Anguttumittas and the tallest/s ……

Angutumitta is a short man. He is short in height. The tallest is tall in height. Who is the world’s tallest man? A Chinese right? He is a newly wedded man if I am correct. He has a lovely wife now. I remember reading this on internet. I don’t remember the world’s shortest man. No it is not necessary to know who is the shortest and tallest in height sometimes. The sizes, the height no matter or unimportant I like to think that way.

Angutumittas are not that handsome if you think of the world class categorizations/ measurements of handsomeness and loveliness of a particular person or of a particular thing with regard to ones physical appearances. But though they don’t get the attraction of non short people they get their maximum attention. I am not attracted to angutumittas I am a non short but very short in that way. I am not a person who generally attract to the things that don’t get my attraction. What to do? That is me. I can’t pretend saying that they get my attraction I can say NO to be honest. But for sure they get my very attentive attention. 

There are things that get my attraction but that is not important to the people around me or to others. There are things that you like to keep as personal things. There are things that one should be sharing with others only if you can think that others can benefit from such things. People are very curious to know about the life of others…. Sad. Curiousness or curiosity is not a bad thing but at the same time it is not useful when people try to put a finger in to their personal lives.

There is a saying in Sinhala

Thamange ehe thiyena pol paralaya penenne neha eth anunge ehe thiyena rodda nam penawa’

People are such creatures though this is not applicable to everyone.

So …. What is an ‘attraction’what does it really mean? Do you know? To me that is an hard to define a hard to explain thing. Indicators differ from person to person region to region and country to country. Do people get attracted to everything that get their attention? Difficult to explain let us not think that far. 

I sometimes think that I am an anugutumitta. When thinking of 'my way of thinking' that is very true to be honest. I like to confess that I am an angutumitta in many ways. I can not be the tallest in that way until I try to be taller in my way of thinking or try to change the way that I think of some things in this world. 

Who are the tallest in every way? The Lord Buddha, the Jesus Christ, there are few other religious leaders too. And there are some you may have heard a little shorter to others and little taller than others. I can’t compare the character of Mahathma Ghandi with Anagaraika Dharmapala because I can’t say that I have read all about them. This is applicable to everything, to people and to the all other existing things or to creatures of this world.

They are very, very tall people in this world. I am sure none of us have read or heard about all the tallest people of this world. Some are not visible and some of them just die without coming in front of public. Some don’t write about them not because they don’t want to but sometimes because such characters are enjoy go hiding due to their personal preferences or reasons there can be some or many reasons people just die without getting written their biographies in the hearts of people that sometimes useful to the others .I can say that there are many unrecognized tall ones in this world full of short and tall people. 

Some have become the tallest in their beautiful thinking, and because of their impartial thoughts, attitudes,their brilliancy in ideas, the never changeable art and beauty of life’ and the philosophy, unquestionable ‘realities’ of their teachings. They are the tallest in every way. We should try to follow their paths. I have not set foot in any of these paths yet. Here I was thinking of the religious leaders as such.

There are things that the tallest unable to do or achieve I like to assume things in that way. Do you think that the tallest can go across a tiny hole similar to the size of an angutumitta. No it is not possible but a person who is similar in size may be able to go through such a thing. 

I am a middle height person. But I am very short in many things especially when compared to the tallest I know. I m an angutumitta in‘literature’, knowledge, I could have told you something of my height if I have known the shapes of sizes of this world full of ‘unlimited knowledge ‘that is impossible. NO! I am not disrespecting my own values and demands. Ones shapes and sizes are so much of a visible thing to the others so I can not lie on that thing. People can not really hide their actual height those are the things that are easily measurable.

Sometimes the way you talk and the things that you discuss, things that you respect show your real height. Outer views or shapes and sizes are inadequate to measure something fully that will only provide you a half picture of something in particular.

I really can not say much of the things that I know very little or don’t know at all specifically I can say that I m an illiterate person in knowing people a better way.

When some people become taller everyday then it is little difficult to understand them. Take a huge five or six storied building for instance that has so many rooms, so many stare cases, steps, and so much space do you think that it is easy to get an accurate picture of such a building? You need to go every room, you need to follow the stares to go in to those rooms and then you need to draw draft sketches of the building in your mind so then you know where to go first which room you should use, the room that is useful for most of your work etc. Do you think that it is easy NO! Right….It takes times. 

There is one more thing that I have noticed all these years about‘buildings ‘some of those huge buildings look like deserted islands sometimes. I see no people or less people in there.

I don’t like to say that tiny buildings always give you an accurate picture of them because of the tininess or of smallness or I can’t say that you can get a clear picture of a particular thing within a shorter period of time. I doubt but comparatively it not that difficult to understand such a building that has few rooms, less steps, or little space etc.i can see that some of them are full of people not isolated.

