Phoenix's Otherside

By Laila Nasry

'The Otherside' is the Phoenix advertising agency's way of letting their hair down and chilling out. It's an attempt to break away from the monotony of daily work and all else that is routine and conventional - a unique exhibition to give vent to creative expression and wild imagination.

Unlike in the day-to-day running of the agency, this time around, everybody from the very bottom to the top, gets to play creative and display those cool ideas and crazy moods and moments lurking within. Needless to say, the office is abuzz with excitement and anticipation. It's the topic of dicussion in corridors and e-mails by the dozen have been sent. They've even got it as their screen saver (not that they need the reminding).

Most of the exhibits are individual rather than collective, for there seems to be little or no time for collaboration. Much of the work has been done over the weekends and where and when free time is available. The creations are unbelievable, extraordinary and often totally wacky. Each is stamped with a different seal of individuality. From picture perfect scenes and serene water colours, to the more outrageous creations of riotous colour and extraordinary design. Collections of photographs, savvy computer graphics of a most interesting kind and intricate needlework, sculptures of plastic 'mega' bottles, whilst others use bottle caps - the variety is unbelievable. A percussion band will be in performance with boxes as instruments while a dance troupe with feet painted is another group's idea of fun and freedom. This is expression at its most different and best.

'The Otherside" has proved an excellent hiatus to all those hard working individuals. It has brought more team spirit, , fun and excitement into the workplace and also proved an ideal setting to spot talent. 

'The Otherside' Phoenix's advert of a fun world will be held on December 2 and 3 at the Barefoot Gallery, 706 Galle Road Colombo 3. 

The elephant story- in a different light

By Uthpala Gunethilake

Twenty questions and more on elephants, fired away by the members of the Environmental Society of the British School in Colombo, at Jayantha Jayawardena of the Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust (BECT). 

Mr. Jayawardena, along with Srilal Miththapala also of BECT was speaking to the society members as part of the Schools' Awareness Programme on Elephant Conservation conducted by the Trust.

The man-elephant conflict has been making headlines for quite some time, and solutions do not come easy. Elephants happen to be the type you just can't keep enclosed in protected areas. On the other hand you hardly see its beauty and majesty when your house is being pulled down, or your crops are being mangled by an angry lone elephant. Activists have been working in the affected areas to bring about a solution fair to both the stricken humans and the confused animals. Then, what are members of BECT doing in a school far away from any wild elephant, addressing a crowd of students who are least likely to encounter an angry elephant at their window in the morning?

"Young people like you are the ones who have to take the message about protecting the elephants. It's not practical to wait for the government to do everything to protect elephants," said Mr. Miththapala. With this in mind, BECT started the Schools' Awareness Programme two years ago. But Mr. Jayawardena says that the type of programme they had at The British School of Colombo had a slightly different focus. 

"We actually started in the outstation schools, specially in areas where the children are actually affected by the man-elephant problem, such as in the Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura districts. There, when we show them the picture slides of elephants under a blue sky, amid the lush foliage, there are a lot of oohs and aahs. They don't usually see elephants that way, many have never seen a tame elephant. For them, the elephant is almost like a spectre, coming in the night and destroying what they own."

He explained that therefore, the main focus was on educating these children on handling the problem in a very practical sense. "You can't teach those children about conservation and bio-diversity without telling them how to survive," he added.

"But here it is like preaching to the converted", said Mr. Jayawardena, explaining that since elephants are not a matter of life and death for those who are not living in the affected areas, there is more hope for conservation through their participation. 

"Here children know the catchwords like conservation and biodiversity. Their interest in elephants is in a sense sentimental, because it's not a matter of life and death for them. So it's these children who can actually have a hand in conserving elephants," he said.

The Awareness Programme consists of slide and video presentations, lectures, question-and-answer sessions and a general discussion. The programme is also liberally littered with intriguing bits of information about the elephant and its habits. For example, did you know why the mahout and the elephant seem to communicate in a mysterious language of their own? Said Mr. Jayawardena, "If the elephant was trained in the same language that you and I speak, then all of us will be ordering the elephant to do all types of things and it will cause chaos. Therefore, the mahout takes care to teach the elephant a special set of sounds and symbols which are not understood by most." 

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Forest dreams

Let me shave my hair,
And wear yellow robes,
I want to breathe clean air
And walk on forest soil,
It's time oh! let me be free.

I wish I could sit beneath a tree
And tame my mind,
I'll take it slow,
I'll be patient I know,
The Buddha's truth I'll find,
With closed eyes and a concentrated mind.

I wonder sometimes,
If I'll have the strength,
If I'll have the courage,
To leave this impermanent pleasure,
Even though solitude I treasure.

My forest dreams,
Would they come true?
Will I leave the household,
And retire to the woods???

A thousand births I might have to wait,
Till my mind fully concentrates,
Yet when I go to sleep at night,
My forest dreams see the light.

Ruwanthi de Silva

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