Mojo and Suzanne

Mojo and Suzanne

Written by bunpeiris

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Suzanne and her Mojo.” 

An absolutely stunning angel in a swaying short skirt and a Cashmere sweater floated into the lobby just as a butterfly would. She seemed incredibly light on her feet. I couldn't take my eyes off. Our eyes met, she held the gaze and she began to float towards me. Is the gravity off, where she tread? Lovely black curls framed a fairest prettiest face. Just blinked and she was at my table. She was sultry and serene at once, incredible. Never seen anybody so exceedingly pretty. That's slightly sharp double chin. She smiled: full lips fluttered; doe eyes twinkled. And the dimples on cheeks appeared in a flash. Am I dreaming, by god if this is dream, please don't wake me up ever. Let me die in my dream, please. Jesus, I can't take my eyes off her. oh! god is this real? Please say this is real. Who is this? Please say this is real, please , please, please.

Hello, is it me you are looking for?
I guess so, You are Mojo, I presume.
[That's the most melodious voice I have ever listened to]
Like hell, I am Mojo, and you just made a discovery.
Oh! yea, I have doubts on that matter.
Oh! another doubting Thomas, if you don't believe, I'll take off my  T-shirt and show you the hole where the nail pierced.
Oh! Myee! then you are really him! The man with a Rupee size scar of a bullet wound, oh! sweet Jesus , how could have I imagined it was you?
I am sorry, please sit and share my breakfast till we get what you would like.
Oh! I just have had breakfast.
Never mind, let's go for the second breakfast since we will be having late lunch.
Are you suggesting, we...
No, angel, insisting
Insisting, insisting on what dear?
We are going to the worlds End?
Who are we?
[She is sharp, she need to make sure whether there is anyone else too]
Before you floated in my lovely butterfly, it was me, now we, no more me, all we, from now onwards and don't tell me you are married, I would jump over the escarpment of Worlds End.
In that case, I would accompany, if not for any interest, at least to save a life, you rogue.
[Christ, she is so gorgeous, so easy going, I am never going to leave you angel]
So you aren't married?
I was.
[I gasped, she giggled merrily]
Then?
Divorced last week
[ I gasped again, unable to utter a single word]
Hey, I got you now, for the first time you have no words to cut me down.
[She is a tease, a vivacious, bubbly tease]
Yes, I have no idea what to say. I am sad you are ... I don't know what to say... then I am happy too..
[ She glanced at the glossy periodical I had been reading and remarked]
She is so beautiful, isn't she? She had set a eyes on a photo of Hedy Lamarr
Very true, but as not as beautiful as you are.
From where did you learn to flirt like this?
Well, I used to read my father's love letters to my mother.
How mean you were? Are you still the same?
If I am the same, you are the savior of mine. Hey, just a second, what's your name? And you are gorgeous
[she giggled like a bell, yet softly.]
No, I am not gorgeous, I am Suzanne De Mel.
Sure, you are  Suzanne. So you are the adorable sister of my boss.
That's right.
So you are supposed to look into the welfare of mine.
No, I am not told to do so, I am afraid.
Well, my boss said something to the effect his adorable sister would extend her helping hand if needed, But I want your hand for eternity.
Oh! God, I am still sunk in my rudderless despair, Are you earnest? Or are you just flirting? Are you mocking at me?
I have never been so earnest in my life.
We have only met. We know only next to nothing about each other, apart from that story of lucky bullet. But then, on the flashback, now with you face to face, that reveals loads about you. But then again, not much outside of the episode. Could we go slow?
Yes we can.. I am sorry if I seemed to rush you. So let's make a move.
[She frowned and recovered. Now, the twinkle in her eye returned] What do you mean?

Would you come with to Horton Plains ? Worlds End?
Too late now, mist would have gathered by the time we get there.
True, we can wait till the mist gets cleared in the mid day?
Oh! That's why you said we will be having late lunch. How scheming you are? Why don't we take a couple of lunch packets from the hotel there?
Oh! yes, that's a brainwave.

steward landed with a couple of egg and jaggery-solidified Kitul Palm Honey hybrid hoppers. " Here you are sir." "Two more for us" "Very well, sir, straight away sir"]

How do you know I love hybrid hoppers.

I didn't darling. I ordered a couple just before you descended from the heavens

[ She looked at me one eye winking; other eye twinkling, Such a lively girl she is!]

oh! ya, how is that you ordered two more without a blink, you said for us and you didn't even pay me a glance.

Well, either of us can think for both of us, I guess, we are one.

[this time, both her eyes shot to the heavens; her lips curled.]

You are an impossible tease, Mojo!

Not exactly, could be half teasing.

Then the other half?

Always from the first thoughts of mine to your impossible probing, questioning. The original thinking.

Well, that doesn't make matters any easier.

You said we can go slow. So if you fail to decipher me today, we can try tomorrow

Hey, cowboy, look at me and tell that if I need you to answer any question of mine without teasing, you will do it at once.

Yes, my darling, I will

Thank you, sweetheart.

Hey, angel, you called me sweetheart

Delighted?

Absolutely delirious

To be continued
bunpeiris

Read more »

Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching

Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching 

Gateway Graduate School, Negombo has few more slots open for Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching. Enrollments are still open as at 25th June 2013. Call Nilanthi (Kurana, Negombo) – 0716492935, 031 222 0029 today.nilanthi.gunathilaka@gateway.lk  Gateway Graduate School, Bambalapitiya already has 25 students
Enrollments are closed at Bambalpitiya.

