Colomboscope 2014 Highlights - Video Recaps for the 4 Days

We were able to cover some interesting sessions from this year's Colomboscope. The event which covered a wider range of literature, music, film and dance acts and was held at some interesting venues such as Whist Bungalow in Modara, Rio Cinema in Slave Island and Grand Oriental Hotel in Fort

Here's a recap of some of the interesting sessions we managed to cover, in 4 short video sequences. Also there are two full sessions: Keselmaduwa by Venuri Perera and Terry Riley's "In C" performed by Chamber Music Society of Colombo.

Btw we revamped our website - mathawaada.com have a look and let us know what you think. :)

Enjoy...

Colomboscope Highlights (Playlist)

Keselmaduwa by Venuri Perera 

Terry Riley's "In C" performed by Chamber Music Society of Colombo 
(St. Peter's Church, Fort, Colombo)

A Quick Guide to Camping in Horton Plains

The idea behind this post is to offer a quick insight into the 3 campsites in Horton Plains. We had camped out on campsites 1 and 2 in the past several years, but this year when we wanted to camp out on site 3, we weren't able to find any detailed comparisons on all three sites. So as I have been able to camp out on all 3 sites thought of drafting this breif post on the 3 campsites in Horton Plains.

To put things in perspective this is the latest update from January 2014.

Booking the Campsites

You would have to visit the Wild Life Department Office in Battaramulla to make a reservation to any of these campsites. It would cost you LKR 2500 per day, and you could accommodate upto 10 people. If you are travelling by a vehicle they will charge you a vehicle fee at the park entrance which would be around LKR 280.

Wildlife Offce Contact Number - 0112888585

Getting There

If you are travelling through public transport, its advised to take the Fort-Badulla train and get off at Pattipola or Ohiya stations, from there its a ascending hike of around 9kms, but if you are taking a TukTuk it will cost around LKR 1500-2000, which is worth-it if you are carrying lot of camping gear.

A rough map of the 3 campsites in Horton Plains

Horton Plains Campsite 01

This is the closest campsite to the Wildlife Conservation Office. This is my favorite camping site out of all 3. If you are camping for the first time I would recommend to book this. It doesn't have much space to camp out, but has easy access to constantly running stream of water, which will make your life much easier. It is also completly sealed off from the public eye, giving you much privacy.

The campsite is located on a small island like strip of land with water on three sides.

Getting there - below is the campsite 1

Best thing about campsite 1, a great flowing stream just next to your site.

campsite 1, its covered by the stream from all other 3 sides.

Horton Plains Campsite 02

You could camp here if all other options are out. This campsite is located just across the hiking path to World's End, so you will have visitors passing by your campsite during the daytime. So you will not have much privacy unless you are inside the tent. However, this campsite is located closer to the Chimney Pool, which is a great place to have a wash and a bath.

But I would recommend to avoid this if possible as this doesn't have much privacy and on a weekend the path would get really busy with visitors.But if privacy is not a concern it is a great place to camp as it has easy access to running water.

campsite 2 - Water Bund at campsite 2 (other than privacy, its a great place to camp)

Horton Plains Campsite 03

This campsite is located between campsites 1 and 2, and has a lot of space to setup your tent. However, the only downfall here is that you would have to walk around 100 meters along the water stream to get to a decent place to have a wash, as water just in-front are stagnant and  harder to access.

Since its not covered by larger mountains like on campsite 1, it has a great view at night and in the morning.

Campsite 3 is seen ahead, this is from the path to campsite 1 which is to the right

Campsite 3 is seen ahead- the picture is taken from where you can get access to running water, so you would have to walk a bit to have a good wash

General Tips 

• All campsites are located within around 500ms from the Horton Plains Wildlife Centre and all sites consist of a permanent toilet (squatting) and garbage disposal facilities.

•  If you have a lot of equipment to carry its best to get there before afternoon so you can setup your camp and be prepared for any weather changes.

