Rediscovering Reading

In the good old days I was an avid reader. Devouring a couple of books a week. Some people drink coco to sleep but in my case I needed a couple of pages of a book to sleep. I can remember once I was stranded without anything to read in Tissamaharama and was up all night. Till I found a detail leaflet which generally accompany medicine and started reading it like a drug addict finally getting his hands on his fix. But sadly during the past few months this reading habit had to be put on the back burner so to speak due to a lack of light. Yes as unbelievable as it might seem it is true. You see I use a little reading lamp which was homemade which throughout a shabby pool of dim light to read without waking my wife up. But as the years passed and I grew wiser it had a completely opposite effect on my sight. Nowadays the light was not sufficient to make the lettering visible.

But it all changed a couple of days ago when I spied a set of reading lamps in a shop window on my way to office from a meeting. Now all this time I have been looking for decent reading lamps. One for my study and one for the bed room but everyone which came across my path were either too expensive or just too shabby. Anyway these lamps were neither great looking nor extremely expensive which was perfect for me.

Now both these lamps are happily installed in my humble abode and I am delighted to say I am enjoying the pleasure of reading quite contentedly once more. Of course every silver cloud has a dark lining as it seems because now my problem is not getting enough sleep and it is a very sleepy me who is tapping away at this post right now. Yawwwwwn.

Another reason why you should strike while the iron is hot

In 1975, Kodak invented the digital camera—then stuck it in a safe lest it destroy its lucrative film business. By the time Kodak was ready to unleash its digital prowess, everyone from Canon to Sony was selling their own digital cameras. What a shame. What a crying shame and today Kodak is struggling because of the very thing they invented.

Necto and hair gel? The new high

In their constant search for happiness and Nirvana of any kind we Sri Lankans are quite ingenious in finding new ways to get high. I can remember when I was young it was coke and disprin. Then there was corexd and portello. I know some people who open the petrol tank of their Bikes and take a good deep breath of the fumes. Yesterday I heard that the latest combination to hit the streets of Colombo is to combine a small sachet of hair gel with necto. Apparently it only works with Necto and not with any other carbonated beverage. Makes me wonder if Gel and red bull might work too. I wonder if this is the brain child of some great marketing genius to help sales grow? Hmmm what will they think of next?

Insulting through compliments

What a great example of reverse psychology by Iraj. I found this completely by accident when someone posted it on my facebook wall. If you look closely you will see what a scathing criticism it is of the terrible state our country’s police force is in. Yet so cleverly done that the authorities can’t complain.

What I found more interesting was how people on youtube had hijacked this song and done their own versions of it. Making it a great example of a 100% local viral campaign.

The sad thing is apparently the TV channels in Sri Lanka are scared to run this other than Derana. But my hats off to Iraj for his bold stand. Will he become the Eminem of Sri Lanka I wonder????

And the peoples version is below.

The oxymoronic definition of “Alms Giving”

An eating experience where you enjoy great local food whilst putting on a sad face.

I am not ashamed to say that’s what I did this Sunday when I went for a good old “dhane”. I did try hard to refrain from moaning (too) ecstatically as I stuffed myself with some of my perennial favourite dishes like polos curry, capsicum stuffed, brinjal Pahi and accharu which was absolutely awesome. The spread was lavish and had been catered for approximately Rs 150 per person. The cost did not include dessert or fish or meats which was prepared at home. But still isn’t that a great bargain. However in the evening I was suffering and feeling bloated and then I realized the food was heavily laced with MSG. No wonder if was so tasty. But downing a couple of bottles of water I live to tell the tale and still consider it a worthwhile experience MSG or not.

The good the bad and the ugly side of Maalu Maalu

I should have been singing "Maalu Maalu Maalu den hadapu Maalu"

Instead "Cramped" was the first word which came into my mind as I drove into this much hyped up boutique hotel after seven hours on the road. Yes there was no proper place to park. The next few experiences I went through only helped to strengthen this assumption further. The reception area was quite small and so was the dining area. Especially the little nook where you had to serve food. If 6 people went in it was crowded and you were falling over one another. Even the cabanas themselves were tightly placed against one another on a narrow deep strip of land.

Even though I started on a negative let me assure you that this is a beautiful place. That is if you turn a bline eye to the narrowness. The cadjan theme is beautifully executed. The infinity pool looks beautiful and the beach is heavenly. Of course the sun is burning hot and its best to hit the waters during the coolness of the morning or evening. Even our lodgings were pretty comfortable. Since there were four of us including my kids I had splurged on a suite and the kids loved it. They had their own beds in a separate upper floor attic and it was cute. The bathroom was amazing. It was actually more spacious than the room itself and had its own Jacuzzi. Which was great fun. But I must confess the lodgings fell a little short of the amenities which were advertised on the website. For instance it boasted of a private plunge pool and deck. As well as a 24 hour butler service. The plunge pool was actually shared by four suites and the deck too was shared. There was nothing private about it. And there was no sign of the 24 hour butler. In fact when I walked in there was remnants of a tea service neatly placed under the stairs. And sometimes our room service dishes were cleared only the next day. What I was made to understand was that this hotel has been at 85% occupancy since inception. This means they have not been able to attend to the little details. For instance there are no bottle openers in the room. So every time you want to open a bottle from the mini bar you got to call the restaurant and they send you a bottle opener which they take back. Also there is no room directory, room service menu or entertainment guide. Due to the unbearable heat I spent a lot of time indoors. Reading and watching TV. Believe me watching TV is a luxury for me. Though they had Dialog sat connections only HBO, Nat geo and some of the news channels could be accessed. Even the remote of the desktop box did not work. Also there were no hair dryers in the room which is one of the standard facilities in this class of hotel.