Designed in partnership with the London examining board Edexcel, initially Edexcel Professional Diploma in Teaching is a one-year level 4 course (i.e. the equivalent of the first year of a degree). Thereafter it takes off to  level 5 (HND) next year, and then again in following year leads to a B.A degree in education in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, UK. The final year also allows specialization in primary or secondary education. 

The first intake began training in June 2011 and the study course was completed in May 2012. Since June 2011 Gateway Graduate School has taken in 8 batches in Colombo, Negombo & Kandy.

Vivek Govil - CEO Pearson India and Dr. Harsha Alles – Director, Gateway Group at the signing of the Agreement to offer the Edexcel Teacher Training Course in Sri Lanka. Patrick Casey - Director, Edexcel International, Premila Paulraj Canitius – Edexcel Territory Manager India Subcontinent, Suriya Bibile – Business Development Manager Edexcel, and Michael Dobson – Head, Gateway Graduate School were also present at the launch.

Isabelle Sutcliffe, Director of Regulations, Standards and Research of Edexcel awarding the Diploma to a successful candidate

Ms. Sutcliffe, Director of Regulations, Standards and Research of Edexcel during her visit to Sri Lanka mentioned that Edexcel was pleased to offer this qualification through Gateway Graduate School due to the confidence they had in Gateway's passion and the commitment to quality education. She said that by offering this internationally recognized qualification in Sri Lanka, it is not only the teachers of Gateway Schools that will benefit but that it will contribute towards the professional development of all teachers in Sri Lanka.

The Gateway Graduate School Director Dr. Harsha Alles, exchanging the MoU signed with the Nottingham Trent University UK Por-Vice Chancellor (International) Professor Nigel Healey.

Gateway has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nottingham Trent University, UK. that the current level 4 course lead on to a level 5 HND and then to a Bachelor of Arts in Education.

Right behind Gateway Graduate School is Negombo lagoon. Enjoy sitting tight and relaxed on the grassy bank.

Ref.

http://www.gatewaygraduateschool.com/index.php/teacher-training

http://www.gateway.lk/

http://www.edexcel.com/Pages/Home.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/GatewayGraduateSchool
http://www.gatewaygraduateschool.com/index.php/teacher-training

Read more »

BLACK TEA

BLACK TEA: HEALING POWERS

The tea plantations in the salubrious Central Highlands of Sri Lanka [High Grown Tea] produces the finest Black Tea in the world that still goes by the British Colonial brand name of Ceylon Tea, in spite of the ancient tropical island has now been called Sri Lanka, i.e. the Sanskrit prefix of "Sri" meaning resplendent being added to the most ancient name of the island "Lanka".
 During your Sri Lanka Holidays visit Ceylon Health Triangle of Sri Lanka to enjoy Ceylon Tea, the finest Black Tea in the world and rejuvenate in the highland sanatariums of Sri Lanka Holidays Nuwara Eliya or  Ella or  Bandarawela or Haputale or Diyatalawe

The healing powers of Black Tea run back to 2737 BC in China. In ancient Indian Ayurveda medical science, Black Tea was identified as a medicament belonging to the class of “Rasayana” promoting good health, raising resistance to diseases & assuring full life span. Rasayana do not belong to the category of medicaments that are put into work following the onset of a disease. Though Black Tea was known to Europeans since 16th century, became popular among the affluent society since the 17th century, became an essential commodity of the life of western world since 19th century, it was not till the 21st century that Europeans began to grasp the medicinal value of the beverage Black Tea made of the Eastern herb Camellia sinensis. Black tea took root in the western lifestyle as an invigorating beverage that would bring in instant cheer & gear up the tired mind & body. Black Tea was also to become the centerpiece of social gatherings.

Recent scientific studies on Black tea have begun to unravel the specific beneficial effects on the human body & mind.

Black tea is rich in antioxidants
Black Tea, Green tea & Oolong tea are excellent sources of Antioxidant called polyphenos: catechins, flavonols, the flavins and the arubigins. Antioxidants are substances that reduce, neutralize, and prevent the damage done to the cells of human body by Free radicals.
Highly reactive Free radicals- atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons- are borne out of oxidation process of our being. Left to its own killer sway, the Free radicals could injure surrounding cells & cause damage to DNA, resulting in cancer.While human body regulates a complex system of multiple types of antioxidants, low levels of antioxidants results in damaging or killing human cells, the building blocks of the system.

Black tea helps prevent type 2 diabetes
That Black tea (the same green leaf Camellia sinensis is processed into Green tea, Black Tea or Oolong tea by controlling biological oxidation) may help to combat type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease is discovered at the laboratory stage by a group of scientists led by Dr. Graham Rena of Neurosciences Institute of the University of Dundee, Scotland in March 2008. The discovery was made on a research to locate compounds with a potential to replace insulin in treatment of patients of diabetes 2. Diabetes 2 is a medical complication in which patient’s body cells become resistant to insulin, an essential regulator of blood sugar.

Dr. Rena found Black Tea antioxidants theaflavins and thearubigins to mimick the insulin action on proteins known as foxos (forkhead transcription factor family O). Now it has been increasingly recognized that obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance & cardiovascular diseases are varied manifestations of a multifaceted medical complication: metabolic syndrome. It seems, at last, the western medical science has stuck a cord with ancient Ayurvedic treatments which boils down to three root causes with respect of all maladies & deceases: vata (wind/spirit/air), pitta (bile) and kapha (phlegm). So called metabolic syndrome is an aspect of Pitta (bile).
Publication: journal Aging Cell. March 2008
Lead scientist: Dr Graham Rena, Caledonian Research Foundation Fellow & Lecturer.

Black tea helps prevent Heart strokes 
American Heart Association's annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, California was presented with human observational results of 9 studies across 195,000 individuals & 4378 heart strokes. The research was carried out by UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) & sponsored by The Unilever Lipton Institute of Tea funded this study.

