Can you guess who sings this song?

Gentlemen of the jury
The judge's speech began
The scene was a crowded courtroom
And the judge a stern old man.

This prisoner here before you
Is a social enemy
A lady of the evening
And you know the penalty.

Her eyes reflect the nightlife
Her cheeks are red with paint
But I knew her mother, gentlemen
Why, her mother was a saint.

Now, I know that she's not like her
And yet she might have been
If it hadn't been for
Pettin' parties, cigarettes and gin.

We took the night life off the streets
And brought it in our own homes
While girls beguiled with lipstick
Danced to saxophones.

We opened up the underworld
To the ones we loved so well
So tell me gentlemen
Is it right to send her to a cell.

If she drinks, well, you taught her
And if she smokes, you showed her how
So gentlemen, do you think it's right
To condemn her now.

And when you're in that juryroom
Just remember there and then
That for every fallen woman
There's a hundred fallen men.

And before you render a verdict
On what this girl has done
Just remember there's a man to blame
And that man might be your son.

Now gentlemen that's my story
My testimony stands
This girl is my own daughter
And the case is in your hands.

I heard these lyrics sometime back as I was in the jungles of Wasgamuwa chilling out in the night. My friend just picked up his guitar and sang this and I was floored by the power of the lyrics. Of course AS had a deep voice which reminds you of Tom Waits and it really sounded great. I was asked to guess he who sings this song. And for the life of me I could not. Believe it or not it is a Jim Reeves song.

What a crime? Or should I say what crime?

Much ado about nothing! That was the first impression that came to my mind when I noticed the uproar regarding the Hikkaduwa beach Fest nude pictures. It was an irritant; gossip in the guise of news...

Later I watched in horror as it unravel into a monster of a crisis and consume the future of a couple of people who I personally think are only guilty of some innocent fun. Well even if one cannot say innocent it certainly was not malicious. Especially not to TARNISH the image of the country.

I was apalled at the venom which was being spewed out regarding this. Not only by the morons in power but more amazingly from some of the (what I thought was) moderate media.

My heart goes out to the people who were arrested and their families. I dont think that they ever imagined that their actions would lead to this kind of repercussions and they would end up in jail. I am sure there has been at least one occassion where you (the reader) would have circulated naughty emails from the office mail. I must confess I am guilty of the crime.

I wonder if it is an occupational hazzard of being in advertising but we doctor pictures a lot! For fun amusement and mischief as well. Though I really dont know the motive of the guy who did this; one part of me wonders could something similar have happenned if these pictures landed in my inbox?

What irritates me most is that there are so many other emails floating around some genuine some doctored. All much more controversial than this? What makes these pictures so special. Is it some kind of PR stunt to keep someones name in the paper.

It is sad that the powers that be are focussing their attention on something so insignificant when there are so many bigger issues, far more important than this petty non issue they could focus their attention on. Like Rape and incest and people driven to prostitution due to economic hardships. These issues are far more real and I would say more important. And would make a positive impact to the lives of thousands.

In any case what if this incident of nudity was real? We are a culture who were comfortable with nudity many years ago before the missionaries came. All I would say is lucky people; they seem to have had fun. Makes me wish I was at the party. If they did not harm anyone in anyway by their nudity who cares. Well maybe a few aimless, talentless politicians would?

The question which is always gnawing at the back of my mind is are we on the way to becoming a nation of prudes? Is our society moving towards becoming like some of the backward societies in Africa and the Middle East?

Sadly the more I see things around me the more it seems that my worst nightmares might become reality.

A sign of the times?

Guess the standard of English is declining the world over.

I always loved spelling errors on signs and always have wanted to start a
collection of them. But never did so. Guess someone else too has the same interests as mine. These pictures are so hilarious I just can't wait without scheduling them.

Keeping out the Riff Raff LC style…

Saturday evening was the mini fair of the Ladies College of Colombo. Since my two kids are students of LC I had no choice but to be their chauffer on a fine Saturday evening which I would rather have spent chilling out at home watching a nice movie. Well but at least it did lead to an interesting post.

Now one would expect that when there is a mini fair you could walk up to the entrance and purchase the entrance tickets without much hassle. Well that’s where you would be wrong. In this particular case you could NOT buy the tickets at the entrance. It was presold! Why would you go to such great lengths to pre-sell tickets would be the obvious question begging to be asked. Well it seems that they wanted to keep the riff raff out. Trust me obtaining the tickets were no easy task. The children had to buy the tickets from their class teacher. The parents had to buy tickets from the school office. Now if you were a non working parent with a driver then this would be an easy task. But if you were not it would create a logistical night mare which would mean making a special trip to the school purely to purchase tickets.

Now I must stress that I am not critical of the steps taken by the school admin. In fact I think it is a good thing that they try to limit entry. As you know a carnival of a girls school seems to attract hordes of boys of all shapes and sizes like flies to shit. And some of them are quite unsavory characters. And it becomes kind of crazy when you have little kids around them.

Anyway what is quite intriguing is there was a specific instance which led to these systems being put into place. And it does make for some interesting reading. This happened last year at the same event.

Apparently the principle has been at the gate making sure everything was going smoothly when she heard a young boy near her talking over the phone. He was telling the person on the other end that he had come to a really nice place and it was pure heaven and that the listener should come and join him at the event as well and then he turns around and asks the principal “akke mehe koheda?” (sis where is this place)

I could not help but laugh my fat butt off when I heard this. Anyway as they say the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go astray. And even with all the restrictions there were enough and more of what you would call unwanted people. Anyway there were hundreds more outside clamoring to get in and some quite tubby parents guarding the gates pretending to be bouncers and trying to look menacing.

