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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

ආයු බෝ වේවා

හමන සුළඟින් දකින දසුනින් දෙනෙතෙ
සොම්නස ලැබේවා......
හිරු එළිය හා දෙපා සිඹිනා මහ පොලොව
ගතට සොම්නස ගෙනේවා......
අසන වදනින් පතන පැතුමන් සිතට
සොම්නස ගෙනේවා......
නොවී ලෙඩ දුක්
සුවෙන් පිරිලා
හදට සෙනෙහස ලැබේවා..........
පිරී ඉතිරෙන
පැතුම් අතරේ

සැමගෙ පැතුමන් පිරේවා............ 

ලැබූ  2014 

ආයු රක්ඛන්තු ආවඩා............. 

(Courtesy by K.K. Samantha - FB)

Sunday, December 22, 2013

The Little Drummer Boy




Come they told me
Pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see
Pa rum pum pum pum

Our finest gifts we bring
Pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the kIng
Pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum

So to honor Him
Pa rum pum pum pum
When we come

Little baby
Pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too
Pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring
Pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give our King
Pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum

Shall I play for you
Pa rum pum pum pum
On my drum

Mary nodded
Pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time
Pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him
Pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him
Pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum

Then He smiled at me
Pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum

Short story - Home for Christmas

Ravi alighted from the limousine and looked around. It was good to touch the ‘green, green, grass of home'. Having been abroad for over a couple of years, he was glad to be back for Christmas in the old familiar surroundings. His parents and sisters accompanied him proud and happy to have spruced up the house and garden for Ravi's arrival.

Ravi appreciated the old Christmas setting. The crib in the corner with the Christ Child, the whole panorama of the event unfolded the Christmas Tree blinking, resplendently garbed in its Christmas finery of baubles, decorations, toys, illuminations. Christmas carols playing softly in the background. All was perfect. Ah! It was good to be home.

Home, home, sweet, sweet, home 
There's no place like home 
He hummed and whistled in turn softly to himself.

Then he stopped in his tracks. “Achchi! Where's Achchi? She's not come to greet me. Is she sick? Is she asleep? Then don't disturb her. Time enough for her elephantine hug in the morning. But I'll just take a peep”, he did. The room had been completely transformed. It looked like a guest room but there was no achchi.
Absence

“Amma what's happened?” His heart skipped a beat. Had she? Had she? Passed away in his absence? Amma was apologetic. “No putha, we put her in an Elders’ Home. That's much better for her. She'll have company there, She's well settled in her new environment. You can go to see her tomorrow.”

“But Amma tomorrow is Christmas! Isn't she coming home for Christmas? Since when has she been away? Ravi could not stand this. He loved his grandmother and feelings were mutual. He was disappointed. Gone was the tune he was humming and whistling. His face had turned ashen but he couldn't tell his parents anything no sooner he arrived. His parents and sisters were taken aback at his visible reaction but brought out arguments in support of their decision. They did not want to spoil his vacation.

“Come on Putha, we've planned a sumptuous feast for you. Everything to suit your taste. Your favourite dishes. Take a wash and come over, there's so much to say, do and eat. “Yes son don't worry about Achchi, she's quite comfortable there. We can visit her tomorrow evening” piped in father nonchalantly.
Banisters

Ravi proceeded to his room upstairs. He didn't even notice the beautifully decorated banisters. Everything was lost on him now. After a while there was the whirring of a car taking off. All ran to the verandah to see the car turning out at the gate. It had to be Ravi. They looked at one another bewildered, flopping on several chairs randomly, wondering what to do or say. They had not expected such a turn of events.

After sometime they heard the familiar whirr of the car and sprang to their feet. There was Ravi cheerily helping Achchi to get off and steering her towards the house. Achchi's wrinkled cheeks were wet with tears. Ravi's parents looked quite abashed. Rallying themselves quickly they invited all to dinner.

Ravi spoke at the dinner table. “Thatha, Amma, I want to ask you for one great Christmas present. Don't ever send Achchi to the Elder's Home. Her place is with us here. I have experienced loneliness away from home. You can't realise how much she had been sobbing today.

Those care-givers told me and I saw for myself. Please! Please! Let Achchi remain with us. We'll all be going for the midnight service, won't we? Achchi too!” he smiled giving her a big hug. The music in the background was playing, “This comes to pass when a child is born”.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

ඡේසු උපත බෙත්ලෙහෙමේදී සිදු වුණේ ඇයි?

බෙතේලෙහෙම පිළිබඳව වූ මුල්ම සටහන ඇත්තේ ක්‍රි.පූ. 1400 දීය. ජෙරුසලමේ රජතුමා විසින් ඔහුගේ අධිපතියා වූ ඊජිප්තුවේ රජතුමාට බිට්‌ ලයිම් හෙවත් බෙත්ලෙහෙම් නගරය උදව් ඉල්ලා ලිපියක්‌ යවා ඇත. අලුත් ගිවිසුමේ ලුක්‌තුමාගේ සහ මතෙව්තුමාගේ ශුභාරංචියට අනුව නාසරතයේ ඡේසු උපත ලබා ඇත්තේ බෙත්ලෙහෙමේ දීය. ඊශ්‍රායලයේ විශාලම නගරය ලෙස සැලකෙන්නේ බෙත්ලෙහෙමයි. මෙය පාලනය කරන ලද්දේ අගෝස්‌තුස්‌ සිසර් නම් අධිරාජ්‍යයාය. ඔහු තම රටවැසියන් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීමට නියෝග කළේය.ඒ අණට අනුව සියලුම වැසියෝ තම තමන්ගේ උපන්ගම් බලා පිටත් වූහ.

ජෝසප් හෙවත් ජුසේතුමා අයත් වූයේ දාවිත්ගේ වංශයටයි. බයිබලයේ සඳහන් අන්දමට ජුසේතුමා අපූරු සිහිනයක්‌ දුටුවේය.

දාවිත්ගේ පුත් ජෝශප් ඔබේ බිරිඳ වන මරියා පාවාගන්නට බිය නොවන්න. මන්දයත් ඇය ගැබ් ගෙන ඇත්තේ ශුද්දාත්මයාණන්ගේ අනුහසින්ය. ඇය පුතෙකු බිහි කරන්නීය. උන්වහන්සේට ඡේසුස්‌ යන නාමය තබන්න. මන්දයත් සිය සෙන ඔවුන්ගේ පාපවලින් මුදාගන්නේ එතුමාණන්ය. (ශු.මතෙව් 1 ( 20 ( 21)

ජුසේතුමා නින්දෙන් දුටු සිහිනය බාර ගත්තේය. දේව සැලැස්‌මට අවනත වූයේය. පසුදා ඔහු මරියතුමිය සොයා ගියේය. මේ වන විට මරියතුමියද අපූරු ප්‍රාතිහාර්යක්‌ ලබා සිටියාය. එක්‌තරා දවසක ගාබ්‍රියල් නම් වූ දේවදූතයා මරියතුමිය සොයා පැමිණයේය.

මරියාවෙනි, ඔබ දෙවියන්වහන්සේගේ වරප්‍රසාද ලද්දෝය. ඔබ පුතෙකු ලබති. ඔහු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨයෙකු වේ. ඔහු දෙවියන්වහන්සේගේ පුත්‍රයාය. මේ බව ඇසූ මරියතුමිය එසේ නම් මම ස්‌වාමින් වහන්සේගේ දාසිය වෙමියි කීsවාය. ඒ ඇසූ දේව දූතයා සතුටින් යන්නට ගියේය.

මතෙව්ට අනුව නාසරතයේ ජීවත්වුණ ඡේසුතුමාගේ මව්පියන් බෙත්ලෙහෙමට පැමිණි අවස්‌ථාවේදී ඡේසු බිලිඳා උපත ලබා ඇත. මහා හෙරොද් අධිරාජ්‍යයා ජුදාවන්ගේ රජු බෙත්ලෙහෙමේදී උපත ලබා ඇතැයි ප්‍රකාශයක්‌ නිකුත් කරමින් වයස අවුරුදු දෙකට අඩු දරුවන් මරා දමන්නට නියෝගයක්‌ නිකුත් කරන ලදී.

ජුඩියන් කඳු වැටියේ දකුණු දිග කොටසේ මුහුදු මට්‌ටමේ සිට මීටර් 775 ක්‌ ඉහළින් බෙත්ලෙහෙම පිහිටා ඇත. ගාසා තීරයට සහ මධ්‍යධරණි මුහුදට කිලෝ මීටර් 73 ක්‌ ඊසාන දිගින් පිහිටි බෙත්ලෙහෙම ආසන්නයේ ටෙල්අවිව් නගරය පිහිටා ඇත. ඊශ්‍රායලය ජෙරුසලම අම්මාන් ජෝර්දානය වැනි රටවල් සහ බෙයිට්‌ජාලා බෙයිට්‌ සාහෝර් යන සුළු නගර අතර අයිඩා සහ ආසා යන සරණාගත කඳවුරුද බෙත්ලෙහෙමට ඇතුළත් වේ.