• No plastics or polythene is allowed within the park, the officers at the gate would check your bags occasionally but are not that strict, in any case if you bring any plastics please make sure to dispose them accordingly at the garbage pit at the site, don't leave them scattered in the campsite.

• Nights in Horton Plains will get really cold, so make sure that you take enough warm clothes including socks and warm gloves if possible.

• Make sure to take a raincoat, as it rains often, you would at least get caught in a small drizzle.

• You are not allowed to make campfires, but the officers would not come to check on it at night but it its advised to take a gas-cooker to cook food ( with smaller gas cyclinder) as it is harder to make fires with the constant mist and rain.

If you are further looking for some solid advise on camping, traveling and sightseeing across Sri Lanka the best place I would recommend the awesome travel community Lakdasun (lakdasun.org). It has a massive load of trip reports and a helpful forum where you can get loads of information. We managed to speak to one of its founding members, Mithila years ago, and you can check out that video on Idea Pettiya.

Special Thanks to Kelum, Varuna, Thinu & Thisara for the pics from our trips through the past few years.

Happy Camping Everyone!

How did the JVP insurrection in late 80s impact current Sri Lankan society?

Well this is just a thought that came up. ; the second JVP insurrection in the late 80s claimed more than 60,000 lives most of whom were in thier youths. The bloody carnage claimed policitians, undergraduates, artists, journalists and activists from all walks of lives. Many of those who were killed would have been in thier early/mid 40s if they were alive today. So how has this vaccume impacted the current Sri Lankan society?

Will we be more more conservative or open minded about various issues? For example when taking the entertainment industry and cinema i feel that the 70s society was less conservative compared to our current society? And we seemed to have lost something in the 80s and mid 90s But it can be due to various reasons. And also regarding may other socio-political issues will our thinking be different? and i feel that there is some gap tha needs to be filled by the current genration...

Kolamba Sanniya ( 1976) Comedy/Sinhala

The Police Torture Epidemic in Sri Lanka - A Must Watch Documentary

Came across this amazing 20 minute documentary produced for Aisan Human Rights Commission, which i think every Sri Lankan regardless of their own opinion about human rights should have a look at. The documentary is deeply disturbing and takes a very insightful look at the "torture epidemic" that has gripped the Sri Lankan Police system.

Mr.Basil Fernando of Aisan Human Rights Commission rightly puts it, this is not something the international community will understand properly, and the change should come within from our society itself. Community awareness and strong advocacy against police torture is needed. When you look at the video you will notice several torture victims who have gone through much trauma due to these activities, and today it may be them but tomorrow it can very well be you or one of your loved ones? Have a look share your thoughts and spread the word.

Link: http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/videos/AHRC-VID-002-2012

Idea Pettiya E02 - Mithila Somasiri from Lakdasun.org

In this episode of Idea Pettiya we were able to have a brief chat with Mithila Somasiri who is one of the major contributors and founding memebers of Sri Lankan nature and travel site Lakdasun.org

The website is a thriving virtual community of people who share similar interests in travel and exploring Sri Lankan nature and wildlife. The website has now become a great destination for users to obtain free information about places to explore, get advise and share their own travel experiences. The website contains highly detailed trip reports, information about attractions and amazing trekking routes in the heart of Sri Lanka. Their ever active forum has become a  great place to seek advise and share information.

We spoke to Mithila about his inspiration behind the website and his thoughts about conservation of Sri Lankan wildlife.

You could visit Lakdasun for more information at :http://www.lakdasun.org/

Colombo International Theater Festival 2012

Colombo International Theater Festival will be held from 26th March - 2nd April 2012 at the British School Auditorium. While the main performances will be held at British College Auditorium there will be a series of workshops and lecturers at Goethe Institute in Gregory's Road.

