Jaffna). Being in a quandary as to my
temporary residence there, a fellow Engineer
(Balasingham) Bala for short, with whom I studied
, invited me to stay at his parental home, as he
too was involved in the Project.
Being with Bala’s
family was a most pleasurable and satisfying
experience, and they treated me as one of the
family members.
One day I was at home,
having done a ‘night shift ‘ the
previous day, and as usual Bala left for work on
his bicycle in the morning. Bala’s girl
friend, Lakshimi came to visit him carrying a
basket full of ripe mangoes (for which Jaffna is
famous), However since Bala was not at home,
Lakshimi came into my room, sat at the side of my
bed, and chatting merrily, started peeling the
delicious fruit and sharing it with me. Lakshimi
was a demure girl, educated, darkly attractive
and very vivacious, with a fine sense of humour.
At that very moment Bala came home unexpectedly,
to collect some files he had left behind, and
walked into my room, with a cheery greeting.
Seeing his girl friend seated on my bed and
completely misunderstanding the scenario, he
stalked out of the bedroom, after having politely
excused himself.
After a few embarrassing
moments I walked out of the room, and saw Bala
seated at the dining table with kitchen knife in
hand! There was no escape, and a simple
explanation to an innocent incident appeared
unnecessary, and I prepared myself for a quick
summary execution at the hands of Bala, who by
now was intently feeling the sharp cutting edge
of the deadly knife.
I thereafter closed my
eyes, said a silent prayer to my deity and waited
for the cruel knife to plunge into me. After what
seemed to me an interminably long period I opened
my eyes and there was Bala handing me the knife
and saying ‘Thambi take this knife and end
my life, as I am broken hearted and this could
happen to anyone’ And then to my utter
surprise, he warmly embraced me & said
don’t do it again’.
Seeing this welcome change
in the atmosphere, Lakshimi came out of my room,
carrying the basket of Mangoes and gave Bala a
playful hug and a piece of that delicious mango,
and then went on to explain in detail what
actually took place. Bala was now his normal
composed self and said ‘thambi let us
continue to be ‘mango friends’
hereafter, as you Sinhalese are always fond of
saying!
Well in later years, I was
invited to Jaffna to celebrate the wedding
nuptials of Bala and Lakshimi, and also be the
bestman. Ofcourse Bala never invited me to go on
his honeymoon, but as a parting shot said
‘machan thambi, I nearly thought you batted
first, so you better stay at home and console
yourself with the palmyrah toddy’ and saying
that they were both off to a happy wedded life.
The lesson I learnt in far
away Jaffna was that in the years gone by, we Sri
Lankans, be they Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims or
Malays, and not forgetting the burghers, we lived
as brothers & gentle folk, in this beloved
island paradise, SRI Lanka!
Rex L.
Wijeyaratne
LCPA to investigate
land problems
We wish to advice that many
representations have been made to the Low Country
Products Association (LCPA) by its members who
have been penalised due to the enactment of the
LRC stage I law of 1974. Hence the LCPA is
investigating the possibility of alleviating the
problem of those members who were not given the
land of their choice on surrendering land over 50
acres in extent to the Land Reform Commission
(LRC).
This is against the rules
laid down by the LRC at that time. Hence those
members so penalised should please apply to the
LCPA with adequate documentation — when a
delegation from the LCPA will be constituted to
meet the relevant. Minister with a view to
investigating the possibility of correcting this
unfortunate happening at that time.
Chairman,
The Low Country Products Association of Ceylon
A reply to
citizen D
Who
were the original people of Sri Lanka
Citizen D of Kandy has
chosen the above title to answer my letter on the
subject of original settlers of Sri Lanka, which
was of course in relation to civilised settlers
in Sri Lanka, whether it was Drawdians or someone
else. We were not discussing about pre historic
matters. Citizen D’s letter appeared on the
10th of December, in The Island. However, I hope
to answer two important matters raised by Citizen
D.
1. If there was Drawadian
connection with Indus valley civilisation and the
displacement of Drawadians by the infiltrating
Aryans, Drawadians would have left pockets of
Drawadians all along the way down at least up to
the upper boarder of Andradh Pradesh in South
India is the contention of Citizen D.
