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People and Events
Tragedy plus discovery in the south pole

by Nan
Freezing Antarctica has been in the news. The fifth largest continent, asymmetrically centred on the South Pole, is about 5,500,000 square miles in extent. It is surrounded by the world’s stormiest seas. A belt of pack ice surrounds the continent. Only a few areas are ice free at the end of summer. Winter temperatures drop to -70 F (-57 C). The lowest recorded was -126.9 F (-88.3 C) at Vostok, a Russian station. Summer temperatures are unlikely to be warmer than 6 F (-18 C)

EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY

Many were those who tried to cross Antarctica or at least explore certain areas. The most famous of course is Amundsen who reached the Pole on December 14, 1911. Scott reached it on January 17, 1912, but did not live to tell the tale nor savour the victory. He and four others died on their return journey.

It was during the second voyage of the English explorer, Capt. James Cook, 1772-75, that the existence of the continent was discovered. He did not see the land but was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle which is a physical boundary lying between the 50th and 60th parallels of latitude.

The International Geophysical Year (IGY) from 1957 to 1958, planned to coincide with a period of maximum sunspot activity, involved scientists from 56 nations. They did much to open up the continent, open up as much as it permitted, ice bound and secretive as it is.

The success of the IGY encouraged the setting up of a permanent research station by the US - actually a village in a place called Mc Murdo. The village is lighted and heated by a small atomic power plant, and supported by the US Navy and Air Force. Other satellite stations also are inhabited, mostly in the short summer.

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by representatives of 12 nations that were involved in the IGY. It provides for cooperation and freedom of movement for scientific investigation as well as for exchange of observations and scientific data. Many of the countries have now dropped out though.

People live on through summer and winter and even longer; in contact with the outside world in summer but totally cut off during the very harsh winters. Exploration for minerals, study of life in the cold and evolution has brought to surface the fact that there is much richness to be mined, life is totally different and that Antarctica has been frozen for at least 20 million years and not 7 million as was previously believed.

ICE BOUND AND ILL

A human story has been haunting me ever since I read about it. The woman doctor of the Scott Amundsen research station has discovered she has breast cancer. She cannot be brought out of the station; neither can doctors get to her. So she has to test and treat herself. She has to do a biopsy on herself and, if the lump is malign, administer needed treatment including chemotherapy. Medicines, an ultrasound machine and a digital microscope were dropped by jet from an altitude of about 700 feet. The plane could get no closer to the ground. The ultrasound machine was damaged in the drop.

There has been a request for anonymity of the ill person. But people have got to know about the air-medical-drop mission. There is telephone and computer contact between the station and the US, including medical institutes, so medical advice flows through, but that is hardly enough.

The woman went to the Antarctic in December and in June discovered the lump. She has, or will have to do the testing and treating herself - driving needles into her breast and suffering the effects of strong drugs taken. But she must be a strong, tough person, so she should be able to cope.

Imagine her feelings. Even if made of steel and sheer grit, she’d be affected. It’s a slow death sentence passed on her in a remote, perpetually dark, densely cola, isolated spot on the face of the earth. There are 40 others in the research station but one needs family at such times and a hospital or clinic for sure.

In this time of technical advances where nothing seems impossible, no further help can be given her. She cannot be brought home to the US until winter is over. The camp is icebound and impenetrable. Men have walked on the moon, they have descended to the bottom of the ocean in bathyscaphes, they have climbed Everest without oxygen cylinders on their backs, but a plane cannot land in Antarctica till summer.

Much more encouraging is the fact that marine biologists and evolutionists are studying the seas in the Antarctic with renewed interest. New species of fish have been discovered and it looks as if just as the Galapagos Island and its finches gave Darwin proof of evolution of the species, the fish in the waters off the South Pole give evolutionary biologists plenty to research on.

There are, it is reported, small herring-resembling fish and 250 pound shark-like creatures. Some are at the bottom of the sea, some swim around closer to the surface under layers of ice, some hide themselves, while still others attach themselves to sponge beds similar to coral reefs.

No animals live in the real polar region down under, except for small creatures like wingless insects. Birds do go to the Antarctic seasonally, but to the outer periphery. Whales and the fur and elephant seals exist in the outer waters of the continent.

Antarctica, like Mt Everest, challenged man’s ingenuity, determination, and endurance. Man emerged the winner.

WHO WAS FIRST UP THERE?

Sir Edmund Hillary marked his 80th birthday on the 20th with the New Zealand Governor, Sir Michael Hardie-Boys hosting a party at Government House in Wellington. He had a cake inscribed with the words uttered by Hillary as he reached camp after he and Tensing Norkay had scaled the mountain: ‘We knocked the bastard off"

One shudders at the disrespectful reference to the holy mountain in all its beauty and majesty. But then Hillary was a bee keeper and was not magnanimous enough to acknowledge that Tenzing it was that reached the summit first. There raged a controversy about this. Tenzing was up first they said. Later Hillary claimed the honour for himself, forgetting that it was absolute team work, that neither could reach the top without the other.

What has man to conquer in the new millennium? Progress ever further in information technology? Go visiting planets?

Our hopes are that man will discover the better side of himself and determine to keep it alive. Then there might be peace on earth and goodwill towards all in the year 2000 and beyond.

Gullible’s Travails
The games we used to play

by Cecil V. Wikramanayake
Dad had been a good boxer himself in his youth, along with people like Peter Fonseka and George Wells. When we were pre-teenagers Dad had bought us boxing gloves and taught my elder brother and me to use our fists following the Queensberry rules.

So it was natural that I found myself in the College boxing team for the three years I was there, losing only one fight, but the most important fight of them all — at the Stubs Shield, held at Royal College, where I received the greatest peppering of my life from a Zahirian named Munsoor who was also a member of the Police Boys’ Brigade !

Among those I had beaten in the inter-school matches were my friends H. E. Bartholomeusz and Shelton Ranaraja, both coloursmen of St. Thomas’ College, and a lad named Appuhamy of Vijaya College, Matale. In later years, while a stenographer in the Additional District Court of Matara, I had participated in boxing matches at carnivals, for money, and so lost my amateur status.

The dividing line between amateur and professional was, in those days, not so thin as it is today, when every sport is ‘sponsored’ and ‘sport’ has been replaced by ‘contest’.

Cricket too took quite a lot of my playing time and though I could spin a wicked off-break, I was never very much of a bat, being impatient to lash out at every ball. One incident on the field at Asgiriya stands out in my memories of Trinity.