I have seen some huge weva’s in the country that you see no people bathing or no children playing or‘swimming those wevas, jumping over to the banks of the weva etc. but there are small weva that you may notice ….. Some people are really using such weva for all their purposes of bathing washing, or agricultural purposes. Sometimes it is the opposite.

what do you think of the shapes and sizes of something are these really matters? 

when it comes to analyzing people.

What is more important or less important I think that is something so difficult to answer or come to conclusions. It is applicable to certain things of our lives as well and the things around our lives, the demands or values of something…..        

Finally We all human that is ‘inevitable’ though sometimes some of us behave like inhumane. What we really try to understand here is that human beings are a mixture of this and that of various qualities and of various shapes and sizes I like to believe that way.  

So I like to say that angutumittas are not always short and the tallest are not always tall. This is just a very shorter way of analyzing the shortest and the tallest there are many other ways of analyze such things by going in to different corners or in different angles of something as well. Am I right?   

   

Terry & BOOKS ……

Terry, he dislikes books but respects people .....

Terry is a good friend of mine. He lives in Mexico with his beloved Anna. He is a different guy though he was born in a different city. A good heart.  He enjoys doing different things but he does not like to read. There are things that he hates doing. He is very fond of making friends. I met him in Hambantota about five years back.  

He hates me when ever I start talking about books. 

‘Terry you should know that books helps you to be a complete man’….

‘Nonsense’ …. That is what he thinks …… people are different I should know that.

“Go meet a man in your village there are things you can learn from them” That is what he thinks. He admires and respects different things.   

‘Mexico is a very sexy city’ that is what he thinks. But for me that is a very scary city because of the things that I have heard & read about this city. Cities are different they teach you different things. Every city has its own demands, values, and the uniqueness of its people. Whether a city is scary or lovely you can learn things no doubt. I don’t think that we can ever find a city that governs by a mayor called ‘the silence’. It is not easy to understand the silences and businesses of a city at different times.  

Terry does not like books but I like books. There is no nonsense in ‘reading’ even if you think that there is nothing to get after reading a book but I believe even from this ‘nothingness’ and nonsense and even no sense things teach you totally different things and they are unimaginably important. 

You can’t meet people every time you want. To understand people you really don’t have to go and meet them personally. If you read a book you may find different characters with different qualities. I sometimes feel that it is not easy to differentiate books as ‘fictional’, the books written based on true stories or incidents. You create character using the experience you may have gathered over years, you have all of them in your mind storing to use for future purposes. You meet many people at your work place, school, at market, shopping mall. You don’t realize sometimes you unknowingly write sketches of such things you see, observe, and hear. Then you create a character for your book using those experiences you collated. You give them some aliveness afterwards.  So it is a bit difficult to differentiate books. You may meet those characters some where in this world.   

You can’t go to China to understand a Chinese that brought up in London. It is good to read a book 

Every book and every piece of writing has some value. Some have so much value and importance. Everything is comparative. 

‘LIU Hong’s ‘The Magpie Bridge’

I like the front page note ….. The few lines there

‘If the affections are mutual and everlasting, does it matter that they can not be together in everyday life?’

So this friend of mine takes me here and there in this world because of his thinking about ‘books’ and ‘people. 

I suggest that you should start reading, should learn to read.  

William Boyd’s ‘The Blue Afternoon’ I don’t understand the whole book because of my poor English knowledge but I like to understand things the way I like and the way I can. I don’t worry much even if I don’t understand the whole thing of a book.

  “We were sitting in my office room on Hollywood Boulevard. From my office window I could see the top three storeys of the Guaranty Building and the dusty fronds of a palm tree, I rented three rooms above a clothing wholesaler – Tex – style Imports Co. -   who specialized in blue jeans , dungarees and work boots that were sold to the ...... The room that faced Boulevard was my room’ .......

 

You can read these lines ….. These lines are written on the page 8 of ‘the blue afternoon’ ……

Books are a teacher that teaches us life and about our own lives, about our own beliefs and thinking, about our friends, and about the world, the whole universe is there. They remind us of many things that are attached to our personal lives.

Find some time to read a good book…..

Jane Eyre I have not read this as a kid. But as an adult I read it …. See whether you like these lines from Jane Eyre-Charlotte Bronte

‘A week before Christmas, I closed the school for the holidays. When it opened again there would be a new teacher. I was strangely sad on my last day there. I knew I was leaving some very good friends. But I had other happiness ahead of me. Diana and Mary were coming home at last. Now that they had money of their own, they did not need to work as governesses any more’   

 It is not good to miss your friends I know and it is too bad if you forget to write them. Terry is a very bad complainer he complains that I don’t write to him. No! It is not easy to maintain friendships. I am not feared I m sure that you understand me well. 

‘Friendships, the world’s best ships’ I believe that have made excellently for a good voyage of life.  I remember you once told me all these but that was long years back. I still remember them.  

The time differences my friend. You are in Mexico and I am here in Colombo that is a barrier I believe. No! That is not an excuse I know. 

Sometimes the books provide you false information and sometimes also they contain the very accurate information.  All these depend on the nature of the writer/author, their experiences, immaturity or maturity etc. some are very honest to what they say and write.