I was also made to understand part of the reason for this is that the management’s primary motive is profit. And therefore they have staffed it with a lot of inexperienced people who are not properly qualified to do their job. Later on someone from Dialog told me the reason for the lack of channels was also due to cost limitations.

However I must compliment them on the food. It was good. There was a decent selection of seafood - I wished I had not spotted the Sigapore Chilli Crab station AFTER I had finished dinner - and even the Western food was palatable. I must not fail to mention that the best "pol sambol" I had ever eaten in this type of hotel was at maalu Maalu.

What I found absolutely lovely were the genuine smiles especially from the staff who were from the area. It was absolutely delightful to experience and one could easily overlook the minor short comings when you looked into their deep smiling eyes. Sadly only about 60% of the staff are from the area. I was talking to the manager of the hotel who says the locals are still trying to get used to a modern work ethic and needs to be handled with a lot of patience. Apparently they easily get upset and are quick to complain to the police for anything. He was telling me just that day one boy had not turned up because someone had held him by his arm a little too roughly. Also they are still trying to get over the war culture some of them are still scared to go home after six in the night.

There was something really bad which the management of the hotel was doing. This was selling water at 200 bucks a bottle during meal times. Ideally they should have offered the clients a choice of normal or bottled drinking water. I don't think any decent hotel should resort to this kind of low down practices. After all they were charging quite a high price for the rooms. Even the room service was a tad expensive 600 bucks for a plate of chips and 200 for a coke.

What I really found irritating was the sounds of the neighbors infiltrating into my rooms. Especially little kids screaming mommy this and mommy that. I couldn't help but go back to my recent visit to the Yala Mahaseelawa bungalow where I enjoyed a beach as nice and listened to the sounds of waves crashing in absolute silence. Now that was luxury.

The Deelightful Stranger I knew so well.

It was like seeing a glittering diamond amongst a pile of coals when I walked into my clients office. That's how I felt when I spotted this beautiful graceful young lady for the first time many weeks ago. Roughly about two months back I think. Her head bent down intensely working on...... sending out some text messages. I asked my colleague "who’s that?" She told me "it is a new girl who has joined to work on the in-house magazine". "Makes me wish I was 20 years younger" I whispered back to her (partly) in jest.

And every time I went for meetings I used to notice her working quietly and intensely rarely looking up from her screen. I was intrigued by this strange creature. Not only did she remind me so much of my first crush a long long time ago but also (one out of two) of my favourite nieces. In my mind I had nicknamed her "lil miss innocence"

Cut to last week:

Me and my colleague was having a general chit chat with the clients team when I realized that "lil miss innocence" was walking towards us. I go up to her shove my hand out and say "hi I am cj"

We shake hands and she looks at me and says "you blog right?" For a moment I did not know what she meant. I tend to keep my offline life and online life in two separate compartments "I know you she said I am Dee"

I am generally a confident type who remains unfazed by surprises life throws at me. However at this moment I didn't know what hit me. I just turned into a big ball of blubber.

Not many people know about my blog and I had thought no one would ever connect the dots to me in real life. Of course I was being naive. There were at least five people who have done so in the past. As you know a few of the posts in here are quite personal and I really didn't want my clients and colleagues getting a peek into my inner turmoil so to speak. Fortunately none of the people who were there caught onto what we were talking about and no embarrassing questions like "oh what's your blog called" were asked. Of course I quickly said my goodbyes and escaped.

Later on I realized what an rude odd ball Dee would have thought I was for rushing away in that manner. And her post a few minutes later confirmed my hunch. Of course I immediately wrote a long note to her apologizing profusely and explaining my position. Am glad to say all is forgiven and I count on Dee as a friend now.

However words cannot express how overjoyed I was to get to know her. I have been a great fan of her blog reading it regularly. An ardent admirer of her art skills as well as an appreciative listener of her play list. There have been many a time I just log onto her page and keep the music running as I find it out of this world. Makes me wish she was a radio DJ.

Of course if she had not introduced herself I would have never made the connection. The deecee in the picture I had created in my mind was quite different, not so graceful and feminine and far more tomboyish.

I am thankful to fate for intervening and introducing her to me. If I had the choice of not getting to know Dee and not having my virtual life revealed I still would have chosen the alternate. Dee it was my absolute pleasure to meet you and I am glad I can now call you "my friend" my friend. But for the life of me I can't fathom what ever made you think that I have a handle bar moustache.