She had fever. Her skin felt like it was made of pins that pricked her veins.
In an attempt to shake this pain off, she stumbled in to the bathroom and opened the shower. Drops of water fell on her body and scorched her skin and she felt the water sizzling like oil on a frying pan.
The cold water engulfed the electric feeling in her skin and she winced as the pins started to come alive. God! Why!? Why me?! It’s like they were trying to tell all the secrets in her skin.
She was falling ill these days. So vulnerable. She hated it. The sick kid, who always took pills and never did sports. The sun was her enemy and the moon was her friend.
Now as a woman grown up, her mother wasn't always around to molly-coddle her when she whines. Back then, whenever she had fever, her mother used to dip a strip of cloth in eau de cologne and place it on her forehead. It’s used to cool her forehead and calm her mind, the body yet ablaze.
Her skin always felt warm her mothers says. Whenever she takes hold of her mothers’ hands to aid her steps she would shake her hand off. It’s so warm! Just like your fathers she says.
Just like your fathers.
That’s not the first time she said that. Once, she saw her mother engrossed in cooking, chopping carrots with all that love, patience, care and self-control. She felt the warmth spread as she realized how much she loves her mother and how much she meant to her.
In one spontaneous move she places her left arm around her mothers’ waist, who was still deeply concentrating on cutting neat pieces of carrot. She jerked in surprise at her touch and turned her face right, wide-eyed in surprise as if she didn't recognized who it was.
God! You hand felt just like your fathers. As she pulls her hand out of that semi-embrace. In another spontaneous move she put her hand yet again around her mothers waist and slowly swayed to some old tune playing on TV.
In few minutes she was done chopping carrots and piled it on to an empty saucer.
In a haste to transfer the saucer from the kitchen top to the cooker, she drops it. Few pieces of carrots scatters around the kitchen floor and the dog scurry around eating them.
It was a signal. And she got it. It’s as if to say I want the kitchen for myself, so please leave. She turns around and grabs a Choco Pie from the top shelf and leaves the kitchen as the ambiance inside it changed.
She went into the living room and took her favorite seat beside the lampshade and propped her legs up on the chair. She took out one of her fathers books "End to Suffering" by Pankaj Mishra. She started reading while taking occasional bites off the Choco Pie and taking occasional peeks outside the window and around the house just to see if everything was alright.
Just like her father.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The mess at Welikada Prison- the over crowded
Welikada prison and other prisons across the country. End result? read this!
The new checking of visitors to the prison, the prisoners and the officials who work in the prison comes as a new directive, to curb the increasingly unwarranted/illegal contacts the prisoners seem to have with the outside world.
At meeting held with the minister of justice, Milinda Moragoda, the secretary of defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksha, inspector general of police, Victor Perera and senior officials, attorney general Mohan Peiris P.C, Commissioner General of police, Maj. Gen. V. R Silva and Government analyst, T.R.N.M. Liyanarchchi the decision was taken to implement this new programme.
“There are 3 aspects to this new process, the visitors to the prison would be checked by the police, the prisoners would be checked by the army, police or the air force on their return from courts and the prison officials themselves would be checked in the presence of others”, said General Silva.
This has been put as a pilot project to protect the public and to take a burden off the prison officials. Although it has been implemented only for a few days the officials have found 20 mobile phones and 47 sims during their search, which would be given to the CID for investigation if needed.
The programme has been implemented in Welikada and Magazine prisons currently. The prisons in the country are currently facing a crisis of over crowding due to many reasons.
“There are prisoners also because they can’t find someone to release them on personal bail and because they can’t pay the bail’, said General Silva. While there is also another small percentage of prisoners who are not released due the delay in the government analysts’ reports.
Government Analysts, T.R.N.M Liyanarchchi says that it is due to a lack of staff. They have however requested the Ministry of Justice and Law reforms to overcome the situation and are assured that the vacancies will soon be filled.
There are currently 31,635 prisoners in the country’s prisons, 15,000 of whom are remand suspects in jail. Many as 60 percent of them have been arrested for drug related offences. Many of the cases are from the Magistrates’ court. When the correct documents and reports are not given on time the suspects would be further remanded until they are received or until the next date the case is to be heard.
Prisons such as Welikada have been built only to accommodate 1,700 prisoners, but today it houses close to 6,000 prisoners.
They are bailed out depending on the progress of the case. “The judicial procedures are lengthy and sometimes the reports from both the government analyst and the police are not provided on time”, said General Silva.
