Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Padura 2010


First & foremost, if you are living in Gulf, Eid is one of the very few long holidays that you would get. Especially, for Muslims, it is a holistic holiday to mark the end of Ramadan - the Islamic holy month of fasting. Eidis an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fiṭr means "conclusion of the fast"; and so the holiday celebrates the conclusion of the thirty days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan.

In fact, except Christmas (when some companies closed their business for few days), it is one of the two holidays which would last more than one day. Thus, there is no need to explain the level of anticipation. Since, it is not longer enough (maximum three days), there is very little chance to go out from the country. Hence, most of the residents use to travel within the country to unleash the enormous working stress.
All right, that is a short introduction of the Eid and the custom of UAE expatriates on Eid holidays.

Therefore, it was a custom of our guys to arrange a domestic trip and this time our batch rep Pumba, got in to the act early. He came up with some 5 or 6 ideas and was voted to select one. Eventually, we managed to finalise a place and was a bit quicker too. Riggians started the business early and event was carefully planned.
As always, time passed very quickly and the day was closing quickly. Wamsi, was brilliant in his graphics and came up with some magnificent postings throughout and I would say it set the tone early.

Then, the much awaited day came, first we started the journey form Rigga and headed to the National Paints Roundabout where we met the other batch came from Barsha and Discovery. That completed the full pack and the jokes were propotionatley increased. It was very hard for anybody to survive from pointing, with the intensity of joking (remember Dila and Wamsi were in full swing). It is absolutely a replay of our golden trips in the past. O.k then Bata lead the way since they were the guys attended for the pilot trip. Moreover, bata is the person who knows "meke yana widiya", So everybody gave him the lead ride. It was around 40 minutes drive from there onwards despite the few "short cuts of BATA". It was filled with fun and there was no exception even during this 40 minutes. Surprisingly, DT was a good driver and was a heavily required thing in the tricky way to the resort .

Even more surprisingly, we managed to reach the resort on time and as usual Cheka was the administrator of the hotel booking. It is fascinating to study that our batch is filled with vastly varied skilled people and it is more eminent when there is an event of this nature. Finally, we got some rooms and the goods were unloaded quickly. Meantime, the fun game team were on the move and could see a lot of preparation. Pattaya (the creative producer of the fun games) was in the beach early and was filling baloons while other members (Paska, Dagee, Mula and Waman) getting ready for the other fun stuff. After around half an hour, everything was ready for a quite lengthy playful game session. It started with the "filling water to a bottle" game. There were 6 players per team and altogether there were 3 teams. It was fantastic and was quite an activity too. It gave everybody a thought of how bad their stamina have gone down. It was won by the Jahuta & clans.


Then it was the "musical coin" time. It was also filled with loads of fun especially through the cheerful commentaries of Waman and the absolutely amazing and surprising topics to speak on.


Then, the time came for "catching of water baloons". Absolutely no words to express the fun and everybody got wet except very few. Won by DT and wife of Lapsi. 


Next was the "tug of war" and Lapsi was the chief in command. There was no exception on the typical nature and was ended up by a win from Lokka & clans. Fun games lasted in that manner and although it was filled with fun the level of exercise it gave, driven everybody towards the pool.


Playing in the pool was another joyful event in itself. It lasted for around 2 hours and there were a lot of swimming classes went on including DT's rope swimming. It was amazing.

While, the pool playing went wild, there were some workhorses busy on the BBQ preparation. Although it may not be healthy, it is a change of dine, isn't it?? At the end, BBQ paved the way for the Padura.




Padura was conducted by our musical maestro - Wamsi, and there were many artists came from no where eventually. There were all range of songs from classical to modern hip-hop. Milton, Clarence, Jothi, Kapuge, Victor were in the cards throughout.

All the guys & gals’ choosed to request their favorite songs and Padura was pretty generous to give all of them. It was good 4 hours of entertainment (well structured too) and then the ladies wanted to get some rest.




