The Return of General Sarath Fonseka

The heading isn’t too dramatic now, is it?

Does it remind you of  the opening credits of a movie starring our people’s hero Ranjan Ramanayake?

I hope not….no disrespect to RR. Your political views + your role as a saviour for thousands of locals desperately seeking help in the Middle East region has inspired me immensely.

Getting back on topic, the public was made aware last week that former General Sarath Fonseka, who was stripped down from his title and imprisoned in 2010, was to be released soon. President MR himself stated so to The Hindu at a small function which was held on the launch of the book Gota’s War.. (huh?)

Later on Anoma Fonseka was quoted saying that MR had assured her that her husband would be released within days. A statement released to the press by a presidential spokesman stated that MR had obtained approval from the Cabinet Ministers to release the General. (Since when did a President need approval to grant a presidential pardon, you may think..beats me as well..)

Many of you who have subscribed for mobile news alerts, would have received a story line on how MR stated that, it wasn’t the pressure from the US which led him to think about releasing the General, last week. (Well, nobody asked you Mr. President) The US had for long called SF a political prisoner and lately pressed the issues of human rights on the government which also led the European Union to ban duty-free export privileges on a number of products.

However amidst all the drama, today on the 22nd of May 2012, I personally witnessed SF being taken out of Nawaloka Hospitals to the Welikada Prison where he was released after the High Court granted him conditional bail for the case of harbouring Army deserters during the past presidential election. I’m quite unsure as to what the deal was with the White Flag case but I could only assume that the chargers were dropped on it due to the Presidential Pardon.

As always the ever so faithful were blocking the gates to Nawaloka Hospitals as they witnessed and cheered their leader being escorted out of the premises…

Now back to reality…

One question that I’ve been asking myself over and over is whether SF could return back to politics. As far as I know he hasn’t been stripped off his Civil Rights and that serves for the best. But the fact remains that he was sentenced for 02 years in jail and that he has been prisoned for more than 06 months which would disqualify him from running for any position as a candidate for 07 years from the time of release.

More about the possibility of SF running for a Presidential election would be revealed very soon. However only a President could grant that right as well, ruling out the facts which would disqualify him from doing so.

MR’s sudden move to release General Fonseka would certainly ease the minds of the Westerners on how they look at the Human Rights aspect of Sri Lanka. But would it fool the general public into forgetting more serious issues like Energy Saving problems, Inflation and freedom rights to a mind set where people would only focus on an election?

Up to you….

NSB’s insider deal into TFC shares

As some of you may have collected bits & pieces of this news from here and there, I was too up on my feet trying to get a clear view on the hidden picture behind all scenes.

Firstly, let me introduce the cast.

Pradeep Kariyawasam – Chairman of National Savings Bank & husband of Shirani Bandaranayake (current Chief of Justice)
TFC – The Finance Company (former Ceylinco Group company)
Taprobane Securities – Brokering company for NSB
Raynor Silva (seller) – Chief of Asia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC Networks) & brother of Duminda Silva
Yogananda Perera (seller) – President of Vehicle Importers Association
Nandadeva Perera (seller) – Brother of Yoga & also an automobile & Jewelery trader
Dinal Wijemanne (seller) – Director of TFC & Taprobane Securities
Nirmala Anura Fernando (seller) – Former Chairman of Fern Tea (failed tea company)
Sampath Bank – Settlement Bank for the particular deal (plays the guarantor’s role)

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During the month of April, the NSB share had been trading at around Rs.30 – Rs.32.50. However on 27th April 2012, NSB purchased a 13% stake of TFC (7,863,362 shares) for Rs.393 Million making the average price per share, Rs.49.74.

For anyone with common sense, that no doubt is a controversial purchase at an inflated price. The five parties mentioned as sellers above are the shareholders of TFC who managed to sell their stake for an over budget. Pradeep Kariyawasam who bought the shares of TFC is yet to make a statement on the purchase of shares at a staggering price and the proper use of NSB’s funds for investment purposes. How Ajith Nivard Cabral, governor of the Central Bank, dismisses the fact of how a Bank’s funds are put into proper use stating that “that’s their own business” is also questionable. After all what’s the purpose of having him as the Governor of CB?

Sampath Bank, who paid over Rs.393 Million for the purchase of shares as the guarantor of this deal is still at loss since the intervention of Mahinda Rajapakse has halted the payment due to his orders. Wouldn’t that be a breech of contract?

However the latest which has come to light is that the deal is to be canceled after further investigations are carried out, putting the market back to normal and also letting the settlement bank recover its loss.

I wonder if a penalty fee would be charged by Sampath Bank since the payment was to be made on the same day, if not within a day or two at most.

