The Power of Music: Resonance
01 Oct 2010 6 Comments
in Creative Writing - Or So I Assumed, Home Tags: 2010, Blissfully Beautiful, Rejuvenation of the Renaissance, Women
The resonance makes all present do
As they feel. The Art that is true
Has preached and instilled in me
Such virtues. Indebted to them is me.
The resonance makes some gaze in to
The distant. Dream of what I no not.
Others engage in activities they call
Their own. Some in slumber.
Maketh it go by music I tried.
Yet in vain lest I should’ve known.
‘Tis the Art that determined;
Not one’s own appraisals.
The resonance drives some down
A path to reality. The others down
What is beautiful, serene and ever
Tranquil. Some reside in slumber.
The resonance bring peace of mind
To some. The others attempt at
Portraying pieces of their minds
To others. Alas. The motive lost.
October 01, 2010
2209h
Cemetery Lover
23 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Home, No Expectations Tags: 2010, Black, Blogging, Miserable, Sri Lanka
Before a general conclusion is drawn upon the title of the blog, stop and go through the first paragraph. Okay. Fine. Cheap marketing strategy yes I acknowledge. However, for some odd reason since my late teenage years I began to grow a fondness towards cemeteries. The logic that follows would be that me liking funerals which I actually do; until I go and then feel all miserable. Explanation for me liking funerals as opposed to weddings: dressing up is not a prerequisite. Lame reason, agreed.
Cemeteries. My fascination began to take shape before I watch “A Walk To Remember”. I don’t exactly recall when and how but I vaguely remember the epitaph of T.B. Ilangaratne (if I recall correct) that was in the Kanatta round-a-bout. Akki pointed out to me one fine day on our way to school, I would’ve been quite small then, however I remember this particular tombstone. Reflecting on the image, later it dawned to me as to how futile and how instant life is. At one point, we are all someone. Someone we aspire to be, someone we had always want to be. Next moment, we have amass of people, known – unknown, like – dislike attending our funerals and paying their apparent last respects. It’s not as though I believe that we should all live in misery because we will die any moment. Just the thought of it, of death being so instant not only scares us, but hits us on the face with memento mori (remember your mortality). The latter concept was a new finding I must add, taught by our English teacher. She elaborated further saying that by constantly reminding us of memento mori, we are able to literally keep our feet on the ground, as we come in to terms with the realisation that we will all die someday.
Cemeteries. I love cemeteries. As mentioned, it gives us time to reflect on our mortality, our probability to die. However, it also makes us think of an equally important aspect: Carpe Diem (seize the day). Live for the moment some of us might call it. Personally, I share a very intimate relationship with this particular aspect. Please folks, that is not to be misinterpreted at any cost. Getting back to the point, (I really need to stop getting side-tracked with what I have to say) walking through a cemetery makes one feel how much they need to accomplish in life before Death captures us, without warning. It’s ironic because this characteristic would be purely subjective. i.e. – a student doing his O/Levels would want to pass to A/Levels while a MPhil student would be dreaming of his or her Doctorate.
Cemeteries. Cemeteries are calm and peaceful. The third reason that would justify my fondness towards cemeteries is the immediate surroundings. It’s peaceful and quiet and is ideal for the Dead. Coming to think of it, I would be thrilled to have been buried in such a place, as I would like to be away from the maddening crowd and horrid traffic. However, fancy cemeteries such as the one in the Kanatta round-a-bout does not pave way for this. Regardless of such exceptions, I believe that a majority of grave-yards were in quiet areas was to not disturbed the dead. This may have been the reason as to why a grave-yard and church follow the concept of the “gamai-pansalai; wevai-dagabai” (the village and the temple; the river and the temple). The translation does not do much to highlight on the concept that is been spoken of, but to those of whom who have done some amount of their education in Sinhalese, shame on you if you don’t know it.
Now if you thought that reading this was a waste of your time well I am Laughing Out Loud.