There is a role for a reader to play. You just can’t read something with out analyzing the things that you read. You sometimes have to debate within of the things you read. Then you get some fullness in your reading. 

Reading is sometimes ‘a battle of heart and minds’ you have to negotiate things with your own minds not only ‘negotiating peace’. Impartial ideas, the core value of the message that the author tries to convey to the society all these are so important.  

People die they don’t live forever. A life time of a book is higher than the life of a human. So thinking of the books the things that you write have so much life expectancy they may last than other things. They are guiders and historians.  Our children will read them in the future. They learn them as historical incidents because they are written before they are born. They will read them and follow them exactly like the way we followed the things that our sincere writers have written.

This note is a reminder to my dear, sincere friend Terry. I hope that you’ll change your mind and start reading.  We carry nothing in this passing of ours this destination to that destination but we may carry things unknowingly for the next souls of ours. 'inevitable'

There is life and it ends…. This is a tile of a little writing from a old book named‘BOSAT’

‘Life and it ends’ written by Bhikku Kassapa. ….. This is how the explanation begins.

 The king of truth tells us – (Iti Vuttaka 43)

“The born, the becoming, the produced.

The made, the compounded, the unstable-

Subject to decay and death,

A nest of diseases, fragile,

Its source a support of feeling,

Have done in delight in such.

“Deliverance from this is tranquility,

Beyond logic, permanent,

The not – born and not produced, -

A griefless, stainless position,

Annihilation of the conditions of misery,

Cessation of activities, Bliss”

You may don’t get a chance to learn just from a conversation with a friend, a villager, a shopkeeper, or from a doctor. The books sometimes teach you these things remind you things. The things like 'the importance of maintaining a balanced life' it depends on the type of book you have chosen to read .Not Easy at all I know. Thank you Terry for taking me this far you direct my mind towards ‘books’ this morning.

Rice with KOS or KOS or RICE ….. What do you prefer for lunch?

I LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS LITTLE PIECE OF WRITING TO OUR VERY DEAR ‘KOS MAAMA’ – ARTHOR V. DIAS

 The wonder, the brilliance of colour mixtures, the sizes and shapes, the branches, the leaves, the height, the shade, the attraction ……

a mother, a father, a giver, a neighbor in need, a dear friend in deed, a hunger detector, a heart winner, a money bringer, a supporter of a family, a doctor,   ……. ……. 

No this not a better explanation of a kos gaha (jack tree) pardon me.    

If you know of someone who hold all these qualities aforementioned let me know ….. the looks, the physical appearances  think of all these if you are willing to give anyone a an explanation of this tree.

The one and only person I know since my childhood that holds all these qualities is none other than our handsome ‘jack tree’ ‘ape kos gaha' 

a friend of coconut, lunumidella, teak, and del ..... 

So delicious and so nutritious …… 

Let me close my eyes for a moment was that about the fruit or about kos mellum, the polos curry, kos maaluwa?

NO actually it is about ‘waraka’ ok if you like wela that is about wela then ….. waraka is a choice of all lovers, believers, players, dancers, actors, doctors, students , old and young, the teachers, foreigners  

Oh! Let me not forget the kids …. They love waraka ………. I am sure.

How about having a ‘WARAKA’ juice rich in vitamin ‘C’ for a change before lunch or for breakfast?

Ask Mr. Publis Silva he knows to make waraka juice in a sooo brilliant way.  He is the best to ask and get the recipe….. Mr. Publis Silva the very famous chef world wide. Let me pay my respect for you sir for try promoting and giving a place for our traditional dishes like ‘kos and del’

Waraka juice ….. 

Get some water add some sugar and then some waraka …. 

Taste it and see ok …. I have no doubt you’ll feel like falling in love just with the color of this juice forget the flavor for a moment. 

I don’t think that Mr. Wijeratne Warakagoda misses this kind of varieties of bath (rice) Sir how did you get this name ‘Warakagoda’ I know that it is your family name right? I like to know the history can I come and meet you sir for a little chat? I like discussing about ‘warakagoda’ families if you don’t mind and all about other warakagoda lovers… your fans Sir?

It is so wonderful to look at a waraka gaha or kos gaha any ‘Arunata pera’ a standing ovation for the role that you played in arunata pera sir, brilliance performance sir! 

Oh! Let me not forget purpose of writing this little note of this wonder tree ‘kos gaha’ ‘ape ‘BATH GAHA’ 

‘Bath rasa danno gaha handunanno’ ……

 Are these words a line of a song? Don’t know whether Mr. Sunil Edirisinghe knows the owner of these words?

There are times that you find no grains in your kitchen then you just need to walk around your garden I can imagine how happy you are seeing the tree full of kos. Then you have no problems that it self bring happiness and the meal of your day. 

My father is a kos lover. The seeds, the nutritional value of them I don’t know to explain.  

