December is the month where people all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ. But if the spirit of Christ works and dwells with us now as was when Christ walked on the earth how much more happy and loving should we be throughout the year? When Christ walked upon the face of the earth, He healed the sick, raised the dead and cast out demons. If such things are happening now, isn't Christ very much alive today. (Luke 4:18; Mark 16:16-20.)
My younger brother about 27 years ago was born an epileptic. The doctors said he would not be completely cured, till he was 21 years. My father was then practicing as a lawyer at the J.M.C. courts, and the then OIC of Fort Police, Mr. Sanders advised him to take his son to a place of prayer in a house at Rajagiriya.
The only word of hope he gave us was that as he is just a man like us he can't do anything but on Gods' promised holy word he'll pray to Jesus Christ to heal. This man of God was also on the bench at the Supreme Court as a Judge.
After he prayed through the name of Jesus (John 16:23, 24) my brother was completely healed. Today he's a very strong healthy swimming coach and a life saver at Kinross Club saving many lives from the perils of the sea.
If we live a life away from sin in obedience to God's word, as a child leading a holy life, the Holy Spirit of Christ, will always abide with us, not only in the month of December but also enable us to always celebrate his presence in joy and love. (John 14: 16 26, 27) The greatest longing and hope of Jesus Christ is to see all our souls after death, to be with Him in heaven eternally. (John 14:1-6).
In the tranquil stillness of the night terrain
Peace reverberated on Bethlehem's plain
As angels sang the jubilant refrain
"Peace on earth, good-will to men".
Peaceful the look on the Virgin's face
As she gazed at the babe asleep on the hay
Trustful repose that was Joseph's gaze
At this miracle of birth that before him lay.
Peace on the faces of shepherds who strolled
Following the tail-star with its quiet glow
Not a moo, not a bleat not a bray in the fold
In tranquil stillness the Godhead adored.
With rich symbolic gifts and brilliant attire
They came from afar in their curious search
The wise men seeking the Messiah
Mellowed and meek, witnessing this birth
The encounter with the crib is an encounter with peace
Tis the message the Christ Child came to preach
A testament of love, redemption and peace
May its peacefulness permeate and conflict cease.
It is heartening to see that the Galle Railway Station is to be shifted to a better site to avoid delay to trains. The present station is away from the main running line - Colombo / Matara - and thereby the trains have to be shunted up and down to the station and to the Main running line causing avoidable delay to all trains in the operation of calling over at the Galle Railway Station.
There is a more important and similarly situated place on the Main Line - Colombo / Badulla - at Peradeniya Junction Station.
The delay is caused because the Peradeniya Junction Station is sited on the branch line to Kandy/Matale away from the main running line. Trains that do not go through to Kandy but call at Peradeniya Junction Station to feed the connecting trains to Kandy/Matale, like important Mail trains have to be brought on the Peradeniya Junction Station on the branch line and again shunted back to the Main line to continue the journey to Colombo or Badulla as the case may be.
This causes a delay of about 20 minutes to these trains. If the Station is on the main running line these delays could be avoided.
There was a proposal sometime back to shift the present station to the site where the Peradeniya Junction School stands to avoid this avoidable delay. Shift the Junior School and level the small hillock and then build the Peradeniya Junction Station there which will then be on the Main line.
Blue prints in this connection were drawn up long time ago and construction halted due to finding alternate accommodation to the junior school.
If and when electrification is introduced to this section, this may become a bottle-neck, especially during peak traffic like the Kandy Perahera, Sri Pada, Holy Tooth Relic exihibition etc.
As an ex-station Master who had worked at this station I would commend this to the energetic Minister of Transport and Highways to implement this proposal without any further delay for better time keeping of trains.
We are patients from the Cancer Hospital,
Who are dying daily little by little,
Not so much from the dreaded disease
As from the hospital facilities.
Patients are lying all over the place,
They say it is due to a lack of space,
No one cares as everyone knows,
It is only the poor man who to the hospital goes.
The floor is rarely swept and mopped, The toilets are mostly water logged,
The beds and linen are seldom clean, The smell inside is sometimes mean.
