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| Sunday, 2 June 2002 |
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Letters |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments. I was one of a group about 30 which left for Mecca on Haj pilgrimage in February this year. Our tour operator, but promised the sun, the moon and the stars - before paying the cost of the pilgrimage.But his promise was exactly the opposite the moment we set foot in Mecca. In Mecca 24 of us were herded into a single room with just one toilet which had no locking facility from the inside. Every time when someone tried to open the toilet the one inside had to shout himself hoarse much to the discomfort of many resting in the room. We had to have our meals seated on our beds since there was no dining hall in the hotel. The tour operator had taken with him a theologian who conducted morning and evening sermons on the values and virtues relating to Haj. But when I asked him whether he could recommend a book on Islamic history he said he could not do so. Instead he wanted me to purchase any book on Islamic history and show it to him so he would make his comments. This reply totally irrelevant to my query, also sounded like an insult to one's intelligence. Apart from this, the theologian wanted 24 hours even to answer a simple question on Islamic matters. This was a cheap exhibition of quality and qualification for which the tour operator must take the blame. In this context the theologian appeared as though he was a man from nowhere, trying to go somewhere and ending up elsewhere. The tour operator was extremely apologetic to us just before we left for Medina where we had better living conditions despite the fact that there were four persons in one room which had only three beds. The apologies after inflicting mental injury should nonetheless be interpreted as a form of latent hypocrisy on the part of the tour operator who has had many years of experience in the field. I write this with the fervent hope and wish that those intending to perform Haj in the future make doubly sure of the bona-fides of their tour operators - for there are many whose sole purpose is to make as much money as possible while being blind to the wrath of the Almighty for fleecing those who have committed themselves to the performance of a supreme demand in Islam. Dr. M. Fazal Mahmood , I have had the good fortune to meet a kind Neuro Surgeon with gentle qualities recently. He is non other than Dr. Sunil Perera - Consultant Nuero Surgeon at the NHSL Colombo, who is no doubt God's best gift ever given to the needy neuro patients. My nephew Gihan who had a brain tumour underwent an operation a year ago in India. As the tumour was rather big the doctors who attended him had to remove a part of the tumour to save his life. After a couple of months his condition began to deteriorate. By this time the parents morality they heard about Dr. Sunil Perera who had just come back from England. My sister was reluctant to take her son to him as the operation was not done in Sri Lanka. But later we came to know that he is a doctor who possesses human qualities. He never hesitates to examine a patient even on the road and write the prescription in his car. Our fears vanished in seconds after the doctor's explanation. This is not a myth or an exaggeration. Always with a perpetual winsome smile his magical touch can even heal the illnesses. After examining my nephew an early operation was suggested by Dr. Perera. As this was a major operation my sister wanted to get her son admitted to a private hospital. Dr. Perera who feels the pulse of the people than any other persons I have ever come across asked the parents not to spend money unnecessarily, but to admit the son to the NHSL. Last month my nephew underwent the brain operation which took almost 6-7 hours without any hindrance, thanks to this genius healer. He is always dedicated to his duty whole heartedly. Now my nephew is recovering and recuperating. Each and every moment when we notice the joy in the faces of the parents we worship Gautama Buddha and seeks His Blessings upon Dr. Sunil Perera. I must also thank Dr. Ranjith Wickremasinghe, Consultant Nuero Surgeon formerly of NHSL and now attached to the Kandy General Hospital for his kind gesture and for the treatment given to my nephew Gihan on his return after the first operation. He is a great asset and the patients in and around Kandy are lucky enough to have an accessibce doctor. The parents in particular who gifted such two noble doctor sons should be blessed. Nirmala Dushyanthi Kannangara , Three-wheelers and road safety Safety from traffic accidents is becoming a big problem with the ever increasing number of vehicles moving on public roads daily. Of these, the three wheeled vehicle is a fast growing addition to the road traffic.Being small vehicles, they are becoming a popular form of public transport as they are readily available almost everywhere. But some drivers of these mini-cabs, particularly in suburban areas, are also posing threats to the safety of other road users in several ways. Over-speeding, overloading of passengers, transport of cargo that cannot be contained within the carriage, and ignoring traffic rules are common among them. The above acts are not in conformity with traffic regulations and the offenders are liable to be punished. If this practices are allowed to continue , then there is possibility that the same drivers will also resort to more other means of abusing this vehicle. Therefore, in the name of road safety, the police authorities must strictly enforce the law against the said offenders so as to make the roads more safer particularly for the pedestrian traffic. M.R.A.L. Gunasinghe , Horton Plains, reminiscence from Canada Your story about Horton Plains (Nature's Pristine Glory, April 21st) awakened my interest on this exquisitely beautiful landscape which I had visited several times when I lived in Sri Lanka, my home country. I had lamented and written articles in national newspapers in the eighties addressing the issue of destruction of forest reserves around the area including the denudation of forest range along the Boralanda-Ohiya-Horton Plains road. This 25 km stretch of road to Horton