The festival will host a number of International Theater productions from countries such as Australia,Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, India etc. We had a little chat with the festival director M.Safeer who with is Inter Act Art Foundation is putting in an amazing effort to make this event a success. M.Safeer has been in the Sri Lankan Theater industry for over 20 years with much experience and has pioneered in this with a hope of creating a turning point in the Sri Lankan Theater industry.



We are in the process of doing a few more interviews and documenting some of the efforts that are going into making this event a success, anyways below we have shared the performance schedule and you could gain more information about ticket reservations from their facebook page.


Colombo International Theater Festival  - Performance Schedule

26th March	Changeable Cohesion - Germany             Choreographer – Gerda Konig Concept - Gustavo Fijalkow/ Gerda Konig
27th  March	The Old Man and The Sea - Iran  Director - Zahrasadat Aziminia (Iran’s Sayeh Theater Group)	Passengers – Sri Lanka  Director - Ronika Chamali / S.Leelawathi (Janakaraliya – Theater of people)
28th March	Sitabo Lalang Lipa – Indonesia Director - Muh.Saeful (UKM Seni dan Budaya Talas)
29th  March	Chutti (Story-telling theater) - Delhi       Director - Dr.Ashish Ghosh (Anant Theater Group)
30th  March	Talk is Small (a play with scrabble) -Australia      Director - Brendon O’Cannel (Big One Little One)	Elfi - Sri Lanka    Director - S.Dayalan (Inter Act Art Black Box Theater)
31st March	Akhiyan Walio (People with eyes) - Pakistan      Director - Aamir Nawaz (Maas Foundation - Pakistan)
01st April	Dangalnama – Pune, India Director - Pro. Vidyanidhee Vanarase (Flame School of performing arts)
02nd April	Caged - Sri Lanka              Director - M.Safeer (Inter Act Art Black Box Theater)

Documenting Sri Lankan Metal Scene through a Camcoder

Its been sometime since Drg and I did our first feature documentary  with four Sri Lankan metal bands called Arise. When we decided that we wanted to do this documentary we hardly had any material to work with, even though the Sri Lankan metal scene has been alive and kicking (at least in a very smaller scale) for so many years there was hardly any live footage to be found. In fact for certain bands even though they had been playing for more than five years they only had a few band pics and some live photographs to share with us.

This was indeed a tragedy, but of course when looking at the number of people who were coming to local gigs, supporting and encouraging the metal movement this was hardly a surprise. So in order to create the documentary apart from band interviews we traveled between Colombo and Kandy recording a number of gigs within a span of around one year. The footage we got were of very low quality, gigs were recorded off a Panasonic DV cam which was very bad in low light conditions and did not have a lasting battery. However once I was able to afford a decent camera I started recording off more gigs and band performances. Not to mention that these also have the shaky camera movements and some times bad low lights, but still within the span of last 1 1/2 years we have been able to slowly document most of the bands in the Sri Lankan metal scene on video.

As most would agreed the best feeling of a metal track would be to listen to it live. As of late with help of several friends we have started to use dual cameras for gig recording. This is no way an easy task, since we are not using any professional cameras, additional equipment or live editing. The hardest part comes at the editing sessions where footage from the two cameras needs to be synchronized and edited. Also the audio tracks on most of these gigs are not professionally recorded so we are ended up with the audio feed picked up by the camera itself. However once an edit is completed and when you go through the footage several times, the satisfaction you get is unmatched.

Of course we got a long way to go in terms of videoing gigs professionally though this can be taken as the first few steps in that direction. And kudos to everyone who are attending gigs and making it possible for bands to perform and supporting in any way they can.

This video was taken from behind the stage, its shaky and not of the best quality at all, but still love this. Capturing that performance and the crowds reaction was just epic!

Our latest dual camera experiment featuring WLG, an upcomming metalcore act from Kurunagala. 

Well you could find more videos of lesser and better quality than these at our youtube channel along with live performances of a number of well known local metal bands, check them all out at http://www.youtube.com/mathawaada

Idea Pettiya - E01 with Angam Documentary Director: Anjula Rasanga

First episode of our Tube talk show Idea Pettiya is now live!!