Love Struck
07 Sep 2010 2 Comments
in Home, No Expectations Tags: 2010, All Smiles, Blissfully Beautiful, Blogging, First-timers, Sensuous, Understanding The Opposite Sex
You left me ‘speechless’ while we were ‘chasing cars’
Love. Infatuation. Love. It is the only thing that would keep you from doing assignments to which you are responsible for on behalf of your entire group. It is the only thing that would make you want to write about it, as it had been nagging you for the past indefinite number of weeks. It is the only thing that would make you want to perform the Herculean task of jumping over those Greco-Roman mountains or some jazz. It’s also the only thing that would stop you from Skyping with your bestie living in the US #oops
At times I wonder if this is what love is in the end. The ability to de-prioritise school or college work and ensure that you write a blog post about the way you feel. I was told by a nice guy and to an extent cynic, that blogging was all about writing about what time you visited the loo, how many meals you had a day so on and so forth. That’s what Twitter is there for, if you ask me. Teehee. I find blogs to be intellectual, enlightening, amusing, thought-provoking and of course absurd too, undoubtedly. But then again, who I am to judge. It’s not as though I am a frequent blogger after all.
Anyhow, my initial content was to be on the subject of a some odd months in long-distance or something of that sort. But, that would really do me justice, as now coming to think of it, I wonder if I loved him all along. True enough I did crush on him for a considerable period of time *blush* before, realisation dawned on me of course. But then, nature and beauty took its course I suppose! Haha 
At times, I feel as though it is some sort of an illusion. This whole love-business. Maybe, it’s because I’ve been a cynic for a good deal of my late teens. Not that I am not now. It’s just that, I’ve come in to terms with the boundaries that come with my cynicism. Same goes for my feminism too. Maturity I suppose.
But coming to think of it, it’s something that any individual would feel good about. There is the literary concept of an individual falling in love with another in order to look good in one another’s eyes. True, there is a sense of nihilism affixed to it. However, ‘looking good’ could on the other hand be a substitute for one accepting the other as they are and vice versa.
The thing about him is that, not only does he make me feel good about myself, but also about the world around me. As corny as this may sound, I find him faultless. Note, I said faultless and not flawless. Personally, being flawless is just too plastic. As I sat recalling his virtues, I tried listing out those of which are bad and found my self in a fix.
He has made me accept the world around me, “removed all walls I surrounded myself in”, taught me to trust others and make me a better person all together. I wouldn’t know life without his madness
“And thus invoke us, “You, whom reverend love
Made one another’s hermitage ;
You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage ;
Who did the whole world’s soul contract, and drove
Into the glasses of your eyes ;
So made such mirrors, and such spies,
That they did all to you epitomise—
Countries, towns, courts beg from above
A pattern of your love.”
The Canonization
John Donne (1572- 1631)
Nice Yindians
14 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Home, No Expectations Tags: 2010, First-timers, Life in a New Land, Yindiar
And just when I thought that the world had turned against me, I was proved wrong. As always . When I speak of the world, as per my present settlement, I speak of India. And when I speak of the world, as per those around me, I evidently speak of Indians. For those of whom who did not get that, please stop reading close the tab/window and never ‘site’ this blog again. *pun-in-cheek*
Never judge a book by its cover, goes the age old adage. Precisely what I did before coming to my new-home. I was told by many a folk of this country and its folk. The prejudices of those who warned me of the country folk had been formulated due to bad experiences that were oft personal. Therefore, I struck it out as ‘bias-ness’ *ahem Calcuttan* 
Came with a fresh mindset did I. Boy was I wrong.
For starters, the country had no law or order. There was no (and they still don’t. However I speak of first impressions) decorum in motorists, pedestrians. There was no adherence to rules. No, I do not come from Communist Land where and I don’t believe that everything should be done as per the book of rules. But the lawlessness in the city of Bangalore is horribly nauseating. I have not been to other parts of India as yet, therefore I may be prejudiced against Bangalore as at now; however from the little I have seen I find myself very disgusted.