"What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude," "By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21 percent. It didn't matter if it was Green tea or Black tea” said author Lenore Arab. Although a randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm this effect, the findings suggest that drinking three cups of Green tea or Black Tea a day could help prevent an ischemic stroke- blockage of an artery in the brain. It has been speculated antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) or the amino acid theanine is responsible for the effect.
Publication: online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, February 2009.
Lead scientist: Dr. Lenore Arab, a professor of biological chemistry.

Black tea helps reduce the risk on breast cancer
Based on a case-control study across 5000 women aged between 20 & 74 who had been treated for breast cancer & 4500 healthy women, it was claimed reduced risk of cancer in women under 50 who drank three or more cups a day. Younger women who consumed large amounts of Black Tea each day cut their chances of developing any type of breast tumor by about 37%.
Publication: online edition of Stroke: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a peer-reviewed medical journal January 2009.
Lead scientist: Dr Nagi Kumar of the Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida

Read more »

BUDDHA'S LIGHT TEA

BUDDHA'S LIGHT TEA
On this Vesākha (Pali; Sanskrit: Vaiśākha, Sinhala: Wesak or Vesak) day (another anniversary of birth, enlightenment and the final extinction of Gautama Buddha, it brings me, living in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, a Theravada Buddhist (though not a good one at it), immense joy to present you all guys and dolls with one of those accessible and appealing tales and anecdotes of a book titled “Where is your Buddha Nature?”- stories to instruct and inspire written by renowned Venerable Master Hsing Yun, a whole-hearted Mahayana Buddhist, the founder of Fo Guan Shan monastery, Taiwan published by “Buddha Light and Living Private Limited.
Though Sri Lanka has been the custodian of Thervada Buddhism since the ancient times, it has also been enriched with some Sri Lanka Holidays cultural attractions of Mahayan Buddhism too. Among the most popular Buddhist sites featuring colossal Buddha statues in Sri Lanka, the statues in Buduruwagala, unlike others depict the concepts of Mahayana Buddhism.
So, following is the gleaning from “Where is your Buddha Nature?” ISBN 978-93-82017-09-7., of course with the exception of images and blushing (they are reddening, aren't they?) labels.

Main hall of Fo Guang Shan [Chinese: Buddha's Light Mountain] in Kaohsuiung. Fo Guang Shan is the largest Buddhist monastery & the largest charity organization of Taiwan.  

Buddha’s Light Tea

Ding Sumei lived in Taichung. Before she became a Buddhist, she had no religious belief whatsoever.

Several years ago, during a very hot period in the middle of the summer, Ding came to Fo Guang Shan as a tourist wanting to see sites. As she strolled around around the mountain top looking at the statues and buildings, she gradually became quite warm. Pretty soon she began to perspire and feel thirsty. As she passed the Buddha Hall, she was received to be approached by a lay worker who asked if she would like to come inside for a cup of tea.

“Please try a cup of Buddha’s Light Tea,” the young woman said to her.

Since its inception in the year 1967, Fo Guang Shan of Mahayana Buddhism has evolved from bamboo forest to the largest monastery in Taiwan. Ven. Master Hsing Yun has inspired selfless devotion of over 1,000 monastics as well as the ardent support of many lay devotees to preach Buddhist way of living.

Ding went inside, and immediately her head was filled with the delightful aroma of tea steeping. Other people in the room were happily passing the time, conversing and then took out one hundred yuan to give to the young woman who asked her to come inside.

When the young woman saw what Ding was doing, she waved he hand I polite refusal.|

‘We have a rule here,” she said by way of explanation. “We don’t talk about others, and we don’t take money from anyone. We just talk about the Dharma [1] and drink tea.”

Ding laughed when she heard that and asked why the monastery would make such a rule like that.

“Master Hsing Yun made the rule over ten years ago,” the young woman explained. “ At the time, he noticed that people wo came to our monastery needed a pace to just rest and enjoy themselves for a while, so he set aside this room for that purpose. Since then, Buddha’s Light Tea has become pretty famous. People. People who come here now expect to have tea. So many people want tit, in fact, we have set up several other rooms here where you can also get Buddha’s Light Tea.”

Founder of Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Ven. Master Hsing Yun has dedicated himself to propagating the ideals of "Humanistic Buddhism" and being "a global person" in which the spirits of joy and harmony, integration and co-existence, respect and magnanimity, equality and peace are widely disseminated.

“It is a good tea,” Ding said

“I am glad you have enjoyed it, & I hope you will be like others & come back for more very soon.

Ding really did enjoy the tea. After that first visit she began returning almost once a month to Fo Guang Shan. Whenever she came, she always brought friends or relatives with her, and the first thing she always did was go straight to have some Buddha’s Light Tea.

Once someone asked her, “What’s so great about Buddha’s Light  Tea? Taiwan has many great teas. Why do you think that one is so special?”

‘Other teas are good, that’s true,’ Ding said, ‘but only Buddha’s Light Tea carries the flavor of the Dharma in it. One sip of that tea can change your whole life.”

The Finest Black Tea in the world
is produced in Sri Lanka: Ceylon Tea 

 Sri Lanka's Central Highlands is the main Ceylon Tea producing zone of Sri Lanka. During your Sri Lanka Holidays visit the Ceylon Health Triangle in the Highlands to enjoy the finest tea in the world and rejuvenate in the highland sanatariums. 

[1] For practicing Buddhists, references to "dharma" (dhamma in Pali) particularly as "the Dharma", generally means the teachings of the Buddha, commonly known throughout the East as Buddha-Dharma.