Isn't that a wonderful view a kos gaha with full of kos gedi? ….. That reminds me of a beautiful mother that holds her kids so tightly and so gently, and dearly…. 

What are you going to have for lunch? Are you planning to go out with your friends just tell me of a restaurant that serve you any jack curry or polos embula I will go and thank them for promoting the ’food …..’ 

‘Nuwara ayata polos embula hondata uyanna puluwan hariyata dakune ayata ‘maalu embul thiyal puluwan wage … 

People say so? Is this true? I don’t know. I should have talked to Ms Disanayake or Ms Ratwatte before writing this little note?  

Kos is very different to 'Nawala annasi kotte dodan' ..... yasa rasaya kemataa'

obviously no!

Mr. Chandrahena Hettiaarachchi tells that story about annasi and dodan 

(pls correct me if i am wrong here)

Even the light house/ Galle serve you a better Kos curry with very tasteful maalu embul thiyal… no doubt it is nothing to do with the area I believe. 

Cooking is an art>…….

Art of preparing a very tasteful kiri kos viyanjanaya I am not good at explaining.  

The tree is so handy and very romantic and so lovely. I feel like embracing the wonder of the leaves …. Some are light green and some are very dark green …..

Let’s have some kos with pol sambol or with some lunu miris who wants to join me for lunch? 

A weight gainer…. I am thinking of all these gym instructors I think that they should recommend their students to have some kos in the morning for their breakfast. 

Any opposition let me know I can hide.  There is a very safe place behind our kos gaha. That is so huge one can so easily go and hide behind this tree. I will have to do so only if I don’t pay the rent of my house on time …..  That is a good hiding place for kids who like to play hide and seek.

This provides you a wonderful shade.  I think it is so good to have a jack tree in closer to every bus stop I suggest. 

A tree can feel things…. Sorrow, joy, the harshness of some weather conditions, I don’t know what he likes most rain or sun, or both. We need both for a healthy environment right? We need rain, we need ‘sunlight’ for the growth of a tree. We need water for the healthiness of the tree. We need salt, pepper, cinnamon to prepare a jack curry along with other flavors like gedara hadana ‘thunapaha’ (home made curry mixtures /spices)

So this tree brings in all these together on to the table of your lunch room. 

Ammala (mothers) prepare this very nutritious kos curry adding all that she knows and I think she never forgets to add her love before serving this to her husband and her kids.  

This teaches us the lessons of different flavors of life, the choices, the importance of different preferences, coordination, the value of giving and sharing, protecting, also that teaches us the art of different colour combinations of life and of a tree. I am thinking of the difficulties of holding or bearing some things in different times/ stages of the life of this tree is not an easy task I believe. Holding its fruits I also mean bearing not easy especially when they grow older day by day …. 

Please forgive for using Singlish because I know a very little English. And I have no idea how the English should read my English explanation about our jack tree?

‘Our Kos maama’ Arthor V Dias. I am thinking of his heart right now. May you attain Nibbana! for having such a fruitful idea in your mind,the idea of protecting such a wonderful tree.   

 I don’t like to talk about the ‘timber’ because I am against deforestation. A waduwa of moratuwa can craft and design a wonderful ‘a wardrobe’ or he can provide us with comfortable seating facilities…. True we love and like them. People live and they decay this is the universality of this nature and this rule is applicable to this wonder creation as well but let’s keep this in mind. 

Say No! and say ‘STOP!’ to that idea of deforestation every possible time. If you can observe very closely the growth of a tree there are plenty of things that you can learn. Think of a tree in your home garden don’t you think that it teaches us many things related to our lives?

There are a loads of folk stories related to this bath gaha I believe if you if you are interested in learning ‘our literature’ etc.

‘Read and learn’ ‘Kiri gahata ennahe hari yanawa’  karana kiana owne deyak. Good results are assured.

There are rituals related to avurudu celebrations, the customs and rituals that a farmer should follow before starting ‘paddy cultivation’ has an immense value. We can not forget the sociological value of the legendary details that are attached with Sri Lankan lives.

 ‘Kiri gahak mulichchi wela yanna Honda gamanak yanakota’

If you are planning to heading for a good work with a good will and a hope in your mind, meet a kiri gaha before you stepping out of your house. The elders say so and I respect them for giving some value and a place for a tree in their hearts and minds. And they believe that it is good indicator, sign of the dreams become a reality or will become true.  of success of you work go meet a kiri gaha a kos gaha. 

Now tell me …… what do you prefer for lunch? Rice with kos or Kos or rice? ………

   

  

Weaving LIFE viewing through a WINDOW AND ..... Openness and Closeness of WINDOWS .......

 Weaving life .... viewing through a window .......

Why do we really need a window or a small thing that opens for an outer space? What do we really expect having such a thing in a room or in our house. Needless to say that is because we need some light or we like to escape from ‘darkness’.  

There are few ways that we obtain light. That are natural light and artificial light or else we can say ‘electronically generates light’. Here at this point or in this particular explanation how we get light is unimportant what is important here is that we need some ‘light’ to live.

