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 Culinary
magic
Pepper Chicken, Anybody?
Ming Sheng Xie had to be called "Sandy". He introduced himself
as Sheng Xie, which became "Shangzy" and, naturally, the people
at the Queen's Hotel plumped for "Sandy". Sandy's domain is the
Kong de Ling Chinese Restaurant that overlooks the Lake, and here he performs
his own brand of culinary magic, truly Chinese in style and flavour.
With recent refurbishment, it's all systems go at the Queen's and I
asked Sandy what appealed most  to
the many who came to the Kong de Ling. He was puzzled. "You mean the
tourists?"
"No. The Sri Lankans. Lots of people around here come to eat, don't
they?"
He smiled. "Many, many. Local people make this place full up. I
think everybody enjoy my food. Making them happy is my happy."
Of course.... and what do our local diners go for? You see, I wanted
to know what our people prefer to eat. It seems that our fastidious diners
know what they want. Fish and shellfish may be nice, but we are in Kandy,
and that's miles away from the sea. Frozen fish loses flavour. Pork is
a matter of choice and taste, and beef is not sought after all that eagerly.
Who can ever be sure of the beef we buy anyway? You guessed it. Sandy says
it's chicken.... and the favourite? His special Diced Chicken in Pepper
Sauce. I asked him to tell me about it and, if you want Sandy's recipe,
here it is:
All you need is 500 grams chicken, deboned and diced, 150 grams of leeks
and 200 grams big onion. The chicken is seasoned in soy sauce to which
a cube of chicken soup is added, for half an hour. Now, heat oil in a wok,
pop in the chicken, stir-fry until a nice pale brown, then add the leeks
and onions. Also, toss in a little pepper, half a cup of water and two
more soup spoons of soy sauce. Lastly you add a dab of chilli paste. The
whole stir-fry should take three minutes and it is then served, topped
with the gravy.
Sandy hails from Shanghai. He likes working at the Queen's and thinks
Sri Lankan girls are too nice for words. He came here in 1996 and intends
to stay, making the finest Chinese food....and that's something the Queen's
is known for, among others!
The Great Diddle
There are, in Kandy and its environs, a large number of people who form
a majority of a group of 583 persons who, quite long ago, invested a total
sum of 787 lakhs in a large business here. Among these people are top ranking
police officers, businessmen, politicos, retired teachers, lawyers, etc.
The scam was neat. The firm informed all would-be investors that its main
line of business was the supplying of materials to a large British contracting
company operating here. The firm received a commission of 30% from the
Brits. With massive supply orders to be met the firm needed the necessary
cash injection. The would-be investors were very satisfied. They received
a detail of huge orders. The supplies asked for ran into millions. They
were told that they would receive a 15% return on their investment. In
short, if they were to put in a lakh all they needed to do was deduct their
15% up front and pay only Rs. 85,000. It would still be treated in the
books as a one-lakh investment, with their fifteen percent paid from the
following year onwards.
What was there to quibble about. The firm looked solid enough. Three
large premises in Kandy too. Everything seemed as simple as pie, only this
particular pie was in the sky. The investors were taken for a ride. It
took time for them to realise that they had been suckered and at the end
of the second year, with no dividends forthcoming, they began to file action
for recovery of their monies. The firm, in turn, declared itself insolvent
in 1982 and the Courts slapped a prohibitary notice on the three prime
buildings in Kandy. The idea was that these buildings would be auctioned
and the investors paid back from the proceeds. I could give you the case
number but I won't. Somehow I think that with nothing really resolved as
yet, any details could be sub judice.
The owner of the firm is now dead. The properties are still, legally
that is, prohibited from carrying on business but nobody asks about the
tenants there, how and to whom they pay rental and what business goes on.
Meanwhile we have 583 people who ploughed in a total of Rs. 78.7 million
and haven't seen a cent of this money.... and a case that remains unresolved
from 1982. Wotamess!
Vehicular emissions
Dr. Piyasiri A.J. Yapa, Senior Lecturer, Department of Botany, University
of Sri Jayewardenepura, was in Kandy recently. He addressed the Organisation
of Professionals here on air pollution - one of the most talked-of topics
related to environment. While this column cannot carry all the fascinating
details of Dr. Yapa's talk, one point is most telling: that vehicular emissions
contribute to as much as 65 percent towards air pollution. Industrial emissions,
he says contribute 12 percent, power generation 16 percent and domestic
appliances 7 percent. He said that emissions from both petrol and diesel
vehicles are equally bad, especially from a health point of view. The particulate
matter found in both types of vehicles are now known to cause cardiopulmonary
diseases when inhaled. This has caused 65,000 deaths in the USA, 50,000
in the UK and 45,000 in India annually.
He said that diesel cars emit six times more particulate matter than
petrol-driven cars and diesel buses and vans are the worst offenders, emitting
48 times more harmful particles than petrol cars. Yet, the carbon dioxide
content of petrol car emissions are 14 times more than diesel cars. What
is surely of the most immediate concern to our Health authorities is Dr.
