Letters to the Editor
View(s):Do pensioners have to take to the streets to get what’s due to them?
In the recent past there have been many letters to the editor and news items about the sufferings of pensioners. Popular journalist Manel Abhayaratna had highlighted the issue in an article titled ‘Attitude of successive governments regarding pensioners’ in the Daily Mirror.
Parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa also has highlighted the pensioner’s plight. Unlike Parliamentarians, public servants have to toil for about 30 years and for about 250 days a year to be entitled to a full pension. How many parliamentarians attend the parliamentary sessions? But they enjoy a luxurious lifestyle with car permits granted to them. Also allowances for electricity, water and telephone not to mention a rent allowance while pensioners struggle to find even two square meals a day.
Although there has been a hue and cry by pensioners about their grievances, the authorities seem to be deaf and dumb to their pleas. Mahinda Chinthana 2005 promised to rectify the anomalies and increase the pensions, because those who retired before 2000 were at a great disadvantage whereas those who retired after that get 90% of their last salary.
So many elections have come and gone and so many promises have been made.
Not just pensioners, ordinary people find it hard to make ends meet with the escalating cost of living. Two items which must be mentioned are the cost of milk powder and medicine, which are essentials for pensioners. Recently pensioners who had been suffering silently launched a protest in front of the Fort Railway Station. What a pathetic sight it was to see the pensioners in the twilight of their lives protesting like young trade union leaders to win their demands. I hope this heart-rending protest will open the eyes of the authorities to redress the pensioners’ grievances.
A frustrated pensioner, Rajagiriya
Home is your gym, and daily household chores your exercise regimen
I recently saw an advertisement promoting household appliances to “make life easy.” Images of high-tech equipment hide the fact that we rely too much on technology, and consider the day-to-day household chores of yesteryear a burden in today’s fast-paced world.
Leadership guru Robin Sharma said that in the first 40 years of life we sacrifice health to earn money, and in the next 40 years we spend our savings on health-related matters.
We advise overweight patients to exercise regularly, forgetting that these patients go to an expensive gymnasium and come home to use a blender instead of a mortar (wangediya/molgaha), grinding stone (mirisgala), separating equipment (kulla), and coconut scraper (hiramanya).
The expert chef Pubilis once called these items the parts of the kitchen gym! There are several other pieces of equipment that could be used to turn the kitchen gym into a household gym.
Youngsters use the a pulling machine in the gym to exercise the latissimus dorsi muscles, the muscle that gives the V-shape. When the humble villager draws buckets of water from the domestic well, he exercises these same muscles. Other excellent forms of exercise are cutting grass with a swinging blade, ploughing the earth, digging pits, removing the husk (lella) from coconuts, scrubbing floors, sweeping the house and garden, and washing clothes by hand.
Why not put away all the high-tech equipment and start using your muscles in a natural way, and prevent those “prestigious” ailments of the privileged, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
Dr. Himantha Atukorale, Ragama Hospital
No peace for devotees as beggars have field day
Hindu devotees gather every Friday morning at the Manikkavinayagar kovil in Bambalapitiya to offer poojas and say a few silent prayers before the routine of daily life takes over.
But even within the premises of this place of worship there is no peace for the faithful as several beggars assail them with raucous calls for help. They are like a Friday fixture and will not allow the devotees to engage in prayer and even if a few rupees are handed over, not satisfied, turn abusive.
Even though petitions have been sent to the police, they seem to be turning a blind eye, allowing the beggars to have a field day pestering the devotees. Whom should the devotees turn to for help, many ask as they leave the kovil premises in haste due to this beggar-menace.
A concerned devotee
Bambalapitiya
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