Features
National extravagance, Wewa bunds under attack and sweet singer
Sri Lanka, our beloved country, is definitely in a parlous state. Reading a Sunday newspaper this fact was thrust in the face with a list of recent resignations of very important persons in the medical and agricultural fields, particularly. Political appointments are brazenly made. More money is to be printed. There is a controversy over the US New Fortress Energy Corporation’s bid to build an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Colombo. The UN and its human rights organisation have been spotlighting Sri Lanka. This is while India is riding the crest of being in demand. The Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue was constituted between India, Australia, the US and Japan. Modi was recently welcomed to the White House by Prez Biden and VP Kamala Harris, along with Scot Morrison and Yoshihide Suga. In sharp contrast to our neighbour, we as a country are getting rapped on our knuckles. Cass is no traitor, only sees straight in a woman’s way.
Cass knows little about the bigger issues mentioned above and the monetary mess we are in, but she is heavily perturbed and greatly angered by four issues: Nothing being done about Lohan Ratwatte who transgressed human rights of Tamil prisoners; continued government extravagance; rape of ancient Wewas; and the latest: The CID hauling journalists and questioning them on reporting the garlic scam. Appreciative thanks and Namasthe in acknowledgement to Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) former Executive Director, Thushan Gunawardena, who boldly stepped forward and announced: “No need to verify my claims; I stand by all charges.” He is named ‘the whistleblower ready to assist CID’ in The Island of September 29. Oh, for many more such honest persons!
Extravagance
We poor sods of Sri Lanka were even asked to cut down our intake of now nutrition deficient food to two meals a day. If I recall correctly it was the eldest brother of the Rajs, who wanted to further hit us in the stomach, a pitiable case. At least 20 percent of Sri Lankans don’t have even a single adequately nutritious meal. Food prices have shot up; baby formula is unavailable; we have tightened our belts to suffocation and suicidal level and are now asked to cut down meals per day. Remember during one of Mrs Banders’ regimes we were allowed a meal of rice only thrice a week or some such nonsense. People were seen scrabbling garbage bins; many fainted on roadsides. Result? The Lady in Power was thrown out.
Wewas continue to be desecrated, nay raped
The Editor, in The Island of Saturday, September 25, alliteratively titled his sharp hitting editorial ‘Riprap and riff-raff’ which as his way is, hitting the nail hard on its head. Riff-raff MPs in Kapati suits are the principal riff raffs who are leading others to break into the bund of the Parakrama Samudraya to build a jogging path. Cass choked with bitter, heart-rending laughter at this great joke so evil in conception, so damaging and surely a means of wicked thieving. What bl… jogging paths in Polonnaruwa with such a small population, the majority of whom toil the soil; and a city never crowded with tourists even during the height of the season. There lie miles of almost empty roads in and around this city for jogging, without encroaching on a treasured cultural heritage and endangering it. Tractor digging could easily loosen the earth bund causing immense damage to the Wewa, resulting in flooding. This jogging-lane-paving is madness and no Mighty Power has stepped in to stop this desecration and danger to the Wewa. I don’t mean God here but our Mortal Powers that be. The craze intruded other Wewas too, unbelievably even Kantale.
The editorial said that the mover of the project, State Minister Ranasinghe, has had only a Spent Power obstructing his path. But this spent and discredited power and his hotel building brother are guilty of doing great danger by illegally encroaching on reserved land along the bund of the Wewa. Here is Ranasinghe vs Sirisena!
Cass thought the tractors had left the bund of the Parakrama Samudraya but no; a horrific video was sent her, a cyclist travelling the length of the bund recording on camera the utterly deplorable damage done to the entire bund, pushing its retaining boulders further into the water to make way for a jogging path! If that isn’t weakening of the earth bund, what is? These are valued ancient archaeological and cultural sites. How dare any human tamper with them?
Cass remembered the angst she felt on seeing the building of a garish temple at the bottom of the Dambulla rock. She contacted a person who knows. “Nothing can be done as the UNESCO Heritage Site consists of the cave temples. The rock is not included.”
A suggestion was made that an application be submitted to UNESCO to designate our Wewas Heritage Sites. Is it only if such is done that Wewa bunds can be protected? Do our leaders see no wrong?
Bright spot
It was only very recently that I listened to Manike Mage Hithe sung by Yohani and Satheeshan, which was commented on in India and western countries too and applauded by no less than Amitabh Bachchan. The catchy song has been translated to English and languages spoken in India.
I first saw Yohani de Silva on TV as brand ambassador to Prima Kottu Mee and thought she was so different from most other ‘advertising girls or women’. Genuine charm and a glow of finesse and simplicity came through as she sang and advertised. No wonder the obvious decency, grace, and restraint in the use of make-up and obvious lack of artificiality makes her what she is. Belonging to an upper middle-class family of an ex-Army Major General and an ex-Sri Lankan Airlines hostess, Yohani was educated at Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo. She received higher education at the Kotelawala Defence University and MA from an Australian university. She also resided and trained in the UK. And so we are sure she will remain her sincere self, with marked restraint and the ability to accept fame when it comes. We had and have too many starlets, beauty queens and even young political dames who disgraced themselves and shamed Sri Lankan womanhood. Yohani has a legitimate claim to fame: She claimed the highest number of views, of 100 million, for a YouTube video. She will launch her debut album of twelve songs in December this year. Congrats and thanks for being just you, Yohani, a beautiful Sri Lankan young woman of grace and charm.
The Editor of The Island writes praisefully about Yohani and then remembers our singer par excellence, Amaradeva, in his editorial of Thursday, September 23. I wish to remember and remind readers of the late Nimal Mendis. Unknown to the public, he helped so many of our singers, assisted by his son, Paul Marie, training and then recording them. He was keen to give them global notice, at least recognition from the western world of music; which he did. He would say many of our young singers were world class if only their diction in English was of standard and they gained the required confidence. They would then be on par with any popular western singer. And he helped until his sudden death.
Stop press!
We may soon have an idiotic politician (so many in the ranks), boasting that we are one of the countries to have our own COVID-19 variant! Prof Neelika Malavige of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura announced that “a new branch of the Delta variant had now been officially recognised.” So similar to the announcement proudly made that we are the first country in the world to ban inorganic fertilizers, (not giving a thought to its devastating consequence to our food and tea production); some idiot may announce the fact of the variant too. Cass does not put it past a stupido to do so!
Do hope the CID questioning journos will not register unfavourably with the EU team now in Sri Lanka deciding on GSP concessions to the SL garment industry. Bad enough are the State Minister’s visits to two jails. Any whiff of suppression of expression is even more injurious to the country’s repute.