Thought of sharing this news since this is another fine example of how corrupted our small country is…

The truth about women

This time I was going towards Colombo and had just passed Dehiwala. Time was around 6.20a.m. The try-shore which passed us from the left had the longest slogan I’ve ever seen on one. And try-shores do have some ill stuff which would make you laugh out loud.

So here’s what it said, and I shit you not..all this was written on the back of it and you might think it’s not possible to write something this long and another to read it while passing on the road but that is what happened.

අස්ථිර වූ ස්ත්‍රී චින්තනය තුල ස්ථීර වූ ප්‍රේමයක් ඇති කල හැකි නම්, පුත්තලමේද ගෝවා වගා කල හැක.

By far, this is the most meaningful and funniest slogan I’ve ever come across and hats off to you buddy for trying to pass this message to the ones who’re IN, OFF,GOING BEHIND and SUFFERING from a relationship.

And guys! We still wouldn’t give up right?

ps: the translation as i suspect it to be…

If true love could be established inside a woman’s mind whose philosophy on love/relationship is dubious/doubtful, one could grow Cabbage in Putlam too.

XXI Commonwealth Games 2018

As many of you know, Hambanthota lost the bid against Australia’s Gold Coast for hosting the next Commonwealth Games in 2018 by 27 – 43 votes.

I don’t want to sound like a traitor but facts and common sense tells me that this happened for the best of us. We have already spent double the value of what Australia spent on their campaign and that’s around Rs.2.0 Billion.

Politicians in Sri Lanka have a specialty called මාටියා ගැසීම. This is where funds which are being availed for the development of infrastructure or any other humanitarian projects goes into the pockets of corrupted politicians or turn out in the face of luxurious automobiles. I believe that there’s no need to mention the IIFA Awards(International Indian Film Academy) and also the Cricket World Cup events which played a huge role in the development of the country. Oh Yes, that’s me being sarcastic !

I’m truly happy to see that the International community didn’t fall for this crap like us locals do for booze and a lunch packet. Namal Rajapakse’s, Ajith Nivard Cabral’s and Anarkali’s අනඟ රැඟුම් were in vain. Sadly the funds spent to entertain theses idiots could not be recovered back.

Again I want to say that I’m not a traitor to this wonderful country that I live in but a victim who has suffered from bad leadership throughout its glory years. But what’s pathetic about this situation is, people see all the corruption & ඒකාධිපතිවාදය in this regime and still vote for the same bastards.

Wishing Australia good luck in hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Goal Coast !

One of a kind

It was around 7.30 p.m. today and I was offered a lift by my friend Pri & we were cruising along Galle road when I saw this..By cruising I mean only around 30kmph. And that’s why I normally travel by train.

What I saw had to go on cam and therefore my friend had to do some zig zagging to keep up with this other vehicle. It was on top of the Dehiwala fly over that I finally managed to click a photo with Pri’s sophisticated brand new touch phone. I just hate touch phones!

click to enlarge

A Toyota Allion right?

Then why is there a ‘L‘?

Oh..yes..It’s a Lexus Allion..

Has to be a limited edition I suppose..or just the only one of its kind..

Smart guy, isn’t he? Either his mechanic mixed up the wrong emblem with the wrong car or this guy thought of confusing us with his neat trick, so that we might crash into something while looking at his darn derrière..

Anyhow, look where you’re car ended up..my blog..and the angry Lexus owners who’re reading this will for sure ram their cars into yours..

So don’t attract the wrong kind of attention sir, whoever is the owner of the car displayed above.

 

Will the next train be late?

I have a friend who runs with me to the Railway Station after work. Now people might wonder as to why we run..We run to catch the earliest possible train from out of Colombo.

So today, since my friend’s boss asked him to stay a bit longer, not only did we miss one but four slow trains towards Down South. While waiting for the next train which was due in 10 minutes, they announced that it will be running a bit late. Now I was supposed to go to my boarding place, freshen up a bit and drive to Galle, to a funeral of a relative of a work colleague. (Did I use too many to‘s & of‘s ??)

Mind you, I’m having a bad cold with a sore throat & my voice has been of a 60 year old grumpy old man’s. Having had to survive  9 1/2 hrs at work, my plan was to then go to Galle and return to my bed at early dawn, again to go back to work next morning with a possible tumor in my brain.

Anyhoo, thanks to the Railway drivers who were අකුරට වැඩ today, I’m nicely sitting on my bed, typing this while sipping on කොත්තමල්ලි which the kind house owner made me drink after a long lecture about not going to see a doctor. All I could do was nod which must have looked rather stupid coz I couldn’t talk with my voice gone to the dogs.

