Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday pledged safe passage for thousands of people trapped by fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels in the north.

Mr. Rajapaksa also urged the Tamil separatists to allow civilians to move to safety within the next 48 hours.

Hours earlier, the United Nations said it had evacuated hundreds of wounded civilians, including 50 children, from the war zone after allegedly being blocked for two days by the rebels. A Tamil Tiger official quoted on a pro-rebel Web site denied the allegation.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, accused both Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels of committing grave violations. She stressed that civilians must be allowed to flee conflict areas.

Humanitarian groups say hundreds of civilians have been killed and 250,000 others have been trapped by the conflict. Sri Lanka says those numbers are inaccurate.

Also Thursday, police in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu said a Tamil man set himself on fire to protest against civilian casualties and Sri Lanka’s military offensive against the Tamil rebels.

Authorities say the man doused himself in kerosene and set himself ablaze in the streets of Chennai, the state capital. More than 55 million Tamils live in Tamil Nadu.

In an ongoing offensive, the Sri Lankan military has captured key rebel strongholds, forcing the remaining Tiger fighters into a small jungle area in the northeast.

Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting since 1983 to establish an independent homeland for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority. More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
The original article can be found at : http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-01-30-voa2.cfm

The launch of SLT IPTV (Peo) will bring on a paradigm shift in the viewing of normal TV channels in Sri Lanka. The product offers an amazing ‘pause and play of live TV’ and ‘video on demand’.

Reliable sources said, unlike Dialog TV which sucks when it rains or when you have to get the new set top box which no one seems to know when, and the Dialog TV call centre that sucks even more with many unhelpful operators who will put you on hold for a good 10 minutes, IPTV on the other hand promises that they will expand to cover more viewer friendly programmes. Among these will be 24 hour coverage on:

Political affairs – Dee Peo Channel
Political affairs of the UNP – Ka Peo Channel
War coverage – Ara Peo Channel
War coverage on LTTE – Duwa Peo Channel
Spa treatments – Na Peo Channel
Bowel movement treatments – Ree Peo Channel
Learning channel: Kiya Peo
Sad movies – Anda Peo Channel
Romantic movies – Imba Peo Channel
Martial Arts – Kada Peo Channel… are among the exciting line up for the near future.

It is rumoured that a 24 hour Beauty Care channel ‘Ga Peo Channel‘ is also being looked at while a 24 hour Cricket Channel ‘Gaha Peo Channel‘ is also on the cards. But there seems to be an internal debate if the 24 hours adult channel should be named as the above and the Cricket Channel named ‘Dina Peo Channel‘ instead. While we await further developments, readers and viewers are welcome to submit further suggestions on any other channels of their choice.

@ Liya Peo administration

You never knew she had one?

A friend once told me that it better to die like a man than live like a dog. So, I thought I’d come out of my dogged obedience to the authority and stand by Shanaka (who seems to be talking some sense) as he tries to do something about one of the most frequent injustices of today – closing roads indiscriminately.

So here’s a mail I was forwarded. Let’s rally around the cause? This is the mail:

Dear All,

I’m sure all of you endured the torture today. The situation has built up gradually and this morning was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The suggestion is that as many people as possible are rounded up and made Petitioners in a fundamental rights application in the Supreme Court. As you may know, the Constitution of Sri Lanka guarantees many fundamental rights to its citizens (i.e. – us), the freedom of movement being one among those.

http://www.constitution.gov.lk/constitutionSL1978.shtml

(specifically Articles 10 – 14). The constant and unannounced road closures and inexplicable traffic buildup is a source of much annoyance, stress, and monetary detriment to individuals and corporates alike.. One person took four hours to get to work today. The loss of man hours in the commercial hub of Colombo is innumerable and when crystallised will have a huge effect on GDP.

In the face of horrendous fuel costs, many people can ill afford to burn several litres to travel a few hundred metres. It is just not possible.Furthermore, it is a far cry from security, as if a bomb goes off in all that congested traffic, the damage will be far far more severe than it would otherwise be. Not only can a fire brigade or ambulance not attend the scene given the buildup of thousands of vehicles wounded cannot be evacuated and those who could have been saved may also succumb. With international oil prices rising it is also a huge wastage of resources.

As such, the situation is dire, and something needs to take place. The plan is that we round up as many apolitical petitioners as possible (all you have to be is a citizen faced with hardship), and ask the Supreme Court to intervene. We may at least be able to get them to define what ‘national security’ is. Whether it is the sacrifice of the time, energy and money of thousands of people to ‘protect’ a handful of VVIP’s?

This is not a political campaign but purely citizens asserting their rights to live peacefully in their own country. It will not cost anything and will only require you to consent to being a petitioner in a fundamental rights application before the Supreme Court. The justice system is not completely dead and we should use it before we are.

Do let us know if you’re interested at shanaka@juliusandcreasy.com and pass this message to others who might be interested.