It was the high time and oh boy... was a beginning of all Baila, 6-8 beats, everything else, you name it. It was absolutely a replay of the “golden pavilion era” and seemed that everybody was waiting for that. I was amazed the way all of us treat our past in the same manner. This session also lasted for around another 2 hours and the clock was around 2.30a.m. Sleep time....

It concluded the Padura-a true recall of our golden memories. It was a very sad moment to end the event but the ultimate truth of the nature again became a fact.


As you can preview, the half an hour after that was in the same caliber of the past and you know the particulars.

The next day was dedicated for some Bowling action. After the “light” breakfast gang got in to the boat to have a boat trip to a nearby flamingo island. Although the name is flamingo we could see very few flamingos. Some professional cameras were around and it was the high time for the guys to click some beautiful sceneries around.









At last everybody got in to the vehicles and started the journey back. There was that miserable cloud all over to leave such a wonderful event and place. This time DT was the leader and everybody was after him. Bata was also not far behind from DT and was a firm indication for the rest that we would go in the “meke yanna ona widiha”. Everything was fine and ride was smooth too although the road was bit tricky. We ride and ride and suddenly, there was a quite risky and thorough breaking from DT. It was truly a surprise which prompt me to look on the exactly overheaded sign board. As I remember it was to “Ras Al Khaimah”. O.k. story is loud and clear now and at last but not least we had found another "short cutter" J. There were no options but we managed to curb the problem by another well thought short cut and this time surprisingly from Bataaaa. Eventually we came back to the Emirates road and again the king was DT but this time around he managed to take us to the Dubai Bowling Center without any further hugger-mugger and again surprisingly on time. I need to highlight that this whole trip was on track with very small ups and downs.

Well, In terms of Bowling, the event started with a high level of energy and the veterans like Paska, Dagee, Cheka, Wamsi, Bata, Jima, Lokka, Jahut, Manta, Lapsi & Sanura were among the leading scorers early. However, all the others were up to the task and there was a very close contest throughout. DT was remarkable with a great performance on his debut and won the emerging player of the tournament. Ladies were also brilliant and Maduni was the best scorer. Well, not surprisingly at all, Dagee was the top scorer from men’s competition and it was the overall conclusion of another wonderful session. The lunch was followed by the Bowling session and was in the same tone. With that the marvelous trip was came to an end and a miserable feeling was across the board. :( :(












Let me also do a small vote of thanks here. First and foremost, thanks a lot to Pumba for arranging such a wonderful trip and the rest of the Rigga boys also have to be thanked immensely. I think everybody would agree that they did around 75% of the hard work. Thanks a lot my dear bros. Ladies also done a lot of hard work by preparing a lot of delicious food items. The rest of the guys also done a great job by arranging the activities (this reminds me Deka) and altogether everybody played their role to the perfection.

Moreover, a special vote of thanks goes to Lokka for coming all the way from Qatar by spending money & time to meet us. That’s absolutely unbelievable and hats off for that beloved touch of friendship that you showed to us. Three cheers for Lokka.


Thanks everyone again for arranging such a marvelous trip.

Altogether, the trip was much needed and awaited from all of us and had been organized exceptionally to the finest detail you ever can imagine. Absolutely marvelous. I have been to many trips and can recall at least one shortfall of everyone of them but not in this. Remarkably brilliant experience and everybody was thoroughly enjoyed. This was in the calibre of our golden trips in the past and hopefully we would be able to arrange many more in the years to come..

Guys let’s do it again... (Lapsi, we are waiting)