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What I really wanted to tell you is that this is quite a normal scenario for someone who’s traveling by train. Trains are delayed all the time. For the most unbelievable reasons. Sometimes they test our patience by stopping the Express Train at every station and sending the Slow Train 05 minutes behind the Express which also stops everywhere..කාට කියන්නද ?

The reason for today’s delay I was told was the interdiction of the driver who rammed his train into the observation rail car of the Kandy – Colombo Intercity Express. Whether he’s guilty or not, I don’t know, but it certainly ain’t my problem either.

People in this damned island need to make use of time. Buy yourself a watch honorable minister. Wear that watch, go to the Fort railway station and liaise with the timekeeper. Better yet, you do that job coz the one who’s in charge isn’t of no use to the people who are tired of working & waiting to get home sooner.

Then again I wish that I had the luxury to drive and maintain something like this which was seen at the Carlton 7′s Rugby Tournament, last Saturday.

Central Kings clinches Carlton 7′s Title

The Kandy team sponsored by Malik Samarawickrama & led by the one & only Fazil Marija beat the Western Warriors 38-05 yesterday at the Royal Complex with 06 tries  and 04 goals. Needless to say the Kings dominated the match from the early minutes and it was 26-00 at Lemons. The Warriors led by Dushanth Lewke only managed to score one try by their forward.

While the Southern Sharks who won the 01st leg of the tournament finished as Runners Up, Uva Vipers despite their defeat to North Western Blacks took hold of the 03rd place.

too bad the 1st picture covers up not only one, but two of the Lovely ladies from Sri Lankan Airlines…

Where to now….?

My Dearest One,

I thought it’d never come to this. The broken promises are just too painful to reminiscence. I’m still wondering as to how so much of Love, faith, hope & commitment didn’t matter as if this never existed. Was I wrong to see a future for us or did you just take me for a ride?

It’s so unlike me to blog this over here but in a way it calms me down. “Life’s gotta move on”, says my closest friends, and isn’t that easy to say when you’re not on the receiving end.

You tried to come back to me after the break up, and yet you were still balancing another. I’m confused. I’m angry. I’ve been betrayed.

There are enough good memories of us that I still fondly remember, which tells me that I was so much into you. In the end however, none of that mattered to you.

“Enough now. There’s nothing good in her for you to cry about..”, I tell myself. “Then why am I blogging this?”, I ask myself.

Life is all about experience. I shall take all the good from what I’ve experienced and try to move forward.

Since I loved you dearly, I’ll end this with a final note of blessing.

May you be blessed by the Triple Gem.

Yours,

Bvr

Not to Hollywood but to Singapore

Yes, it’s official.

M.P. Duminda Silva was not taken to Hollywood or as later suggested to Australia but to Singapore. He is now under treatments at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital which is quite famous for Neuro Surgeries.

While you are wallowing over the fact that Australia lies way more closer to Singapore and whether or not a return air ticket was booked to Sri Lanka, take your time to check out the room rates at Mount Elizabeth Hospital as well. It won’t take long for you to see how well our tax money is managed for the country’s well being.

It’s one thing to care for a person who has been shot in the head. It is also acceptable when Bodhi Poojas have been conducted by some monks at Gangarama temple (‘A modern day Religious Joint’  as suggested by a wise reader) and a few others, but can we watch this mockery with a straight face is my question.

Being a Buddhist, I was taught to forgive people, be humble and as a Sri Lankan, hospitality comes naturally..But when the culprit is even worse than ‘Angulimala‘…….

something for you & me to think about..

Dreams of Hollywood

I hope you guys followed the whole Duminda – Bharatha incident during the election time..

News is that, M.P. Duminda Silva who is currently under treatment at J’pura Hospital is to be taken to the US for further treatments during the coming weeks.

Now, we all saw that coming right? The main suspect of a shoot out who killed a Presidential Advisor and three more body guards, who was later claimed by government officials to be innocent will now be fleeing the country under the governments protection so that once he returns back in another year or two, we Sri Lankans will have forgotten what a rotten apple he was back in the day..

The screwed up part is that we all knew that this was going to happen and still nothing could be done about it. That is how corrupted our system is. If only there was a strong opposition…

A Thug, a child Rapist, a Drug lord, a Killer…These are just a few of the qualities which would qualify one to the Parliament and it’s uniquely identified as being truly Sri Lankan.

This plea is to all the බත් කන හරක් in this sacred country which was blessed with Lord Buddha’s presence not just once but thrice..Wake up you dumb fools..

Do not let this system corrupt the minds of our children as well..One day, this is where they will grow up to carry the weight of a proud nation & I would love to retire peacefully without not having to worry about petite politics.