What makes the story go MORE wilder (please note that the double-superlative, – Heaven let such a grammatical error be there- was used deliberately) is the fact that the lawlessness of the country has actually grown in to me. I have now become the pedestrian who does not give two hoots about the person walking in front of me. I have become the pedestrian who does not give two hoots about duties of a pedestrian. I have also become the pedestrian who uses more swear words than she ever did. All this when I step out the gates of my dearest University, not. Insane as it may sound, I dread going home. I dread going home and walking on the road. I dread going home and driving. Sigh. Laments of a damsel in distress.
The people. My next least favourite topic. The sentence prior to this says it all. Maybe it is only those who are from the city. Or not. However, on the sunny side of things, what prompted me to give the title that I did is because I saw exceptions. Yes, heard me right you did. I met ‘nice’ Indians in India. For Pete’s sake, stop stating the obvious. LoL. I was told by my favourite English teacher in University that ‘nice’ is a cheap word, or a weasel word. That it does not quite sum up what you want to say. For obvious reasons, my facial expression that accompanied this weasel word cannot be seen, but, ‘nice’ is the word I would use to describe them.
The nice Indians I speak of are the two girls in front of my room. One from Calcutta (Room 530) and the other from New Delhi (Room 531). Both final-year Masters’ students and darlings they are *genuinely blissful expression*. In my point of view, they are what I call normal. Most people that I met here, my age, younger or older could only be defined as sad to say, wasted. The others, superficial. Immoral. Immature. And the list goes on. In order to last in this country for in the least two more years, the list of adjectives shall come to an end there.
Coming back to the darlings. They are not wasted. They are not superficial. They are not immoral. They are not immature. Okay maybe they are, a little (please don’t kill me for this. Smiley face). But then again, who isn’t? It doesn’t hurt to be immature on a rare occasion now does it? Words fail me, but the only word that could best describe these two ladies is that they is ‘nice’. Genuinely nice. Hanging out with them more has helped me a great deal. For example, I have begun to look to substitutes for my swear words. Well, that is not all that cool I believe, but then again, God would like me more I guess for swearing less. Teehee.
I suppose, judging a book by its cover is wrong after all. But then again, who could blame an individual who is in a library filled with bad books? Especially when the good ones are hidden beneath fifteen-hundred odd incoherent hardbound titles?
P.S. – These two jokers are super fun to hang with. Real foodies I must say. Undoubtedly. Could do a bit more with the neat-freakness, but then again I don’t blame them for not being like me. Lmao. As long as I’m around, their rooms will be clean. Do call me up for housekeeping services yes.
Making News in a Third World Country
10 Jul 2010 1 Comment
in Home, No Expectations Tags: 2010, Awareness, Blogging, Developing Countries, Journalism, Politics, Sri Lanka, Work, Yindiar
Initially supposed to be my speech for Phonetics, at least before I was told of the two-minute time duration it now conveniently switched to le blog 
Therefore I shall conveniently switch the word ‘speak’ to ‘blog’ and abracadabra! There’s my new blog.
Weird as it may sound when I opted for ‘Communication’, I did not visualise myself ‘communicating’ per se to an audience of approximately 80+ students. Stage fright has always made me go cold in my knees despite having made such compulsory speeches over the years for academic and other purposes.
Coming from where I do my first choice of speech [and now blog ] was evidently ‘Post-War Sri Lanka.’ Having heard the prefix ‘Post-War’ one too many times for my liking since last May, the phrase had a natural inclination to make itself heard even at places I would consider inappropriate such as my Phonetics CIA III (Continuous Internal Assessment). Cliché nonetheless in my opinion. My next choice of option was what I would consider a rosily drawn up (yet another) cliché, ‘Bangalore at First Site.’ However, having blogged about it already I ventured to my next option of speaking on ‘Stage Fright,’ despite not having much to speak about it anyway.
Cutting to the chase, what prompted me most to blog on ‘News in a Third World Country’ was the experience that was accumulated through my brief tenure as a journalist for a Sri Lankan newspaper; ‘Daily Financial Times’ six months prior to joining University. When I joined the newspaper, despite having wanted to be a journalist for a considerable amount of time, I never dreamt of working for a financial newspaper. Ironic as ‘it may sound, Economics’ was the first set of books to find its way to the recycled bin once my finals were over. However working in a financial newspaper, I was exposed to the practical side of what I mulled over for two and a half years. Interestingly enough I became more enthralled by the subject so much so to an extent that I found myself contemplating between PSEco (Psychology, Sociology and Economics); and CEP (Communication, English Literature and Psychology).