That is a general explanation of ‘light’

We can explain ‘light’ in a very deepest way. can you think of the very deepest meaning of the word, light?

You and I may believe in different things pertaining to our own of life. i am trying to think of different ‘beliefs and faiths’ here. 

And about this term ‘light’ you may hold different views. You may think differently about things that are aforementioned.  You can change your way of thinking or setting up your minds according to your own religious beliefs and faiths. 

'light' is just a one thing that you can expect from having a window like things in your house or in your room.

You may also capture several other things . Those things can be uncountable or immeasurable.  What importance those things have when think of life and the importance of such things when trying to find solutions for your life matters.

You can observe 'people' moving here and there or from here to there. I mean you may see different people with different mind sets . 

No! it is not the people who teach you things, the nature 

The different shapes and sizes ,patterns ,the designs, of the sky. The birds, the plants, the man made roads, the dust that sometimes come as a storm in a busy town. .....

let's come back to people again ..

you can easily notice the people who go carrying different things in their hands or in their shoulders. some carry children, some books, bread and dhal etc. You can say things of the people looking at the things they go carrying. the size of the bag or the heaviness of the baggage or the things that contain tells you stories of their financial situations sometimes. 

The bicycles full of newspapers. They deliver news all around the city and sometimes they bring news to your door step very early in the morning. They all are so quick and fast they all are so quicker than me.

There are things that I have not mentioned here. i can't remember everything i see i don't keep notes on the things that i see or observe. 

what can you really see or the things that you really learn from them always depend on the way that you have learn to look at things. these are window lessons i like to add.
one can not really forget the importance of ones mood or the nature , the healthiness or unhealthiness  of her/his day. 

it is good to learn to look at things in a meaningful way . What is the point looking at things differently if you find no meaning or don't try to see things in a meaningful way.

Don’t forget here you try to see things through a window. 

You may don’t see an entire picture of something from a window.

But you can not expect to view more than what you really can see isn’t his true? if one needs to get a more clearer picture go more closer and have look at it carefully.

But rarely some may have the ability to see things that we don't see.

You should try to view something in a wiser way.

Including me.

You may don’t like to take anything outside from your room but you may bring a bag full of things from outside or in to your room.Good stuff or bad stuff. You sometimes don’t realize the importance or the value of these things.You bring in experiences to run your life further, move ahead and you save them somewhere in your heart or in your mind.....

 

These things are different to the things that you collate viewing through a window. It is good to walk out of your room for few hours to learn something new.

Do you have a specific place to store these things that you bring in?

If you store them somewhere in your room others can steal them. What if you store them in a place that the others can not steal?

In your heart?

You can even visit the other side of the world through a window.There is no limit to your ‘thinking’ I believe. 

So this picture that you saw at the beginning of this writing took me this far. pictures can take you around the world ..... 

(Actually above note I wrote few weeks back sitting in the corner of my window that faces the Ekwatte rd/ jubilee post …..

The following I wrote yesterday before leaving the place which gave me shelter for nearly two years) 

Openness and closeness of WINDOWS ……….

I like open them, the windows of my tiny room. That is the first job of my day. I want them wide open all day long, even during night. Then I can feel the wonder and the freshness of the cool wind that moves here and there so freely in and out of my room even during a very hot, sunny day.
 

People come and go like wind. They exchange or change places that they live, especially if you are person that lives outside of your hometown/home that is not so surprised. So this very soothing classic wind sometimes goes out with out even informing me and again comes back after sometimes and then again disappears in the fields of paddy or in a field of onion in Jaffna, or you may find her in a garden of roses in Nuwara Eliya.  

You never know about your ‘tomorrow’ but you can say things about your ‘Yesterday’ ……. 

An open window teaches you those things ……

Windows are so fascinating things for me. To see things clearly viewing through a window you need to have a clear and a conscious mind. You can not view a whole city, a village or you can’t view a person totally just looking outside of your window especially when it provides you limited viewing space but I am sure that you can see something and learn many things.

Today 25 March 2012

6.45 am …. It is raining here in Nugegegoda right now. I really can say that it is so lovely to view rain from here sitting on my window sill.  Rain, he is not new to me. He is my childhood friend. He is my university mate; he is my lover. This rain played so many roles during all these years of my life since my childhood to date. And he was a good friend of my father too we enjoyed chatting with him for hours together and sometimes we blame him for nothing.

When you close a window you see very little but you hear noises and voices, people talking, giggling. You see walls of your neighbours. The neighbours are not labourers but the laborers of the CMC comes I guess twice a week to their doorstep screaming then they have to come out of their sometimes locked houses.

 ‘kunu genda …. Kunu genda’ ….

It is so good to feel that they, we all can free from kunu at least for certain hours of a day thanks to the people who come to collect our daily kunu (garbage). They do one of the most important jobs in a country I think it is not that good to say that they are doing a job I think it is a wholesome service for us. 

