cat’S eye

The excellent and the scum!

She is also plagued by an image of a politician from Kotte letting himself fall from a gate post – too stupidly high to climb and too dangerous to fall from.

Good and bad were the words and ideas associated with the two people who were in her mind. A quotation culled from Internet noted: “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious” which pronunciation is credited to Thomas Carlyle.

Analysing that definition, Menika agrees, and disagrees. Yes, people can be categorised into two huge groups on whether they catch your interest (charming) or bore you to death. But there are other emotions aroused by people so they can be divided as good and bad. If they make you afraid, ashamed, alarmed, suspicious, they are bad. If they evoke praise and admiration, do good for others and are humane, then they certainly are good.

Pride of Sri Lanka

A recent event that was not read about or seen on TV (at least by Menika) was the selection of a Sri Lankan to receive an award for Asian Excellence, that means topping all Asians in a particular field. Kumar Sangakkara won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sports at the fifth annual Asian Awards on April 17 at the Grosvenor House, London. How did quiet Menika get to know this? She received a YouTube presentation of the particular award where Sangakkara was named ‘a living legend’ with many achievements mentioned such as the four centuries obtained by him inconsecutive test matches at the latest World Cup series.

In receiving the award, experienced and expert speaker that he is, Kumar Sangakkara deserved a second award for excellence in public speaking; he spoke eloquently with a script hardly glanced at. He said he took to cricket by accident at the advanced age of 16. He mentioned with a wide smile that it was surreal him getting this award when he is ready to fade into oblivion. He expressed gratitude to all those who had initially got him involved in cricket and then helped him along, with special thanks to his family.

The Asian Awards was founded by Paul Sagoo, an Indian businessmen who rose from humble beginnings, his parents having migrated to Britain before he was born. Graduating from King’s College, London, he entered the world of information technology and moved to wealth, prestige and influence.

His outfit Asian Awards has this year opted to work alongside the British Asian Trust which is one of the charities of the Prince of Wales. The Asian Award is an event to honour only the very highest levels of achievement from within the worldwide Asian community.

Hence the honour bestowed on Kumar and through him on this little land is noteworthy. Kumar has, singlehandedly placed our country on the world map more than once. We are grateful to this young man who epitomises good and great, especially at this moment in the Island’s history when rot prevails and hogs the news.

The bad

Menika would rather use the stronger word ‘horrid’ accompanied by such as ‘disgraceful’, ‘stupid’, ‘bovine’ even. Evil too. She refers here to some Appuhamy, Leader of the Opposition of the Kotte Municipal Council who climbed a gate post in protest against the Mayor and let himself fall off the post.

Those below him, including the Mayor, tried to safety net the fall with their outstretched arms, but he slid through. This Humpty did not disintegrate to pieces but got a bad neck, after being a pain in the neck to all Sri Lankans.

Haven’t these ill-educated, violent, disgraceful beings no sense at all? They can hardly be counted as human beings, the way they behave.

Voting time soon?

Elections are very much in the air. Some want general parliamentary elections held soon. Thus the JVP distributing pamphlets in the Fort Station on Wednesday, May 13 with Anura K. Dissanayake shooting sharp barbs at Ranil Wickremasinghe who he says in so many words is not lawfully the Prime Minister of the country.

For this cat he, RW, certainly is, and doing a good job too, barring the Guv of the Central Bank fracas. Nimal Siripala de Silva, newly elevated as Leader of the Opposition ponderously pontificates that elections should be held after the passage of the 20th Amendment.

Menika is all tied up in knots about the ins and outs, pluses and minuses of preferential voting. She knows what ‘first past the post’ connotes though with the meaning is presented a mind picture of a horse cantering past the winning post with the rider attached to the dashing horse only by the stirrups and reins, the rider suspended way above the horse. A second picture comes to mind – women in Nuwara Eliya doing an Epsom Derby and not succeeding too well. Most look self conscious in their milliner creations of froth and flowers perched on their carefully coiffured heads.

Which reminds Menika of a woman who really took the Epsom Derby by storm through her elegance. Some of you readers may remember the ‘housekeeper’ of John Kotelawela’s demesne in Kent. She was a dashing Smith who dressed up for the British races that the Royal Family attends and makes a big thing of, and outshone many a fashion figure of British origin.

Also reminds Menika of the one and only Yvonne Gulamhussein who would sweep into the Colombo racecourse in high fashion. Those were the days, my friend! One season she was prominent by her absence. She kept away being in deep mourning for her poodle. Even shaved her eyebrows which was a funeral rite of the closest and dearest of the dear departed in a Parisian milieu.

This act of deep mourning was for her precious dog of French pedigree! Those were harmless bits of fun and frolic. It is so different now, when fun is thieving, cheating, raping, murder even and public notice is snatched not by dressing and parading but by climbing a gate post and letting oneself drop down, or scaling police barricades and taking the law unto themselves like the ever recurring chaps in jeans and T-Shirts and saffron robes.

Which brings on the question of deep longing – when will our elections be conducted like the British do theirs and concede victory and accept defeat like they do in true blue gentlemanly fashion.

The best is that the leader of the defeated party resigns from the leadership forthwith. This year no less than three resigned. Ed Milliband even placed publicly on his shoulders the entire responsibility of the defeat of the Labour party. In Sri Lanka we have defeated leaders rushing in to contest again like goaded bulls in a Spanish ring!

Menika