Criminally Corrupt!

A bribe of 95% of the value of the order?

I nearly fell off my chair when I heard it. For a moment I thought the person in front of me was playing a joke on me. Trying to take me for a ride. “What does he have to gain by lying to me?” I thought to myself when I saw the earnest look in his eyes. He is just another young entrepreneur trying to eke out a living in this corrupt world. Sadly he did not any one in high places to back him. That is why we were having a chat? He was here to see if I could give him some work because he wanted to get married and needed to save some money for a wedding. Sadly I could not help him much. All I could provide was a listening ear and some tips on how he could drum up more work. However we ended up talking for more than an hour. And it was during this conversation that this fact came out that.

This is a young television documentary and event producer. He had recently got a purchase order from one of our government boards – notorious for corruption I might add – for 5 million rupees. This was for a documentary to be filmed in the Northern Central Province. At first he was overjoyed because it was a wonderful order. It was only when the word filtered in as to how much he had to pay each person who had been involved in obtaining this purchase order that he realized that all was not good. In fact it was very bad. Because all he was left with was 250,000/- after everyone had been paid off. Which was not sufficient for even the travel to check out the locations which is required for this kind of project.

So he declined the project and with that a young man’s dream was shattered. And the light of hope was snuffed out in two people’s hearts.

Nearly ten years ago I had met the Transparency International country representative who said that that level of bribery was around 40% in countries such as Sri Lanka. According to him this was high – when the justifiable global standard of “cost of business” was 10% - though in African countries it could be as high as 70% .

I did the math 4,750,000/- out of 5,000,000/- was no ten percent or forty percent or seventy percent. It was NINETY FIVE percent.

This certainly was not justifiable or acceptable. This is criminal.

Scenes from the movie of life

He felt warm tears on his chest

He looked down to see her shoulders moving gently as she shed her tears, her face hidden against his chest.

“Why are you crying?” he asked her softly

.

“You got everything you wanted.”

“You are moving to a beautiful country”

“to a new career… to your husband”

“You have been dreaming of this moment for a long time now”

“But I am leaving my heart behind” she said

And he held her even closer because there was nothing else he could say…

A new perspective of vulnerability

I always thought being vulnerable was being open or susceptible to harm or injury. However I came across this lecture on TED by Brene Brown who is a researcher who studies human connection which gave a complete different view to the definition of Vulnerability. In fact she felt people who connected well with others believed that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful. I am still trying to come to terms with this concept and have watched the video below many times to try and grasp it further. But to be honest I have still not been able to understand it completely. But what I believe she is trying to say in simple language is that by trying to block (avoid) what may hurt us we close up other aspects of ourselves which deprive us of joy, creativity, love and belonging. If anyone can shed some light or has another opinion  on this I would very much love to hear it.

The Scrounger

Actually the title of this post should have been “The well off scrounger”.  Even though it is a good Oxymoron I  somehow felt that it would give the plot away.

My perception of a scrounger has always been of someone who is not so well off having to borrow stuff from other people. Stuff he has no intention of returning. But the person I am writing about is completely opposite of this description. He is young, a professional who has a good career with great prospects and is definitely more than well off. In fact he can be categorized as rich. Even though he is a man of means this guy never pays. For instance if someone is hosting a group of friends for drinks or tea he would order a pack of cigarettes saying that he would pay later and conveniently forget about it. It is the same when it comes to going on outings with friends. He will say he will pay his share on a lter day and conveniently forget about it. Even when reminded after many months he will quite thickly say I will pay later.

This gentleman belongs to a profession where there are lots of fees which have to be paid to others and I was told whenever he pays his dues he always keeps a small portion of the money back. For instance if he has to pay 10,700/- he will pay the 10,000 but never the 700.

It is the same if  he sees a pack of cigarettes. He will help himself to it till it is over. Without even thinking about the owner of the pack. The best thing is he does not smoke. At least when he has to buy his own.

These are not one off random events which I am writing about but something I have observed over a span of nearly ten years. What is happening as a result of this is that people are slowly but surely moving him out of their circles. Guess that is understandable. What is most interesting is apparently that his mom is just like him at least when it comes to paying back her fees. 

It was only when I heard this tit bit of information I realized that scrounging too is hereditary. 

Good Bye Hard Copy

I love books. Good old fashioned books. I love having them around me. And I love seeing all of my books lined up in the shelves. Believe it or not it gives me a sense of comfort.

Sadly things have begun to change.

It seems that I have been abandoning my trusty hard copies in favor of the more convenient soft copy.

In fact the last couple of hard copy books I read have been left half way on my bed side stool; on my desk or in my carvehicle; never to be picked up and continued with again.

I always read books on my phone. But now that I got an Android Phone and the fact that Kindle app works so beautifully on it has made reading on my phone an absolute blissful experience.

I find this far more convenient. Especially when it comes to the ease of keeping up with the story line and reading in the night without glasses and lights.