We spoke with Anjula Rasanga, who is a independent filmmaker and a cartoonist who recently screened his first feature documentary "Angam". The documentary goes in depth into the Sri Lankan traditional martial arts called "Angam Pora", so in this episode we discuss what inspired him to make this movie, how he went ahead with it and his insights and experiences on film-making in Sri Lanka.

One interesting point he brought forward was the use of the so called "new media" as a young film-maker to promote his work. It was indeed an interesting chat we had with him, hope it would be the same for you.

The episode is in Sinhala with English subtitles (make sure to tun that on by clicking the "CC" button on the video)

Tune in for more episodes very soon, meanwhile click here to subscribe to our YouTube or visit the below link

www.youtube.com/mathawaada

Amdens Stories (ඇම්ඩන් - නුතන ජනකතා)

Last week I managed to step into the National Library for the book launch of Amden Noothana Janakatha (ඇම්ඩන් - නුතන ජනකතා) which translates to english as Amden- Modern Folk tales. There's hardly anyone in Sri Lanka who hasn’t heard about Amden or one of his stories. Though his stories may not have reached some of our elders the younger generation is quite familiar who Amden is. So as someone who has grown up amidst all types of Amden’s stories, this event was something I was really looking forward to.

The book had been compiled by Asanka Sayakkara a young talented author who had inked the stories in far more different style. It can be considered that his attempt has been to convert Amdens stories which are told in everyday language (with so much filth) to a more traditional literature oriented text. This attempt gave book a different twist and made it an interesting read. 

The event also featured three interesting lectures that discussed how Amden has impacted the modern day society and the reasons behind birth of characters such as Amden. There was a very interesting lecture by Sudheera Jayaweera which discussed how Amden’s stories have become sort of a alternative path to go beyond the so called ethical boundaries in religious, social, political and sexual contexts that exist in the modern society. He discussed how it had paved the way for the common man to challenge the so called moral entrepreneurship with vile little funny stories based around this character called Amden. 

Anyhow, the event was quite interesting and the book was also a good read, which featured a selection of Amdens stories (not all of them) and is priced at Rs 200. I don’t actually know which bookshops would have it but if you come across it grab a copy and check it out. (Its publishers are Script House (pvt) Ltd)
 

Tribute to the Gods 2011 held at Clancys

We managed to cover some of the awesome performances by Karmic Salphur, Hollow, Fallen Grace and Tantrum at the recently held Tribute to the Gods gig. This gig organized annually brings some of the best known Sri Lankan metal bands who get together to put up an awesome covers night honoring  their Metal Gods!

Below is a video playlist we have put together with 12 awesome covers done by all these four bands, and all of these are pretty damn good, its hard to hand pick any but i have also embedded some kick ass songs played at the event below as well  :D Enjoy!!!

Video Playlist " Tribute to the Gods 2011"

Karmic Salphur covering Rage Against the Machine's Freedom

Hollow doing a kick ass cover of Pantera's Domination


Fallen Grace paying Tribute to British Death Metal outfit Bolt Thrower with Killchain


The last fcking song Tantrum tearing up the venue with Lamb of God's Black Label

"Cingalese" women

I'm so totally duplicating this from my blog, but thought I'd share it here because it is A VERY interesting article I came across and I think more people should read it.. :)

Hugh Boyd who came as an envoy to the Kandyan Court in 1782 writes,

The Cingalese women exhibit a striking contrast to those of all other Oriental Nations in some of the most prominent and distinctive features of their character. Instead of that lazy apathy, insipid modesty and sour austerity, which have characterized the sex throughout the Asiatick world, in every period of its history, in this island they possess that active sensibility, winning bashfulness and amicable ease, for which the women of modern Europe are peculiarly famed. The Cingalese women are not merely the slaves and mistresses, but in many respects the companions and friends of their husbands; for though the men be authorized by law to hold their daughters in tyrannical subjection, yet their sociable and placable dispositions, soften the rigor of their domestic policy. And polygamy being unknown and divorce permitted among the Cingalese, the men have none of that constitutional jealousy, which has given birth to the voluptuous and unmanly despotism that is practiced over the weaker sex in the most enlightened nations, and sanctioned by the various religions of Asia. The Cingalese neither keep their women in confinement nor impose on them any humiliating restraints.

