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The recently concluded tour of England by the Sri Lanka cricket team is perhaps their most successful. Although the team was dismissed as a sub-standard one, our boys proved everyone wrong. It was heartening to see youngsters like Chamara Kapugedera and Michael Vandort contribute their bit in both Tests and ODIs. As for the ODI batting line-up, Mahela Jayawardena, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara and Upul Tharanga were beyond comparison while Vaas, Maharoof and Nuwan Kulasekera proved themselves to be far better than what the opposition had to offer.

Mahela should be congratulated for his excellent leadership and in the belief that winning combinations should be retained, he should be given a chance to continue with Kumar Sangakkara as his deputy and Marvan Atapattu as an experienced batsman to strengthen the batting line up.

In the bowling department, Chaminda Vaas seemed off colour on this tour while Muttiah Muralidaran seems to be regaining his old zip after the operation although he is still not as spectacular as in the past. It needs mention that for the World Cup Murali needs to be in peak condition as having him on the team puts the opposition on the defensive.

Both Lasith Malinga and Malinga Bandara have proved that they can be world beaters if used with care. While Nuwan Kulasekera was a disappointment as a bowler, why the selection committee chose Nuwan Zoysa is unclear as Dhammika Prasad or other youngsters could have done better.

Of the English team, it is evident that without Flintoff, they are mediocre. Our boys on the other hand have proved their talent, especially considering they had to play in cold, wet conditions while overcoming the psychological disadvantage of being tagged as a team not worthy of a tour.

Our appreciation goes out to Mike Tissera, Tom Moody, Mahela and the rest of the boys. You have the responsibility to ensure that there is no premature burnout before the World Cup. May you go from strength to strength and bring back the World Cup in 2007.

Sri Lanka seems to be caught in a weird type of peace trap with no results being seen. Leaders such as J.R. Jayewardene, R. Premadasa, Chandrika Kumaratunge and Ranil Wickremesinghe were all deceived by the LTTE. Ranil’s Ceasefire Agreement made the LTTE stronger. Prabhakaran, one of the most ruthless terrorist leaders in the world, has never wavered from his main goal of Tamil Eelam, ever since he shot Alfred Duraiappa, the Jaffna Mayor. It’s the G.O.S.L. that has been wavering. By hesitating we would end up with a U.N. peace keeping force in our country, which would automatically give the LTTE its much cherished goal of Tamil Eelam.

It is in this light that the Norwegians come into the scene. Why are the Norsemen, so interested in our country? Most probably they are interested in the oil fields found in the northern coast. This is similar to the United States taking over Iraq and installing a puppet regime there. Thus the Norwegians have a different agenda, than what the G.O.S.L. thinks.

Once upon a time, the Vikings, a pack of fierce fighters from Norway, swooped down on the British Isles like a pack of wolves. The first attack of the Vikings was on the British Isles of Lindisfarne. A scholar when he heard about the attack wrote to the king of Northumbria, “Never before has such a terror appeared in Britian as now we have suffered.”

A twelfth century writer wrote about the raid: “The pagans from the northern regions came with a naval force to Britain like stinging hornets and spread on all sides like fearful wolves, robbed, tore and slaughtered not only beasts of burden, sheep and oxen, but even companies of monks and nuns. And they came to the Church of Lindisfarne, laid everything waste with grievous plundering and seized all the treasures of the holy church. They killed some of the brothers, took some away with them in fetters, many they drove out… some they drowned in the sea.”

The biggest political mistake Chandrika made was to get the Norwegians here. Mahinda can correct it by getting them out.

I am sure the word whitewash would have been mentioned many times in connection with the cricket we played in Britain. But the whitewash I’m referring to has nothing to do with cricket.

Take a walk around Colombo or any other big city in Sri Lanka. You will see many buildings of historical value, great works of architecture, new buildings to match current trends, shops, residences etc… but the sad part is that they are not appealing to anyone despite their character. The reason I believe is lack of maintenance. Some of these buildings have not been white washed since they were built. Old posters still hang faded and discoloured from them, strings used to hang flags remain and the red stains of spittle from betel chewers are seen on the walls.

In my view Colombo is a dying capital compared to its glorious past. I believe as citizens we should take the initiative and say to ourselves, “We must give a facelift to our capital, whitewash our buildings, shops, houses etc.” Do not wait for the authorities to act. I am sure this would attract many to see the majesty of our city.