Within the short period of six months I am thrilled to say that my levels of general awareness of the situation of not only the financial world but also the country and world as a whole increased by a significant percentage. I also found myself captivated by CNN newsreaders; AFP and Reuters Local and International Correspondents. Seeing them at work made me say the line “Senashia Ekanayake for AFP.” *LoL* However, I doubt I ever would as I’m determined to remain in print media, with stage fright as bad as this I could never do a live performance.
In spite of being taken up by hot shot media groups as such, I saw and was also explained to both positive and negative sides in making news from a third world country. Do note that I use the phrase ‘third world’ as I intend to make a point and not that I am unaware of the fact of it being substituted by ‘developing.’
The Flip Side. Yes, I do believe in hearing out bad news first, always. Gives more room to savour good news Explaining simply, what is considered the lead story of a local newspaper, main headline of a local news bulletin would not necessarily mean that it would even reach the tabloids outside the country.
It’s ironic as I remember finding myself overjoyed by the fact of having some thirty thousand readers reading my newspaper (our circulation is very small as we launched only last November). That’s when it occurred that it was nothing compared to the hits on Reuters or AFP website that covers virtually all over. Therefore, my point being that ‘third world’ countries such as ours, (including India might be a little vague given the rapid expansion and development seen or at least heard of) hardly make it BIG. What we consider BIG news, might hardly hit the bucket of page eight in the New York Times. An appropriate example I think would be IIFA that was held early June. I was not following it on the Indian websites but it was huge for Sri Lanka. The influx of high-end tourists and investment was the talk of the town since mid March if I remember correct. However, as mentioned, what Sri Lanka or a third world country considered BIG was very small in the face of earth.
Moving to the sunnier side of things, it might sound as though I am contradicting what I stated previously but it’s third world countries such as mine, Iraq, Afghanistan etc that make the news. There was a reason for me to choose the countries I did as we all share something in common; terrorism.
Politically and geographically terrorism is claimed to have been wiped out in my country and was considered BIG news both locally and internationally, after all it was 30 years of an uncountable number of deaths. Coming back to my point, it’s countries such as ours, third world countries that do make BIG news at the end of the day. As I said I sound as though I contradicted what I said previously but the point is to look at both criteria independently.
In my experience I have seen local correspondents for AFP and Reuters despite earning fancy, hardly making the news. In fact, I was told that the number that applied as correspondents to Sri Lanka drastically reduced upon the declaration of the ‘end of war.’ Hence it is evident that as third world or developing countries face amass of problems that obstruct there development, fancy news agencies will never be short of a lead story. Despite a plush office and an iMac book pro, the real news always happens in countries like our own whatever the worlds may say.
Bangalore at First Sight
09 Jul 2010 2 Comments
in Home, No Expectations Tags: 2010, Blogging, First-timers, Life in a New Land, Yindiar
Possibly due to the fact of having a negative mindset prior to entering the country, let alone the city of India not appealing to me, upon entering the country I was hit with the air of dislike. The thought had disturbed myself as well as my sister since our younger days not what resulted in what was shown in most of the Hindi films. Blah, that was a whole heap of bull. Of the what number of people living in India, (not too sure of the figure though I know that nearly six-seven million reside in Bangalore) only a handful live in the luxuries that are portrayed in the movies. In my opinion the country’s economic disparities are worsened by the country being recognised as an ‘emerging economy.’ True enough in a political sense that is what drove the global economy when the country partnered with the Chinese of course. However, looking at Bangalore (the composition might be biased due to the fact of me having only being to this particular city in Karnataka, of the 26 – unsure – other states in the country) the example to me is visibly seen.