By Nabeela Hussain, Amreen Ameen and Melanie Bamunusinghe
The new checking of visitors to the prison, the prisoners and the officials who work in the prison comes as a new directive, to curb the increasingly unwarranted/illegal contacts the prisoners seem to have with the outside world.
At meeting held with the minister of justice, Milinda Moragoda, the secretary of defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksha, inspector general of police, Victor Perera and senior officials, attorney general Mohan Peiris P.C, Commissioner General of police, Maj. Gen. V. R Silva and Government analyst, T.R.N.M. Liyanarchchi the decision was taken to implement this new programme.
“There are 3 aspects to this new process, the visitors to the prison would be checked by the police, the prisoners would be checked by the army, police or the air force on their return from courts and the prison officials themselves would be checked in the presence of others”, said General Silva.
This has been put as a pilot project to protect the public and to take a burden off the prison officials. Although it has been implemented only for a few days the officials have found 20 mobile phones and 47 sims during their search, which would be given to the CID for investigation if needed.
The programme has been implemented in Welikada and Magazine prisons currently. The prisons in the country are currently facing a crisis of over crowding due to many reasons.
“There are prisoners also because they can’t find someone to release them on personal bail and because they can’t pay the bail’, said General Silva. While there is also another small percentage of prisoners who are not released due the delay in the government analysts’ reports.
Government Analysts, T.R.N.M Liyanarchchi says that it is due to a lack of staff. They have however requested the Ministry of Justice and Law reforms to overcome the situation and are assured that the vacancies will soon be filled.
There are currently 31,635 prisoners in the country’s prisons, 15,000 of whom are remand suspects in jail. Many as 60 percent of them have been arrested for drug related offences. Many of the cases are from the Magistrates’ court. When the correct documents and reports are not given on time the suspects would be further remanded until they are received or until the next date the case is to be heard.
Prisons such as Welikada have been built only to accommodate 1,700 prisoners, but today it houses close to 6,000 prisoners.
They are bailed out depending on the progress of the case. “The judicial procedures are lengthy and sometimes the reports from both the government analyst and the police are not provided on time”, said General Silva.
By Nabeela Hussain, Amreen Ameen and Melanie Bamunusinghe
Astrologer -Unpublished
We wrote this article on Chandrasiri Bandaranaiyaka, the astrologer who predicted against the government. It was to go Sunday (duh!) but then on Saturday night the lucky bloke was aquitted. Can you beleive it?
“An astrologer getting arrested was indeed an insult to us”, stated Astrologer, Nandinimal Hettithanthri. He said that the problem was that Chandrasiri Bandara hadn’t predicted according to the planets. Whatever he foresaw, he turned the statement around when stating it. He also believes that, if Bandara has predicted it wrong, he should be given the due punishment by the government.
Chandrasiri Bandara was arrested under the Prevention of terrorism Act, for predicting that the Opposition Leader will come in to power on September, 9. He was arrested since such predictions are considered as threat to the President.
Several astrologers in the country gave their conflicting views on the situation. Astrologer, Piyasena Rathuvitharana is of the opinion that all astrologers should be fair in what they predict. “They should not use what they predict for political purposes, however it has been predicted that there will be some political events in the future, such as elections’, he further said.
Media spokesman for the Police, Ranjith Gunasekara said that there have been no more reports regarding this case and that the astrologer is yet being questioned.
Astrologer Jayalath Kumar who predicted that the war would be over before the September, 10 also commented saying that, astrologers should be careful when predicting a persons future because it affects them mentally.
They further added that, we don’t control the planets. The planets control us; therefore Chandrasiri couldn’t have been politically biased in his predicting. They also said that, predicting is a part of freedom of speech, but astrologers have to be careful of about their statements especially when predicting about people. Unlike when predicting natural disasters like floods, landslides and earthquakes, predicting on people can be controversial.
On another note, an astrologer made strong predictions about President Mahinda Rajapakse. They said his horoscope shows that he is very powerful and that he would be a world renouned leader, one that cannot be easily brought down. It is further predicted that anyone competing against him at an election would have no chance of winning, with the public at his side and with the end of war.
There has not been any astrologer arrested in the history of Sri Lanka since the times of the kings. However the arrest of Astrologer Chandrasiri Bandara can now be added to it.