‘We are a small country we have very limited lands therfore dumping and managing all these ‘kunu’ is not an easy thing to do when think of the rapidly growing population ,buildings everywhere or commercial entities how can we find a place for all that what we throw. Re – using is a good thing, re - cycling things we throw save us something and it minimizes wastage.

Honestly I am very poor in practicing such things. Sometimes we talk and talk, discuss but we don’t ourselves think of practicing what we talk or discuss or think is right.

I notice two kunu lorries that come to my area at least twice a week. I see them through this window.

People are very curious creatures they always want to know ‘what next’ kind of things. They also come out of their nests to see what is ‘new’ in the area. These windows of mine here in Ekwatte taught me that it is not ‘Music’ or dances that entertain people all the time there are other things. That is the nature of ‘people’ they enjoy and expect ‘some happenings ‘in their neighborhood.

It is till raining ….. Pothering

So I thought it is good to remind my friends ‘it is so good if you don’t forget to take your umbrella not only your wallet and the driving license’.  

Sometimes these windows kill your time then I think it is good to ‘get lost from this corner letting my sister to use the window corner for sometimes.

So these windows remind you of things and people and their conversations ……

I can’t recognize people fully viewing through this window of mine. Some just stop here for a moment when they just go passing my corner with their friends.

And there are people who enjoy my silly sitting here in this corner. I know that I can hardly read there faces.

My friends had asked me several times ....

“‘what are you doing there woman sitting in a corner…. You have no other things to do?”

They don’t understand that this is the only place that I can get some air or that I get a chance to breath freely.

A car turned very quickly from here ….

Reversing, driving straight, stop a little due to traffic those things are unavoidable if you are driving. No way can you go the way you like. The traffic lights, the traffic constables, the road users, you will have to stop in certain points of a road at least for few moments each time allowing the road users to move ahead or go crossing the road. I think that we can call ‘coordination and cooperation’ right?

Time …. I don’t know whether it running or flying. And I know and I learnt that time is a pain killer.

 I was planning to stop this writing exactly at 7. 00 before nangi leaves for her work but now it is 7.21.

 I am a very poor manager of my time. I think that those things generally happen sometimes especially if you are sitting near a window watching people that go passing you. Sometimes all of them steal your time also your attention then how can you stop looking outside especially if you have things to see.  

I never can forget the blind couple who always go passing me each morning holding each others hand. I like to wish them ‘aayu bo wewa!’  You two will surely meet each other even in your next soul. You sometimes bring tears to my eyes. 

This is not an immortal place for me but I can say every minute that I spent here gave me chances to read the faces of the people of Ekwatte and of others. 

This a lovely place to enjoy sending e mails to my friends even though I know that those things never fascinating them I decide this after reading their reply actually after watching their faces. Let me tell you this also I know that they are kidding me saying such things to my face I still write them. 

I will have to close this window today or tomorrow and I can say that I can seal it with a kiss because of the things it taught me. 

Thank you, Thank you Ekwatte for sharing a smile, a few words on your ways to here to there or to somewhere. And thank you the nasty ones who tried to show me your inner body parts that one should not show in public. Thank you the for the ones who tried to know and were so curious of what I am doing looking through a window … you taught me things … and thank you and good bye Sapumal and John I m sure that you ‘ll miss our site. 

 

I can see a sign board hanging over to a garbage bin indicating the importance of keeping a city clean all the time.

‘Ape gama sundara gamak karamu’ ….. This is a good message but let’s not be selfish.

‘Ape hema gamakma sundara gamak karamu’ ….. Shall we?

Good bye Ekwatte ….

Dear COLOMBO .......

 How come you look so fresh and new everyday? Is that a true sign of ‘development’ or is it something else?  How old are you now? Must be so old but you look not more than 18, very energetic, very dynamic, handsome, romantic, and   I don’t think that I know enough of words to explain your ‘look’ my friend. I remember the day that I saw you for the first time that was long, long years back and I came to see you with my father.

Aiyoo!!!  What has happened to those big ‘kaalathuwaku’ that were there facing the lovely ‘sea’ in Galle face green area? See handsome Colombo it is not easy to remember things now I m not that young like you tell me if you see them there.  

I don’t think that they have ‘gone with the wind’ …..

Except for few things I can see that you have become so vulnerable to many things I mean you have changed for the better, expect and accept good things. Excellent. 

Ask Mastro Amaradewa if you don’t believe me in what I say now. We, the people have become very old not you dear Colombo. 

‘kolomthota netha mahalu wee ….

 awanhala netha perani wee ….

edaa handa mai adath yawwanaye ….

When did you really change your name? I remember that you were so fond of your name ‘Kolomthota’ those days … Aha! I can see that you have become little ‘modern’ … That is fine.  Kolomthota to Kolamba not bad and I know that all these ‘Singlish kollo kello enjoy calling you ‘COLOMBO’ …. I like to know how those ‘Columbians pronounce your name Colombo.  

See the way things change? Amazing right?

