Features

Covid Depression

Published

5 years ago

2021/02/19

Sahan Weerasooriya

By Rajitha Ratwatte

fromoutsidethepearl@gmail.com

One look at the headline may leave the reader thinking that this is another diatribe on the economic situation brought about by the pandemic. Although this is one of the biggest issues of current times, economists much more qualified than yours truly have waxed eloquent on the subject and will continue to do so.

I am talking of the emotion of depression and the devastating effects it is having and will continue to have on the human race, exacerbated by the virus. The deaths and bereavements brought about by the virus and understanding the resulting emotions are basic. They are not new, the sadness and the sense of loss. The inability to mourn your loss in the traditional manner or observe the traditional rituals may also be new, and harder to absorb. There are many more “side effects” of this horrible pandemic that need to be analyzed.

In recent times, the human race has become very gregarious and much travelled. At least one trip abroad on holiday not to mention many business trips abroad has become the norm. Most of us have been confined to one country for almost a year now. This is creating a conscious or unconscious travel itch in the subconscious. We are beginning to feel closeted, confined, and more than a little restless. The ongoing and seemingly endless and re-occurring lock downs in some parts of the world don’t help the situation.

Job losses brought about by covid combined with the current retirement ages (much too young) in most countries. Retirement ages calculated when the average life expectancy was around 65 years have not been adjusted to accommodate the additional 20 years that are the expected norm of today. This has resulted in many able-bodied men and women spending many hours in their houses, with nothing much to do. Constant attempts to find a job, with almost a 95% rejection level adds to the erosion of self-confidence and even a sense of uselessness and a feeling of not being able to make a useful contribution to society.

Those who have retained their jobs are finding substantial amounts of money being saved as expensive holidays and even highly overpriced casual expenses on beverages and fast foods have been curtailed by circumstances beyond their control. After ‘investing’ in the requisite amount of precious metals and some stocks, shares, and bonds, they seem to have turned to the real estate market. Maybe, longer periods spent in their houses and the realization that one can actually work from home, have made them look for more salubrious accommodation. Safer countries (based on the way they have handled the pandemic) and even safer states within a country have resulted in migrations and people returning ‘home’ to countries and states forsaken many years ago for economic prosperity. This will result in the aforesaid people with low incomes being pushed out of the “safer” areas, further contributing to their mental anguish. A positive note maybe that people have realized that “money is not everything” and that a quality lifestyle and pleasant surroundings also matter.

Aotearoa, a country that already has an inordinately high suicide rate among its people, will no doubt see a spike. When looking for professions and qualifications, maybe, people should look at psychoanalysis and psychiatry instead of computer-related fields. It sure looks like having a huge demand in the future. Dealing with recorded voices and robotic responses when trying to get service from all contact centres, doesn’t help either. Waiting for hours for a reply with piped music playing the same repetitive noises in your ear only to have a machine give you pre-recorded replies, all add to the frustration of life today.

Have you noticed that people are turning to meditation in a big way? Even the humble Vipassana Meditation that should have been, if it already wasn’t, very much a part of the life of a Sri Lankan Buddhist, now has a huge worldwide following with the number growing at an unbelievable level, daily. Is society moving back into what it was in the ’60s? Ashrams, mysticism, Ganja, and free love? For those of us who live in the past with all the old times seemingly much sweeter and more enjoyable than anything we can envisage for the future, this may be the only hope. On the other hand, the only ashram we may see is an old people’s home!

Vaccinations in their various forms and different brand names seem to be matched by variants of the virus itself. We have a South American variant, An African one, and one originating in the United Kingdom. One encouraging statistic I saw was that infection rates have dropped by 18% since the introduction of the vaccines, worldwide. Here in Aotearoa, we have no vaccines at present. Auckland has just gone into level 3 lockdown, level 4 being the highest, and the rest of the country into level 2 as a family of 4 with the mother working in an aviation service company diagnosed with Covid19. This company cleans the uniforms of aircrew and since the genome testing has shown no connection to any passenger coming through on managed isolation, the connection maybe to the uniforms, although nothing has been confirmed to date. A child goes to a popular school and they live in South Auckland which is a crowded area of the city. The initial lock down is for three days but it will all depend on how many people are infected and the strain of the virus is now confirmed as the more infective UK variant, the sooner the vaccine comes the more comfortable we will feel. We have just heard that the alert levels are reduced to level 2 in Auckland and Level 1 for the rest of the country. All Schools except the school that is affected will open, this because there have been 2 more cases in that school. The Pearl has done better, and I believe vaccinations have already started.