ජෝසප් හෙවත් ජුසේතුමා අයත් වූයේ දාවිත්ගේ වංශයට හා පෙළපතටයි. ජුසේතුමාට මරියමව්තුමිය සමග බෙත්ලෙහෙම් පුරයට යන්නට සිදු වූයේ ඔහු එම පෙළපතට අයත් නිසාය. ජුදයේ බෙත්ලෙහෙම දාවිත්ගේ වංශය, දාවිත්ගේ නුවර හා දාවිත්ගේ සිංහාසනය යනුවෙන් සඳහන්ව ඇත. ජුදෙව් ජනතාවගේ බලාපොරොත්තුව වූයේ දාවිත්ගේ වංශයෙන් මෙසියස්‌වරයාණෝ දාවිත්ගේ නුවර උපදින බවයි. ඡේසුස්‌ වහන්සේගේ උපත සමග මෙම අදහස ඉෂ්ට විය. ඡේසු බිලිඳා බිහිවූයේ ගව ලෙනකය. එම කාලයේදී මෙම ප්‍රදේශවාසීන් සත්ව පාලනයේ යෙදී සිටියහ. ඡේසු උපත සිහි ගන්වනු වස්‌ මෙම ප්‍රදේශයේ කතෝලික පල්ලි කීපයක්‌ ඉදිකොට ඇත. අදටත් එඬේරුන් මෙම ප්‍රදේශයේ බැටළුවන් වෙළඳාමේ යෙදෙති.

මෙම ප්‍රදේශය මුල් කර ගෙන ඉදිවී ඇති නිවාස ඉදිරිපිට ගුහාවක හැඩය ඇති කොටසක්‌ ඉදි කොට ඇත. මෙම කොටස සතුන් ආරක්‌ෂාවට සහ ගබඩා කටයුතු වෙනුවෙන් යොදා ගෙන ඇත. නැටිවිට්‌ ප්‍රදේශයේ පිහිටි මේ අන්දමේ ගුහාවක ඡේසු දරුවාගේ උත්පත්තිය සිදු වූ නිසාම එම සිද්ධිය සිහිපත් කිරීමට මේ අන්දමේ ගුහා ස්‌වරූපයෙන් නිවාස ඉදිකොට ඇත. උත්පත්තිස්‌ථානය පිළිබඳව වූ අදහස්‌ දෙකක්‌ ඇත. මරියමාතාව විසින් ඡේසු බිලිඳා බිහි කරන ලද්දේ තරුවක්‌ පොළව මත සටහන් වූ ස්‌ථානයකය. ශුද්ධ වූ ජස්‌ටින් මුනිඳුන් හෙවත් ජස්‌ටින් මාර්ටියර් සඳහන් කරන්නේ උත්පත්තිය සිදු වූයේ ගුහාවකය. ඡේම්ස්‌ගේ ශුභාරංචියේ සඳහන් කරන්නේ මෙම ස්‌ථානය සහ තරුවක්‌ පොළව මත සටහන් වූයේ එකම ස්‌ථානයක බවයි.

ඡේසු දරුවාගේ උපත මුලින්ම දැන ගත්තේ සමාජයේ දුප්පත් ජන කොටසක්‌ වූ එඬේරුන්ය. රාත්‍රි කාලයේ බැටළුවන් රැක බලා ගන්නා එඬේරුන් වෙතට දෙවියන්වහන්සේගේ දූතයෙක්‌ පැමිණියේය. මම ඔබට ඉතා සතුටුදායක පුවතක්‌ රැගෙන ආවෙමි. මෙතෙක්‌ ඔබගේ ගැලවුම්කරුවාණන් වූ යේසුස්‌ ක්‍රිස්‌තුස්‌ වහන්සේ අද බෙත්ලෙහෙමේදී උපත ලැබීය. උන්වහන්සේ රෙදිවලින් ඔතා ගව ඔරුවක බහා සිටිති. එඬේරන් මහත් සේ සතුටට පත් වූහ. ඔවුන් බෙත්ලෙහෙමට ගොස්‌ කුමරු පිළිගත්හ. දරුවාගේ උපතින් දින අටක්‌ ගෙවුණු තැන මුලින් පැමිණි ගාබ්‍රියල් දේවදූතයා සඳහන් කළ අන්දමට ඡේසුස්‌ යෑයි නම් තබන ලදී.

මෙම අවස්‌ථාවේදී උන්වහන්සේ බැලීමට විදේශයකින් පිරිසක්‌ ජෙරුසලමට පැමිණියහ .ජුදයන්ගේ රජු ලෙසින් නව ජන්මය ලත් දරුවා බලන්නට අපි පැමිණියෙමු. තරුව පෙරදිගින් දැක අපි ආවෙමු යෑයි කීහ. මේ බව දැනගත් හෙරෝද් රජු කලබලයට පත් වූයේය. ශාස්‌ත්‍රකරුවන් ගෙන්වා ඔබතුමන්ලා ගොස්‌ කුමරු සොයා ගෙන මටද ඒ ඉසව්ව දන්වා සිටින්න. මමද ඔහුට නමස්‌කාර කරන්නෙමියි කීහ. හෙරෝද් රජුගේ උපදෙස්‌ මත ශාස්‌ත්‍රවන්තයෝ කුමරු බලන්නට පිටත් වූහ. පෙරදා දුටු තරුව දිස්‌ වූ ගවලෙන අසල ඔවුන් නතර වූහ. මරියතුමියට සහ දරුවාට නමස්‌කාර කළහ. රැගෙන ආ භාණ්‌ඩ තෑගි ලෙස දී මේ පුවත හෙරෝද් රජුට දන්වා සිටියොත් කුමරුගේ ජීවිතයට අනතුරක්‌ වන්නට ඉඩ ඇති නිසා ඒ බව නොදන්වා සිටින්නට තීරණය කළහ. ඒ නිසාම ඔවුන් වෙනත් මගකින් ගම් රට බලා ගියහ.

මෙහි පැරණි නගරය පිහිටා ඇත්තේ නගර මධ්‍යයේය. මෙහි පිහිටි සම්පූර්ණ නිවාස සංඛ්‍යාව අටක්‌ වන අතර එක්‌ නිවාසයක්‌ පමණක්‌ මුස්‌ලිම් වේ. මොසෙයික මෝස්‌තරයන්ට අනුව මෙම නිවාස ඉදි කොට ඇත. මෙම මෝස්‌තර වෙනුවෙන් වූ දැනුවත් බවට ප්‍රසිද්ධිය ලබා ඇත්තේ කිතුදහම වැළඳගත් ප්‍රථම රෝම අධිරාජ්‍යයා වූ කොන්ස්‌ටන් ටයින්ගේ මවයි. පැරණි දේවස්‌ථානයන්හි පිහිටි මොසෙයික මොස්‌තර ඇගේ අධීක්‌ෂණය යටතේ නිර්මාණය වී ඇත. පැරණිs නගරයේ මුළු ජනගහනය පන්දහසක්‌ පමණ වේ.

බෙත්ලෙහෙම් ප්‍රදේශයේ පිහිටි පැරණිම දේවස්‌ථානය වන්නේ නැටිවිට්‌ නම් වේ. මෙම දේවස්‌ථානයද රෝම අධිරාජ්‍යයාගේ මවගේ අධීක්‌ෂණය යටතේ නිර්මාණය විය. මේ වන විට නැටිවිට්‌ දේවස්‌ථානය ප්‍රතිසංස්‌කරණය කොට ඇත. එය ක්‍රි.ව. 530 දී ජස්‌ටිනියන් අධිරාජ්‍යයා විසින් ප්‍රතිසංස්‌කරණය කරන ලදී. නැටිවිට්‌ දේවස්‌ථානය වන්දනාකරුවන්ගේ ගෞරවාදරයට පාත්‍ර වී ඇති පූජනීය ස්‌ථානයක්‌ වන අතර පලස්‌තීන පොලිසිය විසින් මෙය ආරක්‌ෂා කරනු ලබයි. ක්‍රි. ව. 614 දී පර්සියානුවන් විසින් මෙය විනාශ කරන ලදී. 1009 වසරේදී පාලනයට පත් අල් හකිම්ගේ කාලයේදී මෙම දේවස්‌ථානයට කිසිදු හානියක්‌ සිදු නොවීය. එයින් දේශීය මුස්‌ලිම් සහ කිතුනු බැතිමතුන් අතර පැවැතියා වූ සහජීවනය මැනවින් ප්‍රදර්ශනය වේ.

බෙත්ලෙහෙම බලා නත්තල් කාලයෙදී සංචාරක වන්දනාකරුවන් ඇදෙන අතර මෙම ප්‍රදේශය පාලනය වන්නේ පලස්‌තීනයෙන්ය.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

හිත ළඟ දඟ කරමින්...

