සැඳෑ අඳුර පියමං කර කවුරුද එන්නේ

හැත්තෑව දශකය වූ කලී සිංහල ගීත සාහිත්‍යයට රමණීය නිර්මාණ ගණනාවක් දායාද වූ දශකයකි. මේ සඳහා කරුණු කීපයක් බලපෑ බව මගේ පෞද්ගලික හැඟීමයි. නිර්මාණශීලී පද රචකයන් හා සංගීතඥයන් සිටීම, ශ්‍රේණිගත වූ ගායක ගායිකාවන්ට සරල ගී වැඩසටහන් හිමි වීම, රූපවාහිනිය නොතිබීම, ගුවන්විදුලි සිංහල නාලිකා දෙකක් පමණක් පැවතීම, සාහිත්‍යකාමී රසික පිරිසක් සිටීම, ඒ කරුණු අතරින් කීපයකි.

ජනමාධ්‍ය හා රසිකත්වය පමණට වඩා ලිබරල්වාදී වීම හේතුවෙන් ඒ ස්වර්ණමය යුගය බිඳ වැටිණි. එහි විපාක ලාංකික සමාජයට ළඟදීම අත්විඳින්නට සිදුවනු වැළකිය නොහැකිය. හැත්තෑව දශකයේ ගීතය නිහඬව බබළවන්නට දායක වූ මහින්ද අල්ගමයන් ගේ පද මාලාවක් පිළිබඳ ව මා සටහන් තබන්නේ කෘතගුණ සැලකීමක් ලෙසිනි.

“රුක් අත්තන මල මුදුනේ

බඹරු නටන සැන්දෑවේ

සැඳෑ අඳුර පියමං කර

කවුරුද එන්නේ

පුතුනි බලන් යොමා නුවන්

කවුරුද එන්නේ...

කවිතා ගුණයෙන් යුතු මේ පද මාලාවේ ආරම්භයේම මැවෙන්නේ චිත්ත රූපයකි. ග්‍රාමීය වැඩවසම් පරිසරයක තම කුඩා දරුවා සමඟ බිරියක මග බලා සිටින්නේ මෙහෙවරට ගිය සිය සැමියා එනතුරුය. ඇයට ඈතින් එන සැමියාගේ රුව පෙනෙයි.

රුක් අත්තන මලක මුදුනක බඹරු නැටීමෙන් ඇගේ පී‍්‍රති ප්‍රමෝදය සංකේතවත් වෙයි. තමන් ජීවත් කරවන්නට වෙර දරන සැමියා පිළිබඳව ඈ තුළ හටගන්නේ අපරිමිත ගෞරවයකි. එසේම අභිමානයකි. ඇය ඇඟිල්ල දිගුකොට තම පුතුට දුර එන පියාගේ රුව පෙන්වන්නේ එම අභිමානය සඟවා ගෙනයි. අතිශයින් සියුම් වූ මානව හැඟීම් ස්පර්ශ කිරීමට කවියා සමත් වන්නේ ඔහු තුළ ඇති බහුශ්‍රැත භාවය නිසාය.

“මුතු පිණි ලැල් සැලෙන උදේ

උදා දිමුතු හිරු එළියේ

පුතු සවනට රහස් කියා

පියමං කරලා

අප වෙනුවෙන් දවස ගෙවා

වෙහෙසී එන්නේ...

සුභාවිත භාෂාව මේ නිර්මාණයේ රසය උද්දීපනය කරවයි. “පිණි මුතුලැල් සැලෙන උදය” “උදා දිමුතු හිරු එළිය” වැනි යෙදුම් සුඛෝච්චාරණයෙන් යුතු යෙදුම් ලෙස හඳුන්වා දිය හැකිය. සුගායනය සඳහා මෙබඳු යෙදුම්වලින් ලැබෙන්නේ මනා පිටිවහලකි.

රචකයා පසුබිම් කරගන්නේ පීතෘ මූලික ග්‍රාමීය සමාජයක් වුවද අද වැනි නාගරීකරණය වූ සමාජයක් තුළ ද මෙය වින්දනය කළ හැකිය. අද සමාජයේ ඇති වෙනස වන්නේ ගැහැනිය ද රැකියාවක් කරන බැවින්, මෙබඳු අනුභූතියකට උරුමකම් කියන්නට නොහැකි වීම පමණකි.

කාමර ඇත (Rooms available) (තානායම්, ලැගුම්හල්, රෙස්‌ට්‌, ගෙස්‌ට්‌, ඉන් සහ ලොජ්)

අප බොහෝ දෙනකු කැමැති වැඩි වෙලාවත් තම නිවසේ කාලය ගත කිරීමටයි. විශේෂයෙන්ම රාත්‍රී කාලයේ තමාගේ නිවසේ රැඳී සිටීම හැම පැත්තෙන්ම වාසිදායක තත්වයක්‌ උදාකරයි. තම නිවසට හෝ සමීප ඥාතියකුගේ ගෙයකට අමතරව අපට රැඳී සිටිය හැකි තැන් අතර ප්‍රධාන තැනක්‌ ගන්නේ හෝටල්, තානායම් හෝ ලැගුම්හල්ය.

පෙර කාලයේ නම් රෑ බෝ වී හෝ ගමන් මහන්සිය නිසා නිවසට යන්නට බැරි වූ කල්හි අපේ අයට පිහිට ආවේ අම්බලමයි. අවම පහසුකම් ඇති මෙම අම්බලම්වල නෂ්ටාවශේෂ තවමත් සමහර නගරවල දකින්නට තිබේ. පිටකෝට්‌ටේ හන්දියේ ඇති ගල් අම්බලම ඊට නිදසුනකි. සමහරු අම්බලම යන නම යොදා හෝටල්, ආපන ශාලා ආදියද පවත්වාගෙන යති. එහි වරදක්‌ නැත. මහදැනමුත්තලා, අන්දරේලා, දසමහ යෝධයෝ, ආඬි හත්දෙනා වැනි අය අම්බලම්වල රාත්‍රිය ගත කළ අයුරු අප ජනශ්‍රැතියේ සඳහන් වෙද්දී නස්‌රුදීන්ලා, විරුඩන්ලා ලැගුම්හල්වල සිටි බවට ජාත්‍යන්තර කතා අප අසා ඇත. ගැබ්බර මරියා සහ ජෝසප් ජන සංගණනයකට පෙනී සිටිනු පිණිස ගලීලයේ නාසරෙත් සිට යුදයේ බෙත්ලෙහෙමට එන අතර එහි තිබූ සියලුම ලැගුම්හල් පිරී ඉතිරී තිබුණු නිසා තානායමක පිළකන්නේ තිබූ ගව මඩුවක තම බිළිඳා බිහි කර ගව ඔරුවක බහා යේසුස්‌ යන නම තැබූ බව ඉතිහාසය පවසයි.