Just above the road leading to the old pavilion was an embankment, and somewhere in the middle of it was an enormous bee-hive.

It was the 13th of March, 1939, around 5 pm when we were all practising on the field in little groups. William Molegoda was at the crease on the main turf wicket, when it happened.

Getting a loose ball, Molegoda swiped, getting the ball in the middle of his bat. The ball made straight for the beehive and struck it right where it must have hurt most — in the middle.

Moments later boys of all sizes were running around in panic, hands swiping at their owner’s heads and ears. Doing exactly that myself, I found my way through Mahaiyawa and the back entrance of Trinity, eventually to the sickroom, where others like me who had been stung had come for treatment.

Dr. V. H. L. Anthonisz and Dr. R. E. S. Winn and the matron Mrs. Wadsworth had a busy evening, and our faces were something horrible to behold.

One of the things I looked forward to was going back home at the end of term. Not for the reasons you think; but because those of us who were travelling long distances by train were given parcels of food for the journey. Delicious sandwiches with corned beef, an apple and other tid-bits that any schoolboy would love.

Those travelling far had to give their names and destinations to Miss Anna Hoffman, the German matron in charge of catering at TCK. Some of us who were not going far would give their names and false destinations to the dear old lady and we would have a real feast before it was time for us to leave.

With my interest in Scouting, whetted by the Batticaloa Central experience, it seemed natural for me to gravitate to the Scout Room at TCK, lorded over by Arthur "Kolla" Deane, the carpentry master. My first proficiency badge, that of a Handyman, required, inter Alia, my doing a complete decor job on the Scout Room. It looked, I am proud to say, something the Chief Scout would have approved, and I really earned that badge.

Dennis Balance, a Cambridge man, came on to the staff of TCK and was the Assistant Scout Master. I recall two camps we had, at Embekke, and at Sigiriya. Those were the days of the pre-independence era, and both Embekke and Sigiriya were absolutely truly rural.

At Embekke I was the camp cook, and discovered that the beef which the scoutmaster had bought and brought from Kandy in a reed bag (Mulla) had become high and was beginning to turn greenish. I was going to throw it away, when Balance gave me my first lesson in Gourmet food.

With me helping him, he first washed the beef clean, till there was no trace of green. Then he cut it up into two inch chunks. These he deep fried till the golden brown began to change to a darker brown. It was delicious ! Shortly after we returned to College, I was rewarded by being appointed Patrol Leader of the Woodpeckers !

At the camp at Sigiriya, in the open space near the lake at the foot of the mighty rock, we spent a few happy days, mostly swimming and rambling around the jungles.

The day we were striking camp, under the mats in our tent made of palmyrah leaf mats where we had placed straw for extra warmth at night, imagine my horror when, while dismantling the tent, I discovered a russels viper (Polonga) curled up just where my head would have been. The polonga had apparently found good use for the straw.

Using my scout staff, I jammed the viper’s head firmly on to the ground, and called out to the other woodpeckers. My second, Douglas Rodrigo quickly made short work of the viper, chopping it into pieces with a mammoty.

At both camps, we followed the Chief Scout’s instructions to leave the site of the camp the same as it was when we arrived. The scout discipline is something that has helped me throughout my life, and this I learned through a song I learned from Dad, a Scouter in his day.

The song: "Oh, ‘tis scouting, scouting, scouting, when the road goes winding up the hill. We will reach the top and yet won’t stop if the next one’s higher still. Oh ‘tis scouting, scouting, scouting, when the rough and smooth are always shared. Whether short or long, we can’t go wrong, with our motto ‘Be Prepared’.

The Scout Laws too I memorised through verse :

Trusty, Loyal, Helpful, Brotherly, Courteous, Kind.

Obedient, Smiling, Thrifty, pure as the rustling wind.

Julius Hastings, a brother of the lovely Angela who sang with us in the church choir in Jaffna, turned up at TCK in the capacity of a teacher. He occupied the room that had been tenanted by our Chaplain Rev. F. H. Outram, just beside Ryde House, to which I came from Squealery. He was, in a strange way, responsible for my running away from Trinity.

(Next: Doing the B.A.)

Book Review
"50 questions about Catholicism"

Author — Very Rev. Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter
Publisher — St. Paul’s Society Mumbai, Bombay, India

This volume contains fifty articles written by Rev. Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter originally to the ‘Messenger", the Catholic weekly in Sri Lanka. The purpose of those articles presented under the general caption ‘why’ was to give answers to questions regarding Catholic faith and practice of it.

The fifty articles found in this work were published as a book in Sri Lanka by the author titled ‘why is it so in Catholicism’. As contents of these articles have universal application to Catholics all over the world, St. Paul’s Society in Mumbai, India has republished them with the consent of the author. St. Paul’s is an activity of priests and brothers of the society of St. Paul who proclaim the Gospel through the media of social communication. They have reprinted the book under the title "50 Questions about Catholicism".

In some of the articles in this work like "Why Catholics are called Roman Catholics"? "Why do Catholics believe in Christ’s Resurrection?", "Why do the Catholics say the Pope is Infallible?" "Why is there a cult of Saints in the Church?" And "Why do the priests wear the Cassock?" Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter discusses the salient features unique to the Catholic faith and religion.

In the articles like ‘why does the Church permit a Christian burial to a Suicide?’ And ‘Why does the Church now permit a Cremation?’ Fr. Don Peter presents the reasons for the recent changes in the stand of the Catholic Church.

Fr. Don Peter observes that due to the progress made in psychology one who is led to commit suicide is emotionally disturbed, distraught and mentally ill at least momentarily. Therefore he is not responsible for his actions. It cannot be said he has lost the faith in God. Apart from that Church wishes to give comfort and consolation to the bereaved as suicide is a particularly sad and traumatic experience to the family members, relatives and friends.

As regards cremation Fr. Don Peter contends historically Church’s opposition arose because in the 18th century sceptics denounced Christian belief of resurrections and willed their bodies to be cremated. Today there is no positive and articulate antagonism to the resurrection of the dead among Christians. Moreover finding a burial space has become a problem specially in large crowded cities. The church therefore has released the ban of cremation but expresses it’s preference for a burial, explains Fr. Don Peter.