Boy it was packed. I heard over 4000 tickets had been sold and that was everything which was printed. And they had to issue a few more hand written tickets because they could not refuse some of the parents who had walked in.

The youngsters were having fun and it was fun to see the fair morph into an impromptu discotheque. Actually the music was excellent and it was wonderful to see all the hands going up and bodies in motion raising their arms in the air and bodies gyrating to the beat of the music. Except for the smell. Boy it seems most teenagers today have no real understanding of personal hygiene. And I don’t mean only boys. There were many girls who were dressed very prettily and smartly but emanating very strong body odor.

He he guess it was the odor of the day!

Hey Teacher! Leave those kids alone.

It was with great sadness that I read about the third suicide of a girl which was triggered by a teacher who had kept her kneeling for a long time in the play ground. This girl was not from a posh school neither were her parents considered well off. So I guess the media has not picked up the story. There was no outrage about it like the two previous suicides. Or it has missed me completely. I just read about it in the Ravaya paper today. In this case girl studying in year 8 of Dudley Senanayake College in Narahenpita had gone home and hung herself because of the shame which was caused by the punishment she received.

I believe children should be punished if they do something wrong. But I do NOT believe in corporal punishment in an uncontrolled environment. I am a firm believer that there should be a set frame work which all teachers should follow when it comes to punishing kids. What is considered wrong and requires punishment should be well defined as well as how the punishment is meted out. In this particular case it is said that this kid was writing a letter to a boy and she was caught while doing so. Now to me this is not a crime in the first place. If the law of the land can carefully define what is considered a criminal act and what the minimum and maximum punishment one can receive for a particular crime should not it be the same in the case of children especially when they are schooling. Because this is the age which they are the most vulnerable and some things which happen during this time can affect them for life.

When I was in school I have received enough slaps from teachers. I did not think much of it then. It was part and parcel of school life. But looking back I realize most of those slaps and caning were done out of anger as an reaction. And the last thing you should be doing is hurting someone defenseless out of anger.

I also believe teachers come with a lot of their own personal emotional baggage. And they can be really nasty. Thank god I never had to cross paths with one during my entire schooling period which was quite short thankfully. However I know that both my daughters had to deal with teachers with issues and that really affected their self confidence. Sadly the situation today is that there are very few career teachers whose main passion is to impart knowledge to kids. I believe it is purely a situation created by economics. The brightest and the best minds would be naturally attracted to the private sector where the salaries and perks would be far greater than in the teaching profession. Look at how much a government teacher would get and compare it against the starting salary of a junior management trainee. I believe the average salary of a teacher is Rs.10,000/- in Sri Lanka today. That’s what a trainee with just his O levels gets in a company as an allowance. Need I say more?

The truth about lying?

Do we lie to protect the ones we love?

I was watching this movie purple violets and there was this sequence in it where this guy says he lied to her about being unfaithful because he did not want to hurt her. I was pondering about this and realised that there is some truth in this fact about lyying?

Recently someone close to me shared some truths which I would rather have not known. In fact I would have been far more comfortable if I had rather not known. And lived in blissful ignorance.

There was someone else I was talking to the other day and being honest and the response was "You are being honest and I HATE it"

I also remember the saying "What you don't know won't hurt you"

What do you think? There is no right or wrong answer.

Of course I would appreciate if you wouldn't lie. :)

25 years of happiness ???

A pretty lame heading I know not the usual kind of riveting line which promises a lot and then delivers absolutely nothing. I suppose in this instance it is the opposite. You can be the judge of that.

This phrase came up last evening when a few of us were having a chat. This was the line which was used by two lovers on their invitation for a party to celebrate 25 years of well... being lovers I guess.

Before I ramble any further I need to stress that my intention is not to criticize this relationship. I can't afford to do that.

But I am just intrigued. Firstly how two married individuals who are also in the public eye can manage to have a solid relationship for 25 years? It seems with the consent of their spouses. Yes the male is the head of a large family owned company that manufactures products which are a household name. And the lady too is equally prominent.

Generally from the little bit I know an affair is a short lived exercise. A flash in the pan. Which ends in hurt to at least one party. But this particular affair has swum against the tide. It has lasted longer than some peoples marriages. A question which opens an whole new can of worms? Maybe marriage should be like an affair.

Sometimes when you live together for a long time you drop your guard and relax the standards of your decorum. What I say was beautifully summarised in a response to a post by isheeta the desi girl where she says "Married men fart A LOT more than single men AND MORE FREQUENTLY". Someone has responded quite wisely I must add saying "that the all men pass wind in equal amounts its just that once you are married they decide to do that in front of you". Which is absolutely true. I should know.

What really intrigues me is what the other party feels. Do they not hurt? Do they not consider it a breach of trust? Or is it just part of the cycle of life of the rich and famous? Or is it just plain economic sense?

I know of a lawyer who advised a client that she should not file for divorce from her husband who lives separately unless she wants to get married again. Which was really not her intention. The reason being this way she would not loose 50% of her assets if he dies before her. On the reverse side I also know of some gents who had been living with other females without getting divorced and even having kids with them. And those families being homeless because they never realized that they don't own the house they lived in.

Of course I believe all this happens when a marriage looses its spark and thrill and guess one way to ensure that it never breaks down to this level is to behave and treat one another in the same manner you did when you were dating.