Read more »

Priceless ancient Sinhalese sculptures to England

Priceless ancient Sinhalese sculptures to England
Following is a gleaning [with the exception of images and labels] off the paragraph titled “Life in Colombo” in Pablo Neruda’ s [1904-1973] “Memoirs” ISBN 0 14 00 4661 5. Pablo Neruda, who went on to win Noble prize for Literature in the year 1971, was Consul of Chile in Ceylon [Sri Lanka] during 1928-1929. The preceding paragraph titled “Ceylon” begins: In 1929, Ceylon, the most beautiful of the world large islands…

 A garden doorstep at a home in Devon in the UK has been identified as a rare Sri Lankan artefact expected to fetch more than £30,000 ($47,500) at auction.

The auctioneer Bonhams says the carved granite step is a Sandakada Pahana - or moonstone - similar to those found in temples dating from Sri Lanka's Anuradhapura period (c400BC-1000AD). 22 January 2013  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21137743

Moonstone at Polonnaruwa vatadage, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Life in Colombo

In Colombo there seemed to be no visible symptoms of revolution. Its political climate was different from India’s. Everything was engulfed by an oppressive calm. The country supplied England with the finest tea in the world.[1]
The country was split into sectors, or compartments. The English, who occupied the tip of the pyramid and lived in large residences with gardens, were followed by a middle class much like that in South American countries. They were and may still be called burghers [2] and were descendants of the former Boers, the Dutch settlers of South Africa exiled to Ceylon during the colonial war of the last century.

Below them was Buddhist and Moslem population of Ceylon, which numbered many millions. And still further down, making up the worst-paid working ranks, and also running into the millions, were the Indian immigrants, all from the southern part of India; they spoke Tamil and professed the Hindu religion.
In the so-called “polite society”, which paraded its finest clothes and jewels in Colombo’s exclusive clubs, two famous snobs competed for leadership. One was a phony French nobleman, Count de Mauny, who had a group of devotees. The other was an elegant and devil-may-care Pole, my friend Winzer, who dominated salons there were. This may was extremely witty, quite cynical, and a source of knowledge about everything in the world.

He had a strange profession-“preserver of the cultural and archeological treasures”- and going along with him one of his official expeditions was an eye-opening experience to me.
Excavations had brought to light two magnificent cities the jungle had swallowed up: Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. Pillars and corridors gleamed once again in brilliant Singhalese sun. Naturally, everything that could be shipped was carefully packed and went on its way to the British Museum in London.

My friend Wizer was pretty good at his work. He went to remote monasteries and, to the enormous satisfaction [3] of the Buddhist monks, he loaded the official van with marvelous stone sculptures, thousands of years old, that would end up in England’s museums. The look of contentment [4] on the faces of the saffron-garbed monks was something to see, when Winzer would leave them some painted-up celluloid Buddhist images, made in Japan, as replacements for their own antiques. They would look them over with reverent eyes [5] and set them up on the same altars from which the jasper and granite statues had smiled [5] for centuries.My fiend Winzer was an excellent product of the Empire; that is, an elegant short-change artist.

Footnotes by bunpeiris
[1] The Finest Black Tea in the World is produced in Sri Lanka: Ceylon Tea.
[2] Burghers in Sri Lanka are descendants of Portugusese [1505- 1640] & Dutch [1640-1796] invaders of Sri Lanka
[3], [4] & [5] Winzer would have hoodwinked Buddhist monks that the priceless sculptures would be returned to them once the exhibition in Colombo comes to its glorious end. There was no exhibition.

[5] Such is the craftsmanship of most of ancient Buddha statues, each of them seem to wear a veil of a smile. Children are quick to note the smile as bunpeiris has done decades ago at Sri Lanka Holidays Gal Vihara, Polonnaruwa.

In eternal love with Gal Vihara since the discovery of it at the early medieval lost city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Nearly a century and a half following the wild flight, the great escape from the natural fortress of Kandy surrounded by wooded hills and River Mahaweli Ganga (Sinhala: Great Sandy River), through Anuradhapura,"a world of hewn stone pillars" of Sri Lanka Holidays by British sailor Robert Knox Jr. (1641-1720) (An historical relation of the Island of Ceylon) in the year 1679, Lieutenant Mitchell Henry Fagan of the 2nd Ceylon Regiment, forcing his way through almost impenetrable undergrowth in the year 1820, encountered-face to face-a colossal statue gazing out at him from the foliage: Gal vihara. A colossal figure of Buddha cut from a granite wall was most serenely gazing at him from out of the foliage. "I cannot describe what I felt at that moment," he wrote.

"Neither could I when I first saw the great statues at the tender age of 8. It was like dream that you dream when just about to wake up. And you wake up with the dream & still on a cloud. But the upright Big Buddha most definitely smiled at me. Am I dreaming? No, Big Buddha smiled again." That's bunpeiris. There sprang up an eternal love on the spur of the moment: Gal Vihara was no longer a rock temple of rock carved statues. It is the heartthrob. If it was the flow of the sculptor's heart then, since then, it has been the stream that wash and cleanse the minds and the hearts of all those who stand in front of it. Stand, kneel or sit in front of the great statues. The sweeping serenity of the statues would breeze-open your heart and inflame it with eternal love. 

Read more »

Sri Lankans First

WE ARE SRI LANKANS FIRST
Let's Tread Lightly, Speak Softly.Let's respect the cultures of all our citizens in My Sri Lanka, Our Island.