Sunday, September 5, 2010

ගලන ගඟකි ජීවිතේ

ගලන ගඟකි ජීවිතේ,

මට මේ කතාව ලියන්න හිතුනෙ පහුගිය දොහක මට වෙච්ච සිද්දියක් මතක් වෙච්ච හින්දා. මතක විදිහට මේක වුනේ පහුගිය මාර්තු මාසේ. එදා තමා අපි හා හා පුරා කියලා අලුත් ගෙදරට ගෙවැදිච්ච දවස. ලොකු බඩු මුට්ටු ටික අල්ලපු රටට අල්ලපු රටේ දෙන්නෙකුට (විස්වාස කරන්න ඒ එක්කෙනෙකුත් හරි අපි පස් හය දෙනෙකුත් හරි ) කියලා ගෙන්න ගත්තට මොකද, ඔය පොඩි පොඩි ලට්ට ලොට්ට ටික ගෙනාවේ අපේ කාර් එකෙන්ම තමයි. උදේ ඉදලම බඩු මුට්ටු ඇදල හවස් වෙනකොටනම් හොදටම හෙම්බත් වෙලා හිටියෙ. හරි ඉතින් කොහොමහරි අපි අන්තිම බඩු ටිකත් ගෙනාවා කියමුකෝ, වෙලාව රෑ 11ත් පහු වෙලා, හොදටම මහන්සියි, ගොඩක් රෑ වෙලා හින්ද ගේ ලග පර්කිනුත් නෑ. ඉතින් මොනව කොරන්නද, සුපුරුදු වැල්ලෙ පාර්ක් එක දිහාවට මමත් කාර් එක ගෙනිච්චා. 

පාරෙන් අයිනට ගන්නවත් එක්කම මට තෙරුනා මොකක් හරි වැදුනා කියල. නවත්තල බැලින්නම්, ඔයිල් ලීක් එකක්. හොර්ස් එකක් වැල්ලෙ තිබිච්ච යකඩ කම්බියක පටලිලා නෙව. මාර වෙලාවක් තමා.. මට ඊට පස්සෙ දවසෙ අලුත් සයිට් එකක වැඩ. ඒකෙ ඉන්නෙ මරුමුස් ප්‍රින්සිපල් ටයිප් ලොක්කෙක් හින්ද අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම වෙලාවටම යන්නම වෙනව. කරන්න කිසිම දෙයක් තිබුනෙ නෑ. දැම්ම කෝල් එකක් අහල පහලම ඉන්න මල්ලියෙකුට. අපරාදේ කියන්න බෑ මිනිහ ඊලග දවසෙ දුන්නා ලිෆ්ට් එකක් සයිට් එකටම. ඉතින් මම පහුවදා වැඩට ගිහින් අර මරුමුස් ලොක්කගෙන් ඊලග දවසට නිවාඩුවකුත් ඉල්ලගෙන (වැදල වගේ )ආවා ගෙදර. 

ඊලග දවසෙ මම කෝල් කලා පොලිසියට, මෙහෙ එහෙමනෙ සිස්ටම් එක. මෙන්න මේ යෝදයෝ කියනවා, "අපිට එන්න බෑ, ඕනෙනම් පොලීසියට වාහනේ ගේන්න කියල". කොහොමත් මෙහෙ පොලීසිය ඔහොම තමයි. සුද්ද වගේම එන්ග්ලිශ් කතා කරන්න බැරිනම් ඉතින් අහැක් විදිහට හරි අරාබි කතා කරන්න ඕනේ. නැත්නම් අපිත් වැටෙන්නෙ අල්ලපු රටේ ගොඩටම තමා. මොනව කරන්නද, වාහනේ ලොරියක පටවගෙන ගියා පොලීසියට. ලොරි කාරයත් වාහනේ දාල ගියා වෙන වැඩක් තියෙයි කියලා. පොලිසිය ඇතුලට ගියාම කියපි, "කවුද වාහනෙ මෙහෙට ගෙන්න කිව්වෙ, වහාම තිබිච්ච තැනට ගෙනියනව, එතකොට අපි ඇවිල්ල බලන්නම්" කියල. කොච්චර වැදල වගේ කිවුවත් හරි ගියෙ නෑ. අයේම ලොරියක් හොයාගෙන කාර් එක ගෙනාව තිබිච්ච තැනටම. ඊට පස්සෙ සෑහෙන්න ට්‍රයි කරල පොලිසියෙ මහත්තයෙක්ව ගෙන්න ගත්ත. ලිය කියවලි ටික ඔක්කොම ගත්තට පස්සෙ අපි දෙන්නත් එක්ක ආයේ ලොරියක් හොයාගෙන ගිහින් දැම්ම workshop එකට. 