We have no funds management says, To make this a better place, We are giving,
outsiders tell, But everything to no avail.
We the present patients there,
Would like to warn everyone beware,
Don't send your loved one inside there,
Unless you are in deep despair.
But if some kind helpful heart,
Would like to help to make a start,
Giving his/her contribution,
Would mean a mighty revolution.
So we suffer endlessly, And end our lives in misery, Hoping that maybe
some day, things may improve somehow someway.
It has been a litany of woe to the pensioners of the Jaffna District by the present disastrous and un-ending war. The constant shelling and bombing had reduced their houses built from hard earned money to heaps of debris. Having lost every asset, they have now come down to Colombo to spend the rest of their lives the hard way, which, otherwise would have been spent peacefully and usefully in a religious atmosphere. Many of the pensioners are yet with family responsibilities. They have transferred their pensions from the Jaffna Kachcheri, from where they could have drawn their pensions without any difficulty or trouble, to the Colombo Secretariat since they do not like to return owing to various circumstances. They prefer to remain in Colombo under difficult and trying conditions.
The majority of these pensioners had come down to Colombo carrying with them a few clothes contained in one or two suitcases, having lost so much, to live with a relation or friend. In order to rent out a room or an annexe with facilities for cooking, toilet and water, exorbitant rates are being demanded in addition to an advance for two years which may or may not be returned.
These pensioners have to raise money by pawning any jewellery they have, borrow money from friends and relations or solicit help from children or relations abroad. Relations lend the money on very hard terms. These pensioners expect to redeem their jewellery or settle the loans from the money they expect to get from their undrawn pensions and other means. Unlike Jaffna, living conditions and food items are very expensive. While in Jaffna all pensioners would have lived in their own houses and produced their requirement of vegetables in their gardens. They would have had their own cattle for milk, and poultry for eggs and meat.
To draw their monthly and undrawn pensions the pensioners are entertained in the Pension Branch of the Colombo Secretariat only on Wednesdays of the week when they could see the situation. Hundreds and hundreds of pensioners, including widows, call on this crowded day. To many, this is the only source of income.
In the first instance the pensioner is told that the pension file has not reached the office. When the copy of the letter of transfer is shown, the pensioner is told to call over the following Wednesday of the week. He awaits very anxiously for the dawn of the said Wednesday and hurries to the pension office to be there at 9.00 a.m. since he had been trained punctuality and adopted to it, unlike the present times, when lateness is excused owing to train or bus delays.
When the officer rests himself in the chair, the pensioner whispers into him, who, in a piece of paper notes down the name and pension number to be taken by the pensioner to the Record Keeper for the file. The pensioner has to wait for some time till the arrival of the R.K. who takes the file direct to the clerk. After the receipt of the file the pensioner is asked to call over the following week.
On the following week when the pensioner calls over, he is asked to bring a stamp to the value of Rs.20. The officer obtains the signature of the pensioner on the pension receipt over the stamp and is asked to call over the following Wednesday to find out the position of the payment of the undrawn pension or told that a cheque would be sent to the bank next week. Believing the officer, the pensioner, thoroughly contended goes home since he thinks that his misery has come to an end. After about ten days or so, or even earlier, he hurries to the bank to be told that no credit has been received to his account.
The pensioner, thoroughly disappointed makes a bee line to the Pensions Branch and when he explains to the officer, he is told that the file had been misplaced and had since been traced and that he would expedite the case. After delaying for about two weeks, by which period the pensioner would have called on the office at least once, he finalises and with the approval of the accountant, who is quite prompt in disposing papers realising the difficulties of the pensioners. The file is sent to the paying officer for writing out the cheque. The pensioner has to call upon this officer at least twice to get the cheque written.
There are many pensioners who have spent much money and lingering in the pension office for several months and yet without success. There are pensioners who could come out with dates of their visits and give a narration of what had happended on those dates. It is hoped that the relevant authorities - Director of Pensions, District Secretary Colombo, Accountant Pensions will look into this and grant redress to the pensioners.
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