The defining statement of how, we Sri Lankans, i.e. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, Sri Lankan Muslims, Burghers, Sri Lankan Chinese and other citizens ought to view ourselves, has now arrived from a most unlikely source: Muttiah Muralitharan. Muralitharan, by profession, isn't one of those so called intellectuals. He is a Sri Lankan Cricketer, a member of the 1996 World Champions. Most of all Murali, as he is adoringly called by the Sri Lankans, is a patriot, a son of the soil, a man worth his salt.

Today  is 2013 Sinhala & Hindu New Year Day. No community of ours in Sri Lanka has a right to attempt to push down its culture, even in a form of a spicy hot beef steak, down the throats of other communities with a label or without a label. Then again no community of ours ought to be too loud, too vociferous on the slaughter of animals for meat, not to mention what others of ours shouldn't eat.

Let's Tread Lightly, Speak Softly.

Let's respect the cultures of all our citizens in My Sri Lanka, Our Island.

We are one country, one nation. After three decades of terrorism and war, now we have peace. Let's secure it tight.

“I am a Tamil. But I’m a Sri Lankan first. I can assure you that there has been immense peace all around Sri Lanka since the war ended and the Tamils are living very happily here. They are treated equally well.”  28th March 2013, Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan (born 17 April 1972), is a Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002. He retired from Test cricket in 2010, registering his 800th and final wicket on 22 July 2010 from his final ball in his last Test match.
On 10 January 2008, the Parliament of Sri Lanka felicitated Muttiah Muralitharan for his world record breaking feat of being the highest wicket taker in Test cricket. That was the first time that a sportsman has been honoured in the country's Supreme Legislature.

Those who are unable to follow Murali, too still has an option: just pick what that Indian Murasoli Maran had said.

 “I am Tamil first, but I am also an Indian. Both can exist together, provided there is space for cultural nationalism.” Murasoli Maran

Murasoli Maran (August 17, 1934- November 23, 2003) was a prominent Tamil politician in India, and an important leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which is headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament for 36 years, he was made a Union Minister in three separate central governments, in charge of Urban Development in the V.P. Singh government, Industry in the Gowda and Gujral governments, and finally Commerce and Industry under Vajpayee. Apart from being a politician, Maran, was a journalist and scriptwriter for films too.

Let's Tread Lightly, Speak Softly.

Let's respect the cultures of all our citizens in My Sri Lanka, Our Island.

Written by bunpeiris of Moratuwa http://www.mysrilankaholidays.com/

Read more »

DON PERCY

23 April 2009
Mennon calls Gota [1] on his personal mobile phone
Gota, the Tamil Nadu problem is hoting up. Things are very sensitive here
OK, I’ll call you back
Don Percy M. R.: Tell them to come tomorrow morning for breakfast
The northerners speak briefly: southerners were laboring under the delusion their brethren were being massacred.
Gota, Don Percy M. R. and Weere listen attentively
Don : Even if you invade my country, I am not going to stop this. We are just a few weeks away from eliminating terrorism in this country.
Don then reminds the neighbors of previous military intervention [2] and loss of two decades of  development.
Mahinda puts his hand gently on Shiv.
Look, my friend, short of stopping this thing, what do you want me to do?
At least you can stop using heavy guns- heavy artillery. And no air strikes
Don agreed. The neighbors sigh..

29 April 2009
At a house at Embilipitaya Don had the two Europeans fed with Sinhalese Milkrice kiribat and hoty hot red chille pepper lunumiris paste for the breakfast.
Silliband [speaking with force] : This massacre needs to be stopped immediately.
Don [ losing his cool temper] : We are trying to free these people from the terrorists Do you think we are still a colony of yours?
B. Nard Kouch: We are your friends, we  want to help
Don [still in bad mood]: I know who my friends and enemies are.
Later on Wikileaks revealed that Silliband spend 60 perecent of his time on Sri Lanka’s war in his campaign to win Labour-held seats in which Tamils [ from Sri Lanka & Tamilnadu] had the say.

Footnotes
[1]
It was certainly a privilege to be part of the Troika that dealt with the Indian bureaucracy – another aspect during the period of 2005 to 2009 which needs to be highlighted and it is so well written in this book. Mr Basil Rajapaksa, Minister today, at that time a Member of Parliament, led the troika that included Gota and myself. Chapter 70 is all about the Troika. The unique experiment in foreign relations that brought Sri Lanka-India relations to a new high from a very low in the early 80s. The author says of this, “this was a groundbreaking arrangement and probably unique in the annals of bilateral diplomatic relations at least in South Asia.”

[2]
 It is during this famous operation that many claim could have liberated Sri Lanka from terrorism saw the high handed interference of the then Indian envoy, Mr J N Dixit. Mr Chandraprema describes this in a very lucid manner. “While the Vadamaarachchi Operation was on, the Indian envoy, J N Dixit had met President Jayawardene and bluntly told him that India will not stand by idly and allow Jaffna to fall into the hands of the Army. And if the military operation continued there could be unforeseen consequences. Asked to explain what these unforeseen consequences could be, Dixit had told Jayawardene that military aid may be given by India to the LTTE leading to the possible dismemberment of Sri Lanka.”Let me tell you, my dear friends, bluntly that Mr Dixit was lucky because it was not President Mahinda Rajapaksa to whom he threw this threat
India meddled & muddled with peace keeping force, defeated by the terrorists and withdrawn back to India.