Unfortunately for Citizen D there are twenty
different groups of people from Southern parts of
Pakistan up to the upper boarder of Anradh
Pradesh, who speak languages which are labelled
Drawadian. These twenty groups are part from the
four major Drawadian language speaking in Tamil
Nadu, Sri Lanka, Kerala, Karantaka and Andradh
Pradesh. The languages they speak namely Tamil ,
Malayalam, Kannadam and Telengu.
2. The question of the
Britisher recognising Tamil speaking only as
Drawadian and Sinhala separately does not mean
that Sinhala become non Drawadian, just much as
Malayalam speaking, Kanndam speaking, Telengu
speaking are all Drawadians like the Tamil
speaking. Just because Sinhalese speak a language
which is classified as a Modern Indo Aryan
language they do not attain the status of Aryan
descendents. Besides the type of division made by
the Britisher made matters easy in their policy
of divide and rule. They were very successful
too, in that they created some intellectuals who
did historical research with preconceived ideas,
of Aryan connection of the Sinhalese which is the
main reason for the present day conflict.
Matters connected with the
issue of the original settlers of Sri Lanka
cannot be disposed in short letters and replies.
Intellectuals including historians, research
workers, linguists, archaeologists must provide
opportunity even to members of the public to
openly participate in discussion of many related
subject matters. Some subjects I can think of for
the present are:-
a. Origin of the word
Sinhala and Sinhalese.
b. Aryan migration in Sri
Lanka
c. Origin of Pali
d. Origin of the Sinhala
words especially of the people, places and names
of ancient places of Buddhist worship
e. People who spearheaded
the spread of Buddhism in Ceylon.
For the present I will
quote following matters of importance.
Prof. J. B. Dissanayake,
Head of the Department of Sinhala of the
University of Colombo has this to say in his book
Sinhala a Unique Indo Aryan Language "......
of these languages Tamil had the close link with
Sinhala at all levels of linguistic structure.
The most areas of influence is the lexicon,
hundreds are the words burrowed from Tamil from
the earliest times...." Gate Mudliar W. P.
Gunawardena has this to say "..... I find
that some of the main features of the Sinhala
Grammar are quite out of tune with their Aryan
analogue, while all the principles of fundamental
importance harmonise with their Tamil equivalents
and fall in natural with Drawadia idiom...."
I am sure Citizen D is not aware of the fact that
the first Sinhala grammar book Siddath Sangarawa
was written by a Drawadian from South India.
M. S.
Vishesaratne
Ratnapura
Wake up! Film
corporation
I saw with wonderment the
massive page advertisement that appeared in the
state owned Daily News paper on December with
regard to multivision television offering ten
extra channels of variety entertainment to the
public. Four out of ten channels are for movies
presented by HOB, Cinemax, AXN and TNT giving
best block busters around the world. All the
movies will be uncensored version.
But what is happening to
our cinemas? Why can’t they show these films
on the big screen ? Can the Head of the Film
Corporation explain to me why there are no good
English films in the town, specially films to
take my kids. Where are the films like, Free
Willy, The Little Princes, The Secret Garden,
Richi Rich, Denis the Menace, Black Beauty etc.
The last film my kids has seen in a cinema hall
was "Home Alone" about two years ago.
Who is responsible for the downfall of the
cinemas today. Why cannot the bureaucrats wake up
and allow good quality English films, specially
Hollywood films, come to the cinema halls with he
censored version and protect our younger
generation.
Disgusted
Patron
Is the correct
amount of fuel being sold to consumers?
I write with reference to
an important issue highlighted in The Island
newspaper of 1st December 1998. I have reason to
believe that the views expressed in this article
are entirely true and urge the attention and
action of the authorities concerned to check this
sharp practice by some errant service stations.
I had first hand experience
of this when I pumped petrol to my car at a
petrol station near Ramakrishna Road in
Wellawatte, a few days ago. I noticed that the
meter indicated that the right amount of fuel had
been pumped. But after driving off, I realised
that the fuel meter of my car indicated that only
about half of what I paid for had been pumped.
This discrepancy was so obvious and I was
appalled that not small but a large proportion of
the fuel, paid for by consumers is being siphoned
off by these vendors.