I have just seen, the Japanese head of the Olympic Games organizing committee forced to resign because of a disparaging comment he made about women. Completely ridiculous in my view and another triumph for the disgusting level that political correctness has taken in our daily lives. Donald Trump walks away scot-free after displaying a level of boorishness and sheer loutishness (new word?) that defies belief. This verdict or lack thereof displayed by the American senate only kowtows to the fact that the louder you are the more you get listened to. The more violent you are, the more people acknowledge your existence. On the other hand draconian punishments could also lead to martyrdom and this decision may result in the Trump culture fizzling out when the mobs realize that they simply need to buckle down and get swallowed up in the rat race! More cause for depression, if you ask me.

Compassion for our fellow beings, the practice of your faith in its purest form, and a firm belief that NOTHING lasts forever, maybe how those who survive these unprecedented times finally make it to the other side.

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Features

Maduro abduction marks dangerous aggravation of ‘world disorder’

Published

14 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Venezuelan President Maduro being taken to a court in New York

The abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US special forces on January 3rd and his coercive conveying to the US to stand trial over a number of allegations leveled against him by the Trump administration marks a dangerous degeneration of prevailing ‘world disorder’. While some cardinal principles in International Law have been blatantly violated by the US in the course of the operation the fallout for the world from the exceptionally sensational VVIP abduction could be grave.

Although controversial US military interventions the world over are not ‘news’ any longer, the abduction and hustling away of a head of government, seen as an enemy of the US, to stand trial on the latter soil amounts to a heavy-handed and arrogant rejection of the foundational principles of international law and order. It would seem, for instance, that the concept of national sovereignty is no longer applicable to the way in which the world’s foremost powers relate to the rest of the international community. Might is indeed right for the likes of the US and the Trump administration in particular is adamant in driving this point home to the world.

Chief spokesmen for the Trump administration have been at pains to point out that the abduction is not at variance with national security related provisions of the US Constitution. These provisions apparently bestow on the US President wide powers to protect US security and stability through courses of action that are seen as essential to further these ends but the fact is that International Law has been brazenly violated in the process in the Venezuelan case.

To be sure, this is not the first occasion on which a head of government has been abducted by US special forces in post-World War Two times and made to stand trial in the US, since such a development occurred in Panama in 1989, but the consequences for the world could be doubly grave as a result of such actions, considering the mounting ‘disorder’ confronting the world community.

Those sections opposed to the Maduro abduction in the US would do well to from now on seek ways of reconciling national security-related provisions in the US Constitution with the country’s wider international commitment to uphold international peace and law and order. No ambiguities could be permitted on this score.

While the arbitrary military action undertaken by the US to further its narrow interests at whatever cost calls for criticism, it would be only fair to point out that the US is not the only big power which has thus dangerously eroded the authority of International Law in recent times. Russia, for example, did just that when it violated the sovereignty of Ukraine by invading it two or more years ago on some nebulous, unconvincing grounds. Consequently, the Ukraine crisis too poses a grave threat to international peace.

It is relevant to mention in this connection that authoritarian rulers who hope to rule their countries in perpetuity as it were, usually end up, sooner rather than later, being a blight on their people. This is on account of the fact that they prove a major obstacle to the implementation of the democratic process which alone holds out the promise of the progressive empowerment of the people, whereas authoritarian rulers prefer to rule with an iron fist with a fixation about self-empowerment.

Nevertheless, regime-change, wherever it may occur, is a matter for the public concerned. In a functional democracy, it is the people, and the people only, who ‘make or break’ governments. From this viewpoint, Russia and Venezuela are most lacking. But externally induced, militarily mediated change is a gross abnormality in the world of democracy, which deserves decrying.

By way of damage control, the US could take the initiative to ensure that the democratic process, read as the full empowerment of ordinary people, takes hold in Venezuela. In this manner the US could help in stemming some of the destructive fallout from its abduction operation. Any attempts by the US to take possession of the national wealth of Venezuela at this juncture are bound to earn for it the condemnation of democratic opinion the world over.

Likewise, the US needs to exert all its influence to ensure that the rights of ordinary Ukrainians are protected. It will need to ensure this while exploring ways of stopping further incursions into Ukrainian territory by Russia’s invading forces. It will need to do this in collaboration with the EU which is putting its best foot forward to end the Ukraine blood-letting.

