Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Doing Bad with good intentions!

It was Wesak... I was looking for four days of rest... complete rest of mind and body. Alas I forgot that though Wesak is a time for peaceful reflection on the teachings of Lord Buddha it is the time when the religiously inclined in our country go Mad over Dansals.
Actually I should have been forewarned.
For the past few months we have been hounded by groups of people who come into our house with a file and ask for donations in a menacing manner. It is absolutely amazing how generally the thug in the area along with some of the most unsavoury characters in the area always take the lead in such a project. Sometimes I laugh my self to tears at the irony of all this.
Once the hunt for donations stopped then the other signs of things to come began to come up... Sheds began to come up taking over the road space as if it was someones own personal property. Who gave a damn about parking or blocking of the road? After all this was done for the larger good? Nails were spilt leaving them to puncture tyres of some sorry souls car.
And then the hangers on hung around... (guess you cant expect anything more from them) blocking the road and making sure that vehicular moment came to a stand still. You had to beg of them to move off the road. And even after all these ominous signs I did not realise what was going to happen on Wesak Day.
Chaos my dear friends! Absolute Chaos. All these people at the Dansalas thinks its their god given duty to stop all traffic without paying scant regard to any road rules or any rules of civility for that matter. Cars stopped all over the road. Traffic jams people in the middle of the road walking nope not walking strolling as if they were on a beach and there were a few cars who had stopped on the middle of the road and were eating without moving their vehicle? I know us Sri Lankans are a selfish bunch. But how selfish can one get. Why do temples encourage this kind of behaviour in the first place? Don't tell me this is in keeping with the teachings of the Lord Buddha. In fact later on into the night you can see all these so called organisers drunk and dancing to loud music outside the dansalas.
I feel its such a crime and an abomination that when a sacred ritual such as a dansala has been brought down to this level.
But hey then again this is Sri Lanka after all.

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