ගවලෙන් සහ අම්බලම් වලින් එහාට ගොස්‌ ඇති වර්තමාන සමාජයේ අද නවාතැන් පළවල් වී ඇත්තේ හෝටල් කාමර හෙවත් ලැගුම්හල් යෑයි මා කීවොත් බොහෝ දෙනකු මා සමග එකඟ වනු ඇත. රෙස්‌ට්‌ හවුස්‌, ඉන්, රෙස්‌ට්‌, ලො-, ගෙස්‌ට්‌ හවුස්‌, මොටෙල්, හොටෙල්, රූම්ස්‌, විලා, තානායම් ආදී විවිධ නම් වලින් හැඳින්වෙන මේ තාවකාලික ලැගුම්හල් නම් කතා කළ යුතුම මාතෘකාවකි.

ලංකාවේ ඇති ලැගුම්හල් සංස්‌කෘතිය ගැන හදාරා ඒ ගැන ලිපියක්‌ ලියන ලෙස මෙයට වසර දෙකකට පමණ පෙර මාව දිරිමත් කළේ අපේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්ය සුනන්ද මහේන්ද්‍ර ගුරුතුමායි. ඒවා පිළිබඳව ඔහු අසා දැක ඇති කරුණු මෙන්ම සෘජුව ලැබූ අත්දැකීම්ද මා සමග බෙදා ගත්තා මට මතකය. කෙසේ වෙතත් පසුගිය වසර විස්‌සක පමණ කාලයක්‌ තිස්‌සේ හෝටල් කාමර, ලැගුම්හල්, ගෙස්‌ට්‌ හවුස්‌ ආදී ස්‌ථාන පන් සියයකට වඩා ප්‍රමාණයක්‌ ඇසුරු කොට රිංගා, කා රස (තිත්ත) බලා සොයා දැක දැන ගත් කරුණු සමග අද සමාජ විමර්ශන ලිපිය තුළින් කලකට පසු මම ඔබ වෙත එන්නෙමි.

තාවකාලික නවාතැන් ගැනීම සඳහා ලැගුම්හල් වෙත යන පුද්ගලයන් මෙසේ අපට වර්ග කළ හැක.

* විනෝද චාරිකා හෝ වන්දනා නඩ ලෙස යන පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන් හෝ මිතුරු කණ්‌ඩායම්.

* නගරයෙන් බැහැරව ගොස්‌ වෙළ¹මේ යෙදෙන සේල්ස්‌මන් ලා හෝ සේල්ස්‌ රෙප්ලා.

* දෙස්‌ විදෙස්‌ සංචාරකයන්, ගවේෂකයන්, විමර්ශකයන් සහ දේශාටකයන්.

* රාජකාරී කටයුතු සඳහා නගරයෙන් බැහැරව යන නිලධාරීන් සහ සේවකයන්.

* මධු සමය ගත කිරීමට යන නව මංගල ජෝඩු.

* ගණිකාවන්, සහකාරියන් සොර අඹුවන් වැනි අය සමග කම් සැප වීඳීමට රිසි සල්ලාලයන්.

* අනියම් සබඳතා ඇති හෝර ජෝඩු සහ සමලිංගික සේවනයේ යෙදෙන පිරිමි හෝ ගැහැනු.

* සමාජයෙන් වෙන්ව සමීපව කාලය ගත කිරීමට කැමැති පෙම්වතුන්.

“One Day”… When friends fall in love…

Courtesy - The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe

Emma and Dex graduate from the University of Edinburgh in 1988.The bespectacled Emma is the serious one with a double degree and great dreams of becoming a writer.

Dex on the other hand who comes from a rich and united home is a handsome happy go lucky young man completely directionless and hoping for a one night stand with Emma after some wild graduation parties. While both head to her place with the same idea in mind, something happens and they end up falling asleep together.

And then begins One Day the most long drawn twenty year love story/ friendship between two very unlikely beings.They promise to meet every year or at least to talk to each other on the anniversary date of their first meeting. Their way of sustaining their friendship and love is by keeping it platonic (for as long as possible) and both seem content with that solution.

Emma attempts to become a successful playwright but ends up being a waitress at a Tex Mex restaurant until she finally finds a way out of a life she hates and Dex begins to abuse drinks and drugs while becoming a very successful television presenter of terribly shallow programmes. Of course it is quite obvious that the two protagonists are made to be together and who wouldn’t want to see Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess hook up in a movie?

One day’s plot is very much of a dark love story and the film poster is completely misleading.

Emma and Dex, go their separate ways and deal with death, divorce, wrong partners, job loss and the many other tragedies that one has to face in life. But when they are together, Dex especially seems overcome by a sense of peace which they do not want to break by bringing in personal issues into their lives.

President opens ‘Gateway to Wonder’

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is issued a toll ticket after opening the country’s first Expressway, ‘The Gateway to Wonder’ yesterday. President Rajapaksa opened the access road to the Expressway from Galle by unveiling a plaque. Daily News - Pictures by Sudath Silva

E01 a monument to Lanka’s post war recovery - MR Southern expressway opened Work on Jaffna-Colombo highway shortly

Courtesy - The Island By Shamindra Ferdinando

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday declared that the rapid development of the road network in the post-war era was part of his government’s strategy to counter those still pursuing a separatist agenda.

President Rajapaksa assured that the existing A9 road to Jaffna would be transformed into a highway to facilitate overland movement to and from the Jaffna peninsula. The government was in the process of finalizing the Colombo-Jaffna highway project, the President said.

Addressing a gathering at Karandeniya, after commissioning the newly-built southern expresswa (E01) which connects Kottawa with Galle, President recalled how a section of the international community and their local agents had categorized Sri Lanka as a failed State.

The government had proved them wrong, President Rajapaksa said. The rapid post-war recovery and development progress had demonstrated Sri Lanka’s capabilities and exposed its detractors.

Commenting on the challenges faced by the country, the President said that the government was striving to overcome threats posed by racism, provincial level conflicts and separatism.

The President said that the southern highway was an important milestone in Sri Lanka’s history.

අහස සේ ඔබ අනන්තයි - සයුර සේ ඔබ අනන්තයි

අහස සේ ඔබ අනන්තයි

සයුර සේ ඔබ අනන්තයි

මේ විශ්වයේ මා දකින්නේ ඔබ මැ පමණයි

ඔබ අනන්තයි

වෙණ තතක් හැඬවෙන තැනත් ඔබ

මධු විතක් උතුරන තැනත් ඔබ

තෙලි තුඩක් දැවටෙන තැනත් ඔබ

පන්හිඳක් ගැවසෙන තැනත් ඔබ

අඩ සඳක් සැඟවෙන තැනත් ඔබ

රළ පෙළක් පෙරළෙන තැනත් ඔබ

සිසිලසක් දනවන තැනත් ඔබ

උණුසුමක් ගෙන දෙන තැනත් ඔබ

[සුනිල් ආරියරත්න, නන්දා මාලනී, රෝහණ වීරසිංහ]

මානව සෞන්දර්යයේ උල්පත නම් ප්‍රේමය යි. ඉ'නුදු පුරුෂයෙකු හා ස්ත්‍රියක අතර ඇතිවන කායික මෙන් ම ආධ්‍යාත්මික බැඳීම, අතිශය සුපසන් මෙන් ම උත්කෘෂ්ට ද වේ. සැබෑ ප්‍රේමයේ පවත්නා සුන්දරත්වය පිළිබඳ මේ මනරම් හැඟීම, අපූර්ව සංකල්ප රූප පද්ධතියක් ඔස්සේ ශ්‍රාවක සිත්හි රංජනය කිරීමෙහි ලා පද රචක සුනිල් ආරියරත්න මැනවින් සමත්වෙයි;

Aliyata Lipiyak..........