By Melanie Bamunusinghe and Nabeela Hussain
“An astrologer getting arrested was indeed an insult to us”, stated Astrologer, Nandinimal Hettithanthri. He said that the problem was that Chandrasiri Bandara hadn’t predicted according to the planets. Whatever he foresaw, he turned the statement around when stating it. He also believes that, if Bandara has predicted it wrong, he should be given the due punishment by the government.
Chandrasiri Bandara was arrested under the Prevention of terrorism Act, for predicting that the Opposition Leader will come in to power on September, 9. He was arrested since such predictions are considered as threat to the President.
Several astrologers in the country gave their conflicting views on the situation. Astrologer, Piyasena Rathuvitharana is of the opinion that all astrologers should be fair in what they predict. “They should not use what they predict for political purposes, however it has been predicted that there will be some political events in the future, such as elections’, he further said.
Media spokesman for the Police, Ranjith Gunasekara said that there have been no more reports regarding this case and that the astrologer is yet being questioned.
Astrologer Jayalath Kumar who predicted that the war would be over before the September, 10 also commented saying that, astrologers should be careful when predicting a persons future because it affects them mentally.
They further added that, we don’t control the planets. The planets control us; therefore Chandrasiri couldn’t have been politically biased in his predicting. They also said that, predicting is a part of freedom of speech, but astrologers have to be careful of about their statements especially when predicting about people. Unlike when predicting natural disasters like floods, landslides and earthquakes, predicting on people can be controversial.
On another note, an astrologer made strong predictions about President Mahinda Rajapakse. They said his horoscope shows that he is very powerful and that he would be a world renouned leader, one that cannot be easily brought down. It is further predicted that anyone competing against him at an election would have no chance of winning, with the public at his side and with the end of war.
There has not been any astrologer arrested in the history of Sri Lanka since the times of the kings. However the arrest of Astrologer Chandrasiri Bandara can now be added to it.
By Melanie Bamunusinghe and Nabeela Hussain
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Even the dog knows...
The wall marking our house has a lettuce through which the little kids from the neighbouring houses call and pet my dog, Diego. He is very popular among the streets' inhabitants and also among the ever present stray dog population. He is most famous for his penetratingly loud barks. So much so it is often considered a nuisance. Unless in a scenario like this when I actually think that a dogs' bark may mean something.
I woke up yet again to find Diego barking at something through the lettuce. He was halted at the doorstep, as he dared not get closer to the wall. I steeped to his level and squinted trying spot anything peculiar outside.When I couldn't find anything remotely exciting, my mother said "He is been barking at the Poster of Kuruwitage pasted on the gate across". And yes he was! point blank barking at Mahinda Kuruwitage!
The most direct explanation for this, as told to me by a friend, is that dogs expect faces to move all the time. A poster is a non-moving picture of a face, a concept a dog cannot grasp. He expects the face in the poster to move as he has seen mine, my parents and pretty much every other human faces move.
But there is always a double meaning (isn't there always?). The irony is that my dog is barking at a politician. He is been influenced by the human race(guilty as charged) or he seem to understand that all these politicians are just talk and no work. Genuineness of politicians cannot be judged by the reaction of a dog, but I couldn't ignore the reality of it.
As I watched Diego barking I thought 'What if dog ruled the country?'. Then again MP's bark like dogs at the parliament, it would hardly be different. I recently told male friend of mine that men are like dogs and I remember him going completely berserk on that remark. Let me enhance that remark to you. Its insulting for a dog to be compared with men, because I think its easier to work with a dog than it is with a guy. And dogs seem to understand your requirements and feeling than most humans we've met.
So tell Diego barks again...Woof!
I woke up yet again to find Diego barking at something through the lettuce. He was halted at the doorstep, as he dared not get closer to the wall. I steeped to his level and squinted trying spot anything peculiar outside.When I couldn't find anything remotely exciting, my mother said "He is been barking at the Poster of Kuruwitage pasted on the gate across". And yes he was! point blank barking at Mahinda Kuruwitage!
The most direct explanation for this, as told to me by a friend, is that dogs expect faces to move all the time. A poster is a non-moving picture of a face, a concept a dog cannot grasp. He expects the face in the poster to move as he has seen mine, my parents and pretty much every other human faces move.
But there is always a double meaning (isn't there always?). The irony is that my dog is barking at a politician. He is been influenced by the human race(guilty as charged) or he seem to understand that all these politicians are just talk and no work. Genuineness of politicians cannot be judged by the reaction of a dog, but I couldn't ignore the reality of it.
