On the dance floor!
Gyrating couples 
Young and old
In comic cocked caps
Moving rhythmically
To the tempo
Of a beat group;
And so
Embracing, hugging screaming, wishing.
As the tempo increases
They blast forth
Into the New Year.
In the churches,
The faithful
Kneeling in silent adoration;
Praying for peace.
For peace among men
And peace in their homes and hearts;
While outside
The world celebrates,
The dawn of yet another year.
With wave on wave
Of deafening explosions -
And the blaring of the radios
On at full blast.
In a humble home.
A woman
A tattered cloth over her shoulders
Bends over a pot
On three stones;
Preparing a meagre meal
Of ’Kiribath’
From a few grains of rice
She had saved,
The children
Running around,
Collecting
Stray unlit strands of crackers
From the road.
Right through the ages no Government ever gave it a thought not to discommode that forgotten race, known as Government Pensioners.
In the Good Old Days, all Government transactions, including Pension matters could have been conveniently transacted in what is now known as the Old Secretariat, part of which contained the House of Parliament (with a very modest number of MPs) and the present Presidential Secretariat.
Since then the Pensions Department has been having a severe beating and a truncated nomadic existence.
It was then housed at Chatham Street, Fort, Colombo, after that in a three storeyed building opposite the old Fire Brigade, Pettah, then again back to Chatham Street and after the Central Bank bombing, it was shifted to the Kachcheri building, Dam Street, Pettah, where it now stands, but is situated in a small separated building within the Kachcheri premises.
Due to some bright “spark’s”, suggestion Pensioners are expected to transact their business only on Wednesdays.
Imagine the confusion and congestion I happened to experience when I went one Wednesday to see about the non-payment of a Pension to a relative of mine in Canada.
To give the Devil his due or hats off to the Divisional Secretary at the Kachcheri whom I first consulted, was gracious enough to take me to the Pensions Department (in a separate building referred to above) and introduce me to the Subject Clerk concerned.
In my whole Government Service career and upto date, I have never come across a Bureaucrat of this calibre who went out of his way to help me.
When I went to the Maligawatte Pensions Unit, I had to climb 98 steps to the fourth floor (this is how a benign Government treats its old Pensionersplenty of foreign aid for other projects, but not even a lift for the convenience of old Pensioners.
Anyway, having gone up three storeys, I (at 83 years of age) was very tired and I requested the Peon on duty to take the necessary papers to the Subject Clerk on the fourth floor and bring them back with the necessary endorsement.
It is difficult to believe, because I am used to the Good Old Days, when Peons were so obliging, efficient and obedient.This particular Peon remained seated with his legs crossed and point blank refused to help me.
So I had to negotiate the remaining steps to the 4th floor, where much to my surprise a Lady Clerk with a film star name (I have forgotten) was the personification of courtesy.
Having offered me a seat, she wanted me to obtain certain relevant particulars from my cousin in Canada after which she promised she would settle the whole matter.
Again, hats off to another “rara avis” in the present Government Service.
So the main purpose of this letter is not so much to pick holes in the Administration but to appeal to the Government, even at this late stage to cause to be constructed one complex to house all the Pension Branches under one roof as soon as possible, as already 50 years have been wasted in vain.
I agree with Dr. Upali De Silva that with the Independence Day celebrations coming up, Kandy is in chaos, (letter in The Sunday Times of December 14).
The heart of the city is a whole big muddy pool. The pavements are no longer for the pedestrians who have no option but to walk on the roads with the risk of being knocked down by a vehicle. And while the Authorities are focusing on renovating the main roads which were already carpeted a few months back and are still in good condition, roads that really need to be re-surfaced are being neglected. For example the road that leads to the main bus-stand (Good Shed) is an utter disaster. Actually one wonders whether the officials are re-locating the Kandy Lake to that place!
Dr. De Silva is right when he says that the town is being merely white washed. Even the Dalada Maligawa is being white washed giving it a most unbecoming appearance.
But all’s well, we could bare up with the shortcomings, if they were really in the process of constructing the city for good. But it is all a mere patchwork on the surface. The city has been neglected for ages and now all of a sudden it is being patched up.
The Kandy lake is one big stinking junk with loads of garbage and dead fish. It is sad though that the polluted waters have been forgotten by the officials while laying beautiful lawns and pavements around the lake.
A few months after the celebrations, Kandy will return to what it was-a neglected city with a polluted lake and withered ‘white’ buildings.
Buddhism was given a chance in this small island, once upon a time, An experience that we all can be proud of. A lot of it.
o Respect for life, even for the insignificant ant.
o Respect for elders
o Worship of parents
o Simple lifestyle (Alpeicha thavaya)
o Tolerance of other ethnic groups and religions
o Seemingly ‘partriarchal’ but the mother was the ‘Buddha’ of the home.
o Communal life, a challenge to the ‘Individualism’ of today.
o And more, and more and more.
I remember the day as a young seminarian in a small group, in the early fifties, walking into a Buddhist village, exhausted after having trekked close on 15-20 miles on a hilly terrain. Our request was only for a little water to drink, We were served with the most refreshing king-coconuts. One of my pals, before we parted, offered the poor villager a ‘santhosam’. The mildly expressed riposte hit me right on my eyes. A blinding, but an enlightening shot. Let me repeat what he said, in his own words.
Aganthuka sathkara karala, ova gannawada?
It was a death-resurrection experience for me, Buddhism did it. And today! Yes today, with all the ‘isms’ we have and are importing!!
I am a Catholic priest, I am happy to be one. I like to say, ‘give Buddhism’ a chance in this country once again. When I say Buddhism I mean the liberative core experience shared by the Buddha and not the ‘religion’ with all the enslaving accretions that ‘self’ ish man has attached to it.
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