 

Of that seat belt law

The state of Wisconsin, in the US, passed legislation compelling automobile front seat occupants to wear seatbelts in 1961 – 50 years before we introduced the law in Sri Lanka. The Australian state of Victoria made it mandatory to wear front and rear belts in 1970. Ontario in Canada passed the seatbelt law in 1976. The first seat belt for motor vehicles was introduced in New York – USA, on February 10, 1885. It is reported that each year, more than 40,000 Americans are killed in road accidents. More Americans have died in vehicle crashes than in all wars taken together!

According to American public health department half the lives could be saved if everyone wore seatbelts. Experts say the seatbelt is a device that also minimizes head contacts and excessive neck motions, preventing head and neck injuries. In an accident, the unrestrained driver is thrown against their steering wheel or even out of the vehicle. The passenger in the front seat without the seat belt on usually has his or her head hit on the windscreen. People thrown out from crashes are 25 times more likely to be killed than those who remain in the vehicles in mishaps.

There are some Sri Lankans who argue that given the traffic congestion which does not permit speeding, the seat belt law does not make sense at all. But, the seat belt comes in handy in case of collision and jerks.

Why Sanga is the best Test batsman in the world today

Courtesy - The Island by Ravi Ladduwahetty

All Sri Lankans will be proud that the International Cricket Council has yet again declared Kumar Sangakkara as the best Test batsman in the world today!

To add another feather to Sangakkara’s cap, South African-born and England captain turned television commentator, Tony Grieg said that if he were to pick a World Cricket XI, his number one batsman would be Kumar Sangakkara!

International cricket icons – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Jaques Kallis may feel hurt over this, but Tony has made this point abundantly clear.

Global cricketing benchmarks

What is well known is that Kumar Sangakkara (287) holds the joint record for the highest partnership for any wicket of 624 runs in the history of Test cricket with Mahela Jayawardene (374), against South Africa at the SSC on July 27, 2006, in the overall 1810th Test.

But what most cricket lovers would not know is that Sangakkara was also associated with the seventh highest ever partnership in Tests with the 438 runs he put on with then skipper Marvan Atapattu (now his batting coach) against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on May 14, 2004 which was the 1699th Test.

The other records between Kumar’s highest ever with Mahela of 624 runs which eclipsed the then highest of 576 runs between two fellow Sri Lankans Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama in the second Test against India at the Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium on Aug 2, 1997 which was the 1374th Test, were: the 467 runs put on by Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe in the third Test for New Zealand against Sri Lanka at Wellington on January 31, 1991, which was the 1162nd Test, the 451 put on by Sir Donald George Bradman and Bill Ponsford, in the second Test for Australia versus England at the Oval on August 18, 1934, which was the 137th Test, the 451 put on by Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad in the third Test for Pakistan against India at Hyderabad on January 14, 1983, which was the 946th Test and the 446 runs put on by Sir Garfield (Gary) St. Auburn Sobers and Conrad Gregory Hunte in the second Test for the West Indies versus Pakistan at Kingston on February 26, 1958, which was the 1699th Test match.

Kumar is also placed 45th along with Mahela in the all time highest partnerships list when they put on 311 versus Bangladesh at Asgiriya on July 11th 2007, which was the 1839th Test.

Other Sri Lankans in over 300 run Test

Check out Southern Expressway- Fast track to Galle from Sunday

Check out Southern Expressway- Fast track to Galle from Sunday

“Trespass” Another One Bites The Dust

Courtesy - The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe

Home invasion movies will never get an Oscar nomination for their scripting, simply because some person seems to have stood in front of a Xerox machine, copied it a million times and sent it to every uninspired script writer in Hollywood!

The family in peril, the invaders who all have issues and end up beating each other up, one family member (usually the father) goes from being a cold incompetent yuppie to practically a superman who will save his brood… One can guess the story’s ending five minutes after its beginning and there is nothing more frustrating when a supposedly suspense thriller becomes a predictable bore.

Abiding to this rule without fail is “Trespass” directed by Joel Schumacher. One may have naively thought that things would be somewhat different with this latest version of a home invasion which after all stars Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman! Plus Schumacher himself has directed some really good and entertaining movies like A Time to Kill (1996), 8mm (1999) Phone Booth (2003) and Veronica Guerin (2003) only to name a few.

But sadly nothing has changed and Trespass’s story is exactly the same as hundreds of others badly written home invasion scenarios, and, a Xerox copy must have definitely flown over the table of Karl Gajdusek to whom we owe this pitiful screenplay.

Nicole Kidman spends most of her time teary eyed and slapped around before her last minute energetic awakening when this fragile looking woman nearly manages to take on a hardened criminal. The only remotely exciting fact in the story is that she may or may have not had a fling with one of the men who is now holding a gun at her head.

Media should play bigger role to promote tourism

Courtesy - Sunday Observer - By Pramod DE SILVA

Tourism is about people. So is news. People travel. People make news. The first thing I learned in the newsroom, 20 years ago, is that news is all about people. Tourism too is all about people.

Thus, the topic ‘The media’s role in promoting tourism to enhance people-to-people contact in the SAARC region’ is a very appropriate one.

The fact is we are all travellers. Everyone loves to travel, journalists especially so. After all, they are very curious about their world.

Although an old airline advert said ‘getting there is half the fun’, the better part of the fun is in the destination itself. And South Asia is a glorious destination.

At the recently concluded SAARC Summit in Addu, Maldives, it was agreed to promote our region collectively as Destination South Asia. This is a very positive development. But still, SAARC is collectively getting only seven to eight million tourists a year. There is potential to attract a lot more as a region, since much smaller countries in Asia attract more tourists individually as well as collectively.

Bad health linked to low life expectancy in men

Courtesy - Sunday Observer By Nilma DOLE

The Sri Lankan male mentality is such that they think they’re invincible to disease and the culture of patriarchy has given rise to the male perception of being ‘strong’. The problem is by having this kind of mentality, it means that they hardly go to the doctor and only seek medical attention once it’s too late. Regular checkups are not part of the routine with Sri Lankan men as they hardly have any relationship with their doctor and more often than not, some don’t even go to a doctor.

As a result, men have become more prone to conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart ailments and cancer which affects them badly in the late stages.

Prof. Lakshman Dissanayake of the Department of Demography at the Colombo University told the Sunday Observer that addictions such as smoking, alcohol consumption in addition to unhealthy eating habits have contributed to Sri Lankan men living much less than women. “The sad plight is the loss of husbands contributing to a long widowhood in women and children losing their fathers at an early age. So we should aim to increase the longevity of men so that elderly couples can age gracefully together,” said the professor.