හිත ළඟ දඟ කරමින් හීන ගෙනාවේ
මා හිත කිති කවමින් සෙනෙහස පෑවේ
ඔබ දෙව්දුවක් ද මට කියන්න
සුර ලොවින් වැඩියාද කියන්න
මගේ හිත නළවන කළඹන ඔබ කවුරුද
මගේ හිත නළවන කළඹන ඔබ කවුරුද
කවුරුද

ඔය ඉණ වට දැවටෙන සළුපට
වෙන්නට මට ආසයි
ඔය තොල්මත රැඳෙන්න බිඳුවක්
නවතින්නට ආසයි //
ඔබ දෙව්දුවක් ද මට කියන්න
සුර ලොවින් වැඩියාද කියන්න
මගේ හිත නළවන කළඹන ඔබ කවුරුද
මගේ හිත නළවන කළඹන ඔබ කවුරුද 
කවුරුද

හිත ළඟ දඟ කරමින්...

මේ තරමට ආදරේ හිතෙන්න
මොනවද මට කීවේ
හොරෙන්ම හිත නුඹ ළඟ නැවතුණා
නෑ මටවත් දැනුණේ //
ඔබ දෙව්දුවක් ද මට කියන්න
සුර ලොවින් වැඩියාද කියන්න
මගේ හිත නළවන කළඹන ඔබ කවුරුද 
මගේ හිත නළවන කළඹන ඔබ කවුරුද 
කවුරුද
හිත ළඟ දඟ කරමින්...


Monday, December 09, 2013

මැන්ඩෙලා කියා දී යන්න;අප කළ යුත්තේ කුමක්ද?

සමාජ නායකයක ලෙස නෙල්සන් මැන්ඩෙලා ගෙන් උගත හැකි විශිෂ්ඨතම පාඩම නම්,සමස්ත අරගලය පුරා වූ නොනැසෙන සදාචාරමය පදනමයි.  මෙහි උත්කර්ෂවත්ම පරමාදර්ශය ගාන්ධිය.. ගාන්ධි මෙන්ම මැන්ඩෙලා ද “අනුන්ගේ ලේ “ වලින් අරගලය ගෙනයන්නට හිතුවෝ නොවෙති.ඔවුන් හැම විටම පෙරමුණු සටන් කරුවෝ වූහ.කඳුළු, දහදිය,ලේ මුලින්ම හැළුවෝ ඔවුන්ය. මේ සියල්ලටමත් වඩා වැදගත් වන්නේ,තම සතුරාගේ මිලේඡ්චත්වය ඉදිරියේ ඔවුන් දෙදෙනාම දැක්වූ විශිෂ්ඨ මානුෂිකත්වයයි...ඔවුන් ලෝකයේ නිදහස,මානව වර්ගයාගේ විමුක්තිය පිළිබද තීරණාත්මක අරගලයන් ජයග්ර්හණය කළෝය...එහෙත එ සඳහා ගතතා වූ ක්රිගයා මාර්ග නැවත කිසි කළෙක මානව විරෝධී යැයි අවමානයට හෝ ප්ර්ශ්න කිරීමට ලක් නොවූහ....1942 අමිර්තසාර්හී දී බ්රි්තානයෝ අති දැවැන්ත මානව සංහාරයක් කලෝය...නේරූ ඇතුළු කොන්ග්ර.ස් නායකයෝ ඊට ඒ ක්රාමයෙන්ම.එනම් දුටු තැන සුද්දන් තරාතිරම නොබලා මරා දැමීම,දේපල විනාහ කිරීම,ස්ත්රී දුෂණය ආදී “යුධ උපක්ර්ම“ ක්රිදයාවේ යෙදවීමට තීරණය කළෝ ය..එහෙත් ගාන්ධි එකහෙලාම ඊට විරුද්ද විය...එය “නිදහස් අරගලය“ නොවේ..එය “නිදහස් අරගලයේ උපක්රටම“ නොවේ යි කී ගාන්ධි උන් ගේ මිලේඡ්චත්වය පරාජය කරන මිලේඡ්චත්වයක් උදෙසානම් අප කරන අරගලයේ අර්තයක් නැතැයි තීරණාත්මකව ප්රමකාශ කලේය.. ගාන්ධි ගේ මේ මැදිහත් වීමට පින්සිදුවන්නට ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේ අති දැවැන්ත ඛේදවාචකයක් වැලකී ගියා පමණක් නොව අද දක්වා බ්රිහතාන්යන නායකයෝ අමිර්තසාර්හී සංහාරය වෙනුවෙන් ඉන්දියාවෙන් සමාව ඉල්ලති.... දකුණු අප්රිාකානු නිදහස් සටනේදීත් අනතුරුව කළු පාලනයේත් වෛරී හා සැක කිරීම් නොවීය....සුදු යුගයේ අපරාධයට හා වධ බන්ධනයට ලක් වූවෝ ,වධකයන් හා මුහුණට මුහුන තබා දුක කියන්නට අවකාශ ලබා දුන් අතර වධකයෝ හඬා වැළපෙමින් තම වරද පාපොච්ඡාරණය කලෝය..අනතරුව සමාව දීම විය..සත්තකින්ම ඒ වැඩ පිළිවෙල නොවුනානම් දකුණු අප්රිවකාව අදටත් යුධ පිටියකි... අද රාජපක්ෂ නොවන සියළුම දේශපාලනය කරන්නෝත,ජනතාවත් ඉදිරයේ නොබෝ දිනකින්ම රාජපක්ෂ පාලනය බිද වැටී ස්වර්නමය යුගයක් එළඹෙන බවට සිහින මවනු පෙනේ...එය තනිකරම දුර්වල සමාජයකින් බලා පොරොත්තු විය හැකි මානසික තත්වයකි..“දුර්වලයා තම බොහෝ විශිස්ඨ ජයග්ර හන ලබා ගන්නේ පරිකල්පනය තුළය“.... එහෙත් මේ බලය ලබා ගැනීමට අදහස් කරන්නන් ක්රිියාකරමින් සිටින ආකාරය අතිශය භයානකය..හේතුව ඔවුන් සියල්ල බලය ලබා ගැනීමෙන් පසු කරන ක්රිරයාකාරකම් පිළිබද කටමැත දොඩනවා විනා,බලය ලබා ගැනීම දක්වා කරන්නේ කුමක්දැයි නොකීම..නොකිරීමය...කවුරුන් හෝ ගේමක් ගසා වැඩේ අවුල් කල පසු බලය තමන්ගේ ඔඩොක්කුවට වැටේ වියැයි එ.ජා.පයේ සිට ජ.වි.පෙ දක්වා සියල්ලෝම විශ්වාස කරන බව පෙනේ...එහෙත් ඔවුන් යළිත් භාර ගන්නේ මේ මිලේච්ඡ සමාජයමද?මේ පිරිහුන මිනිස් රැලමද? බලය ලබා ගැනීම දක්වා අරගලය වැදගත් වන්නේ එහෙයිනි...බලය ලබා ගැනීමෙන් පසු කරන දේ වෙනුවෙන් සමාජය සංවිධානය නොකර,සූදානම් නොකර බලය ලබාගත හැක්කේ පවතින ක්රයමයම පවත්වාගෙන මඩි තරකර ගැනීමය හැර වෙන කුමටද?අනෙක එවැනී පුර්ව අරගලයකින් තොරව ලබා ගත් වෙනසකට ලෝක උදාහරන තිබේද? එහෙයින් මේ සමස්ත ය කරන්නේ අති විශාල බොරුවක් බවට සැක නැත.. ගාන්ධිත් මැන්ඩෙලාත් (වෙනත් විප්ලවීය නායකයන් මෙන්ම) බලය වෙනුවෙන් සූදානම් නොවුන සමාජයකට බලය ලබා දීමට කැමති නොවූහ...ඔවුන්ට පුද්ගලිකව ඕනෑනම් බලය ගන්නට තිබිණි..එහෙත් ඔවුන්ට ඕනෑ වූයේ ජනතාව අතට බලය ලබා දෙන්නටය...එහෙත් සූදානම් නැති ජනකාවකට බලය දෙන්නට ඔවුන් කැප වුනේ නැත්තේ..එහි විනාශකාරී බව හා ව්යාදජය දැන සිටි නිසාය...පාකිස්ථානය මීට හොඳම උදාහරණයයි..සූදානම් නොකරන ලද පාකිස්ථාන පාලන බලය වහා හමුදාව අතට මාරූ විය. ලංකාවේ මේ පක්ෂ බලය ලබා ගැනීමෙන් පසු “බොදු බල සේනා “පන්නයේ අර්ධ ත්රඔස්ත සංවිධානයන්ට කරන්නේ කුමක්ද?...ඇත්තෙන්ම ඊට එරෙහිව දැවැන්ත අරගලයක් කළ යුත්තේ බලය ලබා ගැනීම දක්වා වූ මාර්ගයේ නොවෙද? පසුගිය කාලයේ බොදු බල සේනාවට එරෙහිව තීරණාත්මකව ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගත්තේනම් එය ආණ්ඩුවට එරෙහිව වැදගත් හා ප්ර තිථල දායක පියවරක් නොවන්නේද? එසේ විය හැකි බව මේ කණ්ඩායම් හා පක්ෂ දනිති..එහෙත් බලය ලබා ගැනීමෙන් පසු නැති කරනවා වෙනුවට මේ ආකෘතිය ප්රොයා්ජනයට ගත හැකි බව මේ අය තීරණය කර ඇති බව පෙනේ.. ඉදින් මේ සියළු දෙනා සමාජය කැටයම් චින්තකලාගේ තත්වයට පත් කරමින් සිටී...ඔවුහු අයිතිකාරයන් නැති පදනමක් නැති හේතුවක් නැති ශිෂ්ට නිතීයට එපිටින් වූ මේ සමාජයට බාහිරින් කඩාපාත් වූ අපරාධ කරුවෝය..මේ රටේ ජනතාවත් ඒ සමානය...ඔවුහු එලෙසින්ම මහමඟ මරා දැමිය යුතුය..ආණ්ඩුව කෙසේ සිතනවාදැයි මම නොදනිමි...එහෙත් විපක්ෂය යැයි කියන උන් සිතන්නේනම් එසේ බව සක් සුදක්සේ පැහැදිලි වන්නේ ඒ අයගේ වැඩ පිළිවෙල බලන විටය.... එහෙත් එක සතුටක් තිබේ...ඒ මැන්ඩෙලා ගේ ගාන්ධිගේ අරගයන් කැපකිරීම් හා සසදා බලන විට නිකමුන් වන මුන්ට කවදාවත් බලය ලබා ගන්නට බැරි බව නියත වීමය...එහෙත් බයානක කාරනය වන්නේ ඒ වෙනුවට වෙනත් අපරාධ කල්ලියක් බලය ඩැහැ ගැනීමට ඉතා ඉහල ඉඩක් තිබීමය...