I have spoken to the CPA and in keeping with the judicial trends at the moment, they believe that we might be able to convince court to put an end to the harrassment of citizens in the name of ‘national security’.

Last night, I sat and waited till someone died.

Slowly, his heartbeat kept getting slower. His breathing became hoarse. His hands became cold.

Then the whole body went into a coma.

W didn’t know if he could hear us anymore.

And finally, his heart was hardly beating.

I remember the last time this happened.

It was someone I had come to love very much.

I had know him only for a couple of years.

But I had come to love him much more than many people I had met.

That time, I prayed that he would recover.

That someone, somehow would give me hope that he will not die.

And by some miracle that he would live.

It will get better.

It will get better.

I kept telling myself.

But it didn’t.

He died.

I cried like a child.

When a guy from office came over to see how things were, I remember hugging him and sobbing and sobbing and sobbing, and telling him, “He died”.

And I also remember how, for a few months, I couldn’t even look at a photograph that reminded me that he was no more.

Every time I saw a photograph, my eyes welled with tears.

And I was reminded that things didn’t go the way I had wanted.

Or the way I had hoped.

Something, somewhere had gone horribly wrong.

I didn’t have anyone to blame.

Maybe I blamed him for dying.

If only …

So many if only scenarios went through my mind.

If only he had lived.

If only God had let him live… why was I blaming God when he died but never blamed Him for the way he lived?

But this time, watching someone die wasn’t so painful.

Maybe now I have got used to the fact that someone can die.

Someday.

It will all be over.

I wonder when I’ll die.

Or how.

How morbid.

I can never change it.

Maybe he only thing I can change is the way I live now.

So that one day when I die, at least one person will cry his or her heart out.

Because I had lived.

Recently, I felt like a total dork. There I was, nodding my head when the lecturer made his profound statements, but not having a clue as to what was going on!

Actually, I went for the class thinking I am going to learn. Or at least I will try to learn. But from the first exercise on the board, it all became a haze. The lecturer started with, “Good morning everybody”. I understood that. Then, he started to rattle off in his native tongue of gibberish. I tried to keep my eyes open. I tried to make sense of this thing from gibberland who was waving his hands about in front of me and opening his mouth, uttering sounds which I was supposed to understand.

But he kept gibbering and gibbering and gibbering!

I looked around the class. And to my horror discovered that others were in perfect union with the master gibber at the blackboard! Some were nodding! Some began to ask questions, in gibberish of course. And they got their answers back in gibberish! They were making notes in gibberish. Then they began to talk to each other in gibberish!

Maybe they were all aliens! Maybe this was an alien invasion! Maybe they would at any point now, take off their clothes and come out of the human skins! And maybe they would serve ME as the gibber lunch just to know what human beings taste like?!! When these thoughts were floating in my head when Mr. Gibber looked at me and asked, “Do you understand?”. I nodded. I was now onto their sinister plan for world domination.

And I understood perfectly well that I’ll never understand.

By the time the second exercise came up on the board, I had given up even trying to crawl back to the land of sanity. Only thing I was wondering was will they serve me as lunch by 12 O clock, or by 1 O clock…

It’s not that I’ve been a backward student (I got the 3^rd best results for O Levels in my school! And I’d done my CIM). So up to now I thought that I had some sort of intelligence. But this subject was way beyond me.

So, I tried to fake it. I started nodding intelligently. Then I started to write absolute gibberish on the note book, hoping Mr. G won’t come closer and look at what I’ve written.

And of course, I looked at the answers of the guy next to me. I’ve never copied in my life. But now I understood what make people do that. Sometimes what’s in front of you simply doesn’t make sense. So, you try to see if what’s on the side of you will at least help.

It was like a drowning man clutching at something, anything, just to stay afloat. 

Cos try as you might, you are not equipped to handle some situations in life. But the whole bloody world expects you to!! I felt so frustrated. And so alone.

That’s what I don’t understand. I mean, if they asked me to write something in plain English, I could teach these gibberland folks what we humans can do. But here they are asking me to prove myself on a competency I don’t have. What am I to do? Does this make me a fool?

Sigh…

No. I am not a fool. I am good at some things. On those, I will try harder and become better. And for that which I am not good at, I will get help from someone who is good rather than trying to do it myself. So there. Mr. G. I hope you understand that.

And guess what, they served tempura for lunch!

Found this interesting saying in an old e mail and thought it’s quite witty (I do understand that one man’s freedom fighter can be another man’s terrorist and someone’s peacekeeper can be another one’s invader!)

Forgiving or punishing the terrorists is left to God.

But, fixing their appointment with God is our responsibility - Sri Lanka Army

1.   Petrol Dansela

2.   Bread Dansela

3.   Coconut Dansela

4.   Vehicle permit Dansela

5.   School Grade 1 admission Dansela

6.   Fruit Dansela (Heard that an ad agency is doing one with apples, wonder why apples, shouldn’t it have be wood apples? Or mangoes? Or durian? …should go there if I have the time… supposed be somewhere down Bauddhaloka mawatha… will parking be a bummer?)