Life expectancy at birth for men was 32.7 and women was 30.7 in the 1920s but in 2002, female life expectancy at 77.2 years surpassed the male life expectancy which was 68.8 years.

The projected figures show that male life expectancy is expected to reach 72.3 years while female life expectancy will be 82.5 years by 2026 (Gunasekera, 2008).

India now boasts of more than 100 million Internet users

Courtesy - The Island

by S Venkat Narayan

by Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, November 19: The number of Internet users in India crossed the 100-million mark in September this year, according to the latest report of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Internet use in the country incrased by 13 per cent over last year.

This makes India the country with the third largest internet usage in the world after China (485 million) and the United States (245 million). Japan holds the fourth spot with 99.2 million internet users, and Brazil the fifth with 75.9 million.

The total number of "claimed" internet users in this country of 1,234 million people now stands at 112 million. The number of mobile phones in India has already crossed the 900-million mark and is fast racing to hit the one-billion or 1,000-million mark.

Song Review......................

Courtesy - Divaina

Sinhabahu : Fifty Years’ Memories

Courtesy - The Island by Prof. K. N. O. Dharmadasa

(The year 2011 marks fifty years after the first staging of Professor Sarachchandra’s play Sinhabahu which shares with his own Maname (1956) the record of enduring presence among theatre goers in Sri Lanka since the day they were first staged. The University of Peradeniya, the birth-place of the play, will ceremonially celebrate this golden jubilee on the 22 nd and 23rd of this month. The first item of this celebration will be the staging of the play in its original venue the Sarachchandra Open Air Theatre on the 22nd. The Rasikas will enjoy this performance free of charge, the University bearing the expenses. It will be followed on the 23rd with a seminar-discussion in which the original and later generations of actors and Rasikas will share their views and reminiscences.)

The day was the 31st of August, 1961. The venue was The Open Air Theatre in the University of Peradeniya, the first and the most celebrated of such theatres in the island. There would have been an audience of about three to four thousand undergraduates, teachers and other employees of the university and people from Uda Peradeniya, Hindagala and other adjoining villages waiting eagerly to see Sarachchandra’s latest production which was called Sinhabahu. I who was there on that day as an undergraduate have since been living with this play as a rasika and would like to pen my memories and views on this most remarkable of artistic creations in the annals of the history of arts Sri Lanka.

The Genesis of Sinhabahu

What prompted Sarachchandra to write this play? When we look at the plot we find several aspects of the story but above all, what strikes us most is the battle of the father and the son, something out of the ordinary, but as Sarachchandra has often told us in his lectures, literature is not about the ordinary but of the extraordinary. As for the genesis of Sinhabahu, this is what Sarachchandra has to say in his autobiographical Pin Eti Sarasavi Waramak Denne (1985):

The plot of Sinhabahu was conceived in my mind about ten years before writing it…The seed of the plot is related to an incident mentioned in the Mahavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka. The Buddha

when he re-visited [his birth-place] Kapilavastu [several years after Enlightenment] he ordained his step-brother Price Nanada. Sometime later [when he was walking down the streets of the city] Princess Yasodhara [his wife in his lay life] sent to him his son Prince Rahula telling him ‘ you go and ask for your inheritance from your father’ The Buddha then ordained Prince Rahula as well.

Thereafter, [ his own father] king Suddhodana went to the Buddha and said:‘Sire, when you discarded lay lie and left me I was profoundly grieved, I was similarly sorrowed on the day when Prince Nanada became a monk. I was much more grieved on the day prince Rahula was ordained. Love for a child penetrates the skin, having penetrated the skin it penetrates the muscles, having penetrated the muscles it penetrates the veins, penetrating the veins it penetrates the bones, penetrating the bones it sinks down to the bone-marrow and rests there [bringing unendurable pain] . I wish that the pain of filial loss with which I am afflicted today should not occur to all parents who have borne children. [Therefore] as a favour to me alone please give me the assurance that in your Order of Monks there can be no ordaining without parental consent’ These words [ of King Suddhodana] describing filial love continued to echo in my mind. I realized that this could be portrayed through the Sinhabahu story. The following lines in the play Sinhabahu

Chirang Jayathu for Mahinda Mahattaya.....

Courtesy - Daily News

carried out are not things that were received from the leaders of some other countries. During the years of war he implemented many huge development projects. In order to relieve the nation he implemented power projects, such as, Kerawalapitiya, Norochchalai and Kotmale,

Ariya RUBASINGHE 

The people of Giruwapattuwa, call President Mahinda Rajapaksa ‘Mahinda Mahattaya’. People of the South, including those in the Magampattuwa, associated with the Rajapaksas since 1930s. Mahinda Mahattaya’s grand uncle D. M. Rajapaksa, well known as the ‘Lion of the Ruhuna’ and his brother D. A. Rajapaksa (Mahinda Mahattaya’s father) are not strangers to the people of Ruhuna, since the State Council era.

The elders of Ruhuna are well aware that it was the Rajapaksas who liberated them from the oppression of Mudali Muhandirams who did not permit them even to wear a dress covering the upper portion of their bodies and to travel on the pole of a cart. Therefore, Rajapaksas won their elections sometimes uncontested and sometimes while serving jail terms.

After D. M. and D. A., George and Lakshman and after them Mahinda, Chamal, Basil and Nirupama dedicated themselves to serve the people. When D.M. passed away suddenly, several hundred acres of coconut land and his residence Kondagala Bangalow had been mortgaged to the Kulatilleke Mudalali of Matara. Until the time they passed away there were no corruption charges against D.M. or D.A.

Talented lawyer

Presently it is the era of Mahinda Mahattaya. Those who are well aware about Mahinda Rajapaksa know that he is a person who is not greedy for wealth, property and other luxuries. He never uses a purse and if he wanted wealth he could have easily earned it as a lawyer since he was a very popular and talented lawyer. I have seen him returning the fees given by clients and have heard him telling the clients to give him only Rs. 100 for refueling his vehicle.

It is a truth that there were no corruption charges against him during the period he functioned as the Fisheries Minister, Labour Minister, Leader of Opposition and as Prime Minister of this country.

Are You Happily Married?

All of us have heard fairy tales ending up with the saying ‘They lived happily ever after’. Can that be a realistic possibility in our lives? Is it a myth? Have you tried your best to be in a marriage where you lived a happy life with your husband and children?

Strong and happy marriages lead to secure, well-balanced children. This does not necessarily imply that children living with single parents grow up to be maladjusted individuals as such children can be equally focused and happy as children, and as adults. However, it is needless to say that children do benefit when their parents are happily married.

A happy marriage is one in which both parents deeply love and care for each other. It is not a marriage where parents stay together just for the sake of the children. If there is constant fighting between the parents, a child’s insecurity will deepen further, and it is far better to separate than to subject the child to a constant battle at home.

Similarly, a happy marriage is not one in which the wife is a doormat to the husband and continues in marriage despite abuses being hurled at her all day from her husband or in-laws. 