In the articles ‘Why do Catholics hold that Mary was conceived immaculate?’ ‘Why do Catholics believe that Mary was ever virgin?’ Why are Catholic Priests Celibate?’ And ‘Why are women not ordained Priests in the Church?’ Answers some heretical thoughts propounded by those including some clergy in the Church. He vanquishes the arguments of those dissenters quoting chapter and verse from the Bible and the Church traditions and practices.

In the article ‘Why there is suffering in the world?’ Fr. Don Peter compares the Buddhist theory of suffering and the Christian stand on it. The Buddhist theory of suffering is that it is the inevitable karmic effect of evil done in previous lives. The theory serves to explain the inequalities among the humans. Fr. Don Peter submits that Buddhist attitude to suffering is a negative one; suffering is an evil and therefore one’s aim should be to rid of it.

The Christian explanation of suffering is that it is a condition of fallen human nature. The Christians looks at suffering in a positive way and how it can be turned to good for the benefit of the individual as well as of fellow humans is illustrated by Fr. Don Peter.

In the last article ‘Why is Christianity unique as a religion?’ Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter discusses the revolutionary changes brought about by the Vatican Council II (1962-65) regarding the Catholic attitude towards other religions.

Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter boldly states although some of the teachings of various religions are identical there is also disparity in respect of other teachings some of which are even contradictory. Therefore it cannot be logically said all religions are the same or are equally true. Here Fr. Don Peter is sincere unlike those hypocrites who profound that all religions come to the same for fraudulent conversations and other hidden agendas.

Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter concedes that after the Vatican Council II, it is the Christian belief that those of other faiths and no faith also can be saved if they live a righteous life according to their conscience. Why does the Church engage itself in evangelisation with so much missionary zeal and at such a cost?

Father Don Peter’s explanation is other religions are seen as a preparation for the Gospel and playing providential role in the divine economy of salvation. They contain ‘treasures a bountiful God has distributed among the nations of the earth’ but the Church has to ‘illumine these treasures with the light of the Gospel’ (Decree on Church’s missionary activity). Fr. Don Peter adds that this is in keeping with Christ’s instruction to his disciples ‘go out to the whole world; proclaim good news to all creation’ (Mark 15/15).

It is doubtful whether this exposition of Fr. Don Peter could be convincing to non-Catholics.

Fr. W. L. A. Don Peter is undoubtedly the greatest Catholic scholar, writer and historian living in Sri Lanka today. This book reveals the wide and extensive knowledge Fr. Don Peter on the Catholic doctrine and the traditions and practices in the Church.

The articles in this book are short and brief. But they contain everything relevant to the subject. They give the answers to the questions raised in the topics with, unity order and clarity. As it is usual with the writings of Fr. Don Peter contents in this work is presented in a straight forward, simple and lucid style. The book is very readable and both Catholics and non-Catholics would find it easy to understand and interesting.

- W. T. A. Leslie Fernando

Book for children
"Good - bye Zinto, Zinto, Good - bye"

Ms. Rukmani Samaranayake’s book for children, has been published at a time when the dearth of suitable English story books, in a Sri Lankan setting, for children, is a serious concern among parents and teachers. This story is ideal for relating to the younger child and will make enjoyable supplementary reading for the older child as well. The anecdotes which make up the story are refreshingly interesting and the sequence of events, easy to follow.

This is a delightful story, narrated by a little girl, of the family’s experiences with their pet parrot. The book is well written in simple and good English, in an easy flowing style which makes it very readable.

In addition to the reading pleasure, it also offers much by way of good values and attitudes such as the caring and sharing relationships within a family and the valuable message that wild animals and birds, like humans, do not enjoy captivity and should not be confined to cages for providing entertainment to humans.

K.S. P.J.

Neelan’s slaying was just too easy

By Niresh Eliatamby and Chittaranjan De Silva

The assassination was all too easy.

Neelan Tiruchelvam was a man of habit and meticulous timing. He kept to his daily routine and tried never to be late for an appointment.

That was to prove fatal.

Dr. Tiruchelvam almost always travelLed to his law office at 9 a.m. every day, from where he attended to the myriad of subjects which needed his attention: his law firm’s work, matters of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), parliamentary duties, and the endless work of trying to draft Sri Lanka’s new constitution.

Thursday was no different, or so he would have thought.

By 9 a.m. he had had breakfast and dressed in his usual smart manner, looking much younger than his 55 years.

His bodyguards were ready for his departure from the house, Number 48, Rosmead Place, and were being extra vigilant.

Only five days before, the National Intelligence Bureau had issued a warning that Dr. Tiruchelvam and his TULF colleague R. Sampanthan were being targeted for assassination by the LTTE.

But Dr. Tiruchelvam had not been visibly upset. He had already lived through the assassinations of many of his TULF colleagues in the last decade, and he had treated the warning with stoicism.

A few minutes after nine, he got into his Black Nissan EX Saloon, sitting in the rear left hand seat as always. He was going to his office, "Tiruchelvam Associates,’’ less than a kilometer away. The office opened at 8.30 a.m.

His security chief, Inspector Farook Moulana, closed the car door and got into the front passenger’s seat. The driver was Padmasiri. Only IP Moulana was armed in the car, carrying a pistol.

The car, bearing license plate 300-2811, set off, turning right into Rosmead Place. It was preceded by a motorcycle escort, Constable D. Asela. His job was to warn away any traffic.

A few yards behind was a police Mitsubishi Pajero with three occupants, all policemen. The driver was Neil Perera, with Reserve PC Seevali Saman Kumara sitting in the front passenger seat. In the back seat was Sergeant Kodituwakku. All were of the Ministerial Security Division, which takes care of the security of almost all civilian and political VIP’s, except for the president and prime minister.

A few yards down the road, the little convoy passed Musaeus College, and came up to the junction with Wijerama Mawatha.

Here, Rosmead Place is closed to normal traffic, since Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s long time residence is located close by. Policemen of the Prime Minister’s Security Division, and the Cinnamon Gardens police station man barricades.

But at the approach of Dr. Tiruchelvam’s convoy, the barriers were quickly wheeled aside. This was the regular route the convoy took, and the PM’s bodyguards were expecting them.

Past the PM’s house, and through the barriers beyond went the three vehicles. A few yards ahead they breezed past the French embassy to their left, then Odel on the same side, and the Rosmead Towers luxury apartments on the right.