Can sexual frustration be bad for health?

Sex may in fact be one of the secrets to good health, youth and a longer life - at least for fruit flies - suggests a new finding that appears in Science.

Male fruit flies that perceived sexual pheromones of their female counterparts - without the opportunity to mate - experienced rapid decreases in fat stores, resistance to starvation and more stress.

The sexually frustrated flies lived shorter lives. Mating, on the other hand, partially reversed the negative effects on health and ageing. "Our findings give us a better understanding about how sensory perception and physiological state are integrated in the brain to affect long-term health and lifespan," says senior author Scott D. Pletcher.

"The cutting-edge genetics and neurobiology used in this research suggests to us that for fruit flies at least, it may not be a myth that sexual frustration is a health issue. Expecting sex without any sexual reward was detrimental to their health and cut their lives short."

U-M scientists used sensory manipulations to give the common male fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, the perception that they were in a sexually rich environment by exposing them to genetically engineered males that produced female pheromones.

They were also able to manipulate the specific neurons responsible for pheromone perception as well as parts of the brain linked to sexual reward (secreting a group of compounds associated with anxiety and sex drive).

"These data may provide the first direct evidence that ageing and physiology are influenced by how the brain processes expectations and rewards," Pletcher says.

"In this case, sexual rewards specifically promoted healthy ageing."

Fruit flies have been a powerful tool for studying ageing because they live on average 60 days yet many of the discoveries in flies have proven effective in longer-lived animals, such as mice.

For decades, one of the most powerful ways to slow aging in different species was by limiting their food intake. In a previous study, Pletcher and his colleagues found that the smell of food alone was enough to speed up aging, offering new context for how dietary restriction works.

- Medical xpress

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Misuse of telecommunication

Nenaka H Pathirana Deputy Director Consumer Relations Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

Sending indecent absence, seditious, scurrilous, threatening or grossly offensive text messages

“Every person he himself or by his agent tender for transmission at any message of an indecent obscene seditious scurrilous threatening or grossly offensive shall be guilty of an offence shall be liable for conviction to a fine not exceeding five thousand rupees or to imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fines and such imprisonment.”

What is the prevailing Law?

“Every person who presentably makes telephone calls without reasonable excuse for the purpose of causing annoyance excuse for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience to any person shall by guilty of an offence shall be liable for conviction to a fine not exceeding five thousand rupee and in default of payment of such fine imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding three months.”

Plight of those who make unwanted calls

In the case of unwanted calls, Telecom service provider makes the caller aware of the situation (complaint) and advises him/her that continuing to make such calls could be illegal and punishable under the prevailing law. The aim is to prevent further calls being made. If the calls continue, further action may be taken, such as issuing a formal warning or temporary disconnection of telephone service. In serious instances the police may be involved and may pursue prosecution.

Telecommunications industry has been rapidly developing during last decade. This is not limited only to Sri Lanka but is seen all over the world. This revolution in the telecommunications industry in the world has changed life styles of people in many ways and changed their behaviour pattern as well as personal lifestyles.

Sending SMS

Presently one task may be accomplished within one second by incurring the cost of a one rupee worth SMS instead of travelling so many thousand kilometres all over the world and spending so many days. This is one achievement of the information era and the benefit we all expected.

Home sweet home

Home is one of the world’s best loved words. Within this word abide love, joy, laughter, sweat, tears, the aroma from many a dish and above all the prayers of all its occupants. A home is not a house. A house can be a large multi-storied mansion, a single roomed apartment or a flat. Some are tiled and exquisitely furnished, without any pantry fittings.

A cozy home

A house has many prefixes, suffixes, adjectives, adverbs attached to it Gruhaya, Veedu, House is a dwelling place for humans. Many with embarrassing meanings - gambling house, house of ill fame, brothel house, sweet house, house of correction, houseboy, boy’s house. All give shelter, but a far cry from a home.

Home and love go hand in hand. A home can be a wattle and daub, cow-dung floored thatched abode or a palace. Home is the abode of peace and contentment. A house may not have all or even a few ingredients that go to make a cozy home.

Charles Lamb, essayist and author of ‘Dream Children’ said, “I do not wish to live in a house. A dwelling place where the floors are covered with Persian carpets, a grandfather’s clock ticking away, grandmother tickling the ivories on a grand piano, a butter setting the dinner table and a maid minding the fire place. I want my house to be a home. A home where there is a cat sleeping on a sofa, a chubby dog scratching away on a doormat, a nonworking gas light in the hall, grandma on a rocking chair while knitting or mending grandpa’s socks. I like to see children tapping their feet on the dining table or playing on the carpet, listening to fairy tales. That then is my home.” How beautiful, poignant and true are these words? A human beings home is an abode of untold joy.

A home is a place where we seek love and relaxation as well as hope. A homeless finds a home under a dilapidated tin shed or a bus shelter. After a little bit of gossip and politics, they go to sleep. Only the feline and canine friends are there to give them warmth. Still they are in their home. Then, there are many erections on the banks of rivers and canals and in very insalubrious locations. All apologies for houses, these ‘Shanties’ comprise of a single bed room.

A hearth under a canvas top or open to the skies with a faraway common toilet, still it is a lovely home of contented occupants visiting each others homes for a chat.

A place for caring

Birds build their homes, a nest to raise a chirping family. They say that only the ‘koha’ makes use of another’s to lay her eggs. In the evening, birds go home to roost and beasts to their homely dens, lifting and immortal songs about home. “Oh give me a home where the buffaloes roam,” “The sun shines bright on the old Kentucky home.” Yes! A home is a place for caring.

Homes for elders, destitute, incurables for the mentally retarded are all called homes, but never houses. A home is an ultimate paradise of laughter, children romping all over making it a mother’s nightmare, a veritable battlefield. A home is where a mother is on the warpath with a coconut shell ladle emerging from a smoke filled kitchen with tearing eyes, having a kitchen table piled up with unwashed utensils.

Still, a home is beautiful. It becomes a blessed home, a shining home when a mother takes the family up to the altar of the celestial ones in whom they believe, carrying an altar lamp for evening prayers. Computers, father’s evening new casts are put aside for a moment to give thanks to them for giving the family a lovely home.

Of course it must be remembered that sagacious and understanding parents are the two pillars that keep a home, a truly divine home. They all keep the home fires burning. Literally for a mother, the family retires for the night absolutely happy in their home. The word ‘home’ how endearing.

The young leave their parental homes to build their own home, amidst Professor Carlo Fonseka’s ‘Raththarang Duwe’ or Mignonne’s ‘Kadallay Athi Wu Kirilli,’ then comes the ‘Home Coming.’ The ‘at home’ with lots of homemade love cakes, all are made to feel at home. A homely atmosphere, all return to their homes. Back to the sarong and home attire, ah! They seem to say, “East or west home is the best.”

Homemade coconut rock with a plantain from the home grown banana tree, sipping a glass of homemade milk wine and then, amidst the wagging of tails, whines and meows of the affectionate home loving pets all retire to bed.

How very true are the immortal words of John Harward Payne. “Amidst pleasures and palaces, wherever you may roam, there is never ever a place like

- Home Sweet Home. 

Sunday, December 01, 2013

හොරු අරන් ගිහින්වත් ද?

ගස්වල වේලිච්ච කොළ කැරකි කැරකී බිමට වැටෙද්දී හුළඟක් ඇවිත් මගේ මූණටම මුණගැහුණා. පුංචි වැහි බින්දු එක එක බිමට වැටෙද්දි මගෙ කඳුළු බින්දුත් එක එක බිමට වැටෙනවා කියලා පස්සෙයි දැනගත්තෙ.