If you are to get others including your children to respect you, you need to first respect yourself. Allowing yourself to be treated badly is the biggest disservice you can do to yourself, and to your family.

On fire

Courtesy - Daily News by Ruwini Jayawardana

The first part of Deepa Mehta’s renowned Elements Trilogy, ‘Fire’ is a gently pacing yet powerful story which goes along the themes of duty, desires and choices. It explores the suppressed aspirations of Indian housewives and the roles which their traditional society wishes them to play.

The story begins with the arrival of the newly wed Sita to her husband, Jatin’s house. A town bred lass, Sita, is much more open to issues like genre equality. She becomes increasingly affectionate towards her sister-in-law, the oppressed Radha, whose husband had retired into a life of celibacy because they cannot beget a child. Sita too discovers that Jatin is in love with Julie, a freedom-loving Asian Indian. This is reflected by his preference to Kung Fu films at the beginning while Sita claims to be a romantic at heart because she is enthralled by the Taj Mahal.

Since both women are badly hurt by their husbands’ negligence, they become fast friends. They try to keep their intimacy shielded from the watchful eye of their bed-ridden grandmother, Biji and their sly servant, Mundu. As their intimacy grows Radha and Sita learn to question their fate, acknowledge their needs and right to sexuality.

Effective teachers

How important really is the teacher in the education sector? Many people rely heavily on the teacher at schools for the education of their children. At the same time, educational institutions also take pride of their teachers’ capabilities to impart knowledge on the youth. In International Schools, authorities do invest heavily on recruiting the best teachers to be part of their staff. It seems, therefore, that these educators play a central role at schools and in the education sector, in general. In this column, we will try to understand the characteristics of a good teacher and his or her responsibilities to a great extent.

As I conducted nearly about thousand professional development sessions to the teachers in schools, I do always treat them before starting the session as the living gods. Really speaking, they are the gods who enlighten the future development of the students.

In addition, I counseled teachers in coaching sessions, it became apparent that the heart of a teacher is what matters-everything else can be taught. What is heart? Passion, desire and drive combined to form an intense intrinsic motivation to act. This is the foremost quality of a good teacher and the first thing I look for in a teacher in a school.

How can you call a person as a leader if he does not have subordinates to follow him? Similarly, you cannot find any school that has no teacher in its staff. Of course, it cannot be called a school if it does not have teachers. A teacher is a person who is responsible for conveying knowledge to the students to prepare the latter to become productive, competitive and skillful members of the society. As amply called, a teacher teaches the students on the relevant information, skills and experiences they need in accordance with the established curriculum.

Australia passes plain-packaging cigarette law

Australia is to become the first country to enforce the plain packaging of cigarettes but tobacco companies have vowed to fight the new legislation in court.

From December next year, all cigarettes will be sold in olive green packs, which research has shown is least appealing to smokers.

Under the new laws, approved by the upper house of parliament, no trademark brand logos will be permitted on any packaging of tobacco products, although companies will be able to print their name and the cigarette brand in small, prescribed font on the packets.

The boxes will continue to carry stark health warning messages and pictures, which will cover 75pc of the front of the pack and 90pc of the back.

"If this legislation stops one young Australian from picking up a shiny, coloured packet and prevents them becoming addicted to cigarettes then in my view it will have been worthwhile," said John Faulkner, a Labour senator, during the parliamentary debate. The debate in Australia has been keenly watched around the world, including in Britain, Canada and New Zealand where similar plans to curtail branding are being considered.

Crazy Stupid Love…A Romantic Comedy About Divorce

Courtesy - The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe

Poor Cal, he is probably on his “date night” with his wife of 25 years and when time comes to order dessert, she asks for a divorce!

From the look on his face, this mild mannered, trainer wearing, dull insurance executive suddenly sees his life fall apart and of course had absolutely no idea that his marriage was in shambles. Steve Carrell and Julianne Moore play this couple in crisis extremely well. We have got used to seeing Carrell come as sweet likeable nerdy heroes. Here, he is just an average Joe with the picket fence house, cute kids,a steady career and a beautiful and successful wife.The problem is that Cal has lost his manhood, become an absolute bore and Emily can’t take it anymore. Cal quickly moves out his stuff and gets himself a lousy little bachelor’s pad and in the evenings he goes to a bar to drown his sorrows and tells aloud to whoever is willing to listen, the story of his life! One evening Jacob, a sleek ladies man played by Ryan Gosling who is probably the best actor of his generation,takes pity on Cal and offers to groom him to become quite a seducer himself.. This part of the plot may sound a little familiar as the “grooming” to land the girls theme has been used many times before like in the hilarious Hitch with Will Smith. However in this case Cal gets into the groove very fast and becomes a talented bar swinger, by the way it is amazing how a good haircut and decent clothes can change a man and Carrell goes from plain and insignificant to quite handsome and attractive.

Meanwhile Jacob bumps into Hannah (Emma Stone) at the bar and though she rejects his advances, the smooth talking womanizer seems completely frazzled by the charismatic red headed Stone, a lawyer who is just about to sit for the bar exam and is in a relationship with Richard (Josh Groban) her boring lawyer boyfriend.

කාසි ඇතොත් මේ බෙලිමල් කඳුළු වතුර පොදක් බොන්න

කඳුකරයේ චාරිකාවක් යන ඕනෑම කෙනකු දුන්හිඳ නරඹන්න අමතක කරන්නේ නැත. බදුල්ල මහියංගන පාරේ ගොස් දුන්හිඳ නරඹන්නට යන මාර්ගය තරමක් දුෂ්කර වූවකි. ඒ මාර්ගයේ දෙපස බෙලිමල් තම්බමින් සංචාරකයන්ට බෙලිමල් විකුණන මිනිසුන්ගේ හා ගැහැනුන්ගේ දර්ශනය දුන්හිඳ නරඹන්නට යන කිසිවකුට අමතක නොවේ. කඳු ශිඛරයකින් කඩා හැලෙන බදුලු ඔයේ සුන්දරත්වය ඒ අවට ජීවත්වන මේ අහිංසක මිනිසුන්ගේ ජීවිත තුළ තිබේ ද?

සාර්ථක කලාකරුවකුට තුන්වන ඇසක් පැවතිය යුතු ය. එක් අතකින් ඔහු කලාකරුවකු බවට පත්වන්නේ ද මේ තුන්වන ඇස නිසා ය. එය ජන්මයෙන් දායක වන දුබල ප්‍රතිභාව ඔස්සේ කෙනකුට ලැබෙන්නකි. අපූර්ව දෙයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමේ ප්‍රඥාව හෙවත් ප්‍රතිභාව එයයි. මේ ගීතයේ පද රචකයා තුළ ඒ දුලබ ප්‍රතිභාව මනාව දක්නට හැකි ය. මේ සඳහා රචකයා යම්තාක් දුරකට පැරණි ජනකවියකින් ආභාසය ලබයි.