විශ්වාස කරන්න, මේ වැඩ ටික ඔක්කොම ඉවර වෙලා කාර් එක අපිට ආයේ හම්බවෙන්න සති 3ක් විතර ගියා. මේ කාලය ඇතුලතුලදි  නොයෙක් විදියේ මිනිස්සු අපිට හම්බ උනා. මම කාර් වලට ආස උනාට කාර් ගැන වැඩිය දන්නෙ නැති නිසා රැවිටිලිකාරයන්ට අහුවුන අවස්ථා වැඩියි. හැබැයි කාරුණිකව මතක් කරන්න ඕනේ, මගෙ අසැල්වැසි සහොදරයෝ ටික කරපු උපකාර. ඒව මෙහෙම ලියල ලඝු කරන එකත් මට හිතෙන්නේ එයාලට කරන නිගරුවක් වගේ. හැබැයි දරුනු හිත් වේදනාවක් නම් අවසානයේ ඉතුරු වුනා, මිනිස්සු මෙච්චර වෙනත් මනුස්සයෙකුගේ අසරණ කමකදි තමන්ගෙ මඩිය තර කර ගන්න දරුණු වෙන්නෙ ඇයි කියලා.

ඔය අතරෙදි තමයි අපිට හිතුනේ මේක හොරණ තාත්තට කියන්න ඕනේ කියල. අපි මේ විස්තරයක් එ වෙනකම්ම කියල තිබ්බේ නෑ.  කොහොමත් ජීවිතය ගැන දර්ශනවාදීව බලන කෙනෙක් නිසා මටත් හිතුන උපදේශයක් ගන්න ඕනේ කියල. මේ විස්තරෙ ඔක්කොම අහන් ඉදල තාත්ත කිවුවේ "පුතේ ජීවිතේ කියන්නෙ ගඟක් කියල හැම තිස්සෙම මතක තියා ගන්න" කියලා, ඒ වචන ටික ඇහුනම මට පුදුම සැනසීමක් දැනුනෙ. බුදු හාමුදුරුවෝ දේශනා කල මැදින් පිලිවෙත අනුව ජීවත් වීම එ වචන ටිකේ ගැබ් වෙලා තියෙනව නේද කියල මට හිතුන. කොටින්ම කිව්වොත් අද මම ජීවිතේ දිහා බලන විදිහ වෙනස් වෙන්න ඒ වචන ටික බලපෑව කිව්වොත් හරියටම හරි.

ගලන ගඟකි ජීවිතේ...

ඔයගොල්ලන්ටත් මේ කතාවෙන් ගත යුත්තක් තියේයි නම් ඒක මටත් සතුටක්. කියවල බලල මොකක් හරි හිතේ නම් ඇහක් විදිහට ලියල දාන්නකො. අර ගයාන් මල්ලි කිව්ව වගේ නොන්ඩියක් වුනත් කමක් නෑ...

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Cricket & Corruption

Well, everybody would accept that corruption in a game is absolutely destroys its lifeline, fair competition. It's absolutely ridiculous to even think that players do not play for their potential due to the greediness for money, especially even when they represent their country. Why? people would ask. How, when, where prosecutors would ask but no body would try to understand or address the underline cause.

Especially in third world countries, most of the times the whole system is corrupted and money sometimes govern everything, even sometimes the top rulers' decisions. Unfortunately, there is no exception for Sri Lanka as well.

If the corruption exist from top of the state to the down, why we expect sportsmen alone to be clean, why only Cricketers??? no. Even they would also think that they need to capitalize the opportunity. How many people are clearly clean enough to stand against those acts. I would say, it would be far lower than we even can imagine.

Therefore, I believe if we want to stop corruption to penetrate in to the game we love, we need to raise the voice and act against any form of corruption and make it a principal policy that all political groups would have to adopt. I think we have very short time to witness even Sri Lankan team also to be in the spotlight of corruption. Therefore, if we love the game, let's try as we can to stop corruption in our country which would be a small step but collectively would be a giant leap.

Sri Lanka, zindabad!!!!!