At the top of Rosmead Place stands Kynsey Road, and as the Nissan came to the junction, it was obliged to come to a halt, since it would be turning left and then turning right into Kynsey Terrace which is only about 10 yards further. As always, there was some traffic on Kynsey Road, which connects the Kanatte junction with Borella.

Usually, there were two trishaws stationed at this junction, next to an old postbox which leans at an angle somewhat like the tower of Pisa. But today they had both got customers and left a few minutes earlier.

As the Nissan came to a halt, RPC Saman Kumara, seated in the front seat of the Pajero, saw a man dressed in a dark blue checked shirt and black trousers, step towards the car. The man had been standing at the junction itself, on the pavement.

It will never be known whether Dr. Tiruchelvam saw his killer.

Neither IP Farook nor driver Padmasiri saw him, since they were watching the traffic in front.

The man leaned towards the car door, where Dr. Tiruchelvam was seated, and the car was enveloped in a flash of flame and a blast.

Dr. Tiruchelvam was killed instantly by the blast, his body hurled across the back seat and half out of the door at the other end of the car.

The left rear door buckled inwards due to the blast, while the right rear door and most of the seatS were blasted out of the other side.

In front, IP Farook and Padmasiri sustained heavy head injuries.

Among the bodyguards, Sgt. Kodituwakku, RPC Saman Kumara and driver Neil Perera were wounded.

Pandemonium reigned, as frightened drivers jammed their brakes and screeched to a halt. The groans of the wounded mingled with the shouts of onlookers.

In the confusion, a motorcyclist, blood streaming from his head, was seen racing away from the scene. Eye-witnesses believed that he was also an attacker, and for several hours police hunted for him. It was finally found that he was Lakshman Wickremaratne, a civilian who was riding by and was injured in the blast. He had rushed to the Accident Service of the National Hospital and admitted himself.

At the Prime Minister’s residence, 500 yards away, the blast was heard clearly, and the alarm raised, fearing an attack on the PM.

As always, many of those who heard the blast came running to the scene. They included people in houses at the junction, which had suffered a few broken window panes.

The scene was not very bad when compared to Colombo’s major blasts. Nevertheless, the attacker’s body parts were scattered over an area of about 50 yards. His head was found 20 yards from the car, which confirmed the fact that the explosives had been carried strapped to his body. Police estimate the bomb to have weighed about five kilogrammes.

About a dozen other vehicles had sustained damage.

Sadly, the inquest proceedings took a long time, and Dr. Tiruchelvam’s body was left lying in the doorway of the car for more than two hours.

At Dr. Tiruchelvam’s house, his wife Siththi, and his younger son Mithuran, who was home from Cambridge University, was told the terrible news. His elder son Nirgunan, a lawyer practicing in Singapore, rushed down to Colombo within a few hours.

The killing was greeted with universal condemnation. Dr. Tiruchelvam had been in the forefront of trying to rewrite the constitution, and has been widely credited with actually writing much of the government’s famed peace package.

For the country’s intelligence services, the assassination came as a major blow. They had successfully detected the news of the plot, but had not been able to trace the LTTE squad in Colombo which had carried out the planning and the attack. It is certain that the bomber did not work only on his own, since the LTTE usually has several other cadres to scout the area, plan the attack, bring in the explosives and prepare the bomb, and even arrange transport.

A serious question is being asked in government circles as to why the one kilometer route between Dr. Tiruchelvam’s house and his office, was not better guarded.

This is especially so since the Rosmead Place-Kynsey Road junction is only about 500 yards from the PM’s house. Yet, there were no policemen assigned to the junction.

Although no-one claimed responsibility for the attack, there are few doubts that it was the work of the Black Tiger wing of the LTTE. There simply isn’t any other group in the world which uses human bombs anywhere.

For the LTTE, the attack achieved two purposes. One was to continue to terrorize the TULF into submission, by killing its leaders. This began with the assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah in 1975 by Prabhakaran himself, then TULF leader Appapillai Amirthalingam and Vettivelu Yogeswaran in 1989, MP’s Alalasundaram and M. Dharmalingam in 1985, and more recently the gunning down of MP A. Thangathurai, and Jaffna Mayors Sarojini Yogeswaran and P. Sivapalan.

The TULF is not the only Tamil party targeted by the LTTE. In recent years, almost every other Tamil party, including TELO, EROS, PLOT, and EPDP.

The attack also proved as a mark of strength by the LTTE, which was anxious to do something to commemorate the killings of Black July in 1983.

Wit and wisdom with bacon and sausages

BY KIRTHIE ABEYESEKERA
It’s a crisp Sunday morning. We’re heading for a sizzling hot summer’s day as we head for Wingham in farming country, some two hours’ drive north-west of Toronto.

A kinsman has a country home there, and we’ve taken him up on his invitation to spend the day. I’m looking forward to strolling around his sprawling gardens of a hundred rose bushes interspersed with white lillies and a host of other flowers whose names I know not because I’m no horticulturist. Gooseberry-picking in the surrounding acres is also fun. His aviary has a rare collection of birds with bright plumage. I’m amazed how quickly the parrots pick up just the naughty words that we sometimes come out with.

My kinsman’s cellar is always stocked with German beer that has that essential bitter tang. But mostly, my mouth waters with thoughts of the roast of lamb his Italian-born wife, a culinary enthusiast, never fails to carve for me because it is my favourite food - next to ‘bush-curry’ of course.

But it’s still breakfast time and we are driving through luscious greenery along a rural road, when we hit upon a wayside restaurant with the enticing name, ‘Mama Bear’s Honey Pot.’ "oh my God," a young waitress blurts out as fifteen of us spill out of our cars into this intimate family restaurant. "This is an invasion," the girl holds her head in despair, yet in good humour. A high school student at a summer job, she swiftly brings some tables together to accommodate us as close to one another as possible.

"Welcome," a chorus of voices greets us heartily. All ‘whites,’ they’ve seldom perhaps, have had so many dark skins in their exclusive rendezvous. They have just returned from church service for their English muffins, butter and marmalade, and of course, for their customary Sunday gossip.

Their Christian charity is manifest in their warm reception of us. They are quick to make conversation, and we are made to feel very much at home. The chit-chat and the camaraderie are a refreshing change from hectic Toronto which has no time for others. We tell them we are from ‘Ceylon,’ hoping the name would be familiar to these obvious descendants of our erstwhile colonial masters.