How do you really bear this ‘busyness’ of your friends Colombo? Now that you have become so young, energetic I warn you my friend you better be very careful of all those naughty ones who tries to get your attention all the time. I mean the naughty ones from ‘California’, New Delhi, Male, London,  ………. They may try to ruin what you own now.  That is the way that sometimes the naughty ones behave. But I request you; please try to be cool all the time Ok.

I know that it is so difficult to choose what is good and bad for us but I am sure that you really can say NO! To the drug dealers, and you are smart enough to say STOP! For the ones that who try and steal what you own and then try to disappear. And try protecting the things that you own for more than thousands and thousands of years, the things that you have collated for these long years. I know nothing about how ‘Katunayake’ stops all of them before reaching you. Now that there is this CCTV they join you earlier than MTV right? 

 I am so happy the way things have change in 60 Watte area, Arunodaya Mawatha,  Eksesath Watte. What do you think of the situation there now? Yes I remember you once telling my cousin about all those 500 shanty s that are under your authority. I have no idea how you handle all these so wonderfully.  Congratulations!  

‘Den eyalata hondai ahasa usata gewal hadalane’  I hear people say.  

 Dear Colombo …..

I know that things have changed women of our land do not wear kabakuruththas any more and most of them have become tight skirts fans ….. But how can you forget the ones who sew those ‘branded clothing ‘for them sleeplessly not forgetting their lovers at gama (village) even if they feel so tired most of the time, not forgetting to send a little sms to him/her. Still …. They look so wonderful and happy don’t you think so?

Rae weda muraya awasan wana kanisamata numba ruwa penei parawunu kusumak lesata …

Thun this peye dengili nidi waranne ….

Mal wiya noweda me  diya kara harinne

Meshimada hithada maha hiyen hadanne ….

They bring us foreign currency right? So be happy.

Things change so faster than we think 

That is why we don’t see any tram cars here ….. Shantha basthiyan ela is it still surviving? What is the other ela ‘Hamilton ela’ right?

Paaru paalamen kolambata gel peeliya sepath unaa …..

 gaspahata lanwenakota api honadtama hawasuna …. 

That was then ….. 

I know, I know it won’t take that much time to come to Gaspaha or go to Grand pass from anywhere of this land …. We have high ways and super ways. And ahas paalam too.  I know that our Engineers are so genius and they just need 45 days to complete an ahas paalama.  I remember that who gave them the guidance, Minister Fernadopulle.

Sekku weediye kamba deka umba mata mathak unaa

Kaiman dorakada hitapan mama enathuru selesthina ….

How is Selesthina? Is she still waiting at the Kaiman dorakada?

Kaba kuruthhawa endan muthu depotak gele damaa

Shantha basthiyan ele paaru padimu Selesthinaa ….

Dear Colombo … Where are these ‘Kolamba Kawi maduwa’  kollo kello tika ? I feel like inviting them and have a small ‘peduru party ya’ with them ….

Mahamankada kawi maduwak heta hawasata pewethwena

Nam daraapu kawi kaarayo ehi ena bawa ka tha unaa

The Fort is full of FORD, Corolla I can see that. Cars and ‘Cargills’ and ‘keels’ they all have become a part of you. Are you angry with them for dominating your neighborhood? I am sure that you hear them and see them ‘laughs’ at the end of each day looking at the things they have earned whole day. 

Tram car eke gihin kawi ahamuda Selesthina …. 

Did she agree to come? 

How are you going to identify this Selesthina now that they have different names, different looks? ….  Siriyawathi, Seelawathi, Sunethra and I am sure that she will be with ‘Samanmalee ‘.

Dear Colombo I know that I told you ‘I love to live and die in Kandy’ but how can I tell you how much I like you and how can I leave you here. Shall we have some inguru thea with some wade together if you have time free? Let me know.

So Colombo …. I think I better wind up this ….. Hope you‘ll read this with a smile when you have some time free and I hope that you will not get angry with me for writing all these rubbish …. ‘Anger’ … That is the way that some youngsters act and react … be COOL!  Ok. you don't know how much i enjoy this 'Sisilasanwarusaawa' ....

P.T.O

And please, please you know sometimes my uncles and their children from Kelediwul wewa love to come to see you …they have the habit of chewing beetle please don’t say anything if they spit some where or everywhere or somewhere near ‘Galle Face Hotel’ they really like to visit Galle face green next time when they come.  They know that it is bad but what to do all those game aya really can’t stop having their ‘bulath vita’ no! Please forgive ok.

You don’t know how many times I have told them to stop that habit and I have warn them saying  this thousand times I guess ‘this is not your game kopee kade this is Colombo’ No they are impossible!

TC

 

The JOURNEYS, and the PATHS visited and to be VISITED ..... .......

 I was a part of the other major travelers of my life that is my mother and father’s. I was a small travel partner of them. Travelled here and there holding there hands. That was so easy. No need to worry about the paths that you don’t know they take you to where ever they like or prefer. You go with them. But there comes a time that you need to find your own paths. You sometimes have to hold a hand of another a hand of a friend forgetting the hands of your parents ….