Read more »

China’s Elder Brother: India

CHINA'S ELDER BROTHER: INDIA

Marginal Comments by bunpeiris are followed up with gleanings
Once upon a time India was a great land that made timeless contributions to the Heritage of the World that no other land, since then has ever matched up, far from exceeding: India was the birth place, cradle and home of sages, philosophers and scholars since time immemorial; India gave the world ultimate epic poems of Mahabharata and Ramayana [both of which refer to ancient Sri Lanka then called Lanka], which pushes the ‘The Iliad”, a cornerstone of the Western Cannon to the distant third in the world of literature; India gave birth to the most serene emperor of world, Emperor Asoka; India gave the birth to Prince Siddhartha who went on to become the supremely enlightened Gautama Buddha; India gave the pidgin world the language of Sanskrit [which gave birth to Sinhala, the language of the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka, in addition to Hindi] and Pali [ in which Sri Lanka's Great Chronicle Mahawamsa was composed]; most of all, India gave the pagan world Buddhism [Theravada cannon of which Sri Lanka became the conservator] and Hinduism. And the world was nourished. The ancient land of India was the mother to the rest of the Asia. It was the mother: Mother India. Then.

 Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://newindianexpress.com/nation/article170899.ece

“Om. May Brahman protect us both! May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of Knowledge! May we both obtain the energy to acquire Knowledge! May what we both study reveal the Truth! May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other! Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!”

Wen Jiabao, sixth Premier of China [2003- 2013] quoting Upanishads to express the strong desires of China to realize good neighborly relations with India.

Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://www.icec-council.org/india-china/index.php?param=news/379046/74

"I do not know why but as soon as I alighted on the land of China, I felt that I have come home. I have come to China not to observe the sceneries as a tourist, nor to bring some gospel as a missionary, but to seek the way as a pilgrim and pay homage to China’s cultural community. I have come to China for some invisible emotion: to be general, my mission is to repair the bridge between China and India which was broken more than a thousand years ago"

Rabindranath Tagore

Then, as the heart rending reversal, the roll back of such supremely distinctive, peerless heritage took place, Free India [with the departure of the British, to the times of Rajiv Gandhi via the regime of Indira Gandhi] would, beginning its march of folly, aligned with communist Soviet Russia. Such uncalled for alignment resulted in partisan politics, and on occasions, led to military interferences, interventions and invasions upon its neighbors. India’s foreign policies with respect of its smaller neighbors can be easily summed up in mere two words: meddle and muddle.

One of the most unfortunate victims of this policy of meddle and muddle has been the little island of Sri Lanka, which itself is a golden pearl of the necklace of ancient India’s heritage: Sri Lanka has been the custodian of Theravada Buddhism originated in India; Sri Lanka has been the land of the Sinhalese, the descendents of the Aryans arrived from Bengal, Eastern India in 543 BC; Sri Lanka has been the home of the language, Sinhalese or Sinhala an Indo Aryan language influenced with Sanskrit. Destruction of Sri Lanka is a destruction of sizeable chunk of the India’s contribution to the heritage of the world itself.

Today Modern India [in this era of micro technology] has aligned or rather malaligned with the most fearsome human rights violator of the world, the only country to drop nuclear bombs upon another nation, the bomber of Vietnam continuously for two decades, now to prosecute this little ancient island of Sinhalese Buddhists and other patriots upon the dubious grounds of western styled opportunistic human rights. When it’s the turn of irony, it could hardly ever get better, or worse than this.

Destabilization of Sri Lanka battered with 30 years of terrorism and war would result in destruction of Sri Lanka, a loss of sizeable chunk of the India’s contribution to the Heritage of the World itself.
One has to read History of the Sinhalese, who arrived from Bengal (Vanga), East India in 543 BC to learn of milenniums in which it had suffered at the violent hands of marauding Dravidian invaders hell bent on pillage & plunder, rack & ruin, mass murder an mayhem from Southern India during the first capital city of Anuaradhapura & the second capital city of Polonnaruwa, Today both cities of preserved ruins, restored ruins and irrigation reservoirs are Sri Lanka Holidays attractions-UNESCO World Heritage Sites. bunpeiris.

Modern India has aligned or rather malaligned with U.S. A. [which will not be forgiven by Sri Lanka’s history to unfold in the next couple of millenniums till the arrival of Maitreya Buddha] to prosecute a little island at peace. Much more than any other country, in this dark fall from grace, in this fathomless depths of depravity, India, being the most important neighbor of Sri Lanka, though reluctantly [in view of the political pressure from opportunistic Tamilnadu politicians], closing ranks with U.S.A, has shown how deep it has sunk on selective justice upon singular circumstances.

Selective justice since Sri Lanka has been selected by U. S. A. solely in view of Sri Lanka’s Chinese connection and not for its human rights record at all. Where is the gun; where is the death pit; where is the corpse. And the country is at peace now, there is no war now. And the Tamils in Sri Lanka themselves have appealed to the Tamil diaspora to let them live in peace in their island.

“I am a Tamil. But I am a Sri Lankan first. I can assure you that there has been immense peace all around Sri Lanka since May 2009 and the Tamils are living very happily here. They are treated equally well." Muttiah Muralitharan, 31st March 2013

Singular justice, since U.S.A. has conveniently set aside the 30 years of terrorism and war only to focus upon the last battle that lasted no more than a couple of months.

“So I call upon the U.S. to find a better way forward rather than using UN resolutions to de-stabilize developing nations like Sri Lanka while ignoring human rights abuses in nations like Indonesia where our geopolitical interests supersede our human rights agenda. The U.S.-led UN resolution also should be withdrawn for focusing only on the last few months of the war and failing to acknowledge that for almost 30 years the Tamil Tigers hacked to death innocent men, women and children – Sinhalese and Tamils alike – and carried out over 378 suicide attacks – more than any other such organization in the world.” 

American congressman Eni Faleomavaega of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. February 26, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0ogJ7MfBrc

At this juncture the country is at peace; the war ravaged areas are being reconstructed at a faster clip than the rest of the island. Destabilising Sri Lanka by way of arousing the communal fears of Sinhalese and Tamils would ultimately, result in destruction of Sri Lanka. Destruction of Sri Lanka would be a destruction of sizeable chunk of the India’s contribution to the heritage of the world itself.