Also the kindle App has opened up a wide array of reading resources which cannot be found anywhere else. I have discovered that there are many authors who write only for kindle. Giving me access to some amazing reading material for just a couple of dollars. Sometimes as little as two or three.

I realized that I was truly converted when I was reading the hard copy of Dan Brown’s inferno and was wishing I had it with me on my phone so I could access it every time I had a few minutes to spare.

It was then that I made a promise to myself from here on now I will always chose the soft copy – if its available - over the hard copy on all future reading materials which I plan to purchase.

Some might call it Betrayal.  I just call it convenience.

Another Amazing Sri Lankan – Shanaka Fernando founder of Lentil as anything

Some people dream whilst others go about and make their dreams come true. 

Sadly I don’t belong to the latter but I am glad to have come across this story which really warms my heart. What makes me even more proud is that this is done by a Sri Lankan. Amazingly someone I came into contact with during my misspent youth.

Lentil as anything is a vegetarian restaurant in Australia. But what makes it special than any other such enterprise is the fact that it might be the only restaurant in the world where there is no price list and they don’t insist that you settle the bill once the meal is over.  In fact one can pay whatever they feel like or even choose not to do so at all.

What a beautiful Idea!

What makes it more beautiful is that the model is still working and the restaurant is still functioning many years after they opened their doors.

It seems people at large are much nicer and have more good in them than we give them credit for.

Kudos to you Shanka Fernando! For having the courage to do something different that actually makes a difference.

And we consume this stuff????

1. Budweiser beer conditions the hair
2. Pam cooking spray will dry finger nail polish
3. Cool whip will condition your hair in 15 minutes
4. Mayonnaise will KILL LICE, it will also condition your hair
5. Elmer's Glue - paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and blackheads if any.
6. Shiny Hair - use brewed Lipton Tea
7. Sunburn - empty a large jar of Nestea into your bath water
8. Minor burn - Colgate or Crest toothpaste
9. Burn your tongue? Put sugar on it!
10. Arthritis? WD-40 Spray and rub in, kill insect stings too
11 Bee stings - meat tenderizer
12. Chigger bite - Preparation H
13. Puffy eyes - Preparation H
14. Paper cut - crazy glue or chap stick (glue is used instead of sutures at most hospitals)
15. Stinky feet - Jello !
16. Athletes feet - cornstarch
17. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub
18. Kool aid to clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we drink this stuff)
19. Kool Aid can be used as a dye in paint also Kool Aid in Dannon plain yogurt as a finger paint, your kids will love it and it won't hurt them if they eat it!
20. Peanut butter - will get scratches out of CD's! Wipe off with a coffee filter paper
21. Sticking bicycle chain - Pam no-stick cooking spray
22. Pam will also remove paint, and grease from your hands! Keep a can in your garage for your hubby
23. Peanut butter will remove ink from the face of dolls
24. When the doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with corn starch and watch them slide on
25. Heavy dandruff - pour on the vinegar !
26. Body paint - Crisco mixed with food coloring. Heat the Crisco in the microwave, pour in to an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice!
27 Tie Dye T-shirt - mix a solution of Kool Aid in a container, tie a rubber band around a section of the T-shirt and soak
28. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle of club soda and cup of milk of magnesia , soak for 20 min. and let dry, will last for many years!
29. A Slinky will hold toast and CD's!
30. To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with Colgate toothpaste
31. Wine stains, pour on the Morton salt and watch it absorb into the salt.
32. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb into the towel.
33. Remove labels off glassware etc. rub with Peanut butter!
34. Baked on food - fill container with water, get a Bounce paper softener and the static from the Bounce towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak overnight. Also; you can use 2 Efferdent tablets , soak overnight!
35. Crayon on the wall - Colgate toothpaste and brush it!
36.. Dirty grout - Listerine
37. Stains on clothes - Colgate toothpaste
38. Grass stains - Karo Syrup
39. Grease Stains - Coca Cola , it will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. We know it will take corrosion from car batteries!
40. Fleas in your carpet? 20 Mule Team Borax- sprinkle and let stand for 24 hours. Maybe this will work if you get them back again.
41. To keep FRESH FLOWERS longer Add a little Clorox , or 2 Bayer aspirin , or just use 7-up instead of water.
42. When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you 'squeeze' for freshness or softness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie.
They are:

Monday = Blue,
Tuesday = Green,
Thursday = Red
Friday = White
Saturday = Yellow.

So if today was Thursday, you would want red twist tie; not white which is Fridays (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue- Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday through Saturday. Very easy to remember. I thought this was interesting. I looked in the grocery store and the bread wrappers DO have different twist ties, and even the ones with the plastic clips have different colors. You learn something new everyday! Enjoy fresh bread when you buy bread with the right color on the day you are shopping.

Don't forget Gatorade for Migraine Headaches. PowerAde won't work. Pass this information on to friends so they can be informed :)ang