ඔයාගෙ ආදරේ මට ඕනෙ කියලා නේක වාරයක් හිතිලා ඇති. ඒත් මේ හුළඟ වගේ ඔයා දුර ගිහිං. ඈත ඈත රේඩියෝවක ගියපු “සුළඟ වගේ මා අතහැර දුරක යන්නට - වරද මගේ රත්තරනේ කියලා දෙන්න” පද ටික හුළඟ මගේ ළඟට අරන් ආවෙ මගෙ හිත කියවල වගේ. ඔයා මේ තරම් දුර ගියපු හේතුව අනිත් කවුරුත්ම වගේ මාත් තාම දන්නෙ නෑ.

ඒත් ඔයාට මං දොස් කියන්නෙ නෑ. මොකද මම දන්නවා හැමදේම අනිත්‍යයි කියලා. තාම හදාගන්න උත්සාහ කරන හිත වාවන්න බැරි තරම් අසරණ කරන්නෙ අපි දෙන්නව හොඳටම දන්න මේ හුළඟ ඇවිත්. ඒකයි දන්නෙම නැතුව කඳුළු වැටුණෙ. පොද වැස්සක් පායලා. මං යන්තං හිනාවුණා. ඔයා මට ආදරෙයි කිව්වා මතක් වෙලා. ඒත් ‍කෝ ඒ ආදරේ? හොරු අරන් ගිහින්වත් ද?

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Sweet November

Though the tag line "she just needed a month to change his life forever" draws audience's interests Pat O'Connor's 'Sweet November' is too full of syrupy chiches and tragicomedy. It looks phony rather than heartwarming.

Entirely different

Keanu Reeves plays Nelson Moss, an arrogant workaholic in San Francisco. He makes sexist ads for his advertising firm and dreams of making it big in the industry. This ambition is the only purpose of his existence and all the other elements like his live-in girlfriend are put in the back burner for his career.

Charlize Theron's Sara Deever is of an entirely different formula. She is the free-spirited and mysterious beauty who enters his life in November. Their meeting is comical because Nelson leans over to get the answer for a question during a driver's licenses renewal examination from Sara.

Unfortunately Sara has to pay the price for Nelson's actions because she is banned from the examination hall and has to retake the test after 30 days.

The two get off on the wrong foot because Nelson's too narcissistic to acknowledge his misdeed. He is forced to help her out when she seeks vengeance by demanding rides from him. Guilt ridden he helps her out.

When Sara proposes living with him for one month with no strings attached to cure him of his mechanical life and help find happiness and peace in the simplicities of life Nelson is quite taken aback. Though he is intrigued by her Nelson refuses to commit to the deal at first. He eventually gives into the offer. Though he finds her lifestyle strange he is attracted by the doe eyed beauty. The fact that his current girlfriend dumps him and his boss fires him also helps make up his mind.

Mixed feelings

The movie can be divided into two sections. The first half deals with constructing Nelson's masculine image. The second half focuses upon his vulnerable nature and human qualities. However things are too late by then because a dreadful truth larks waiting to be unveiled to Nelson as well as the audience that life is not as picture perfect as it seems.

O'Connor could have planned the plot in a more convincing manner when he structured his production. The story is utterly unconvincing and lacks depth. It is also a waste to use artistes like Reeves and Theron in projects of this nature because they are powerhouses of talent.

Though they have great chemistry to share, the storyline does not help in making 'Sweet November' a thrilling watch.

The tables are turned towards the end and the incidents which follow are bewildering for the audience.

This actually eclipses the tear jerking effect intended by the filmmakers.

One of the silver linings of 'Sweet November' is that there is room for us to question the wisdom of the decision that Sara takes.

The door for doubt is open by revealing that all is not well in Sara's life and that she too is hiding several skeletons in her closet. The lonely figure of a sad yet humane Nelson walking away from the site in which he bids adieu to Sara brings about mixed feelings from the audience.

Nelson's character would have suffered if it had been portrayed by another actor but Reeves makes a thoroughly likable Nelson. However one expects much more from an actor of his caliber.

Theron is entertaining and cute to watch but that is all that she projects in this romantic comedy. Since 'Sweet November' is a remake of Robert Ellis Miller's 1968 film of the same name, Theron is pressurized to get into the shoes projected by Sandy Dennis. This does not give her the freedom which he had gotten in playing opposite Reeves in 'The Devil's Advocate.'

Sunday, November 24, 2013

මුළු රෑම ගෙවිලා ගියා.

රන් තාරකාවන් දිලෙන රැයේ 
සේපාලිකාවන් පිපෙන පැයේ
හදවතට ලංවෙන්න කාටත් හොරා
සිහිනයක දැවටී වෙලී...

මා දෙනෙත අඩ අදුරෙ රඳවා තියා
සඳවතිය පාවී ගියා...
පිළිගන්න පුළුවන්ද සඳ දෙව්දුවක් 
මේ හැටිම නපුරුයි කියා...
මේ හැටිම නපුරුයි කියා...

මා උන්නෙ දොර කවුළු හැරදා තියා
ඔබෙ සුවඳ ඒ යැයි සිතා...
නිදි නොමැති නෙත් අගට කදුලක් තියා
මුළු රෑම ගෙවිලා ගියා..
මුළු රෑම ගෙවිලා ගියා..













Saturday, November 23, 2013

සමනල

ලැබෙන නොලැබෙන පතන නොපතන සෑම දෙයක් තුළම මා නුඹේ සිනහව අත්දැක්කා. නුඹ නොදන්නවා නෙවෙයි. දන්නවා. නුඹේ සිනහවට මා පෙම් බැන්ද තරම්... ලෝකයා කීවා පුංචි සමනලයා කුරිරු නෑ කියා. මාත් ඒ දේ විශ්වාස කළා. මොකද, කවදාකවත් මා නුඹෙන් අඩුවක් නොදැක්ක නිසා. නුඹේ හීනවලට පාට උවමනා වෙද්දී නුඹ මා අසලට පැමිණියා. නුඹේ හදවතට ළෙන්ගතු ආදරය අඩුවෙද්දී, ඒ සෙනෙහස නුඹට උවමනා වෙද්දී, නුඹ මාගේ ළෙන්ගතු ස්නේහය තුළට පියමැන්නා. නමුත් නුඹ දැන සිටියේ නෑ මා හඬනා තරම්...

සිහින් වැහි බිංදු, ඉඩෝරයට වැටෙන වැහි බිංදු තරම් වේදනාවක් ගෙන දෙද්දිත් නුඹ නිසා මං පාට සොයාගත්තා. ආදරණීය මගේ සමනල පැටියෝ, මං අද අඬනවා. කාලයක් තිස්සේ මට පෙම් බැඳ මා හැර ගිය, මා දමා දුර ඇතක පිය මැනූ නුඹ නිසා මං අද හඬා වැටෙනවා. ආගන්තුක‍යන් සක්මන් කරනා මේ ගිමන් හලේ ලාබැඳි සෙනෙහසකින් හමුවූ නුඹ... මටත් නොකියා පියමනිද්දී මේ දිවි කතරට දැනෙනා දුක පාළුව හරිම කුරිරුයි. මහා ලෝකයටම පෙනෙන්නට මම පෑයුවට මටත් හීන තියෙනවා කියලා කවුරුත් දැනගෙන උන්නේ නෑ. කාලයක් තිස්සේ මට ආදරය කළ නුඹවත් ඒ බව දැනගෙන සිටියේ නෑ.

මං නුඹට ආදරෙයි. හැමදාමත් සීමා රාමුවක කොටුවී මම සිටියත්, ලෝකයට පායන හැම නිමේෂයකම මම නුඹව සෙව්වා. නුඹ ආදරයෙන් මා දෙසට පියමැන්නා...

පුංචි පුංචි මොහොතවල්වල මට ලබාදුන් ඒ සතුටට, ආදරයට ඔබට ස්තූතියි සමනලයෝ. අවසානයටත් දෙයක් කියන්නද මම....?

නුඹේ සියලු තටුවල පාට වියැකෙද්දී නැවතත් එනු මැන මා සොයාගෙන... නුඹ මගේ නොවුණත්, මම නුඹ නිසාම පායමි හැම වැහි වලාවකම, නුඹට උරුම වූ පාට මා තුළ ඇත්නම් මම දෙන්නෙමි ඔබහට... මාගේ දෑතම දිගුකොට, නුඹ සුන්දර කිරීමට...

Thursday, November 21, 2013

මම = ඔයා




හැමාදාමත් මම
ඔයත් එක්ක ඉන්නවා
ඒ ඔයා මට
ආදරේ කරන නිසා නෙවෙයි
මම ඔයාට ආදරේ කරන නිසා...

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka earns best picture nomination

Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2013:

Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka (With You, Without You) which so far won five international awards including best picture in France and Italy, has earned its latest nomination for Best Picture at 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Australia, to its growing number of global accolades.
Film
* Won five international awards
* Best picture in France and Italy
* Directed by Prasanna Vithanage
* T o be screened on December 1 in
   Brisbane, Australia

The film will be screened on December 1 in Brisbane at the Australian Cinematheque Gallery of Modern Arts. Director Prasanna Vithanage's 2009 film Akasa Kusum (Flowers of the Sky) will also be screened on the same day celebrating the golden jubilee of lead actress Malini Fonseka's acting career. She was previously nominated for Best Actress in 2009 at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for her performance in Akasa Kusum .