"No, no," says one elderly gentleman shaking his head. "You are not from Ceylon, you are from Sri Lanka. That’s what it is called now." His knowledge came as no surprise when he told us he was of Scottish ancestry and came from the clan of Robert Burns.

Soon, the trays laden with eggs, bacon, sausages and home fries arrive. The eggs are done sunny-side-up,’ as they say. We call it ‘bulls-eye’ at home. And, while we feast in this exotic little place in the middle of nowhere, so to say, what catches my eye is the many slogans that adorn the walls. And that’s the thrust of my story.

I glance at the wall clock. ‘This clock will never be stolen,’ is scrawled beside it. ‘Employees are always watching it.’ I look around. Imaginative and original, the collection is a fine anthology of satirical wit worthy of an Oscar Wilde or a Mark Twain.

Let me share with my readers a random selection I hastily jotted down at this delicious English breakfast in a remote resort that also serves an abundance of food for thought

‘There are three kinds of people,’ says one slogan, ‘ those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.’

Help me to resist temptation, my Lord, especially when I know no one is looking.’
‘If you are not confused around here, you are not trying hard enough.’
Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.’
There will be a ten percent surcharge on any sales where we have to listen to your problems.’
‘When all is said and done, more will be said than done.’
‘Prices are subject to change according to customer’s attitudes.’
You never fail until you stop trying.’
‘How much can I get away with and still go to heaven.’
‘Great people talk about ideas; average people talk about things; small people talk about other people.
‘The problem with making a life is making the payment.’
‘Some mornings I wake up grouchy. Other mornings I let him sleep.’

It’s time to go. We say our ‘bye-byes’ to the charming young women who have waited on us and to Mama Bear’s regular patrons. :"Come again," they invite us. I have to rush to the gentleman’s before we hit the road again to join our host who is obviously kicking his heels to open the bottles.

There, in the washroom, as I stand ready to fire away, at eye-level, is a caution:

‘Get closer, it’s shorter than you think.’

A-Level Chemistry- Facts, Patterns & Principles
 Book by Dr. Seetha I. Rodrigo

As we approach the 21st century, Sri Lanka needs the globalization of the knowledge in Chemistry, which is the centre of all the disciplines in Science. The availability of text books suitable for Sri Lanka plays a key role in achieving this objective. Dr. (Mrs.) Seetha Rodrigo has made a very successful attempt to fulfil this vital need, by publishing her book entitled "A-Level Chemistry- Facts, Patterns & Principles". This book will undoubtedly help students to divert from the prevailing examination oriented study to knowledge based study which is a vital factor in developing the ability to use the knowledge.

This is a comprehensive ‘A’ Level Chemistry text book, running into 33 chapters of over 450 pages. It covers all the sections of Inorganic, Organic, and Physical Chemistry, as stipulated in the London ‘A’ Level syllabus. An overall feature of the book is the clarity of expression and the very simple explanations for the basic principles in all the sections.

It is not possible for me to touch on all the subjects covered in this book. Let me refer briefly to a few areas covered. The author has made a successful attempt to introduce Inter-Molecular forces in a simplified manner. This will help students to predict physical properties of many elements and compounds based on the intermolecular forces.

Energetics in Chemistry has also been comprehensively covered. The spontaneity of a chemical reaction has been explained in a qualitative manner, without bringing in thermodynamics such as the free energy change. This will help to avoid confusion among students, and also help them to apply the enthalpy changes of chemical reactions to day to day life, and also to laboratory work. The clarity of presentation of the theoretical principles will help students to develop the ability to apply chemical principles, not only to day to day life and laboratory work, but also to Industry, which is a vital aspect lacking among the student population in Sri Lanka. Even though the author has not elaborated on this aspect, which is beyond the scope of this book, the chapter on Energetics could form the base for this.

With over 25 years of teaching experience in the University system in Sri Lanka, I have noted that the interpretation of Acid-Base reactions, leading to titrations, pH scale, buffer action, etc, is perhaps one of the most difficult sections for the average student in Sri Lanka. This very important section is often neglected, and even assumed to be simple, and therefore not explained clearly at various levels of teaching. Dr. Rodrigo’s coverage of this section in a simple way, will help to eliminate the confusion now prevailing in students minds, and her presentation of this chapter has to be commanded.

The author has also defined Electrode potentials, with clarity and has related energetically favoured reactions that the students observe in the laboratory using electrode potentials. Confusing terms such as "anode" and "cathode" have been deliberately omitted in the text and they have been replaced with negative and positive terminals, where oxidation takes place at the negative terminal and reduction at the positive terminal. This will also lead to a better understanding of the phenomenon of corrosion, which is a major problem in Industry and day to day life.

I must conclude by repeating that Dr. Rodrigo’s book will be very successful in diverting students from examination oriented study to knowledge based study. It will also help students to develop an interest in Chemistry as a subject, because the chemical principles are explained with clarity and with examples from day to day life; laboratory, industry, medicine etc. The study of Chemistry in this manner will help students to use Chemistry even for self-employment.

The author tells me that this book was originally written with the intention of helping London ‘A’ Level Students. But, I have no doubt that it will also be a valuable resource material, for all those students reading Chemistry as a subject with a view to gaining admission to the Universities in Sri Lanka.

H.D.Gunawardhana
Senior Professor of Chemistry, University of Colombo, B.Sc. (Ceylon) Ph.D (Salford), CChem .F.I. Chem. C., Fellow-National Academy of Sciences-SL

The history behind Kalavava

by Prof: W. I. Siriweera
Vice Chancellor
Rajarata University

The name of the ancient division Nuvarakalaviya signifies the importance of its magnificent irrigation system and is derived from a combination of the names of three great reservoirs Nuwaravava, Kalavava and Padaviya.

Of the three, the twin tanks: Kala-Balaluvava constructed by erecting a dam across the ancient Gona nadi played the most important role in agricultural development in the Nuvarakalaviya region. Today this large reservoir receives water from Dambulu Oya and Mirisgoni Oya, the flow of which has been augmented by Mahaveli waters coming via Bovatenna. The Dambulu Oya and the Mirisgoni Oya unite shortly before entering the reservoir. The Kala-Balaluvava also receives waters of Hawan Ella Oya and copious drainage of the north-western slopes of the Matale hills. The drainage which issues from the spill of the Kalavava flows from the spill-point onwards under the name of Kala Oya.