What’s the purpose of your visit [ to India], sir?
Oh! Just visiting some friends in Nerul.
You came all the way to visit friends?
That’s right.
You aren’t allowed more than 2 liters of spirits.
Yes, I noted that only on arrival. But these for my friends.
Ok, go and enjoy with your friends.
Mmm., that’s nice. Thanks a bundle.

The marginal comments above are written by My Sri Lanka Holidays bunpeiris.

Following is a gleaning from a booklet titled "Talks in China: Rabindranath Tagore" [ISBN 81-7167-926-9] that I bought in Mumbai while visiting Lewises in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, a decade ago. This would testify to greatness of the land of India in the ancient times.

Rabindranath Tagore in China

Liang Chi Chao

(President, Universities Association, Peking)

The Great Indian sage & poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore will arrive very soon and meet our students to the number of several thousands. I take this opportunity, therefore, of preparing a welcome for him.

First of all, I want you to understand that all great personalities are many-sided. They are like the seven colored Mani, which presents different aspects of brilliance to different observers. You all know that I am fond of treating things from a historical point of view; you know too that I have deep faith in Buddhism. As the proverb says: ‘No man can speak three words without disclosing his craft.’ So what I am going to tell you today is but my own impression as a historian and a Buddhist. I cannot give a proper introduction to Rabindranath Tagore, still less can I pretend to give adequate expression to the enthusiastic welcome of all sections of our people.

Rabindranath Tagore has visited Europe, America and Japan. Whenever he goes he receives a tremendous welcome. You will recall that outburst of enthusiasm in the Chien Men Station, on the day he arrived, such as never been corded to any other foreign guest, so warm it was, and so sincere.

The meaningless idolatry of here-worship is common amongst the peoples of Europe and America. We, Chinese, have not yet acquired this fashionable habit. We, who welcome Rabindranath Tagore, may each have our several reasons,-it may even be that, like the Europeans and Americans, some of us are merely hero-worshipping him; but we must all recognize the one great central idea, that he comes to us from the country which is our nearest and dearest brother,-India.

To say that the country of India is our brother is not mere matter of courtesy to our guest. It has its foundation in history.

In ancient times China did not enjoy that facility of communication which was the privilege of the races bordering the Mediterranean Sea.We suffered from the disadvantage of being shut up in one corner of eastern Asia without any means of communicating with other great races and cultures. The islands in the eastern and southern oceans were populated by savages. America, on the far side of the Pacific, gave no sign of civilization. Beyond our western and northern frontiers there were those barbarous and ferocious races, whose business it ever was to threaten and devastate, but never to help us.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna receives a memento from his Chinese counterpart s, Yang Jiechi, in Beijing on .
 8th June 2012Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://www.thehindu.com/news/india-china-look-to-expand-ties-in-new-areas/article3502039.ece

It is well for us to remember that this little privilege of culture, which we possess today, has been handed down to us by our ancestors, who labored long within secluded boundaries, unaided and single-handed. It is also due to this seclusion, un aided and single-handed. It is also due to this seclusion of its environment that our culture gives the impression of being monotonous and conservative to an extraordinary degree.

But across our south-western boundary, there was a great and cultured country, India. Both in character and geography, India and China are like twin brothers. Before most of the civilized races became active, we two brothers had already begun to study the great problems which concern the whole of mankind. We already accomplished much in the interests of humanity. India was ahead of us and we, the little brother followed behind. But nature had not been kind. She had placed between us a vast area of unfeeling desert and two great ranges of cruel snowy peaks, which separated us for thousands of years. It was not till two thousand years ago that we were given gradually to know that we had good elder brother on the earth.

 Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://www.icec-council.org/india-china/index.php?param=news/379046/74

 

When did these two great countries begin to communicate with each other?

According to Indian history, King Asoka sent a number of missionaries to propagate Buddhist ideas. Probably come of them ha d travelled as far as China. Our own tradition says that in the time of the famous Can Sze Huang (who built the Great Wall), there were already more than ten Hindus, who had been to Chang-an and who were imprisoned and killed by him. Asoka and Chin Sze Huang were contemporaries and therefore this might have been true. But we need not worry over half fairy tales.

 There is goodwill between India and China at the Nathu-la border Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-china-relations-after-50-years-of-sino-indian-war/1/224707.html

What we historians are able to vouch for is that the first communication between us as brothers occurred in the first century of the era of Christ. From the tenth ear of Hang Yung Tsian to the fifth year of Tang Chen Yuan (67-789 AD), roughly during eight hundred years, the Hindu scholars, who came to China, numbered twenty-four, to which may be added thirteen from Kashmir (which in Tang times was not recognized as part of India) thus making thirty-seven in all, not counting those who came from other countries on the eastern and western side of Chung Lin (Turkestan). Our scholars, who went to India to study, during the period from the western Tsin to the Tang dynasties (265-790 AD) numbered 187, the names of 105 of whom we can ascertain. Among the most famous from India were Tamolosa (Dharmaraksha), Chu Shien (Buddha-bhadra), and Chen Ti (Jina-bhadra) and from China, Fa-Hien, Yuan Chuang and I Tsing.

During the period of 700 or 800 years, we lived like affectionate brothers, loving and respecting one another.