As I watched Diego barking I thought 'What if dog ruled the country?'. Then again MP's bark like dogs at the parliament, it would hardly be different. I recently told male friend of mine that men are like dogs and I remember him going completely berserk on that remark. Let me enhance that remark to you. Its insulting for a dog to be compared with men, because I think its easier to work with a dog than it is with a guy. And dogs seem to understand your requirements and feeling than most humans we've met.
So tell Diego barks again...Woof!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
War- Vengeance? Truth?
Amos Roberts did a report from Sri Lanka about the 25 year old war against the Tigers that had seen thousands killed and how an estimated 150,000 civilians are trapped in the middle of this brutal conflict.
As Roberts reports, no independent journalists are allowed near the war zone and those who dare criticize the government or the military are either detained or murdered by shadowy forces.The clip below was posted on YouTube on the 15th March, as shown in an Australian TV channel.
As stated in the clip itself, the interviews seemed to have been staged. Opposing to this segment, a video of an IDP (internally displaced people) camp shows otherwise, questioning the credibility of the video above. The IDP's are kept in these camps for over a year. Are they imprisoned? Are they happy with the conditions? What will become of them?
The clip below was taken when the camp at Visuamadu was attacked. The scenarios are contrastingly different.
While one clip shows the IDP's well looked after , another shows them hiding in sand holes dug to the ground at the camps. Roberts mentioned that journalist are not allowed near the war zone, it seems that the handful that were allowed haven't done a good job reporting, considering the fact that now we are faced with two contradictory sets of evidence witnessed. Again I ask what are we to believe ? Or more like What is happening?
If the war was in Colombo instead of in Jaffna, then we would be living their life wouldn't we? For all we know, the situation can change as such, never know what will happen next, so isn't it least bit essetial for us to see what happening ?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Are Bloggers Cynical?
Are they?
Looking back at my last two blog entrees and re-reading them, I realized it sounds so whiny.Is it me or is it a part of the 'Blog Culture' to be pessimistic at times?
So surfing through few blogs, I came to the conclusion that I'm not the first to be a pessimistic blogger and it's not bad being one either. Being what they are or being what I am, very querulous as you see, makes people think "Oh yeah...". Opening readers to a different point of view, an angle to which they were previously blind to.
Bloggers are like Journalists, they should be able to strike a balance between negative and positive. Can't be too heavy to one side. Sometimes it's not the bloggers who are cynical, but the blog annotators(like this). The blogger writes a genuine piece, which the annotators fiest on like a flock of crows fighting over a piece of cheese! (pardon me for my imagination...).Such as:
Maybe this trend is what Sri Lankan bloggers are making. Blogging + Sri Lankaness combined results the best of our circuit of local bloggers and annotators. So possible for a nation of grumbling happy-g0-lucky people.
Blog annotators are bloggers themselves. So its all connected, Sri lankans-Bloggers-Blog Annotators, like Bermuda Triangle.And Bermuda Triangle is what bloggers are I think, because we never know who they really are or what happens to them ,because we dont know them. So there is nothing wrong being a Bermuda or being cynical, because its what blogging is all about. Being what you are and writing what you think. =)
Looking back at my last two blog entrees and re-reading them, I realized it sounds so whiny.Is it me or is it a part of the 'Blog Culture' to be pessimistic at times?
So surfing through few blogs, I came to the conclusion that I'm not the first to be a pessimistic blogger and it's not bad being one either. Being what they are or being what I am, very querulous as you see, makes people think "Oh yeah...". Opening readers to a different point of view, an angle to which they were previously blind to.
Bloggers are like Journalists, they should be able to strike a balance between negative and positive. Can't be too heavy to one side. Sometimes it's not the bloggers who are cynical, but the blog annotators(like this). The blogger writes a genuine piece, which the annotators fiest on like a flock of crows fighting over a piece of cheese! (pardon me for my imagination...).Such as:
Maybe this trend is what Sri Lankan bloggers are making. Blogging + Sri Lankaness combined results the best of our circuit of local bloggers and annotators. So possible for a nation of grumbling happy-g0-lucky people.
Blog annotators are bloggers themselves. So its all connected, Sri lankans-Bloggers-Blog Annotators, like Bermuda Triangle.And Bermuda Triangle is what bloggers are I think, because we never know who they really are or what happens to them ,because we dont know them. So there is nothing wrong being a Bermuda or being cynical, because its what blogging is all about. Being what you are and writing what you think. =)
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