Promises keep us going! So please don't break our hearts!

By Rypvanwinkle

"Thaaththa," Bindu Udagedera asked, "What do you think of the budget?"
"I didn't think about the budget, Bindu..." Bindu's father Percy confessed.
"Why, thaaththa," Bindu was surprised, "isn't the budget important?"

"Well," Percy asked, "why do you need to think about the budget when the prices of all the essential items have been increased several times well before the budget?"
"That may be so," Bindu agreed, "but Mahinda maama has tried to help us with the budget, hasn't he?"
"How has he done that?" Percy wanted to know.

"Why thaaththa, he has said that the allowance paid for the rising cost of living has been increased..." Bindu pointed out.
"Ah yes," Percy said, "by three hundred and seventy five rupees a month..."
"So," Bindu said, "Mahinda maama understands the problems people are having with the cost of living which is why he has increased that allowance..."

"Of course, of course," Percy observed, "and with that increase you can buy one more packet of milk powder for the month because its price was increased some time before the budget..."
"But thaaththa," Bindu pointed out, "I am sure Mahinda maama is trying to help us..."
"Why do you say that?" Percy asked.

"Why, thaaththa, he has also promised that fuel prices will not be increased in the near future..." Bindu declared.
"I thought he never increased fuel prices..." Percy said, surprised.
"What do you mean, thaaththa?" Bindu was puzzled, "fuel prices have been increased so many times in the recent months..."
"But Mahinda maama and Uncle Fowzie were always saying that they were merely passing on the price hikes in the world market to us..." Percy recalled.

"But Mahinda maama has promised not to do that in the near future even if world prices rise..." Bindu pointed out.
"And how would he do that?" Percy wondered.
"Well, he says he is reducing the taxes being levied on fuels..." Bindu explained.
"Oh, so they were making a profit on selling fuel to us all these days, were they?" Percy queried.
"I am not so sure about that thaaththa," Bindu said, "but I am sure Mahinda maama wants to help all of us..."
"Is that why he is taxing everyone with a house, car or telephone?" Percy asked.

"But thaaththa," Bindu argued, "that is a tax of just twenty rupees a month and that would go towards conserving the environment..."
"Yes," Percy agreed, "I guess you could find the money to pay for that by eating half a loaf of bread less every month..."
"And thaaththa," Bindu observed, "don't forget that Mahinda maama has also promised to find 15,000 more jobs next year..."
"Then he will have to tear gas more people when they turn up to protest against unemployment next year as well..." Percy said.

"But thaaththa," Bindu said, "I think Mahinda maama has done a reasonable job with the budget under difficult circumstances..."
"What matters is not what you and I think, Bindu," Percy advised, "but what those in Parliament think because it is they who pass the budget..."
"Yes," Bindu said, "I remember the Greens saying they will get the help of the Reds and topple the government at the time of the budget..."

"That is as likely as Mahinda maama bringing the cost of living down..." Percy said, "or of Sri Lanka winning a test match in Australia..."
Bindu knew he couldn't quite disagree with that.