The consumers are already
struggling under a heavy cost of living without
an additional burden of this nature being thrust
upon them.
Fooled
consumer
The November flower
The November flower blooms
only in November, when it rains. The rest of the
year and the following year, up to November, it
lies dormant.
It belongs to the orchid
family and it is called, "karthkai Poo"
in Tamil, meaning, "November flower".
The flower is radiant and
beautiful and is red and yellow in colour. It is
somewhat like a chandelier and a little like the
hibiscus, in shape and size.
The Scorpion orchid is
marvellous, for its exact resemblance to a
scorpion and it has a very pleasing, subtle and
exquisitely pale colour, but the November flower
is resplendent, shiny and blazing red and yellow,
a little gaudy though!
This flower lies abandoned,
to be seen and admired by only a very few, when
they happen to pass through the dry zone, during
the blooming season!
I am sure that it has a
great export potential and should therefore be
taken up for experiment, in a green house, to:
(a) explore the
possibilities of making it flower, more often
than only in November;
(b) determine its export
potential;
(c) and cultivate it on a
grand scale, if the venture appears profitable,
which I feel is portent, considering the fact
that it grows only in our part of the Tropics and
the West would be doubly interested in its
peculiar shape and colour!
Thambirajah
Mahadevan
Vavuniya
Pavements for
hawkers?
Several letters have
appeared in your journal on the misuse of
pavements by selfish and unscrupulous elements,
forcing the pedestrians to the highway at the
risk of life and limb.
The last letter was by
"a concerned citizen" of Dehiwala under
the caption "Trouble in the junction"
in your issue of 7.12.98. The previous letter
congratulated the Mayor of Colombo for
constructing small concrete pillars on the road
side of the pavements to prevent motor cars and
taxies parking on pavements. This is a good
lesson for the Mayor of Dehiwala, Mt. Lavinia and
Ratmalana M.C. to do likewise as the situation in
that area, particularly Ratmalana, is much worse.
The Police turn a Nelsonian
eye even to vehicles parked on pavements opposite
police stations. Taxi drivers are so selfish and
cussed that they park their three wheelers
vertically and not horizontally on pavements
leaving no room for pedestrians to pass through
at least on one side. The Police say that nothing
can be done in this respect owing to the
requirements of the Eelam war, as they are short
of 10,000 men. Be that as it may, the law
enforcement now being so weak, inefficient,
indifferent, so outdated and visibly
unscientific, the offenders simply get away scot
free to repeat their crimes again and again.
At a recent seminar, A. H.
M. Fowzie, the Minister of Transport and
Highways, is reported to have said, inter alia,
that most of the people who meet with accidents
on the roads are the pedestrians. Therefore, it
is hoped that our Mayor will adopt any one of the
following suggestions:—
(a) Build a reinforced
concrete parapet wall on the road side of the
pavement or at least have some concrete posts.
(b) Raise the kerb 11/2
feet above the ground.
(c) Appoint some traffic
wardens to collect a prohibitive fee from all
those who misuse the pavements, not only drivers,
but also hawkers, building contractors, vehicle
repairers and lottery ticket sellers.
A.
Pedestrian,
Mt. Lavinia.
Ombudsman
No
cemetery for Nagoda Catholics yet Where is
justice
For over eight long years
we the residents of Nagoda have been agitating
and appealing for twenty or thirty perches of
land for a cemetery. We have appealed to all
concerned even the President in vain.
It’s a blatant
violation of human rights at the recent
President’s mobile service we went in
deputation and the Local Government Commissioner
assured us of a block of land. But so far no
reply. A block was to be allocated for this
purpose earlier by the Pradeshiya Sabha but a
handful of Buddhists objected and this was also
stalled. At present corpses have to be
transported four to five miles for burial and
this costs a lot for a bearer. The poor face
excruciating difficulties and fall into debt.
We presume, the President
will remedy this highly deplorable situation. In
every cemetery a section is separated for
Catholics and Muslims. There is a large public
cemetery close by at Galassa, Nagoda but there is
no allocation of a block for Catholics.
Carl
Nanayakkara
Kalutara
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