You realize that she is no more your little girl…

When you go to pick your pre teenage daughter from a party and you are walking her to the vehicle and one of your friends call you and say in his most lascivious voice “hey buddy does your wife know that you are out with another woman?”

This is exactly what happened to me a couple of weeks ago as I was walking down the corridor of SSC with my eldest. It made me realize that one phase of her life was over and another was just beginning. But this one was far more dangerous because even though she still was a little girl in her heart she did not look like one to the outside world. And very soon I will not be dropping her and picking her up from parties because she would want to go with her friends. And very soon there will be boys at these parties. Boys who were just like me when I was that age and had only one thing on their mind.

I am an open minded easy going person but I must confess I have wondered how I will handle it when she starts getting interested in boys. They say that a majority of females end up being attracted to males who are quite similar to their dads because that is the only male role model they have. To be very honest I don’t find this very encouraging in fact I am downright disturbed because I was an absolute scamp when I was young. And when I look back I am not proud of the things I have done.

I guess what Tom Clancey said about God giving you daughters to punish you for the sins of your youth is absolutely true.

I just hope and pray that I can give her the right guidance and hold her hand steadily as I support her through this phase of her life’s journey.

God help me.

Conspiracy Theories - this time its cricket

Well I heard two tidbits of info from reliable sources.

One being the reason why SJ wanted to play his pre-retirement match in UK instead of home soil. It was because that he was worried he would get hooted when he goes into bat. Of course I got more info on how he made sure that only his allies were voted in to the selection committee but then everyone knows that already and I really don't have anything new to add on that matter than what a crying shame.

But wait till you listen to this.

HT who was shouting about match fixing for sometime finally went upto the powers that be with a priest in tow for additional security and spilled the beans in His Excellencies ear. Two of the three names mentioned were those who everyone suspected which was ADS the former Ferrari driving selector and the Bookie man himself. However the third name which featured prominently was non other than of the Manthrithuma whose wielding the bat right now in UK. Hmmmm let's see what unfolds and what the future holds?

Not bad for a lumpy 63 year old "seeya"!

In fact not bad at all.
I really wasn't expecting much when I went for the Leo Sayer concert. I was expecting a half baked performance by someone who was well past his sell by date. The tickets were free and the Mrs needed an outing and guess I had nothing better to do on that Saturday night. Boy was I wrong.
Right from the word go it was a performance packed with punch and power. Yes he was short and lumpy and does not inspire much confidence when you see him but his voice was still as wonderful as it was in his earlier songs. In fact I would venture to say it has improved with age. Wow! The way Leo Sayer moved about the stage and rocked everyone - yes I say ROCKED! with absolute conviction- was more like a 36 year old than the 63 years he really is. The magic was very much alive and to cap it all off he was a very nice and sincere man. Even his band consisted of some talented musicians who were really good. Specially the guy who played sax and harmonica.
Leo Sayer sang, he danced, he pranced and kept everyone entertained with stories and tidbits for two solid hours. Making a mockery out of what some one said about him being Leo "Seeya" (grand father) than Sayer.
At one point he got all the lights off and got everyone to take their mobile phones out and wave it. It was a most breathtaking and magical sights to see thousands of phones twinkling as if they were stars in the night sky.
There were two things which I found absolutely funny at the show. The first was the way the audience was singing and having a good time and even head banging one would have expected a bunch of teenagers. Except they were all in their forties and fifties.
And the second was when the band made a mock exit everyone got up and started to go without screaming for more as might have happened in another country. Finally the band had to come back on stage on their own steam and ask if everyone wanted more.
What I found spectacular about the show was the Sound. I have never heard such good sound balancing and quality in any other concert before. And what made me really proud was that all the sophisticated sound equipment belonged to the Maryans a band from Negombo. The speaker system which hung on its own scaffolding has to be seen to be believed how lovely it is. Also the sound engineer is a boy from Negombo by the name of Milinda Lowe. Who even got a word of praise on stage from Leo Sayer.
And last but not least there was a hit song of his which I had not heard before called "Raining in my heart" it is a beautiful song and had a special meaning to me as it kind of reflected the mood I am have been in the past few days. Sadly I could not find a good copy of Leo Sayer singing it so am posting the original done by buddy holly.
Overall I am thanking my lucky stars for utilizing the invites I got.
I must say it was a great example of under promising and delivering beyond expectation.

Bad for goodness sake!

There is a beef stall which has been operating in Thimbirigasyaya for more than forty years. I can remember it from the times I used to go around thimba when I was a little kid. The beef at this stall was fresher as well as far cheaper than what is available in the Supermarkets in the area. In fact they had far more variety as well since normal supermarkets would not sell specialized parts such as brain tongue spleen etc which were also less in price than the more premium cuts. Also this shop played an important part in providing cheap of offal to the poor in the area; something which a normal supermarket cannot do. Even the wealthy needed this shop as all the bones and dog meat for their pedigreed dogs came from this shop.

Recently it was demolished in quite a hurry without even an alternate locations being handed over to them. The reason being a special Budha Jayanthi commomeration high rise has been put up at the thunmulla junction which is nearly a kilometer away and it was somehow deemed unclean to have a beef stall on the road leading up to it. This has left the Muslim family who ran this shop without a source of income.

In fact I spoke to them over the phone and what they told me was that though the authorities promised them a quick relocation before the demolition took place that once the deed was done they have changed their tune and refused to provide them with an alternate location saying that it was not profitable for the CMC.

Now I am not a Buddhist but I asked some of my Buddhist colleagues would Lord Budha have endorsed that an entire family lost their means of income and is now going hungry thanks to a shrine built in his name??? And the answer was a resounding NO! I didn’t think so either.

Sadly I think this is a typical Sri Lankan trait. Something which makes us Sri Lankans. This is not the first time I have seen people do bad deeds for a good purpose. I see a lot of people stealing flowers from other people’s gardens to offer them as poojas. Or putting up “Dansalas” in the middle of the road without scant regard for the people who are driving down this road or the pedestrians. They believe that because it is for a good cause people should put up with it. Which is extremely sad.

However this post does have a happy ending. The people who did the beef stall have found another little shop and going to sell their meats as a “Meat Shop” or “Farm shop” which needs only a super market license from the authorities. This means suddenly, not only will they be getting there old clients back but also attracting a new clientele. People who used to patronize only supermarkets or farm shops before. Who says that every dark cloud does NOT have a silver lining?

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