According to the Culavamsa King Dhatusena (429-455) constructed the Kalavava obviously by amalgamating two reservoirs in existence earlier. The bund of this famous Kala-Balaluvava is three and three quarter miles long and the height is 40 feet. It covered an area of 6380 acres and irrigated approximately 7000 acres of paddy fields.

The 54 miles long Jayaganga also known as Yoda ala which conveyed water from the Kalavava to the Tissavava at Anuradhapura is also considered to be a work of king Dhatusena. The Jayaganga is forty feet wide and has a gradient of only 6 inches per mile for the 17 miles of its course. Understanding the locational heights at Kalavava, Tissavava and the region in between and obtaining a low gradient in the canal system is clear testimony to the exceptionally precise and accurate contour levelling of the ancient irrigation engineers. The Jayaganga has pursued a steady but sluggish flow, disciplined by a bund which meanders in easy curves. In each of the subsidiary valleys on its course the water is diverted by channels into little village tanks or chains of tanks. The tanks lower down receive the overflow from the tanks placed higher in each chain. The scheme was so perfect that the ancient canal afforded irrigation facilities over approximately 180 square miles of country on the east of the Kala Oya between Kalavava and Anuradhapura.

After Dhatusena’s time the Kalavava was restored or improved by several subsequent monarchs such as Parakramabahu I (1153-1186) but with the collapse of the Rajarata civilization in the middle of the thirteenth century the reservoir was neglected and fell into oblivion. In the subsequent centuries, there occurred several breaches in the bund.

Kalavava was a strategic location in between upcountry and plains of Anuradhapura. It was the location of a pitched battle between Jetthatissa and Aggabodhi III in 628 A.D. King Jetthatissa having lost the battle committed suicide in the battle field. In the middle of the thirteenth century a battalion of Kalinga Magha’s retreating forces was encountered at Kalavava by the Sinhalese forces. In his escape journey from the Kandyan territories, Robert Knox passed through Eppavala Korale and Kaluvila in 1679 and found that the region had only few settlements.

With the interests in understanding and restoring ancient irrigation works by the British Government, the first inspection of the Kala-Balau tank was made by Major Forbes and George Turner in 1832. They found the double sluice in the reservoir in a perfect state of preservation and a spill made by a great mass of solid masonry. The well preserved bisokotuwa was faced with enormous plain slabs running its whole length and backed with brickwork.

The restoration of the Kala-Balaluvava started in mid 1 880’s and was completed in 1887. The restoration was effected by diverting the bund past the main breach and by the construction of a fine masonry spill 560 feet in length. The restored tank is slightly at a higher elevation when compared with the original reservoir. A monument was erected to mark the restoration at a spot between the Kalavava and the Balaluvava: The writings of the monument states: "Kalavava deserted and in ruin for many centuries was restored to same measure of its former utility in A.D. 1887 in the fiftieth year of Victoria, Queen empress, Arthur Hamilton Gordon being the Governor of Ceylon". The same inscription is repeated in the Southern face of the monument in Sinhalese. The western side is filled with a bust of the governor in as relief. A bronze tablet on the left abutment bears the following inscription. "Kalavava restored 1887, the Honourable Arthur Hamilton Gordon, G.C.M.G., Governor of Ceylon, Walsh Warrington, Engineer; Ratwatte Lokubanda, Ratemahathaya of Kalagampalata, gave assistance in procuring labour".

Along with the Kalavava restoration, the Jayaganga was also restored between 1885 and 1888. After the restoration of the Kalavava and the Jayaganga the British Government adopted a special colonization scheme at Kalavava and surroundings in 1890’s. The Government concerned at the low rate of settlement under restored reservoir and canal system sanctioned a scheme for aided colonization as a special measure. Two batches of Tamil colonists from Jaffna were brought into Kalavava giving substantial aid in the shape of free transport, maintenance for six months, ready built houses, free seeds and tools and facilities for hiring buffaloes and ploughs. It was hoped to recover at least some of the costs of this aid. An attempt was also made to settle on newly irrigated land Sinhalese peasants from a local purana village and a few low country Sinhalese. However, the scheme failed and there was much sickness on top of certain social problems. Some colonists returned to Jaffna, and the Government tired of the scheme, decided to sell lands under Kalavava without resorting to colonization.

In the early 1930’s further restorations were effected in Kalavava and its channel system. The rerestored complex enabled the establishment of more colonization schemes such as Senapura, Alutdambe Watana, Aluviharegama and development of more agricultural land. The colonization was not altogether unsuccessful but there was trouble of a familiar order. Malaria caused much sickness, some deaths and many desertions.

The phase I of the Mahaveli development programme which involved the construction of the Polgolla-Bowatenna irrigation structures in mid 1970’s further increased the irrigation capacity of the Kalavava. Consequent growth of agriculture in the Kalaoya valley resulted in the development of small townships of Galnawa, Meegalawa, Tambuttegama, Nochchiyagama, Madatugama and Galkiriyagama coming under the Mahaveli system H.

50 years of priestly service

by Paul David
Reverend Father J. B. Clinton Anandappa omi, the Archivist of the Archdiocese of Colombo, celebrates 50 years of Apostolic Priestly ministry on 6th August this year with a Thanksgiving Golden Jubilee Mass at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday 7th August at St. Lucia’s Cathedral, Kotahena.

Father Clinton hails from the staunch Catholic Parish of Kotahena in the city in Colombo. Educated by the De La Salle Brothers at St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena and religiously formed and instructed by his God-fearing parents - Eddie and Lucy Anandappa - his vocation to the Priesthood was nurtured by this service as an Altar Boy in the Sanctuary and by the powerful apostolic Oblate witness of Fathers Alexis Serru omi and J. B. Gregory omi.

Soon after he completed his academic education, his Parish Priest, Father Alexis Serru omi allured him to the activities of the Legion of Mary (1940-43) which conducted a weekly prayer-meeting accompanied by a couple of hours of apostolic work weekly, bringing back the wayward to the Fold. The seeds of his Priestly vocation to minister to the poor and abandoned were sown during this period.

Brother James FSC was instrumental in getting Father Clinton employed on the Clerical Staff of the Times of Ceylon Printing Dept. in 1940, and from 1941 to 1943 he was attached to the Staff of the Court of Criminal Appeal and Supreme Court at Hulftsdrop having been successful in the General Clerical Examination. That experience of Court legal life proved to be very useful to him in his priestly ministry.