Yapa's disclosure that diesel emissions contain the most dangerous and
next most dangerous carcinogens ever detected. The first is 3-nitrobenzanthione
and the other is 1.8-dinitropyrene. Laboratory tests with these carcinogens
have recorded 6 million and 4.8 million mutations respectively.
Petrol emissions are also known to contain toxic organo-lead compounds
which are especially hazardous to children. He said that we should view
the increase of our vehicle population with alarm., Petrol driven cars
will number 263,860 by 2010 and diesel vehicles 43,062. Diesel driven vans
will increase to 288,600. Compounding this evil, he said, is the fact that
most of these vehicles are reconditioned and with poor engine performance.
Does Dr. Yapa have an answer? Watch this space!
A country's assets
Professor C.B. Dissanayake is one of those men Kandy takes much pride
in. He is a true professional in his many fields, both scientific and aesthetic....a
man who knows the many faces of art, who is - oh, what the heck, I lose
it sometimes - let me repeat, a true professional.
It is on the professional that CB (as we all know him with affection)
has much to say and is most decided. Professionals, he says, are a national
asset to any country. Ask him to elaborate and he will tell you of the
highest levels of basic human etiquette, decency and integrity, qualities
he possesses in full measure. But, he adds, professionals are not born.
They are made - and it is the country and society that facilitates a professional's
progress. The State, that provides an atmosphere that is conducive to personal
development, that opens opportunities for enhancement of leadership qualities,
that offers educational and social benefits to the people, can be assured
of reaping a goodly crop of true professionals - men and women who, having
taken advantage of the path (and even cleared the path for themselves)
will dedicate themselves to helping others along. He or she should be quick
to provide the wealth of their own learning and expertise, both in planning
and implementation of the three levels of society which range from family,
local community and the State, be able to look to the grassroots, understand
the intricacies of mass society and not confine himself or herself to an
abstract world. To do so, he said, is to eventually become isolated from
society and to even come to resent it.
"We need practical, caring professionals today," he said,
"men and women who can rise above hypocrisy and political entanglements
and put their professionalism to the service of society." CB abhors
hypocrisy. He is, as the Western paperbacks love to say, a straight-shooter.
Which is maybe why he is no longer at the Institute of Fundamental Studies...
and he's too much the gentleman, the true professional, to even look back
with any kind of emotion. After all, why should he? He's a professional!
And the prison band plays on and on...
By Chamintha Thilakarathna
Who would expect to hear music within a prison? I certainly didn't.
But walking into the Welikada Prison's female section, my expectations
of sombre surroundings with hardened, disillusioned faces everywhere, were
somewhat dispelled. Not that the female inmates are thrilled about being
there but because some of them have been successful in making the best
out of a bad situation.
These are the members of the 'Ehindas' band. A common love for music
has been the motivating factor behind their formation. Whenever they get
the opportunity they get together to make music and dance. In fact, they
have their own dance troupe as well.
They all have something else in common, a fearful loneliness. And, the
band for them has been a therapy.
"Our band is called 'Ehindas' because the members as well as the
instruments have been picked up from various places," said the women.
The 'Ehindas' christened thus by their head warden, consists of seven
members, and has been in existence for at least 10 years, according to
the inmates.
"We are all here having been taken in for drugs or prostitution.
But we have friends and even when we go out we keep in touch," they
said. And, for them be it hunger, thirst or loneliness, music is the only
way that they can get over their feelings.
What are their instruments? Not electric guitars or high quality drum
sets. It's a drum band with large pans, used tooth brushes, soap boxes
and plates. It's difficult to believe that tooth brushes, soap boxes can
sound that good, but trust me, they do. They have their own style and rhythm
which is close to 'baila', and their own lyrics as well. Most often they
are not written in paper but in their hearts and minds. Singing to us,
they used whatever words came to mind, creating their own version of familiar
Hindi songs. Starting slow and gathering momentum, they seemed to come
alive when they perform. Their repertoire ranges from Sinhalese, Hindi
to popular English songs.
"If only we could get a proper band set," said one member.
The band has also helped the women to get together and identify themselves
as a whole and not as individual members of a large institution. Their
depressions, frustrations and fear are calmed by the noisy but punchy music
that they play.
The Warden and the other prison supervisors are supportive and also
help them out in obtaining the necessary equipment whenever possible.
"I am the official dancer of the prison," said one of the
female inmates who was dressed in a white dance outfit decorated with sequins
and silver and gold thread. She also wore beautiful artificial jewellery
which her husband had got for her, made up of whatever coloured pencils
they could find.
While she has devised her own dances, two others perform a Kaavadi sort
of dance while another does a bharatha natyam dance. Their families provide
them with many of their costumes, seeing it as a small contribution toward
lightening the, agony of life inside the prison walls.
They may argue at day and fight by evening but the band will continue
to play, and the dancers to dance.
"What else is there for most of us?," they questioned.
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