More on the article The Position of Women in Buddhism here

Hiking to Lipton Seat in Haputale

Well, last weekend we hitched a ride to Haputale. The train was already booked for the weekend so we decided to head there by bus. One of my friend'stold me about the "Super Line" bus which actually offers a very comfortable night transportation between Colombo and Badulla.

After some Googling we came up with this very informative post on Lakdasun forum on how to reserve seats on the Colombo Badulla Super Line bus. The ride itself was really good, the bus unlike other AC buses had enough leg space and the reclining seats provided a comfortable sleep during the journey. Our visit to Haputale was in fact to take a hike to the much famous Lipton Seat which is said to be used by Sir Thomas Lipton as favorite look out post during the his visits to British Ceylon. On a clear day you could see 5 provinces in Sri Lanka and the view from there is magnificent.

We reached Haputale Town at 4.00am on Saturday morning, after chilling out at SriLakView rest (which we had booked before arriving) we began our journey to Lipton Seat at around 10.00am. Lipton Seat is located a bit off the Haputale Town so if you are going to take a hike you very much need to take the bus from Haputale to Dambetenna Tea Factory which takes around 40mins.



From Dambetenna Factory  there is a long hike which would take up around 3.5 hours. If in fact if you have a vehicle the journey is quite fast where you could get to the place itself in the vehicle.But we of course opted to take a hike to the place and thought of cutting across the long winding roads by making our way through the tea plantations.Though the hike was tiring the view leading up to the place was magnificent and its worth every effort. After exhausted few hours we were able to reach Lipton's Seat, there was a small Shop run by an old couple who served us some awesome tea and biscuits.

We relaxed and spent several hours in the place, and started our way back through the tea plantations as the sun started to set. We heard that the sun set from the top was really amazing but we had to rush back as we needed to catch the last bus from Dambetenna to Haputale. There are some video compilations  captured from the hike...



I've located Lipton Seat on Google Maps, you could access it from the following link. On Google Maps swith to Satellite(Earth) to get a better 3d view of the place...

http://bit.ly/LiptonSeat

  

Paranoid Earthling Live - Concert Videos

Paranoid Earthling is one of the most prominent and well known Rock/Grunge acts i Sri Lanka. Few week back they put up an electric performance at Aphrodisiac at their self-titled concert "Paranoid Earthling Live". There were also performances by Nevi'im; an exciting new act by Dhas brothers as well as well known experimental stoner rock band Karmic Sulphur. 

With all the footage gathered I was able to create a small playlist, but of course the adrenaline rush and the thrill that was unleashed at the audience is noway justified in these videos. But of course if you like any of the bands don't forget to check them out and be there at their next performance. 

Note that I have kept the videos in order of performance you could always skip through as you wish from the list you would get below once you click the play button.

Amaarisge Ethnocentrism+Marketing

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own.- Wikipedia
Inspired by Barbara Kruger's Work

Derana Goes Alternative over Peppermint Candy

Love is a confession… A turn of phrase that shot through into a night of stars at the Derana Music video awards held on last Friday, 5th November. ‘Aadaraye Ansumaathrayak’ carrying the theme love is a confession was nominated for 8 categories out of which it won 5 titles for

Best Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best overall act
Best Video Adaptation of a movie song


The video directed by Udaya Dharmawardana, echoed in person by Indrachapa Liyanage, is the Official Music Video of the film ‘How I Wonder What You Are’ directed by Udaya Dharmawardana and Chinthana Dharmadasa. The film was a venture into the unsought grounds of independent cinema by the director duo, where an unconventional cinematic experience revolves around two souls seeking for a human bond within the forgotten language of connectivity.