Bangalore is known as the IT hub of India and one of the cleanest by far. I was told by my Mother that traffic conditions in the city were by far impressive as opposed to Chennai. Despite its shopping attraction I don’t see myself in that particular area. However, the only word I could describe the traffic condition in the city I would reside for the next three years is “horrid.” Since when did a zebra crossing become taboo for one to cross from? So much for compassionate drivers. The charming smile that worked on Lankan drivers don’t seem to capture hearts of Bangalore drivers it seems. Sigh. I would have to wait an entire year to use it on moi local blokes. LoL.
What prompted me to write this the most was the inconvenience that was caused to me as well as other non-residents at the Foreign Registration Office (FRO). While seated there, awaiting my turn I scribbled on a piece of paper of the reaction that sprang to my mind of the overly dramatic Indian seated in front of me. Possible due to the Russell Peters video that @pupleboxers gave me where the former states that it was a tendency for South Asians as a whole to be “overly dramatic.” Nah, that was Mark Brown, a Toastmasters’ champion in 1995 and my last interviewee as a journalist at the Daily Financial Times. Oh screw it. Whoever it was right on spot. Being South Asian myself I suppose I do agree. The overly dramatised gestures, overly enunciated words we folks could be labelled thus.
On the brighter side of things however, I saw the FRO as a global village of its own little way. So many different and diverse nationalities united against a common cause (the term sounds more reader-friendly than ‘enemy’). It’s amazing with the increasing number of foreign students enrolling in local universities, it would only do justice to the former if the latter could upgrade its facilities. The FRO for example, was efficient okay, however the process was utterly time consuming.
The procedure in short is as follows. The foreigner should be present at the FRO down Infantry Road before 9.00am. Thankfully, Christ University was about 8km (approx) away from the Police Commissioner’s office. However for students studying in for example Bangalore University which is NOT in South Bangalore, the drive is close upon to two hours. However in my case the FRO was graced by my presence on three consecutive days.
DAY ONE – Stay in line before 9.00am only to learn that the office from which the forms are issued opens at 10.00am. In my opinion it would be excellent if the University could at least have the list of documentation needed, let alone the application form it self. In my case I didn’t know, thus my visit the following day.
DAY TWO – Stay in line before 9.00am. Receive my token. Hang around till 1.00pm until I was called in.
DAY THREE – Shopping at Commercial Street – plus point. Come back to the FRO at 4.30pm.
Besides Commercial Street; the excellent dosa and chai joint being in the vicinity, the sunny sides goes under.
One Month Later: Yes, it’s been a month since I’ve been pondering about my blog. Thought it was about time that I actually got it over and done with it. Bangalore is surprisingly to me is a land that opens up to so many thoughts, thereby that influences more blogging. Which rightfully should be put in to practice as well. Oh well, it eventually will I suppose.
Overall I believe the city is average. Nothing as fancy as I expected it to be, besides the shopping of course. Now that I’ve got used to the chappals shoes it doesn’t quite qualify as an astounding ‘awe’ factor. (Ah, the vocabulary is already catching up yaar) I miss the sea/beach oodles. It’s not as if I was the most frequent visitor to beaches back in Colombo, but just the thought of having a beach/sea in the vicinity was a comforting thought indeed.
I guess when things are closer to us we take it for granted. On the same thought I believe that it is the same with regard to people. When they are geographically close to us, we tend not to see them, insult them, be annoyed for having them around too much; but realisation strikes when you come to a place alien as such. It’s in the similar way in which a countless number of praiseworthy adjectives are used in one’s obituary notice. Coming back to the point, as mentioned previously the nearest sea to Bangalore is approximately 350km away. Blissful distance indeed.
In wanting to draw up a decent conclusion I’ll refer back to my topic. Yes, the most convenient method. Overall for me at least, Bangalore was not what I expected it to be. It was definitely not clean in my opinion. What’s worse citizens of the city let alone the country, don’t quite give two hoots about the clogging drains, floods etc. all of which are caused by improper solid waste management conduct. If there are any Bangaloreans reading this I am expressing not only my disappointment in the once known as ‘Garden City’ but also my contempt. The ignorance and sheer obliviousness to trash that is around maybe pardonable, however the contribution to it is extremely uncalled for.
All factors taken in to consideration, first impressions would be an approximate 6.5.