7.   Pirate DVD movies Dansela

8.   Shoe Dansela (That’s for my wife)

9.   Sari Dansela (Again, for her)

10.   Foot massage/Head massage/Back rub Dansela!

Today I burnt my fingers.

It was a silly thing really.

I woke up, and, as usual put the kettle to boil to make the milk for my son and then noticed the lid was half open while the water came to boil. Tried to close the lid in a hurry and burnt 2 fingers.

It’s amazing really.

How much the little fellow has become such a high priority in my life. Gone are the days when I’d wake up groggily, late as usual, then meander about to the kitchen and make a cup of morning tea for me.

Now when I wake I look at the time, wondering if I’ve overslept his morning milk time.

But looking at my burnt finger, I remember the first time I did something unkind to my son.

It was over a lighter (yeah, one of those cheap plastic things you grab at the supermarket, just because it looks so nice sitting with its family of over a hundred others… You quickly give it to the cashier, much to the annoyance of the woman behind who wants you to finish with your bill and get lost from her life quickly. Then you come home and discover the lighter costs 250 bucks! Heck! They should price mark these things!)

Anyway, there my son was in the kitchen, now asking for that same lighter. And yelling at the top of his voice, effectively using the only syllable he has mastered so far; “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”.

And there I was. Holding the bright orange lighter, and answering him with the best one word communication I knew, “No no no no no”

“Waaaaaaa!”

“No”

“Waaaaaaa!”

“No”

“Waaaaaaa!”

“No”

“Waaaaaaa!”

“No”

In any conflict, someone had to give in. The 2 ½ year old child or the 34 year old parent? The child of course.

“You want this?”

No wah’s just a nod.

“Ok”, I gave it. He inspects it…

“Waaaaaaa!”

“Now what?”

“Waaaaaaa!”

“You want me to light the flame?”

No wah’s. Another nod.

“No way!”

“Waaaaaaa!”

“It will burn you”

“Waaaaaaa!”

“Ok. Fine”, I flicked the flame on.

And he tried to hold it, which of course burnt his fingers.

But I remember, before he started crying, he just stood there, and looked at me. With utter surprise on his face. It was a surprise that here was someone he trusted with no conditions, no strings attached, someone who he comes running to every time he sees, had now given him something that hurt him. All I saw in his small trusting eyes, just before the tears came, was a not silent, “How could you?” but a silent, “I never knew YOU could”.

I regretted the moment ever since.

I wish it could have been otherwise, but some day, this moment will have to come. When I will let him get hurt. Intentionally. So that he’d learn… I hope he will one day understand. Maybe he never will. I wonder if he’ll rebel, when he becomes a teenager… dunno… It scares me.

Again I look at my freshly burnt fingers. It doesn’t hurt so much now.

Now it doesn’t hurt so much.

I’ve been given an amazing offer. To make a salary jump of 400% plus get a vehicle free! What’s the catch? That’s exactly what a friend of mine asked.

Maybe we are a bit cynical when it comes to genuine offers. What’s the catch? Whose hidden agenda can it be? No… really?

Yeah! Well, my cynicism cost me a good vehicle (now that’s another story, maybe I’ll post it one day) recently… anyway… I told him. No catch. It’s a genuine job offer which pays you a dollar salary and you don’t have to kill or sleep with anybody to get it. Maybe if you have to do that, people would make the jump?

Actually, there is a catch. I’d have to move. To another country. A country that’s doing much better than Sri Lanka, economy and development wise at least.

But the strange thing is, no one I speak to wants to go!

Now here was I thinking that everyone will jump at the slightest opportunity to make more money. Guess what, we Sri Lankans seem to be smarter than that.

I once read somewhere that 9 out of 10 people don’t leave an organization for a better salary. I remember why I left my first place of employment; management brought in a rule – you have to sign for EVERY printout you take. Wow! What next? Permission for every time you flush? (But of course this was after working in that place for 4 1/2 years. Now I am older, and wiser. I should have stayed on for another 6 months and left with gratuity)

So, what makes you leave a place? Cos contrary to popular belief, it’s not about the money, honey.

Isn’t it amazing how we would bitch about a situation but when we are actually offered a chance to leave it, we don’t? We want so many things in Sri Lanka to become better; politicians smarter, roads broader, salaries fatter, stomachs flatter, taxes lesser, bread cheaper… but, we are not leaving even though it doesn’t! Maybe, just may be, we actually like this country? Maybe even love it much more than we realize?

Now isn’t it also the same with a relationship? We sometimes look at someone else and think, if only my partner were like that and that and that… But hey, if you don’t like it, why don’t you leave?

I think whatever we say, inside us, we know that it’s not so bad. That job we have, that car we drive, that country we live in and that person we wake up with every morning, is so much a part of us, that we really don’t want to loose it. Or, the grass actually is not such a bad green on this side of the fence too?

Heck, they are still looking for someone for that job. But now I know that it won’t be me.