This year’s Derana music awards took a massive alternative turn where the video of Funeral in Heaven was awarded as the best music video of the year and the very original ‘Gemba’ was also awarded for its daring innovativeness along with the eminence Aadaraye Ansumaathrayak received. The channel seems to have taken a step at the edge of hope to uplift the underground attempts of local artists to promote artfully rich creations which may have bound to go unnoticed in midst of the hollow sugar coated, candy floss stream the industry has currently crowned. Its motives were confirmed by the persons who were invited to judging panel that holds eminence for their original artistic ideology as Subash Pinnawala, Vimukthi Jayasundara, Sumeda and Shyam


Winds of Uva was recognized for Best Music Video, Best English Music Video and Best Rock Music Video at Derana Music Video Awards



Gemba, an innovative unconventional take in Sri Lankan music videos

One of the most popular category awards which was based on the SMS’s received by the public was won by a ‘Mr. Wanna be’ like Iraj who claims himself to be fighting a battle for the cults of the society with his ‘so called’ art. This makes it clear on what grounds the mindset of the public lies today where they’ve lost their own thought of identity into what cheap money oriented gimmicks wants it to be. So eventually the public is merely puppets of what some power sourced social stunt perceive them to be. Being locked away from authentic arty creations for decades where many like Vimukthi’s own Cannes passed the country by and where rainbow colored fluff balls were platformed; the people cannot be blamed but sympathized for having no sense of rational contentment and simply gobbling down whatever bullshit that’s fed to them with so much imagined goodness.

At a point in time as such, the attempts made by Derana (Assumed that they were consciously made) to recognize the potentials where art could foster for the richness in it, dues an immense load of respect. But we can’t say ‘hail Derana’ in unison as at yet. Does it have the power to continue the step they took forward and keep going deeper into the woods or would this merely be a single apex that helps them to cover as much as scope they can and how well they face the pressure and reactions of the air headed gimmicks labeled as ‘artists’; are questions that would have to be left to be answered with time.

Post courtasy : Randhula De Silva

Bambara Walalla

Went and watched Bambara Walalla at Regal yesterday, and must say the movie was quite awesome. Needless to say that Mahendra Perera(Mel) and Shriyantha Mendis (Jinnhey) took the spotlight for me even though the movie was centered around Athula Liyanage's character "Podi Eka". Although there were certain areas i wished could have been done better in my humble opinion, the movie at large i think is a refreshing break to the line of cheap carbon copied, romance movies that are being produced lately...

Official Site
http://bambarawalalla.com/

The Sri Lankan dream

Oh Honey, the Indi Aappa was fantastic!

Historian James Adams wrote of the American dream thus:

"The American Dream, that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of material plenty, though that has doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as a man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class."

- From Wikipedia, since I'm lazy like that.

My American Entrepreneurship lecturer fed us four weeks of entrepreneurial motivation taking American cases such as a man's cough syrup turned a billion dollar global company (Coca Cola) to a Kentucky family's chicken recipe taking on the world, that I really felt like packing up and going there with Journey's Don't Stop Believing in the background.

The question is, What is the SRI LANKAN DREAM?

An education? A well-paying job at WTC? A Honda Civic? Jumping ship to go abroad, clean up old ladies and then send Cadbury chocolates and Ebay shoes home? Your own business? A suitable marriage at a suitable time? 2 children, preferably girl and boy, in Ladies/Bishops and Royal/St. Thomas's respectively? Shopping in Bangkok? A house in Colombo?

I really wonder. What do you think? Taking into consideration that no country can ever compare to the American dream, it is unique, but as a country, what can we be motivated and driven for?

Elected!