“කැලේ ගොසින් ඉනි කැපුවා කැත්ත දනී

වෙලේ ගොසින් ඉනි හැඳුවා නියර දනී

පැලේ ගොසින් පැල් රැක්කා පැදුර දනී

පැලේ මෙදා පැල් ලැග්ගා දෙවියො දනී

(ජනකවි)

මෙහි රචකයා මේ අහිංසක මිනිසුන්ගේ ආත්මයට ප්‍රවේශවී ඔවුන්ගේ හැඟීම් කවියට නඟයි.

“බොරළු ඇනෙන පය රිදවන වෙහෙස මඳක් නිවාගන්න

ඔබේ සතුටු මුහුණ අපට ටිකක් හොඳින් බලාගන්න

මහත්වරුනි බදුලු ඔයෙන් කිරි කඳුළක් අපිත් ගන්න

කාසි ඇතොත් මේ බෙලිමල්කඳුළු වතුර පොදක් බොන්න

මේ ආයාචනය වූ කලී අතිශයින් සංයමශීලී ආයාචනයකි.

මේ රළු පොළවේ බොරළුකැට මේ ගැමියන්ට හුරුපුරුදු ය. එහෙත් සංචාරකයන්ට එය වෙහෙසකි. බෙලිමල් ඒ වෙහෙසට ඔසුවක් බව මේ ආයාචනයෙන් කියැවේ. ඔවුන්ගේ ආර්ථික දරිද්‍රතාවය රචකයා ව්‍යංගාර්ථ ජනිත කරවමින් ඉදිරිපත් කරයි.

“මහත්වරුනි බදුලු ඔයෙන් කිරි කඳුළක් අපිත් ගන්න” යන ප්‍රකාශය අතිශයින් හැඟීම් බරය. මුදල් ලැබෙන්නේ බෙලිමල් විකිණීමෙනි. බදුලුඔය කඩා හැලෙන්නේ නැතිනම් ඔවුන් කාට නම් බෙලි මල් විකුණන්නද? බදුලු ඔයෙන් ලබන කිරි කඳුළ නම් ඔවුන් ගොඩනඟන ආර්ථික යයි. ඒත් ඒ ආර්ථිකය ප්‍රමාණවත් වන්නේ යාන්තමට තුන්වේල පිරිමසා ගැනීමට පමණි. බදුලු ඔයට උදාවන උදෑසන ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිතවලට උදාවන්නේ නැත.

Gold Coast awarded right to host Commonwealth Games in 2018

The Gold Coast was hot favourite to out-muscle Hambantota and is counting on using the Games to restore lustre to an image battered by downturns in tourism and property and the wrong kind of publicity about its crime rate.

Premier Anna Bligh is also keen for a win as she gears up for a state election due early next year that is odds-on to deliver a change of government.

When the result was announced, Ms. Bligh threw her arms into the air and cried out with joy.

“It's been a very very close vote and there's a good choice we weren't going to make it. We had seven rehearsals, we've had 15 meetings, we've lobbied everybody, there hasn't been much sleep,” the blushing premier said immediately after the announcement.

“I'm so proud of this team, I'm so proud of the Gold Coast, I'm so proud of being a Queenslander tonight.”

A meeting of the 71 Commonwealth nations on the Caribbean Island of St. Kitts this morning was decided by a vote of 43 to 27 in the Gold Coast's favour.

Commonwealth Games President Michael Fennell of Jamaica was not required to exercise his casting vote.

A close vote was anticipated after 11th-hour lobbying by Sri Lanka including an impassioned address by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the sidelines of last month's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth.

SportsBet was last night paying $1.50 on a Gold Coast win, compared with $2.50 for Hambantota.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard offered her congratulations to Gold Coast and Queensland.

This lucky Friday will be the only '1' this century

This lucky Friday will be the only '1' this century

SL still holds on to archaic anti-gay law

Sri Lanka is among 41 countries out of 54 member nations of the Commonwealth that impose discriminatory laws against homosexuals. British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that countries that discriminate minorities, including homosexuals would stand to lose British aid unless they make the necessary reforms to such laws.

Would Sri Lanka lose finances through British aid? Not much. After all, British aid to Sri Lanka has been minuscule in recent years. The Department for International Development (DFID) which controls Britain’s £ 7 .46 billion aid budget ended its bilateral programmes in the country after Sri Lanka graduated to a middle income nation in 2005.

The total UK donor assistance received by Sri Lanka for the period of 2008-2009 was £ 3.5 million, inconsequential compared to Chinese aid, which amounted to $1.2 billion in 2009 alone. 

The Department for International Development continues to fund a conflict prevention programme in Sri Lanka during 2010- 2011 at a cost of £ 2 million.

There had been a slight increase in British humanitarian assistance since the end of the war in May 2009. Britain committed £13.5 million for a ‘crash’ return programme of the IDPs, which again, is largely symbolic and dwarfed by India’s $ 500 million donor package to help rebuilding and resettlement in the North- East.

Research into the efficacy of economic sanctions to make policy changes in states reveal that they work well when used against friends – and fail when used against enemy nations, which explains why UN sanctions against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq turned to be ineffective. Sanctions imposed bilaterally are effective only when the nation that was slapped with sanctions is economically dependent on the other. As far as the extent of British economic aid is concerned, Britain doesn’t wield a carrot big enough to compel Sri Lanka to reform its archaic law that criminalizes homosexuality. 

Homosexuality is illegal in Sri Lanka under Section 365A of the Penal Code and technically punishable by a jail term of up to 10 years.

Expressway to be patrolled by super cops

Traffic police manning the Southern Expressway are to whiz past in 2600cc engine capacity high speed Subaru Imprezza cars which can accelerate to 100 km/h within few seconds to catch traffic offenders.

A special police division to handle traffic on expressways set up by the Police Department is currently conducting trials in the Southern Expressway with Subaru cars imported recently. These cars are renowned for their high engine capacity and exceeding the 100 km/ph barrier within few seconds.

According to the police a new division was required since traffic regulations on the expressways are different from the normal traffic laws. Meanwhile, the expressway named as 'Gateway to Wonder' is to be opened for the public by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on November 27. 

New regulations have already being drafted by police for the expressway. The new division of expressway traffic is administered by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) with powers vested similar to the Western Province Traffic DIG.

DM

Southern Expressway opening on 27th

The Kottawa-Galle section of the Southern Expressway is scheduled to be declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the 27th of this month.

The Southern Expressway is the first expressway in Sri Lanka and it is the longest expressway out of proposed expressway network. It runs from Kottawa to Matara. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank of International Corporation (JBIC) are the main funding agencies for this project. Section from Kottawa to Kurundugahahetekma (65 km) was undertaken by JBIC and section from Kurundugahahetekma to Godagama, Matara (64.8 km) was undertaken by ADB. President Mahinda Rajapaksa took a personal and keen interest in the construction of this expressway and made several inspection tours during the time of its construction.

The first stage of the project, from Kottawa to Galle has been completed and it will be opened for traffic by the President on the 27th. Under the second stage it will be developed from Galle to Matara, and when completed the travel time fro Colombo to Matara will be reduced by more than two hours. Up to Galle it has 8 intersections and up to Matara it will have 11 intersections. This will be the first toll charging road in Sri Lanka (niz).