Father Clinton felt impelled by the Lord’s call to serve Him in the poor and so he studied Latin under Mr. Horace Perera and applied to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to study for the Priesthood. Having completed his Ecclesiastical studies and Religious formation in 1949, he was ordained a Priest of God by His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Cooray omi on 6th August 1949. A year later at the conclusion of his Pastoral formation he entered the ministry in the Archdiocese. Archbishop Thomas Cooray named him his Personal Secretary. From 1950 to 1988, for 38 long years he dedicated his life to serve the Archbishop, the Priests, Religious and the People of God in the Archdiocese of Colombo. In 1951 he was named Secretary of the Colombo Matrimonial Tribunal, and the Internal Secretary of the Ceylon Bishops’ Conference.

Father Clinton had the privilege of being entrusted with the organization of National Pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Francis Xavier in Goa in 1952. More than 1100 pilgrims took part in that pilgrimage. And again in 1958 the Bishops named Father Clinton as the Organizing Secretary of the National Pilgrimage to Lourdes and Rome in which 72 pilgrims participated. When Archbishop Cooray went on his Ad Limina visit to Rome and afterwards visited the Oblate Provinces in Europe and England, Father Clinton accompanied him.

In 1958 the Archbishop named Fr. Clinton the General Secretary of the Archdiocese (Chancellor). As the Archbishops personal and General Secretary Father Clinton was in constant touch with most of the Priests and Religious of not only the Archdiocese but of the whole of Sri Lanka, as they needed letters and certificates and testimonials for various purposes. As External Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference he was able to communicate and help the Bishops in a very informal manner. They became very friendly with him.

Accompanying the Archbishop on his Pastoral visitations of nearly 100 parishes gave Father Clinton an experience of Parish life and Parish problems which was a great help for him in his work as the Archbishop’s Secretary. The Archbishop visited each Parish 5 times during the period 1948 to 1962: about 14 to 16 Parishes each year.

In 1965 Pope Paul VI elevated Archbishop Cooray to the College of Cardinals on February 22nd. Father Clinton accompanied him to Rome for this ceremony. In August that same year Cardinal Cooray travelled to Rome for the concluding sessions of Vatican II accompanied by Fr. Clinton, but in September he fell seriously ill and had to be hospitalised at Salvator Mundi. Though he recovered after recuperation in Switzerland he fell ill again on his return to Rome in December 1965 and had to undergo an investigative operation as a result of which he was on the point of death. But Father Clinton refused to accept what everyone thought was inevitable. He got the assistance of the best physician in Rome — Professor Dr. Frugoni, a medical professor of international fame - and succeeded to avert and overcome the crisis. Again he recuperated in Switzerland under the care of the Sisters of the Holy Cross of Menzingen, and returned to Sri Lanka to complete his recovery. From that time he needed special care to improve in health.

However, in 1969 responding to an invitation by St. John Baptist Province of USA to celebrate their Oblate Centenary foundation, and the Provincial of Australia to crown the Statue of Our Lady of the Sea, accompanied by Father Clinton, Cardinal Cooray travelled through Europe to USA, Canada, Japan, Thailand and to Australia to preside and preach at Religious functions.

In 1970 Father Clinton accompanied Cardinal Cooray to Manila to participate in the Sessions of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ presided over by His Holiness Pope Paul VI. And later on the 4th December that year the Holy Father passed through Katunayake Airport in Sri Lanka and was welcomed by Cardinal Cooray. His Holiness celebrated Mass for 3 lakhs of devotees at Katunayake Airport after which he presented his vestments, Crozier and Mitre to the Cardinal as well as a beautiful Golden Rosary for the Statue of Our Lady of Lanka. Cardinal Cooray presented to His Holiness a couple of Silver Candlesticks sculptured in Oriental Art. Fr. Clinton acted as one of the Assistant Papal Master of Ceremonies. Between 1970 and 1977 Fr. Clinton had the privilege of attending all the meetings of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences held at Manila, Hongkong, Taiwan etc.

In 1975 at the request of the Sri Lanka Bishops’ Conference Father Clinton published a Directory of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka (520 pages). In 1990 at the request of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide and the Sri Lanka Bishops’ Conference, he published an updated Edition of the Sri Lanka Catholic Directory (579 pages) with an alphabetical index of place names and Names of Churches.

In 1977 Cardinal Cooray opted to retire from the Office of Archbishop and chose Tewatta as his place of retirement. Father Clinton opted to accompany him and attend on him with the assistance of Cardinal’s Valet, Vincent Rupasinghe. By 1982 his health began deteriorating and in spite of the best medical attention he died at the age of 87 on the 28th October 1988. He was buried in the crypt at the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka at Tewatta.

In 1992 the new Archbishop of Colombo Mgr. Nicholas Marcus Fernando named Father Clinton as Parish Priest of All Saints Parish, Borella, and nominated him to the Council of Priests and College of Consultors for 5 years. In 1997 when his term of office as Parish Priest came to an end, the Archbishop named Fr. Clinton Archivist of the Archdiocese and Chapalin, Apostolatus Maris, with residence at Paul VI Centre, 24 Malwatta Mawatha, Colombo 11, with the added privilege of celebrating Mass at mid-day for the Catholic workers in Fort and surrounding areas from Monday to Friday (working days only). He was also named a member of the council of priests. (Senate).

Father Clinton spends the morning from 9 a.m. to 12 noon working at the archives in Borella Archbishop’s House, The classifications of the documents, history of Churches and Institutions’, assessment of specific events and epochs will have to be made and that will take some years to complete.

The mosquito menace
No coil, no sleep

by Suresh Perera
As the shadows lengthen amidst the invading darkness, an army of mosquitoes descend to wreak havoc on a tormented populace caught up in a bitter battle for survival. Tragically, the struggle to keep the wolf from the door is bad enough, but keeping those deadly mosquitoes at bay is far worse.

How many countless people have to turn to mosquito coils or mats, as these repellents are called, to ensure an undisturbed nights’ sleep? Without them, life cannot go on it seems. And in a situation that’s so agonising, there appears to be no way out for the ordinary family for whom balancing the domestic budget in the face of heavy financial commitments has turned out to be a nightmare. Sadly, it’s a ‘no coil means no sleep’ scenario with the swarms of mosquitoes of varying sizes raiding homes at sunset.

