The opening rounds go to the challenger! The challenger is ahead on the cards. He has struck some strong blows; in his corner he delivered a mighty blow. But there is a long way to go. The challenger is one fifth of the way to reaching the winning post and is leading the incumbent with seeming comfort. Change, needed or ...
The Little Way is also a good way One Hundred days, what can be done in one hundred days? A lot. Just think about it. All of us alive now are the result of actions that did not take that long. And here we are, powerful stuff, if we allow ourselves to think in that way. The real achievement of ...
Mr. President please help us stop terror on the roadways. Buses and trucks are terrorizing us every day. Every day buses and trucks including dump trucks carrying sand ply the road terrorizing children on their way to and from school, women and men pedestrians about their work, cyclists, motorcyclists, cars, and three wheelers on the road. We the people have ...
Every dog is a Poo-dle! So are politicians? Every dog is a Poo-dle, kind of, in a manner of speaking. Parisians, with their fondness for the chien and so very indulgent towards them to the extent that the doings of the chien are kind of considered somewhat of an idiosyncrasy that makes Paris what Paris is. So say those who ...
My deepest sympathies and condolences to those who lost loved ones or were injured in the Terror bombings while they prayed at Easter Service or as they had breakfast in Sri Lanka. The news, pictures and videos, are heart rending and sorrowful, again. We have growing evidence about the people who committed the atrocity and some of their compulsions. ...
Big visions are good? In Sri Lanka the presidential Manifestos are out, the visions for the future written and the people informed. And perhaps, some are pleased, some amused and a few are dismayed by these visions and manifestos. A few may continue with another older manifesto hidden in their person, impaled on the contradiction of human purpose in historical ...
Corruption goes but where? Part II Corruption is a symptom not the disease? A citizenry knows that the growth of material well-being comes at a price, there is a cost to it . Part of the price is visible and a part not so. What we hold dear as principles, our values and morals are in contest with our practices. ...
Corruption must go, but where? Part 1 We need to reduce corruption in Sri Lanka. We need to identify it, examine why it occurs in different spheres of public life and figure out what types of solutions might reduce corrupt practices. There are institutional practices that contribute to corruption and of course there are the perennial human weaknesses, which make ...
I add my humble voice to that of the grieving families of Peshawar, Pakistan. May you be comforted, may your faith sustain you, may compassion guide you. For all of us who will take time to reflect on this, the event is sad beyond words. For parents who send their children to school for learning this event may grant them some ...
Structures of Comfort and Structures of Deceit Systems, institutions and organizations function for many purposes. They form structures that enable them to function but also to safeguard and maintain a sense of order, of continuity, and help to form and realize expectations of well-being. A web of reciprocities binding us to duty and obligation are thus created. We know this. ...
Who gets to say what? So many experts and so little to decide on. Sri Lanka is blest with so many political experts and all rushing to the media to provide their expertise on the future that is unfolding. A few weeks more and the result will be out and then the work begins to sort out who knew and ...
Run Ranil Run! Yes! Run Ranil Run! Ranil, don’t listen to the half-baked, over baked pundits who are scamming you into relinquishing your party. You lead by being at the helm. Of course you don’t have to take “stray fire” and succumb pointlessly. But any fight, however fought, is remembered and revered not only for victory but also for the ...
Ranil[1] will Run! Do not be surprised! Come mid morning next Monday, the 8th of December, and Ranil enters the office of the Commissioner of Election with a defiant look on his face, and a determined step and declares I will run and enters the presidential race! Ranil will run! This has a nice ring to it and why not, ...
Kreegah Bundolo or Call me Bwana! Come January all will be well and all manner of things will be well in Sri Lanka. Well, Kreegah Bundolo was what the apes called out in warning so that Tarzan can be prepared to do what Tarzan does best, protect his domain and his wards. And Tarzan? What was that? Tarzan by some ...
Are we Chicken?? “The sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken!”[1] When a country gets ready for presidential elections the people get ready for a period of entertainment. Who makes what promises and how? Who flung dung? Who will do what, are questions that come up over and over again. Then there are the dancing girls to keep crowds that might wander ...
The opening rounds go to the challenger! The challenger is ahead on the cards. He has struck some strong blows; in his corner he delivered a mighty blow. But there is a long way to go. The challenger is one fifth of the way to reaching the winning post and is leading the incumbent with seeming comfort. Change, needed or ...
And the Winner is…. All Under Heaven Once upon a time… With 47.4% of the vote (plus or minus 2 percent) the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa relinquished the presidency to the challenger Maithripala Sirisena. Really? Well not quite. This is based on assumptions that may not be borne out. Using a simple model of the electorate and simplifying assumptions I arrive ...