Six nominations in the Best Picture category at APSA include internationally acclaimed critical darlings such as 'Like Father, Like Son' (Japan), 'Omar' (Palestine), 'The Past' (France/Italy), 'Television' (Bangladesh) and 'The Turning' (Australia).

Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka is a bilingual film (Sinhala/Tamil) which stars Shyam Fernando, Indian actress Anjali Patil, Wasantha Moragoda and Maheshwari Ratnam.

M D Mahindapala (Cinematographer), A Sreekar Prasad (Editor), Lakshman Joseph De Saram (Music Composer), Tapas Nayak (Sound Designer) and Rob Nevis (Production Designer) have contributed to Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka.

Daminda D Madawala is the Assistant Director and Ebert Wijesinghe handled the make-up. Kalpana Ariyawansa and Vindana Ariyawansa contributed as Line Producers.

A co-production between India and Sri Lanka, Lasantha Nawarathna and Mohamed Adamaly produced Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka . Rahul Roy, Iranthi Abeysinghe, Sunil Fonseka and Nadira Adamaly joined as the Executive Producers.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Not entrapped in stereotypes Prisone

A horrifying yet enthralling mystery surrounds Denis Villeneuve's 2013 production 'Prisoners.'The film employs some stunning filmmaking techniques as well as a gripping storyline and splendid performances.

A cinematic masterpiece

The mystery itself is captivating from the start. The high tension kidnapping thriller begins with us being introduced to two families: the Dovers and the Birches. They get together to celebrate thanksgiving only to be struck with tragedy when they realise that the youngest daughters of both families go missing.

Enter Detective Loki who has a record of never letting a case go unsolved. But would he finally meet his match with the case of the kidnappings of the two young girls? Only circumstances and time would tell. The biggest hurdle which seems to stand in his way in proceeding with investigations seems to be Anna Dover's father, Keller, who wants to take the law into his own hands when days go by with no news about his daughter.

Pulling off a film of this nature successfully is a rare feat. That is exactly why Villeneuve should be commended for his effort. Scriptwriter Aaron Guzikowski too has done an excellent job in inserting some thrilling twists and turns into the plot. Not only is his effort suspenseful but it had allowed Villeneuve to make a cinematic masterpiece of the tale.

Emotionally rewarding

The story follows both Keller and Loki on their separate missions yet it is the ultimate goal of finding the girls safe and sound which unites them. The film glides back and forth between the two with ease. The scenes shift at a moderate pace and are littered with a variety of slow, creepy tracking shots which gives you Goosebumps.

Kudos to Villeneuve for selecting a stellar cast for his production, Hugh Jackman may be the biggest name on the cast but it is amazing how Jake Gyllenhaal takes the spotlight as he manages to deliver a blistering performance as Detective Loki. Both actors churn out some powerhouse performances to anchor the film.

They work on the audience's emotions and succeed in making them care about the two missing girls as much as the characters do.

Keller and Loki are set against one another yet the audience ends up liking and sympathising with them both. From the moment he is introduced to us having dinner at a Chinese restaurant Loki captivates us with his energy and charisma. Yet halfway through into 'Prisoners' you realise that he is nursing his own daemons. Similarly it is not difficult for us to feel sorry for Jackman's grieving father yet at times these emotions are shattered when he shows bolts of blinding rage and brutality while harassing an alleged suspect who happen to have his RV parked on the location that the girls went missing. This conflict of emotions is confusing at times and makes us questions if he is also the film's true villain.

'Prisoners' also deals with several themes: the morality of what you would do to protect your loved ones, religion and the boundaries of torture. Such elements make it an adult only content. Though the theme is similar to the Angelina Jolie starrer 'Changeling,'the story flows in an entirely different direction and setting.

No doubt 'Prisoners' is of Oscar material. Smartly structured, hard hitting and deep thinking it is an unforgiving but emotionally rewarding experience. 

Ruwini Jayawardana - Daily News

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Village life

Most of us live in a concrete jungle, which is how cities are known the world over. Yet, we harbour an innate desire to get away from it all once in a while to breathe the fresh air in a village with its green paddy fields and narrow pathways. They are polar opposites - the village is an elixir for the mind, whereas the city chokes it with its hustle and bustle.

I grew up in a village off Ambalangoda where life was simply idyllic. My grandmother owned a paddy field and a vegetable garden which supplied our food. She bought fish from a fishmonger who visited the village at least twice a week on a bicycle.

There were many friends I could play with. A stream ran through the paddy fields, from where we could see the village temple. The village school had a good roll call of students. Our house bordered the village’s only road and seeing a vehicle was the highlight of a given day. It was what you would call the ‘countryside’ in the UK or US.

Unfortunately, not many people have an idea of what the countryside is all about. Many urban youngsters have no idea at all what it means to live in a village. Moreover, with many people ‘losing their roots’ in a commercialized world, they cannot visit a village they can call their own. Now, they will be able to visit an authentic village located right within the city or just outside Colombo to be precise. The Ape Gama (Our Village), a thematic concept village which showcases the lifestyle, age-old traditions and heritage of an ancient Sri Lankan village, is now open at the Folk Arts Centre premises in Pelawatta, Battaramulla.

Richness

Ape Gama shows the richness of Sri Lankan culture and the lifestyle of ancient (and not so ancient) villages comprising wattle and daub and thatched houses, a paddy field, traditional Kamatha and many other features. A house where the indigenous physician used to treat patients (Vedagedara) was also constructed. A special playground has been set for the village youth to practice traditional martial arts (Angampora). Visitors will also be get first-hand experience on how traditional industries such as pottery brass ware, batik and wood craft took shape in ancient Sri Lanka. There will also be the obligatory restaurant and food court along with the Laksala outlet which was already operational there.

This is a commendable move, because authentic villages are disappearing all over the world, not just in Sri Lanka, as urbanisation creeps in. Cities are expanding at a rapid rate, blurring the distinction between the city and the village. Furthermore, the villages (and villagers) are being assailed by the lures of the city 24/7. Almost everything that used to be exclusive to the city is now available in the villages, such as supermarkets, banks and phone kiosks.

The expansion and development of roads have anyway brought villages and cities closer together. In our connected world, it is naive to expect villages to remain isolated and untouched.

The migration of villagers to cities also continues unabated, diminishing the workforce available to the village.

Agriculture, the backbone of the village economy, faces the threat of the younger generation leaving for white collar jobs in the cities and even abroad. The latter factor has indeed altered the village economy almost beyond recognition, as at least one family in even the remotest village has a breadwinner abroad. The money he or she remits to the family usually leads to a higher standard of living for the family concerned.

Development

Villages cannot stand still. They have to move forward with the rest of the country and the rest of the world. Development has reached even the most inaccessible villages. In this context, villagers face the challenge of maintaining their traditional agri-based lifestyles with the onset of development and technology.

Although some deride the overreaching influence of development and technology on the village, who can deny the benefits of modern technology? Developments such as mobile phones have undoubtedly revolutionised the lives of villagers who earlier had to trudge for miles to find a telephone. The tractor and other mechanised aids have made farming less of a chore. On the other hand, there are negative aspects of the city-village affinity such as the spread of vice in many villages.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Evokes maternal instincts - Baby Boom

A working woman’s smooth career up the ladder meets some unexpected bumps when she inherits a toddler from a long lost relative. Forced to take up a crash course on adoption, J C Waitt tries to juggle her ambitious profession with the new addition to her life. She is ill prepared for such a turnover since she is a woman with no time to spare.

Though her live-in relationship is hardly anything worth talking about the baby’s presence takes a toll on it. J C’s maternal instincts are aroused and she has to reexamine her own feelings on what she wants in life: to enter the rat race of success or to have a peaceful living where she can earn her bread and butter through her own innovative talents.

An alien chore

There are a handful of uniquely hilarious moments in Charles Shyer’s ‘Baby Boom’. One such incident involves J C trying to check the baby into a coatroom when she has a business lunch. Another incident involves her efforts in trying to feed baby Elizabeth. With no idea on what to feed the infant, she cooks pasta for Elizabeth and then ties to clean up the mess with a household cleaner.

Another detail in which the film excels is in the sarcasm it directs at the manner in which infants are treated in the high-pressure New York setup. Bewildered toddlers have to attend strenuous gym classes where their parents pour out their woes about private school rejections.

‘Baby Boom’ also embodies an inspiring message. Though the concept that a woman cannot achieve success as well as have a family is addressed it shows that success cannot be measured entirely with wealth. Satisfaction and happiness go hand in hand and those were the features that have been lacking in the protagonist’s life from the start.

This is why J C declines the offer of purchasing her business which is made to her by her former company. Though she realizes that she can make millions out of the deal, she also becomes aware of the fact that she can run her business while raising Elizabeth in the country. Though the stories flow in different courses, there are similarities between ‘Baby Boom’ and the 1983 American comedy drama film ‘Mr Mom.’