Hegemony and racism are just two of the concepts set to be explored by the latest Forum Theatre from Beyond Borders. Set amidst a university setting the drama tells of two candidates running for student president. What should be a straightforward election soon turns in to something else entirely.

For those of you who are not aware, forum theatre is a slight different form of stage play where the audience first watch a performance of a small play. The actors then proceed to repeat the performance for a second time while the audience is allowed to intervene and even come on stage in order to attempt to change the outcome of the play. Those brought on stage can suggest or do anything provided that it's not unbelievable or completely out of character for the person that they are replacing.

The Forum Theatre will be taking place on Saturday the 22nd at Punchi Theatre in Borella. For registrations and more details please visit http://beyondborders.lk/ft/ .

The Sanath Saga

The semifinals are tonight! Fingers crossed that we have it in us to sail through to the finals. Despite the OKish performance of our boys in the Caribbean, this T20 world cup will be remembered as the one where Sanath Jayasuriya really shouldn't have played.

Its almost ironic, just 3 years ago Sana boy was setting the Caribbean on fire with his destructive batting in the 50 over World Cup, the headlines then were about Atapattu not being played in the team. Now it seems that the tables have turned and to rub more salt in to his wounds: while most of us think that Marvan should have been in the team,how many of us harbour the same sentiment toward Sanath?

Sanath Jayasuriya had a meteoric rise to fame, first being included as a leggie and a useful middle order batsmen. His success at pinch-hitting prompted a promotion up the batting order and the rest as we all know was history in the making.

His batting record speaks for itself. He was one of the most feared and destructive batsmen in any form of the game, be it test, one day or T20's. But enough is enough, it time to say goodbye and let your legend live on Sanath. Time to head back to Matara and attend the funerals in your electorate as any self-respecting Lankan MP would do.


(Time's up...start hanging with people your own age)

It's sad to see the slow humiliation of this once great batsmen, but on the flipside one wonders why he does it? I am sure its not for the money, having earned millions and millions over the years that could sustain the Jayasuriya's for a few generations.

I think he does it because he loves the game. He loves playing for his country, he loves going out to the middle with a willow in hand and he loves his slow left arm bowling.

It's almost as if he were obsessing after an ex-girlfriend that has left him. Your time's up Sanath, IF YOU TRULY LOVE SOMETHING YOU"LL LET IT GO.

I AM THE LAW!

Quite some time ago I found myself in a class at ACBT. The student population in that class was all Sri Lankans and one Chinese girl. During the casual idle moments of the class where people would just chit chat, the conversation amidst the group I was in went to what I felt was an inappropriate place.

They started saying all this stuff about Chinese people and calling out 'Chinaman' and having conversation saying that all Chinese women are prostitutes. Worst of all that person could hear all of that, sitting only a single row in front. The group of people was both male and female and they were having a good laugh. The Chinese person stayed still like nothing was happening.

It took me a few seconds before I turned on those guys with an outburst and told them to stop. 'It's not funny' I said. They all went in to a quiet mumble mumble and stopped. But I ended up being the 'fun' killer. I have my rules and according to those what they were doing was wrong. All moral play. Yay!

But you see come the next class they were at it again and under the same setting. But you know what? I didn't say anything after that. Why? Well quite simply I felt odd. Like I was the lone guy who actually cared. I mean who the heck am I to go about 'enforcing' things? At the end of the day all I ended up becoming was the buzz kill. By doing that I was alienating myself from everyone else which wasn't something I wanted to do... and hell I didn't even know this Chinese person. So what was the point? There was a class full of people in there... what were they doing?

Looking back, what I did the first time was the right thing. If I was in that same situation today I'd keep doing what I did. I guess that would put me at odds with the mob, but I wouldn't really want to be part of the mob.

The question is, can you really do the right thing when everyone doesn't want to? I've always found you'll be on loose ground if you do and ultimately heading for trouble. All those guys had to do was throw a big "APOOOOO" my way or "Who Cares?" and then what am I supposed to say? "I am the law?"