The Silver F*****g Spoon!

Wonderful. I found myself in a conversation that was fueled by alcohol. The normal holds were gone and its then I heard the wonderful line. “Machan… you are bitching so much because you have everything. You have had the f*****g silver spoon in your mouth your whole life! You’ve never had to worry about where the next meal is coming from!” Beautiful.

I helpfully add “It’s true, the richer you are the more you bitch!” Then Bill Gates comes up, and it’s agreed he is somewhat of an exception and donates some of his wealth for good causes.

I watch this fascinating argument go on for some time. Both participants can’t even remember how it started, but it’s going strong now. I think it had something to do with escaping the ‘system’.

Somehow through the effects of booze everyone in this gathering is getting political and life changing. Everything from Neo Colonialism, Gandhi, Evil Corporations, Legalization of Marjuana, Obama, Leadership in SL and plenty more is being discussed.

But the spoon remark really got me. It’s true. You tend to get all political and utopian minded once you are no longer thinking of getting food on the table. But then that’s simply Maslow Hierarchy of Needs right? The average citizen, especially in SL isn’t really thinking of how the country can grow and all that jazz. He just wants cash for life subsistence.

Is there any point to this? Not really I guess. I just found it strange how everyone suddenly became so opinionated about life and the world just after a few drinks.

Just a random anecdote: While some people are desperately looking for a spot to pick up a fag, other people are desperately scrounging the 20 or so needed to buy just one. They probably enjoy it more than you do though.

Helping Hendala

This is something which I never expected to be involved probably few months back. Helping Hendala is a voluntary teaching project which i got into through one of my friends. My friend at work, asked me whether I would like to join him in conducting a free computer class for few kids in Hendala Temple in the newly constructed Computer Lab. Hendala is a town in Wattala area and the name Helping Hendala is something we came up just so that it could be easily called and referred to.

This may sound really good but we both knew it was also a humongous task. It was not just about going there and conducting classes, it was more about making a commitment and making sure that some work is being done to develop and assist in uplifting the knowledge of those children.

We managed to start off with a few ruddy computers some of them which still have Windows 98 and even 95 as its operating system. It was no easy task teaching a bunch of kids from grade 8-10, some of them who had not even touched a computer before.

The lab only has around 8 computers in good working condition where as we had over 50 initial applications do deal with. The choice we had was not quite easy, we either had to abandon the classes or had to conduct classes over the whole day for all the children just to make sure no one was left out. So we decided to have three classes on Saturday from morning to evening. Each class has around 20 kids, who share one computer in groups of three or two.

Even though this is the 11th week for our classes there is still quite a lot to be done. We have started off sessions about windows and slowly taking them to Microsoft office and other software. With so much to do and things to be done, we have set up a small page on this project for those who wish gain further information. The blog is still in its infant stage but we wish to populate it with more details and contact information.

Please access the Helping Hendala Blog from here…

Helping Hendala - http://hendala.wordpress.com/

Are you Insane?

Happiness is good insanity. A state of mind where everything seems good, bad things are just well bad things. Move past them.

Being at the same place at the same time, but in a different mood can make a world of a difference. So if sadness and despair are linked to apathy, then happiness to euphoria?

Are not emotions themselves a lack of logic and clear thinking? This leads back to what is real? A simple question without a simple answer. Are our situations that bad, or are they that good? Do we let our emotions decide?

Can you be happy being a farmer and miserable being a wealthy CEO? Would both not be insanity considering the circumstances? Would removing our emotions allow us to make the 'right' decision?

Appreciate what you were not happy with yesterday. That's happiness. Or Insanity.

Make a Difference

So as part of BBC's World Challenge there's this guy making safe oil lamps in Sri Lanka to prevent burns resulting from spillovers. I've seen some burns... it's not very pretty.

I haven't checked the other competing offerings in other countries, but if you vote for it they just might distribute some more lamps here.

Well if you feel its right, it should only take you 2 seconds to vote.

Vote Here

Stay Home!

We told them to stay at home. We told them to take care of things. Let us handle all the hard work because only we can.

Stay at home, cook, clean and look after the kids. And they believed us because they believed we knew what was best for them. So did we.

But then one day we went to war. Many of us died, many of us remained on the frontlines. But back at home, there were no one to make the bread or the bullets and guns that we so desperately needed to fight.

So we called on them. We asked them to come and help us. 'Man' the factories, bake the bread for we were too busy fighting. They came and did their part. They put on the work overalls and the trousers and did what we told them they could not. While we fought, they mimicked our roles in life.

But once the battle was over, we realized that perhaps we didn't give them as much credit as we should have. We told our daughters, wives and mothers that staying at home was all they were good for, but they proved us wrong.

Since 'manning' up in that Second War they have remained at our sides rather than in the sidelines.

An Impromptu Song

Born from a powercut...

Caution: The word 'action' should be taken lightly. You pervs!

Dereliction

Knuckles Postmortem – Hiking Along the Memory Lane

There are things that change your life…that sometimes gives you an extra tinge to do something different. Some things in life make you realize that it’s not just about your everyday chores but that there is more to enjoy and adventure. I was never a hiking enthusiast, it did not fascinate me that much to trek through rugged terrain with steep hills. I would not mind a good smooth trek along a nature trail but a hard climb coupled with bad weather and low supplies of food and water really tests your endurance to a great level.

This past weekend I had the exact opportunity to meet up with couple of good friends mostly bloggers to take up a hiking adventure in the misty mountains beyond Hunnasgiriya. Even with so many reminders on hiking gear and preparation I was not that much serious about trail as it sounded mostly like a normal hike up a and down a mountain. I would not go into detail on how everything went off as you could find detailed perspectives over the whole trip at Whacko’s, Jerry’s, Fallen’s and quite possibly Sinhalaya’s.

What probed me most to write this post was the experience I got out of it. The whole trek which was filled with unexpected surprises and adventure was something one could hardly come across. I saw a bunch of deformed misfits working all together to make through a trek of hell. I saw great qualities in everyone who were really serious about the whole trek and were quite keen about what they had gotten involved with.

I saw Whacko with his hearty trek master duties herding us like a bunch of buffalos to a cave full of batshit. I saw HisP, running along with enthusiasm making hasty calls to find us transportation and risking his life to ride off with a drunken motorcyclist to get us to safety. I saw Foxhound normally silent, coming out of the closet talking through the whole trek and tagging along HisP to go ahead and scout for help when others were lagging behind. I saw Fallen with his annoying “Oh Fucks” and screeches motivating anyone who was left behind. I saw PapareBoy documenting the trek with his camera and helping out whenever possible. I saw the Drifter with his crazy monkey dances and his silent yet keen interest tagging along with a bunch of people; most of them he barely knew. I saw Jerry, leading with the pack, jumping up to help out when situations got serious. I saw the two girls Puppeteer and HisP’s Friend growing balls on me, tagging along with a bunch of guys and competing shoulder to shoulder. And how can we forget Mother Nature who fucked us like a rabies ridden wild rabbit all through our way back eh?

It was this commitment that made this one heck of a journey an experience to remember, stiff limbs and leech ridden arms aside I believe that everyone got something to their life out of it….well I certainly did, and for me this will be kept as a memorable experience to be savored and enjoyed through tough times yet to come….

...ah serenity...