Source: Government News Portal

Government blocks five news websites over ‘insults’

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan officials say five news websites have been blocked because they committed character assassination and insulted people including key political leaders.

Media groups were planning protests against the action that one group called undemocratic. Sri Lankan laws do not restrict the press from criticizing leaders.

Information and Media Ministry Secretary W.B. Ganegala said Monday that many complaints were made against the sites. They were blocked starting Saturday.

Director general of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Anusha Palpita said his commission blocked five sites. They are www.lankaenews.com, srilankamirror.com, srilankaguardian.com, paparacigossip9.com and www.lankawaynews.com.

Acting president of the Sri Lanka Working Journalist Association Gnanasiri Kottigoda condemned the move and called it undemocratic.

Obesity and depression increase health costs

Obesity and depression both dramatically increase health care costs, but they mainly act separately, according to a study published in the November 2011 Journal of General Internal Medicine by Group Health Research Institute scientists. Gregory Simon, MD, MPH, a Group Health psychiatrist and Group Health Research Institute senior investigator, led the research.

"Previous research shows that both depression and obesity are associated with higher health care costs," he said. "But depression and obesity often occur together, so it was important to know if the relationship between obesity and cost is really due to depression - or vice versa." Simon and his colleagues tested whether depression confounds the increase in health care use that is associated with obesity. Confounding means an apparent connection - such as the link between increased health care costs and obesity - is influenced or even caused by a third factor. In this study, the authors tested if depression confounds the increase in health care seen in obese patients. The study used telephone interviews to determine obesity and depression, and Group Health's extensive medical records to calculate health care costs for 4,462 women aged 40-65. All were enrolled in Group Health Cooperative, a nonprofit health care system in Washington and northern Idaho. Obesity was measured as body mass index (BMI), a standard obesity measure that is calculated from height and weight.

The Hangover II – Never As Good As The First Time

Courtesy - The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe

There seems to be an unwritten rule that sequels of movies will always be a disappointment except in some rare cases like The Godfather II.

Only a handful of people would probably admit not knowing the story of the first Hangover movie, where four buddies decide to go on a bachelor’s party to Vegas and the adventure goes terribly wrong when after a drunken binge, the groom to be, goes missing. They wake up in a completely wrecked hotel suite with a tiger in the bathroom, bashed up faces and no recollection whatsoever about what had happened the previous night. Oops, apologies, this isn’t about The Hangover, but its sequel The Hangover II which takes place two years later and this time it is Stu (Ed Helms), the very square dentist who is getting married to his beautiful fiancé Lauren (Jamie Chung) in Thailand much to the displeasure of Lauren’s father (Nirut Sirichanya) who blurts out probably one of the most humiliating toasts to a future son in law.

In order to avoid a repetition of his Vegas adventures Stu invites Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha) for a wholesome breakfast lunch in lieu of a wild bachelor’s party.

Of course we know that the odds of it ending there seem unlikely especially since the future groom’s best friends decide to all travel to Thailand for the wedding.

One drug induced drunken binger later; Stu, Doug and Phil wake up in a seedy hotel in Bangkok and Teddy (Mason Lee) Lauren’s genius little brother who accompanied the foursome in their adventures is missing except for his severed finger which is still wearing his Stanford University class ring!

Call for Pakistan to rename its "Gaddafi Stadium"

Muammar Gaddafi was many things to many people during his brutal 42-year rule: self-styled brotherly leader to the Libyan people, dictator and madman in a golf buggy.

It seems doubtful though the Libyan leader was ever much of a cricket fan.

However, his downfall has left cricket-mad Pakistan with a rather sensitive problem – what to do with the Muammar Gaddafi Stadium, amid a growing online campaign to rename the 60,000 seat ground.

"Gaddafi Stadium is the home of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the site of the final of the 1996 World Cup for a reason: it is simply the best that Pakistan cricket has to offer," wrote columnist Farooq Tirmizi, kick-starting the campaign with a blog on a newspaper website.

"So why is it named after a brutal Arab dictator?"

All over Africa, impoverished nations have Gaddafi Conference Centres and Gaddafi Stadiums all paid for with Libyan oil money – not to mention the roads renamed in his honour.

දෙනෝදහක් අත ගත්තද සැමියකු නැති ළඳුනේ

රන්බණ්ඩා සෙනෙවිරත්නයන් බොහෝ ගීත රචනා කොට නොමැත. එහෙත් ඔහුගේ ගීත අතළොස්ස තුළ අපූර්වතම ගේය පද රචනා රාශියක් පවතී. ප්‍රථමයෙන් පුවත්පතකට ලියූ කවියක් ලෙසින් එළි දුටු ‘ළඳුනේ’ නමැති ප්‍රශස්ත නිර්මාණය ඒ සඳහා වටිනා නිදසුනකි.

ලොව පැරණිතම වෘත්තිය ලෙසින් ගණිකා වෘත්තිය හැඳින්වීම වරදක් නොවේ. භාරතයේ එය පිළිගත් ස්වයං රැකියාවකි. බුදුන් දවස අම්බපාලී නම් වූ ගණිකාවක ගැන බෞද්ධ සාහිත්‍යයේ සඳහන් වේ. කාතෝලික ආගම තුළ මග්දලාවේ මරියා නැමැති ගණිකාවක ගැන කියැවේ. කණවේර ජාතකයේ හමුවන ‘සාමා’ ගේ චරිතය රජ, සිටු මැතිවරුන්ගේ ගෞරවයට පත්වූ ගණිකාවකි. මේ සෑම කතාවස්තුවකදීම ගණිකාවන්ගේ චරිත අවසානයේ අනුකම්පාවට හසුකොට තිබේ.

මා දන්නා පරිදි රංබණ්ඩා සෙනෙවිරත්නයන්ට මේ නිර්මාණය සඳහා පාදක වන්නේ අපූර්ව සංසිද්ධියකි. මහනුවර නගරයේදී ඔහුට එක්තරා මිත්‍රයකු මහමඟ ගමන් කරන තරුණියක පෙන්වා ඈ ගැන විස්තරයක් කරයි.

වලව්වක කුමාරිහාමියක වූ ඈ හිතුවක්කාර විවාහයක් කරගැනීම නිසා නිවසෙන් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කර තිබේ. පසුකලෙක සැමියා ද අහිමි වීම නිසා ඇය ගණිකාවක වූ බව ඒ මිත්‍රයා පවසයි. එදිනම සවස රංබණ්ඩා සෙනෙවිරත්නයන්ට ඇය දළදා මාලිගාව අසල දී මුණගැසෙයි. සුදුවතින් සැරසී කුඩා දරුවකු සමඟ මල් වට්ටියක් ද අතැති ව සන්සුන් ගමනින් දළදා වඳින්නට යන අයුරු ඔහු බලා සිටින්නේ කම්පිත දෑසෙනි. මේ නිර්මාණයේ නිමිත්ත එයයි.