 Above image is reproduced herein by the kind courtesy of

http://www.china.org.cn

And now we are told that, within recent years, we have at least come into contact with civilized (!) races. Why have they come to us? They have come coveting our land and our wealth; they have offered us as presents cannon balls dyed in human blood; their factories manufacture goods and machine which daily deprive our people of their crafts. But we two brothers were not like that in the days gone by. We were both devoted to the cause of the universal truth; we felt the necessity for cooperation. We Chinese specially felt the need for leadership and direction from our elder brothers, the people of India. Neither of us was stained in the least by any motive of self-interest-of that we had none.

During the period when we were most close and affectionate to one another, it is a pity that this little brother had no special gift to offer to its elder brother, whilst our elder brother had given to us gifts of singular and precious worth, which we can never forget.

 

With the India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, India and China could potentially join forces and foster economic power.  This dialogue could lead to gaining high-speed Chinese trains and to having Indian information technology experts working in China.  This dialogue would also open up more opportunities for foreign direct investment between the two countries.  The India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue aimed to achieve $70 billion of trade by the end of 2012 and hopes to achieve more than $100 billion of trade between the two countries by 2015.  This could even strengthen their strong trade relationship.  Currently, China is India’s biggest trade partner.   Photo: AP

 Now what have we received?
1. India taught us to embrace the idea of absolute freedom,- that fundamental freedom of mind, which enables us to shake off all the fetters of past traditions and habits as well as the present customs of a particular age,- that spiritual freedom which casts off the enslaving forces of material existence. [1] It was not merely that negative aspect of freedom, which consists in ridding ourselves of outward oppression and slavery, but that emancipation of the individual from his own self, through which men attain greater liberation, great ease and great fearlessness.

2. India also taught us the idea of absolute love, that pure love towards all living beings which eliminates all obsessions of jealousy, anger, impatience and disgust, which expresses itself in deep pity and sympathy for the foolish, the wicked and the sinful,-that absolute love, which recognizes the inseparability between all beings, ‘The equality of friend and enemy,’ ‘The oneness of myself and all things.’ This great gift is contained in the Ta Tsang Jen (Buddhist classics). The teachings in these seven thousand volumes can be summed up in one phrase: to cultivate sympathy and intellect, in order to attain absolute freedom through wisdom, and absolute love through pity.

3. But our elder brother had still something more to give. He brought us invaluable assistance in the field of literature and art. In the first place, these came indirectly through Si Yu; and then directly from the Indian sages, who came to China bringing with them as gifts for presentation to our Emperor, their pictures, sculptures and books. Thirdly, they were brought by the Chinese scholars on their return from India; for instance in the biography of Tuan Chuang, besides his observation on the classics, there was a list of articles in which were included all kinds of works of art. Lastly, we learnt from the translated classics not only of India’s wisdom, but also of its art.
UNQUOTE Liang Chi Chao

In the speech Liang went onto enumerate of minor gifts from India to China
Indian influence upon on Chinese music, Architecture, Painting, sculpture, drama,, poetry and Fiction, Astronomy & colander, medicine, literary style, educational method 7 social organization

Footnotes by bunpeiris
[1] Liang Chi Chao seems to refer to the concepts outlined by Buddhism and not the customs and traditions that still being practised in the Indian society to date.

TAGORE & CHINA

Following is an extract from the speech of You Jianhua, at China-India People’s Dialogue in December, 2011. You Jianhua is the Secretary-General of China NGO Network for International
http://www.icec-council.org/india-china/index.php?param=news/379046/74
QUOTE
The year 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), the famous Indian writer, artist, philosopher and social activist. In 1913 Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first laureate from the Oriental for his anthology of poems – Gitanjali. During those days under Britain’s colonial rule, he was the pride of India, and a hero in the Oriental world that was suffering from humiliation by western powers. Tagore is a big name in China. During China’s New Culture Movement, he and many of his works were introduced to China, influencing generations of Chinese readers. Tagore had always been very friendly with the Chinese people.


In 1881, a young 20-year-old Tagore harshly condemned British imperialists for dumping opium on China and forcing the Qing government to cede territory and pay indemnities. In his famous article China Maraner Elyabasay (The Death Trade in China) in the Bengali Magazine Bharati, he wrote:

“Britain sits on the chest of the biggest Asian civilization, dripping poison into her healthy body and soul, driving her to death. One makes a killing while the other suffers tremendous loses. Such cruel robbery is indeed unprecedented.” 

Tagore made a speech in Japan in 1916, condemning the malefaction of Japan’s invasion of China’s Shandong Province.
After China’s War of Resistance against Japan broke out, Tagore published letters and speeches several times to condemn Japan’s atrocity. He also took the lead in raising funds to support China in the war at his best. He once said with all emotion, “I believe I was a Chinese in my previous life!” In the International University of India, where Tagore served as the President, he established a China Institute for Chinese students. At the invitation of two great Chinese scholars, Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei,

Tagore paid his first visit to China on March 21, 1924. While setting foot on China, he couldn’t help but say,

“I do not know why but as soon as I alighted on the land of China, I felt that I have come home.” He added, “But I may put it this way, India feels that it bears an extremely close alliance with China. China and India are both very old and beloved brothers.” 

He also said, “I have come to China not to observe the sceneries as a tourist, nor to bring some gospel as a missionary, but to seek the way as a pilgrim and pay homage to China’s cultural community. I have come to China for some invisible emotion: to be general, my mission is to repair the bridge between China and India which was broken more than a thousand years ago; to be more specific, I want to get sincere sympathy from you—the youth of China.

Let us work together, Chinese and Indians. We shall not be afraid of difficulties for we have the hoes on our shoulders to root out misunderstanding, and we have fresh seeds in our pockets that will bear fruits of humanity. Sun or rain, let us clear the land and sow the seeds, while singing loud new songs to encourage sprouts to grow out of darkness.”

His words are remembered even today.
UNQUOTE You Jianhua

Read more »