Our tourist brochures display a variety of flowers, but where are they? I hardly see a flower pot at the entrance to any shop or building. This is a vital part of visual merchandising to make the establishment look pleasant. It’s high time for DIY (Do It Yourself)

Who is afraid of Dan Brown? Any Church or a Christian should not be. The inaccuracies, half truths and downright untruths in the book ‘The da Vinci Code’ should be read by every Bible reading Christian. The movie does not seek to discern between what is true and false. It is a fictional thriller at the beginning and a yawn at the end.

Dan Brown has looked at the painting ‘The Last Supper’ by Leonardo da Vinci and so should you.

Dan Brown has decided that the disciple John, probably the youngest disciple had gone missing. ‘He’ has become a ‘she’, who is supposed to be Mary Magdalene.

Obviously Dan Brown has no idea of Eastern culture 2000 years ago, when no female would sit or sup with twelve males even if she knew them. This behavioural code is still prevalent in parts of the orthodox East. In the picture, “Mary Magdalene” is leaning over and leaned over by the disciples. Her stance in the picture is also unbelievable for that time. No other painting of ‘The Last Supper’ by other artists shows a female or a feminized John, and there were so many of them. Dan Brown has conveniently chosen this painting to spin his fantasy.

In his life, Da Vinci had to overcome two stigmas which were a great disadvantage in the century in which he lived. He was illegitimate, and later, was a homosexual. He was not given his rightful surname — Vinci being the town where he was born. He was denied a formal education because of his illegitimacy.

He however was certainly a genius in his inventions and art. The painting of ‘The Last Supper’ done by him was in a chapel in Milan, and like all his works, he dawdled over it, taking many years and many moods to complete it. He probably made John feminine to satisfy the sexual fantasy of his homosexuality.

The same controversy is found in his painting of Mona Lisa. Art critics cannot decide whether the face is feminine, masculine, or a mix of both. Even if it was noticed by others and his patron, he would have had scant regard for the opinions of anyone. He had to prove himself repeatedly and suffered in comparison with the artist and sculptor Michelangelo who lived at the same time in Italy.

The preposterous suggestion is that Mary Magdalene travelled with a baby to France. Did she go in a dhow from Gaza strip to Marseilles? Or overland by a donkey via Syria! Imagine a dark brown skinned girl arriving in France - it must have caused a great sensation. Was there royalty 2000 years ago in France? The mid-east inhabitants of that time were brown skinned. Has anyone seen a pale Pharoah? The light skin seen today in the Middle East is by the infusion of pale skin genes from Europe.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the Bible not as a repentant prostitute, or as the woman who wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair. She was always mentioned in the Bible as being in the company of women who ministered to Jesus. This included Mary, mother of Jesus, Salome, and Mary, wife of Cleopas. They were of a middle aged group, and so must have been Mary Magdalene. The culture of the time would not have allowed young females to be part of such a ministry.

Jesus had no personal relationships during his Ministry. He showed his love and compassion equally to both males and females.

What was mentioned about “Opus Dei” in the book surely must have come from an ex-supernumerary who only remembered the reviled and penitential part of it and probably could not live up to the ideals of prayer and service, which is the greater part of the Opus Dei sect of the Roman Catholic Church.

The asking price from the High Priest two thousand years ago was only thirty pieces of silver. Wonder what the asking price from publishers, movie directors and film producers is now in this century? Fiction is very saleable, and fiction with blasphemy even more so.

Christianity has flourished in spite of persecutions, martyrdoms, scandalous fiction of the Bible and anything sensational against Jesus.

So who should be afraid of Dan Brown?

Almost eight months have passed since the government took office and most expatriates were of the opinion that the government would re-introduce the duty free vehicle permit system. We have made this request several times to the authorities and written several articles in the newspapers for issue of a duty free vehicle permit as had been given earlier for earning foreign exchange to the country.

We contribute a great deal towards the economy and development of the country. Therefore we kindly request a duty free vehicle permit (not luxury) considering the period served abroad and the total amount of foreign currency remitted. We hope the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment would include this in his proposals for the forthcoming budget due in November.

Whenever a pensioner meets another pensioner these days, the first question they ask each other is, ‘when will the proposed arrears of pension be paid?’ A few months ago it was reported in the press that some arrears of pensions from January 2006 would be paid to the pensioners in June 2006.

But June has come and gone and so has July. The arrears have not been paid so far and the pensioners are worried.

Will the Director of Pensions make an announcement in this regard and keep the pensioners from getting worried?

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