Thanks to this invasion by mosquitoes the coil market in the country has recorded tremendous growth. There are the local and imported varieties of coils in the market, both categories sold for the same price as raw materials have to be imported for their manufacture locally. The avalanche of media advertisements promoting brands of coils different is a manifestation of the increasing demand for coils.

How many people are aware that an estimated 350 million coils with an approximate value of Rs. 1 billion (Rs. 1,000 million) are used annually in the country, except North-East for which statistics are not available. According to the Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB), the coil market has recorded an estimated growth of 15% over the past four to five years. There are 20 brands of coils in the market and the current estimated user households is 2 1/4 million, LMRB said.

As one advertisement on television goes, even the honeymoon of the happy couple is disrupted by mosquitoes who were obviously having a field day due to the absence of a particular brand of coils! Be it at home, at a boarding-house or wherever, a burning coil is imperative when the sun has gone down. That‘s the bottom line of these diverse ads, some of which are hilarious to say the least. From the sublime to the ridiculous one would argue, but be that as it may, it has become a fact of life today that these mosquito repellents are a necessary evil.

‘The mosquito repellent market is dominated with coils, but what’s of vital importance is that their quality must also grow’, says the Marketing Manager of a company which is involved in the trade.

‘There is an on-going price war and an advertising war on mosquito repellents, but we are satisfied with the degree of business which comes our way’, he said.

Only three of the products now marketed has the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) certification, said Dr. Srilal de Silva, Director of the Quality Assurance Division.

The SLS certification is granted after rigid testing of products, he pointed out.

After an application is made, three consecutive samples drawn by SLSI officials should conform to the relevant standard. Even after the certification is granted, samples are drawn and tested every three months and if it’s found that the quality of the product is not being maintained in accordance with the approved standards, the endorsement is withdrawn, Dr. de Silva explained.

In the case of imported products, a quality certificate from an ‘acceptable laboratory’ is required for this purpose. It’s a punishable offence to use the SLS certificate on products sans legal authority, he warned.

As the mosquitoes continue to multiply by their millions spreading deadly diseases, what concrete measures have the authorities initiated to tackle this growing menace? The Anti-Malaria Campaign doesn’t target what it calls ‘nuisance mosquitoes’. ‘We operate only in areas where the malaria threat is alive’, says its Director, Dr. Punsiri Fernando.

The task of dealing with the mosquito menace is the onus of the relevant Municipal and Urban Councils, he said.

The Marketing Manager of another coil manufacturing company declined to disclose its market share describing it as ‘sensitive information which cannot be divulged’. Asked how some of these manufacturers declare themselves as ‘market leaders’ if their stake in the market was maintained as a closely guarded secret, he reiterated that the information sought cannot be made public.

Are these coils which are widely used in almost every household today, harmful to the health? ‘Generally, it’s not advisable to inhale smoke of anything that’s burning because it contains carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and soot which aggravates respiratory problems’, says Dr. A. M. Mubarak, head of the Chemical and Environment Division, Ceylon Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (CISIR).

Mosquito coils are made of 98% saw dust or coconut shell powder and .2% active ingredients. It’s unhealthy to expose oneself to smoke, be it from burning saw dust or coconut shells. In the case of coils, there must be proper ventilation to minimise the impact so that the smoke doesn’t accumulate within a closed room, he explained.

Dr. Mubarak said that unlike in the Western countries, there is indoor air pollution particularly from cookers and hearths in developing nations.

‘There is mosquito breeding taking place at a terrific rate and it’s vital to put a stop to it’, he noted.

Has this threat reached alarming proportions because the authorities concerned are twiddling their thumbs? ‘We are spraying insecticides into drains and canals once a week, fogging with malathion and removing coconut shells and old tyres which are breeding grounds for mosquitoes, under a house-to-house programme. In addition to this a health educational programme is also being executed, said Dr. Tissa Seneviratne, Chief Medical Officer, Colombo Municipality.

Shortly after the rains there are a lot of mosquitoes. The development work in the city has also added to the problem because water gathers in the pits that have been dug up and there is breeding of larva. ‘At Dematagoda road also, which is under construction, this is the situation and we have no way of pulling out the water’, Dr. Seneviratne observed.

He said the neglected state of the canal system and the pollution created by the discharge of industrial effluents have killed the fish which acted as a natural mode of controlling the larva.

With World Bank assistance, the canals are being cleaned up, but it will take time. Shanty dwellers on either side are also being re-located, he added.

‘Everybody must co-operate to curb this menace. In a water-filled jam bottle, 100 to 200 larva can breed. Exposed to the weather, metal parts are stored for sale. When it rains water collects in them and there is breeding of larva. We can’t be prosecuting them because they are doing a business. That’s why it’s imperative that everybody should join hands to tackle this problem’, Dr. Seneviratne stressed.

‘The country could earn big money if an export market can be found for mosquitoes’, quipped a housewife. The situation is so grave that from the time the sun goes down, a coil has to be lit and placed in the sitting room. When having dinner, it has to be placed under the dining table, she lamented.

The heavy competition in the coil market has led to an expansion of what’s called the ‘minimum burning time’. From the stipulated seven hours earlier, they have now been enhanced to 10 hours ‘burning time’ per coil. There are even 12-hour mats which leaves unanswered the pertinent question whether most people sleep for so long each night. Perhaps, it’s an acknowledgement of today’s sorry situation where the absence of a coil burning from 7 pm can make life more painful. No wonder the annual consumption of coils in the country is 350 million!

When contacted, a female marketing executive of a company manufacturing these mats declined to comment. She suggested that the required information be obtained from a particular research bureau.

Mosquitoes develop immunity to coils and other repellents in the event of constant use. Hence, the tendency to change brands from time to time. This applies not only to coils but to all pesticides, according to industry sources.

An effective solid waste management system has to be in place if a genuine attempt is to be made to combat this growing menace, knowledgeable sources indicated.

A masterplan in this direction even at this late stage will bear fruition at least 10 years hence and will help ease the suffering of those who may remain alive during that time, these sources said.

The ‘repellent market’ in the country is huge because it targets a menace which is rapidly growing. Repellents are not meant to kill, but to ward off these offending insects. So they live another day and in what can be perceived as a vicious circle, the trend of lighting coils the following night as well drags on.

Until and unless concrete and concerted measures are initiated to cur3 the menace as far as possible, mosquitoes and the coil industry will continue to thrive.

And as that television advertisement portrays, even the honeymoon could turn lousy sans a mosquito coil!

So pathetic is the situation...

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