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“Sathya
Sai Baba saved my life” On that fateful
day a heavy vehicle laden with explosives rammed the front of the
massive building. The attack brought down the first few floors of
the bank, immediately setting ablaze the building. Hundreds perished
and many suffered permanent injury. Vehicles and people on the street
opposite too met the same fate. The blast destroyed surrounding
buildings causing death and serious injury to those within. It was
total mayhem. The time on the face of the clock on the historic
lighthouse tower standing sentinel over Chatham Street froze at
10.52 a.m.; the moment of the explosion. The day, 31
January, l996, dawned like any other day. I had intended to leave
to Colombo Fort early that morning to attend to a few personal matters,
yet the chill in the morning air held me back. However I did leave
home as the morning grew warmer. The Kadawata town lies about 16
kilometres away from the Fort. I boarded a bus from there bound
to Colombo Fort but the bus did not leave immediately. It parked
a few feet away from the main bus stand in an attempt to collect
more passengers. The time was nearing 9.15 a.m. The bus showed no
sign of leaving. Idling my time in the stationary bus I activated
my cellular phone to communicate with a sister of mine. As I pressed
down the digits on the panel of the phone I noted small red ants
emerge. Having blown them off, I again pressed the buttons. More
ants emerged. I dread this variety of ants. These tiny reddish orange
creatures with two prominently projecting antler like feelers are
very destructive. I feared they would damage the unit inside the
cellular phone. I therefore decided not to proceed to Fort. I felt
the matter needed early attention. Therefore I alighted from the
bus and boarded a bus to Bambalapitiya. The bus would take me to
the agent whom I expected would attend to the cellular phone. It
was after 10.45 a.m. when I arrived at Bambalapitiya. I stated the
reason for my arrival to the person at the counter. A technician
was called in to look into the matter. He detached the rear of the
instrument and showed it to me. There were no ants inside. He however
undertook to service the instrument. At that very
moment there was a loud explosion. It rattled the doors and window
panes of the office building. These were troubled times. Bombs exploded
in the city at unexpected moments. There was pandemonium
in the office. A call was connected through a mobile phone by one
of the office staff to Colombo Fort with a view to contact the agent's
salesmen who could be thereabouts. Someone responded stating that
a bomb exploded in the heart of the Fort, in the vicinity of Bank
of Ceylon Head Office. The happenings in the bus that morning came
to mind. I breathed a silent prayer. By some quirk of circumstance
I was taken away from the scene of the tragedy. To the many who
were caught in the explosion there could be no solace. The technician
at Hutchison, the service done, returned the phone to me a few minutes
later. I was eager to speak to my wife at home. She sounded apprehensive.
She was aware I was to be in Fort that morning. I informed her that
I was safe and at Bambalapitiya. My job done
I left the office and walked towards the Bambalapitiya-Galle Road
junction. Looking towards Colombo Fort all I could see were large
clouds of thick black smoke ballooning up into the skies over the
horizon. I recapitulated
in my mind the task initially set out for that morning. I was to
arrive at the Hatton National Bank City Office, which was adjacent
to the Central Bank, to execute a voucher form for my monthly pension. I make this
regular visit a monthly 'pilgrimage' to my former place of work,
where I meet my former colleagues still in service. I usually spend
half an hour or more here. Thereafter, on that particular day, I
was to proceed to the Central Bank. Several years
ago whilst on tour in India, I met Erlendur Haraldsson, Professor
of Psychology of the University of Iceland. He had compiled and
published in book form an investigative report on the psychic phenomena
associated with Sathya Sai Baba. He had again visited Baba's ashram
at Whitefield where we met. Having a deep interest on the subject
it was my wish to translate this valuable book into Sinhala. When
I told him so he appeared very pleased. He mentioned that the book
had also appeared in French, German and Italian. On that day
I was carrying a message from the professor to be conveyed to a
mutual friend working at the Central Bank. Whenever I visit this
person at the Central Bank we converse a short while seated in the
foyer of the Bank on the ground floor of the north tower. That day
the explosion completely wrecked the foyer causing death to all
who were there. Had I not changed
bus and instead travelled straight to Colombo Fort, the time calculations
indicate that I would have been at the Central Bank or in its vicinity
at the time of the explosion. Had the bus left for its destination
immediately I boarded it I may not have thought of using the phone
to call my sister that early in the day. It was the boredom of being
seated for an unduly long period in a stationary bus that spurred
me to use the cellular phone at that time. Never before or never
thereafter did ants appear on the table or emerge from within the
phone. In fact the staff at Hutchison who serviced the phone stated
they found no ants within. Therefore the very presence of ants at
that moment profess a mystery. Considering
the varied circumstance that led me to change route and thereby
avoid being in the Fort at the time of the tragedy, it seemed to
me that a compelling power, that created the circumstance for me
to use the cellular phone at that time and the subsequent emergence
of these creatures, spurred me to change my plan for the day. It
was a power that knew me well and my fear for that variety of ants;
a power that understood it to be the best way to make me change
course. I may have been one of the very fortunate ones to escape
death or injury that day. Since the early
1980s I remain an ardent follower of Sathya Sai Baba. When I presented
to Bagawan Baba the manuscript of my book, 423 sheets of foolscap,
at the ashram at Puttaparthi, I had the much cherished privilege
of conversing with the divine personality. After an exchange of
niceties, He turned the pages about. "There are few books in
your mother tongue. Publish it," was his blessing to me. I have felt Baba's presence on many an occasion in my life at moments of distress. The manner of such occurrence, its very sequence is indicative of Bagawan Baba's presence. How well Bagawan Baba understood my way of thinking and caused the presence of ants to make me alter my plan for the day is amazing. The modus created to send me far away from a moment of near death is yet another of Sathya Sai Baba's phenomena that I encountered in my life. Laugh
Zone As the station
owner stood and gawked in silence, paralyzed with shock, his young
blond attendant nonchalantly filled up the tank and waved to the
two aliens as they took off. "Do you realize what just happened?"
the station owner finally uttered. "Yeah," said the blond attendant. "So?" "Didn't you see the space aliens in thatvehicle?" "Yeah," repeated the blonde attendant. "So?" "Didn't you see the letters 'UFO' on the side of that vehicle?!" "Yeah," repeated the blonde attendant. "Don't you know what 'UFO' means?!" The blonde attendant rolled his eyes. "Good grief, boss! I've been working here for six years. Of course I know what 'UFO' means 'Unleaded Fuel Only.'" Helpful hint Neighbourly
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