This is because both movies star capable adults who have to suddenly deal with the task of raising kids which is an alien chore for them. Apart from that the two share little else in common because Shyer’s version features a working woman who finds a baby suddenly dropped onto her lap while Stan Dragoti’s ‘Mr Mom’ is about a stay-at-home dad.

A different setting

One of the noteworthy errors that the film makes is in sending J C off to lead a simpler life in the country. Sure the pressure of the city gets to her but the gay manner in which she adjusts to the village environs seems artificial.

This element is enhanced when the ex New York businesswoman manages to develop a classy recipe for baby applesauce from the products from her own orchard which starts selling like hot cakes, firstly in the village, then across the country.

This is oversimplifying the situation. To add insult to injury J C also conveniently meets a lonely small town bachelor to complete her fairytale story. Screenplay writers Nancy Meyers and director Shyer should have given some though to the matter and penned it in a more realistic manner.

Diane Keaton dishes out a superb performance as J C Wiatt. She has a wonderfully maniacal gleam her eyes each time she succeeds in mastering a baby-related trick. She manages to transform her prim character of a success-crazed young professional to a likable one with amazing grace.

She fits into the role of the high-energy female executive as easily as she slips into the coming of age personality of J C who finds content in a different setting - one she might not have even dreamed about in her life. Yet Keaton manages to make all this believable through her self confident act. The episodes she bonds with baby Elizabeth are truly touching and would bring about nostalgic memories to all parents. ‘Baby Boom’ might not be more than a sitcom but it keeps you entertained and giggling in your seats. Heartwarming, sentimental and simplistic this movie is sure to become an all time favourite among your collection of movies. 

Ruwini Jayawardana - www.dailynews.lk

Saturday, November 09, 2013

පාප්තුමා ගිලානෝපානස්ථානයේ

රෝමයේ සෙන්ට් පීටර්ස් චතුරස්ර යේ දී බදාදා පැවැති දේව මෙහෙයේදී ෆ්රැන්සිස් පාප්තුමා ගඩු සහිත මිනිසකු කිසිම පිළිකුලක් නොමැතිව සිප වැළද තම යාඥාවට එකතු කරගත්තේය.

පාප්වහන්සේ දේවමෙහෙය අවසානයේ රෝගීන්ට ආශීර්වාද කරන අවස්ථාවේ මෙම රෝගියා සිය මුහුණ ආවරණය කරගෙන පාප්වහන්සේ අසළට පැමිණ ඇත.

රෝගියා කලාතුරකින් ඇතිවන රෝගයක් වන නියුරෝෆිබ්රෝමැටෝසිස් රෝගයෙන් පෙළෙන්නෙකි. එය දුර්ලභ රෝගයක් වන අතර එහිදි වායු ගෙඩි, අන්ධභාවය ඇතිවන අතර සමහර අවස්ථාවන් වල පිළිකාවන්ද ඇතිවිය හැක. මෙම රෝගයට ගොදුරු වන්නන් අලි මිනිසුන් යන නමින් හැඳින්වේ.

පාප්වහන්සේ මෙම පුද්ගලයා බදාගත් අතර පාප්වහන්සේගේ දයාව හා කරුණාව බොහෝදෙනෙකුගේ ඇගයීමට ලක්විය.

පාප්වහන්සේගේ මෙම ක්‍රියාව 13 වන සියවසේ විසූ අසීසියේ ශෘන්ත පාප්වහන්සේගේ ක්‍රියාවට සමානය.එහිදි පාප්වහන්සේ විසින් ලාදුරු රෝගියෙකු සිපගත් බව කියති. 

පළමු වැනි ෆ්‍රැන්සිස් පාප්තුමන් ලෙස තමා හඳුවන්නැයි එතුමන් තීරණය කළේ, 13 වැනි සියවසේ ඉතාලියේ ෆ්‍රැන්සිස්කන් නිකායේ පුරෝගාමී අසීසයේ ශාන්ත ෆ්‍රැන්සිස් පාප්තුමන්ට ගරු කරමිනි. අසීසයේ ශාන්ත ෆ්‍රැන්සිස් පාප් තුමන් ද දුප්පතුන් වෙනුවෙන් කැපැවී කටයුතු කළ අයෙකි.



Thursday, November 07, 2013

Kids bringing up kids - SECOND CHILDHOOD

All of us who have enjoyed the company of grandparents as we grew up, know how true Al Grant’s words are when he sings “Just don’t forget you’ll always be your grandpa’s little girl/(boy).” And all of us who have had our parents holding our new born babies in their arms know how beautiful this magic bond could be between a grandparent and a grandchild.

How could you ever forget that moment when your father and mother walk into the hospital room and lay their eyes on your baby - only a few hours old and crying her heart out. The grandma takes the baby into her arms and stares at the tiny face with a radiant smile on her lips. The funny thing is the baby stares back. Even though for most of their first week, all babies cry and cry, when grandma or grandpa hold the baby in their arms the new born is more peaceful than at any other time. This magic between a grandparent and a grandchild is a sight to behold and is living evidence of the truth in the saying “perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.”

For many people grandparenthood is a joyful one, opening up possibilities for the grandparents themselves, for the grandchildren and for the parents. “For many grandparents, the experience of caring for a grandchild is mostly positive,” observes Prof. Erantha De Mel, President, Institute of Professional Psychologists. He recalls while traveling down Duplication Road sometime back, how he had noticed an old lady in a brand-new car with a bumper sticker which read “I wish I had grandchildren first!” “That statement speaks volumes about how some grandparents love being with their grandchildren’ explains Prof. De Mel. “When they were young and their children were small, they were very busy with their lives and had no time to enjoy their children. But now when they are retired, they have all the time on earth to spend with their grandkids.”

For how long?

In other words, most grandparents adore babysitting. So much so, that it doesn’t matter when they are called upon to take care of a grandchild, for how long? A whole week, maybe two or three... or till the child is old enough for school. No problem. Right?

Not so fast. While most grandparents relish the extra playtime with the grand-babies and like pitching in, twenty-four hour nanny duty five days a week might, well, hinder their hitherto peaceful existence.

No doubt, as Grant sings, everything is magical so far as the relationship centers round fairy tales and magic things, angel faces and childhood dreams. But sad to say, in the modern world with financial challenges, this magic is fast disappearing, so much so that, there are couples who seem to believe if they wish to have children they should have them while their parents are still young enough to act as babysitters.

Even if they don’t have such ulterior motives in mind, with most mothers opting to stick to their careers after they have children, it is inevitable that grandparents find themselves acting as parents for the second time around, taking fuller responsibility, possibly with a heavy heart. “Some grandparents don’t want to be tied down looking after babies and toddlers any more. (As they still remember the hard work of parenting and its unrelenting nature) Because they have no other option, they comply,” points out Prof. De Mel.

He adds, “Sometimes the responsibility thrust on the aging parents is far too much. Some grandparents are exhausted by it and cannot find a way out of it. Some children are absolutely taking advantage of their aging parents. They engage in emotional blackmail and make their parents feel guilty for not babysitting their children!”

According to Prof. De Mel in our fast-paced society, due to various social and professional pressures, people “expect” their parents to engage in babysitting. However, he points out that it should not be ignored that the grand

parents had already had their turn bringing up children, and now it is their time to do what they like with their life. Why should they spend their twilight years raising grandkids? Isn’t it time that they enjoy themselves? “I’m all for grandparents helping out; but to expect them to sacrifice their freedom and toil extensively with their grandkids is quite selfish,” reiterates Prof. De Mel.

Too old

He gives logical reasons to drive his point home. “Sometimes, older people don’t have the patience and energy for babies, toddlers, and young ones. Unless they offer, one should not assume that their mother or mother-in-law would help out. Better to have your children in a stimulating daycare centre with other kids, than with a resentful older person, who may also have different child rearing practices.”

Prof. De Mel feels grandparents may not make the ideal parents, second time round. “Sometimes grandparents spoil their grandchildren extensively,” he explains. “They tend to buy things and shower them with gifts such as video games, movies, and various types of toys that parents would not generally buy them due to obvious reasons. Also, to show love and affection, they are in the habit of giving the grandchildren special food treats.”

He also feels that at times grandparents are too lenient with the third generation. Some grandparents don’t allow their grandkids to be corrected when they do something wrong or inappropriate. They step-in and defend them; and also comfort them when they are being corrected. “This is naturally a very conflicting situation when grandparents refuse to uphold the parents’ standards for behavior,” observes Prof. De Mel.

Conflicts apart, it is natural for grandparents to grieve over the losses that come with taking in their grandkids, including the loss of their independence and the easier role of “grandparent,” rather than the primary caregiver. Their children should realize having to hold the reins full time, once again is bound to make them worry about how they will handle the additional responsibilities. After all, they probably were not expecting to be raising kids again at this stage in their life, and so, at times, the physical, emotional, and financial demands may feel overwhelming. Moreover, couples who use grandparents as babysitters should keep in mind that when they are preoccupied with the daily demands of raising grandkids, grandparents are bound to let their own needs fall by the wayside. They would often sacrifice looking after their own mental and physical health to see to the needs of the grandchildren.