‘ළඳුනේ’ නැමැති වචනය නිර්මාණයේ මුලට ගෙන එන්නේ ආචාර්ය කේමදාසයන් ය. පදමාලාවේ සංගීතමය භාවයන් එහිදී වඩාත් ම උද්දීපනය වේ. “දෙනෝදහක් අතගත්තද සැමියෙකු නැති ළඳුනේ” නැමැති ප්‍රකාශයෙන් ඇගේ අසරණ බව පමණක් නොව සමාජයේ කුහකත්වය ද හෙළිදරව් වේ. සාම්ප්‍රදායික සමාජය තුළ ඇගේ නෑදෑයන් විසින් ද ඇයව ගර්හිත බවට පත්කොට තිබේ. එහෙත් රචකයාට මේ දර්ශනය තුළින් සිහිවන්නේ ජීවිතයේ අනේකවිධ පීඩාවන්ට ගොදුරු වූ ‘පටාචාරා’, ‘කිසාගෝතමී’ වැනි අසරණියන් ය.

බුදුන් දැක නිවන් දකිමැයි

දෙව්රම් යන පාර අහන

ඔබ ද පටාචාරාවකී

ඔබ ද කිසාගෝතමියකි..

මේ නිර්මාණය පිළිබඳ ව රචකයා ම තම අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කොට තිබේ. මා මෙතැන් සිට ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නේ “හිතේ දුකට කියන කවි” නම් ග්‍රන්ථයේ රචකයා දක්වා ඇති අදහස් ය.

Song Review............

Parts of Negombo, Batticaloa under water by 2040

Courtesy - The Island - By Ifham Nizam

Between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of the total populations of the Negombo and Batticaloa Municipal Councils are vulnerable to sea level rise in 2040, a study by the University of Moratuwa, has estimated.

Speaking at the initiation of a pilot project titled ‘Climate Resilient Action Plan for Coastal Urban Areas, Sri Lanka (CCSL)’, Moratuwa University, Architecture Facility, Dean Prof. P. K. S. Mahanama, said that Batticaloa and Negombo have been vulnerable to climate related natural disasters during the last few decades and particularly in 2000.

He said Batticaloa recently experienced its biggest floods in the last 100 years.

During December 2009 – January 2010 heavy rains resulted in loss of life and property while significantly damaging the emerging coastal tourism industry."Frequently increasing storm surges have also resulted in significant losses to livelihoods in both Batticaloa and Negombo," he added.

The makings of a great leader

This world needs great men and women. And it is a terrible thought that some young people might have fallen through the cracks of society their potential lost to the world. Perhaps there might have been a young person who could have come up with a cure for AIDS or a lasting solution for a mental condition called Schizophrenia. May be there could have been a young person who could have come up with a solution for poverty or hunger. May be a young person who could have created a new kind of robot that can think for itself.

The thought that such young people have not been discovered, that they have been overlooked or that they have simply faded away is a terrifying thought. Because these young people could have been leaders.

Leadership was a subject which was touched on 'The Final Step', a workshop conducted by John Keells Foundation for the benefit of undergraduates of Sri Lanka universities. This year's programme was held in collaboration with the career guidance unit (CGU) at Sri Jayewardenepura University.

Challenge the process

"Leadership is trying to achieve a shared goal. It exists at all levels. Whether you are in a family, in an organization or within a country, you have to exhibit signs of leadership. It is absolutely essential if you are thinking of growth, if you are thinking of innovation, if you are thinking of doing new things. It goes beyond individuals, communities and countries and you will see that in practices, ideas and philosophies. Leadership doesn't exist only in people but in other things as well", said chairman, Environmental Foundation Ltd., Sharmini Ratwatte.

In her address Ratwatte drew from her own experience and readings and outlined what you need to be a good leader. She emphasized the fact that if you are going to lead, you have to challenge the process. And that means experimenting and taking risks.

You need to get other people excited about it, you need to tell them about it, rally people to your cause. Each person has different strengths and you need to have diversity in your group. You have to collaborate with others, these are things you learn on the way.

"Steve Jobs was not just a leader. Mark Zuckerberg is not just a leader. They are called disruptive innovators. They did things unheard of. They did thing differently, they changed the course.

Think differently

They had skills in them that made them innovators. You need to ask questions and observe. You need to network - talk to people from different disciplines. Today the world needs people who can think differently. What I learned about leadership is you have to be passionate about your goals. You need to be hardy and take setbacks. Stay on course. You need to be organized and have good planning," said Ratwatte.

In his address Director, Gateway Group, Dr. Harsha Alles divided individuals and teams into two groups: High System and Low System. He said that some people work with extremely good systems and that others have no system at all. There are also people with high empathy and low empathy.

School Truancy in Children and Teenagers

MBBS(Ceylon), DCH(Ceylon), DCH(England), MD(Paediatrics), FRCP(Edinburgh), FRCP(London), FRCPCH(United Kingdom), FSLCPaed, FCCP, FCGP(Sri Lanka) Consultant Paediatrician

KEY POINTS

*  Truancy is different from school phobia or school refusal.

* It is a deliberate, well thought out activity on the part of the child.

* There are many reasons for the development of truancy.

* When it occurs, truancy needs to be attended to without delay.

* Truancy is associated with several problems that occur later on in life.

* In some countries punitive action could be instituted against the child and the par ents.

* Parents have a special responsibility to deal with the problem.

Every day, considerable numbers of children and youth are absent from school. Most of them are absent without an excuse and deemed truant. This well known phenomenon of truancy is any intentional unauthorized absence from compulsory schooling. The term typically describes absences caused by students of their own free will and usually does not refer to legitimate "excused" absences such as ones related to medical conditions. In many countries, the term’s exact meaning differs from school to school and is usually explicitly defined in the school’s handbook of policies and procedures. It has no relation to homeschooling, although sometimes parents who practice homeschooling have been charged with this. It may also refer to students who attend school but do not go to classes.

Although national data on truancy rates are not available in Sri Lanka, many large cities are likely to have significant rates of truancy and chronic absenteeism. In the USA, a national review of discipline issues in schools conducted by the state found that public school principals identified student absenteeism, class cutting, and tardiness as the top discipline problems in their schools.

Steve Jobs, a Buddhist?

Steve Jobs stirred the world with his magnanimous creation, Apple. Its magnanimity lies in simplicity. Jobs was phrased to be the modern Einstein for his unique innovation. When he passed away his obituary was posted in the Apple website in grayscale form. Such was his simplicity.

Before reaching the covetous seat of Apple’s CEO, Jobs is said to have been in a spiritual journey. He had travelled to India to dig more into Buddhism. How he got the wind of the ancient religion, no mention is made.

Interestingly Jobs is a biographical child of two unmarried academics who emphasized the adoptive parents should send him to university.

Jobs and his college friend Daniel Kottke, who later worked for him at Apple, visited Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram. He returned home to California a Buddhist, complete with a shaved head and traditional Indian clothing and a philosophy that may have shaped much of his corporate values.

“I wouldn’t say Steve Jobs was a practicing Buddhist,” said Robert Thurman, a professor of Buddhist studies at Columbia University, who met Jobs and his “Tibetan buddies” in the 1980s in San Francisco.