Even when i think of my past I really can not remember when and how I started walking alone in those paths that i traveled. I mean the exact date or time. At the initial stages of your walking you just walk and you really don’t realize the things that are around when you walk. … You just walk … walk … and walk…. You don’t even remember what was there at the beginning. What building, what tree was there or what was there just next to your house even.

You walk... Walk and walk… During this initial stage or the experience of walking and travelling you don’t really do not keep any notes in your mind or you remember very little  mainly because the experience is so new to you. You are so amazed with the things that you go passing or you see, you are so excited sometimes. Your eyes generally capture only the ‘big things’ the tiny things go unnoticed that does not mean that you ignore the tiny things. It is just time that teach you the importance of tiny things…… until the right time comes you don’t realize some of the things and the importance of many things I believe.

So these life journeys are so fresh at the beginning so is your brain heart and mind etc ….. So the things that you extract, absorb while traveling here and there you prefer to store them in your heart or in your mind but only the things that your heart caught or i can say only the things that attracted your heart. Do you really forget the other things i do not know. and i don't know whether your memory plays and important role at this point of your traveling in the paths you have chosen.  There is not too much of stuff in there, in our heart and minds at the very initial stage of our walking if we think a little. It is time that fill these of our brains, hearts and minds sometimes with good stuff and some other times with rubbish. 

At the very beginning of this travelling …you notice only the huge things, attractive stuffs, colourful things buildings or two or three storied houses why? i think that is because those things are bigger and taller than you are or those houses are comparatively bigger than yours … nothing else. At this childish period of your time of traveling you don’t realize the differences that those things visualize or the differences of those tiny houses and the big houses that you see or the houses.… you don’t understand or realizes the differences of some going in the bus or walk across foot paths while some others going in a car don't forget that you are a kid at this stage of your traveling ..… It is TIME THAT TEAH YOU THESE THINGS… the lessons about ‘differences’  

You still walk   … I really don’t think that you still understand the differences or even the similarities.

You go to your school there you see some differences for the first time of your life … you happen to feel and understand things little by little… you notice some differences, the way that your class mates dress and the things that they prefer to eat, the brand name of the pen or the pencil they use, the shoes they wear etc. It is the time that teaches you all these things ….

These differences of life teach you many different things at different times of this journey that you began at some point. I don’t think that you even realize the differences of the passengers that you meet or that shared the same bus with you, their looks, the things they like to discuss, the things that they observe. It is silly if i say that i remember the people who sat next to me, who traveled with me in the bus that took me somewhere for the first time alone. 

Here I m not just trying to remember the numbers or the faces what I m trying to understand here is the ‘time’ how long it will take people to understand something fully….

There were many things that I unnoticed and missed really. Was it because of my Ignorance or was it because of my silliness, or immaturity ???  No it is not just sloth. What is it then fate? NOOO!!! i believe.  You can say this and that and can analyze it the way you want but practically it is not easy I believe.

During all these times, moments, hours,days and the years of my walking I carried nothing but collated loads of things.

You may lose things while traveling alone and sometimes traveling together with someone. I sometimes wonder as to why one loses things on the way to ones final destination of traveling. I like to apply this to my own life did I lose anything? If so why may be I was carrying too many things unknowingly that I can not bear comfortably or the things were too heavy to carry.

There is a limit of things that you can really carry. The things that you can not carry or hold you lose … 

It is not easy to find answers for the issues you may face in your life time. 

Who says that one needs to find answers to 5 W’s before we write something accurately? That is only writing, academical writings, professional writings those theories only be applicable to such writings  … 

‘writing life is something very different i believe. Why is it important to know how to write paragraphs of ones life accurately and beautifully? What are the things that you need to learn, or you should know before writing 'life' it is good to know the things like with whom you are planning to walk or in what way towards which direction etc? ….  If you ask ‘when’ from somebody that can be a very stupid and an idiotic way of questioning  someone I believe. How is it possible to know?  Let me think again are these 5 W’s provide you enough of answers for life matters? …. If so lovely I like to add.

You give and take while you travel from place to place from person to person … from house to house from country to country. Some take but don’t give. Some give but don’t take. Some know both give and take fairly well. You exchange things like gifts of various kinds …. You exchange ‘flowers’’ dolly’s teddy bears some little, little beautiful gifts that entertain you sometimes.

‘Give and take is not a thing that we can discuss in a narrow minded way. You can give and take material and immaterial stuff. ‘Some things are related to marital and some outside marital boundaries.  Some things have no boundaries or the distances are irrelevant or unimportant. ‘During these times of our traveling from there to here and here to somewhere yes it is true that we exchange flowers and again at a different time some enjoy throwing stones to the face of the person that we enjoyed exchanging flowers. But sometimes unexpectedly those stones may become a flower and may come and stop before you  … this is what I m so amazed at thinking.

To be continued …………………………..