Being grateful

Experts say things would change for the better if parent-grandparent teams resolve control issues by negotiating territory, dividing up authority over sleeping, eating, homework, TV and computer use. For example, parents might have sole authority over diet and school issues, while grandparents get a say in recreational or artistic activities. Things would also change if parents express gratitude. At the least, say marriage and family therapists, parents should say, “I’m so grateful; how can I compensate you?”

Yet, no matter how difficult life might be for grandparents in their new role as primary caregivers, there is no evidence that today’s grandparents are backing away.

Thankfully so. For, children love being with their grandparents. They seem to instinctively know that while their grandparents may not have the energy they had when they were younger, they do have the wisdom that only comes with time. Unlike first-time parents, they have done this before and learned from their mistakes which are advantages that can make a huge difference in a grandchild’s life.

And the good news is, overall, every grandparent welcomes the arrival of a grandchild, regarding the experience as ‘‘a magical love’’ with positives far outweighing the negatives. Who would not consider grandparenthood as something wonderful when one moment you are just a father or a mother and the next, you are grand and all-wise and prehistoric?

As Prof. De Mel says “For grandparents, if they can enjoy their grandchildren through all ages and stages, without making things complicated, it’s a blessing!” For everybody.

Aditha Dissanayake-www.dailynews.lk

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

හඳෙන් ආ විදේශිකයාට ස්වදේශිකයාගෙන් අපූරු පාඩමක්

හලාවත බලා යන දුම්රියට මරදානෙන් ගොඩ වූ විදේශීය සංචාරකයෙකි. ඔහු දුටු මගියෙක් තම අසුන ලබා දීමට තරම් කාරුණික විය. දුම්රිය ධාවනය වන අතර තරුණ සංචාරකයා දෙස බැලූ යාබද අසුණේ මගියා, ‘‘වෙයාර් ආර් යූ ෆ්‍රොම්’’ (ඔබ කොහේ ඉඳන්ද?) යැයි විමසීය. ‘‘ෆ්‍රොම් මූන් (හඳේ ඉඳන්) සංචාරකයා සමච්චලයෙන් පවසා අනෙක් මගීන් දෙස ද බැලීය. ඉංග‍්‍රීසි බස තේරුණු මගීහු ඉවත බලා ගත්හ. සුළු වේලාවකින් විදේශිකයා නිදි කිරන්නට විය. ඔහුගේ හිස ප‍්‍රශ්නය ඇසූ මගියාගේ උරහිසේ තදින් වැදුනි. ‘‘වෙරි සොරි සර්’’ විදේශිකයා සමාව අයැදීය. පසුව ඇති වූ දෙබස මෙසේය.

මගියා:x ඔයාට සමාව එකට සිය පාරක් දෙන්න පුළුවන්. හැබැයි මම ඔයාගේ රට ගැන අහද්දී ඔයා දුන්න පිළිතුර නම් අවිනීතයි.

විදේශිකයා:- මම විහිළුවක්නේ කළේ.

මගියා:- ඒ වුණාට මගේ හිත හොඳටම රිදුනනේ. අපි ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයෝ ආගන්තුක සත්කාරයට කැමතියි. ඔයාට කරදරයක් වුණානම් මේ අය ඔක්කොම ඔයාට උදව් කරාවි. ඔයා මේ කෝච්චියෙන් බැහැලා ඕනෑම දුප්පත් ගෙදරකට ගිහින් කෑමට මොනාහරි ඉල්ලන්න. තමන් කන කෑම එක හරි එයාලා දේවි.

විදේශිකයා:- මම එච්චර දුරට හිතුවේ නැහැ

මගියා:- දැන් බලන්න. ඔයාගේ රටේදී ඔයා විදේශිකයෙකුගෙන් ඇහුවොත් කොහේ ඉඳන් ද ආවේ කියලා. එයා කීවොත් හඳේ ඉඳන් කියලා ඔයාගේ හිත රිදෙන්නේ නැද්ද?

විදේශිකයා:- (කඳුළු පිරි දෙනෙතින්) දැන් මට තේරුණා. මගේ තමයි වැරැුද්ද. මම නැවත වාරයක් සමාව ඉල්ලනවා කියලා

මගියා:- හොඳයි. මම ඔයාට සමාව දෙනවා. දැන් මට හේත්තු වෙලා නිදා ගන්න. ඊට ඉස්සරවෙලා කියන්න කොහෙන්ද බහින්නේ කියලා.

http://www.lankadeepa.lk

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hackophobia?

The Internet is a reality created by the Human Mind. Today everything ranging from jobs to shopping can be done in front of a computer screen on the Internet. It is coming to the point where we will hardly need to leave our homes to attend to our day- to- day activities. If you can stretch your imagination a bit, we may live in a world where you can place an order on the internet and the lunch packet or medicine may be delivered to your house by a robot.

If you want entertainment just place an order on the internet and the DVD will be delivered to your house by a robot. The internet is the link between human needs and machines.

Human labour may be replaced to a greater degree by machines. And the internet can help facilitate this.The internet is a world which is being built on top of the world that we know.

However this perfect world can be disrupted by the ever present threat of crime. Crime will completely take on Digital and Binary form. Crime has now become bloodless and more dangerous than ever before. We may soon live in an age where crime will be committed wholly by weapons taking the form of the Personal Computer and Viruses. And the defense against this Cyber Crime is what is known as Internet Security.

This Daily News journalist took the cyber route when doing this article proving how effective the internet really is!

Daily News spoke to Principal Consultant - Project Manager John Keells Holdings Strategic Group Information Technology Buddhike Perera to gain some insights into Internet Security.

A commercial value

“Hacking is the practice of modifying the features of a system, in order to accomplish a goal outside of the creator’s original purpose. The person, who is consistently engaging in hacking activities, has accepted hacking as a lifestyle and philosophy of their choice.

Hackers have different flavours of interest areas based on the end objectives, some go after intelligence information, hacking into military sites. Some are interested in stealing financial information by hacking into corporate and state banks, even stock markets. But some are even interested in hacking into travel sites, air line sites, to gain miles, reward points, and elite status. They are looking for every possible way to game the system for as much free travel as they can.

Hacking depends on the complexity and the importance of the target or the victims. And the worst part is Cyber Hacking has become the new cold war between the elite nations across this planet,” said Perera.

The big question is how do these tricksters hack without knowing passwords?

“These can range from poor password protection to leaving a computer turned on which is physically accessible to visitors to the office. But if you look at this from a different angle they have to inject some code or a programme in to the target computer to gain digital access. If I explain this another way, injecting a programme into a computer cracks the internal passwords and will gain access to the computer. Most hackers use programmes, tools available in internet to crack into computer systems, but these tools are complex in nature.

While no computer networks are impenetrable and devote significant resources to guard their computer networks, they also have in place rules to protect sensitive data.

No matter how strong your perimeter is, still you are vulnerable for such mass scale attacks on sophisticated networks. One recent incident reported in the U.S. that Chinese hackers are believed to have stolen the designs for more than two dozen major weapons systems, potentially weakening the U.S. military advantage over China,” he further added.

Whistle blower Edward Snowden’s recent revelations of the federal government’s massive and intrusive surveillance of Americans have shown that major Internet giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google have not only been compliant with the surveillance programmes, but have themselves violated the privacy of their users. All the social network sites would like to know as much as possible about our hobbies and shopping habits because the information has a commercial value and they will sell these information to others.

A contract killer

Computer viruses are growing so rapidly with the phase of technology reshaping over day by day. Viruses which were deadly last year are no longer a threat but there are new sets of viruses taking the lead in damaging digital information.

“A computer virus is just like any other piece of software; written by programmers. It is what they are programmed to do that makes them harmful (falling under the banner of malicious software, or malware for short; a ‘virus’ specifically is a piece of malware that ‘self-replicates’ (and may even ‘mutate’; change the way it works in order to fool anti-virus software), or in other words, copies itself to as many other PCs as it can via USB drives, networks and the internet.

If a target system is very strongly protected and difficult to access remotely, a Hacker might employ low-technology attacks. These tactics may include bribing an authorized user, taking a temporary job with a janitorial services firm, or dumpster diving (rifling through trash in search of information). If the target system is not so strongly protected, then a hacker can use technical exploits to gain access.”

“Being a hacker is like a contract killer to me. For monitory or any other means they steal and disrupt civil society. They are risk takers in life and they are always keeping their neck in the firing line if they get caught by the law. Someone who hacks into another person’s computer could be punished by a number of different laws, depending on the circumstances. The law punishes hacking under the computer crime statutes. These crimes carry penalties ranging from a prison sentence, or larger sum of monitory fines are the common types,” said Perera.

Two - way security

Hacking tools are developed by some really good coders out there to ease out many complex tasks which have to be done manually and take painstakingly great deal of time and effort. Loads of free hacking tools are available on internet. Some of these tools are Nessus Remote Security Scanne , Wireshark, Nmap, NetStumbler. But there are thousands of tools available in internet for hackers.