Meanwhile, the repercussions that the Maduro abduction could have on the global South would need to be watched with some concern by the international community. Here too the EU could prove a positive influence since it is doubtful whether the UN would be enabled by the big powers to carry out the responsibilities that devolve on it with the required effectiveness.

What needs to be specifically watched is the ‘copycat effect’ that could manifest among those less democratically inclined Southern rulers who would be inspired by the Trump administration to take the law into their hands, so to speak, and act with callous disregard for the sovereign rights of their smaller and more vulnerable neighbours.

Democratic opinion the world over would need to think of systems of checks and balances that could contain such power abuse by Southern autocratic rulers in particular. The UN and democracy-supportive organizations, such as the EU, could prove suitable partners in these efforts.

All in all it is international lawlessness that needs managing effectively from now on. If President Trump carries out his threat to over-run other countries as well in the manner in which he ran rough-shod over Venezuela, there is unlikely to remain even a semblance of international order, considering that anarchy would be receiving a strong fillip from the US, ‘The World’s Mightiest Democracy’.

What is also of note is that identity politics in particularly the South would be unprecedentedly energized. The narrative that ‘the Great Satan’ is running amok would win considerable validity among the theocracies of the Middle East and set the stage for a resurgence of religious fanaticism and invigorated armed resistance to the US. The Trump administration needs to stop in its tracks and weigh the pros and cons of its current foreign policy initiatives.

Features

Pure Christmas magic and joy at British School

Published

14 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Students of The British High School in Colombo in action at the fashion show

The British School in Colombo (BSC) hosted its Annual Christmas Carnival 2025, ‘Gingerbread Wonderland’, which was a huge success, with the students themseles in the spotlight, managing stalls and volunteering.

The event, organised by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), featured a variety of activities, including: Games and rides for all ages, Food stalls offering delicious treats, Drinks and refreshments, Trade booths showcasing local products, and Live music and entertainment.

The carnival was held at the school premises, providing a fun and festive atmosphere for students, parents, and the community to enjoy.

The halls of the BSC were filled with pure Christmas magic and joy with the students and the staff putting on a tremendous display.

Among the highlights was the dazzling fashion show with the students doing the needful, and they were very impressive.

The students themselves were eagerly looking forward to displaying their modelling technique and, I’m told, they enjoyed the moment they had to step on the ramp.

The event supported communities affected by the recent floods, with surplus proceeds going to flood-relief efforts.

Features

Glowing younger looking skin

Published

14 hours ago

2026/01/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Hi! This week I’m giving you some beauty tips so that you could look forward to enjoying 2026 with a glowing younger looking skin.

Face wash for natural beauty

* Avocado:

Take the pulp, make a paste of it and apply on your face. Leave it on for five minutes and then wash it with normal water.

* Cucumber:

Just rub some cucumber slices on your face for 02-03 minutes to cleanse the oil naturally. Wash off with plain water.

* Buttermilk:

Apply all over your face and leave it to dry, then wash it with normal water (works for mixed to oily skin).

Face scrub for natural beauty

Take 01-02 strawberries, 02 pieces of kiwis or 02 cubes of watermelons. Mash any single fruit and apply on your face. Then massage or scrub it slowly for at least 3-5 minutes in circular motions. Then wash it thoroughly with normal or cold water. You can make use of different fruits during different seasons, and see what suits you best! Follow with a natural face mask.

Face Masks

* Papaya and Honey:

Take two pieces of papaya (peeled) and mash them to make a paste. Apply evenly on your face and leave it for 30 minutes and then wash it with cold water.

Papaya is just not a fruit but one of the best natural remedies for good health and glowing younger looking skin. It also helps in reducing pimples and scars. You can also add honey (optional) to the mixture which helps massage and makes your skin glow.

* Banana:

Put a few slices of banana, 01 teaspoon of honey (optional), in a bowl, and mash them nicely. Apply on your face, and massage it gently all over the face for at least 05 minutes. Then wash it off with normal water. For an instant glow on your face, this facemask is a great idea to try!

* Carrot:

Make a paste using 01 carrot (steamed) by mixing it with milk or honey and apply on your face and neck evenly. Let it dry for 15-20 minutes and then wash it with cold water. Carrots work really well for your skin as they have many vitamins and minerals, which give instant shine and younger-looking skin.