Plains at that time was a total wreck. Gaping pits filled with pools of water, and strewn parts of trees on the road made it extremely difficult to drive or ride. The Kalupahana-Ohiya road via Bambarakanda waterfalls which is another route to Horton Plains was also in total neglect. Bambarakanda which is the highest natural waterfalls in Sri Lanka was fading into oblivion due to the access barriers to this spot. Reading from your article about the continued environmental pollution and denudation in this area, it pains my heart how insensitive we can be to preserve the richest gifts of nature our country is abundantly blessed with. Let everyone of us do a better job to love our environment. R. NAGARAJAH, I am very sorry to state that the so-called Intercity buses travelling from Colombo to Nittambuwa Route No. 180 and vice versa stop at every halt and load passengers. The passengers in spite of the inconvenience have to pay the full intercity charges. Sometimes the bus owners do not like to increase the volume of their air-conditioners. They use low air-condition volumes and commuters have to bear up with the heat and humidity. Normally an intercity bus takes one hour to reach its destination. But some drivers take one and half hours to cover this route. All this confusion and inconvenience should be changed. I think the private bus managers will take suitable and remedial action to overcome this horrible action. SAMAN JAYASEKARA, Writing under the caption "CINTEC without a head?" (Sunday Observer of 28.04.02) Mr. Chanuka Wattegama requests the Minister of Science and Technology to re-appoint Prof. Samaranayake as head of CINTEC. According to Mr. Wattegama, Prof. Samaranayake had done an excellent job during his tenure of office in which his major contribution was the derivation of Sinhala technical terms for IT. Says Mr. Wattegama, "The Sinhala technical terms prepared by a committee, under his (Prof. Samaranayake's) guidance, are still widely used by the Sinhala journalists and science writers, including myself." Presenting this glossary at a seminar presided over by Prof. Samaranayake himself, Dr. S. G. Samarasinghe proudly announced that ninety per cent of the glossary terms were from the Sanskrit language. Since the assignment, in the first place, was to coin the necessary terms in Sinhala, why Prof. Samaranayake resorted to the Sanskrit language remains a mystery! As Prof. Samaranayake was the head of the committee, this novel process, undoubtedly, has had his blessings. Then, why oh why, did he not stop wasting state money and precious time of these professional luminaries on the committee by adopting this same principle across the board? He could have, in one fell swoop, produced all the necessary Sinhala glossaries immediately. Also, the Professor could have then avoided monkeying with Sanskrit, a classical language, as in the instance where the term "Technology" was rendered as "thakshanaya," when the root sense "Thaks" means carpentry, nothing more or nothing less, in the Sanskrit dictionaries! In his 'magnum opus', what Prof. Samaranayake had done is to blindly copy the words in the Sanskrit dictionaries and place them before a gullible public as a Sinhala technical glossary of IT. The Samaranayake glossary contains only nouns but no verbs. One thing is certain: the introduction of such an impotent glossary has stultified the expression of technical concepts in Sinhala. Thus, the Samaranayake glossary, with the official backing it has, unequivocally strangles the much desired rendering of information technology effectively in the Sinhala language. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the Minister for science and technology, in the first instance, to request Prof. Samaranayake or his approbatory advocate, Mr. Wattegama, to explain how technological concepts can be expressed with only a collection of nouns. In doing so, the many questions I have raised in this respect in my article published in the 'Sunday Island' newspaper of 12th April, 1998, should not be overlooked. AELIAN DE SILVA, A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes a moment, but the memory of it lasts for ever. None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it and none is so poor but that can be made rich by it. A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in business and it is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad and it is natures best antidote for trouble. Yet, it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. ARSHAD ISMAIL, Twin menace of drugs and 'Kasippu' The heartening news item appeared in the Sunday Observer of 3.03.2002 quoted the Interior Minister, John Amaratunga as having announced that his ministry would launch and intensive campaign to eradicate the drug menace, which has been plaguing the country for so long unabated. This was hailed as a laudable gesture by every one, who has a concern for the health of the nation at heart. Smuggling of heroine is so rampant that the so-called 'Kudu' is freely available to the addicts in every part of the country. Therefore, if the envisaged campaign has not already been launched, it is imperative that it be put into effect forthwith before smuggling of heroine into the country escalates further and assume intractable proportion. Admittedly, it is rather a difficult task to combat a monstrous menace of this nature, which has taken root in the society, yet not impossible to at least curb it to an appreciable extent if only those responsible for spearheading the campaign pull their weight together undaunted and make a genuine effort with commitment and great zeal to clamp down on smuggling of heroine in the country. There is no gainsaying the fact that drug trafficking by and large is an outrageous crime against humanity, more heinous than a crime of murder. Unlike a criminal, who commits a murder, drug trafficker ruins several thousands of valuable young lives slowly but surely. Hence it is high time that drug trafficking is classified as a capital offence. Provisions should also be made to confiscate the movable and immovable properties of the convict, so that it may serve as a deterrent to others. Kasippu is the other long standing vicious and baneful menace, which the Hon'ble minister cannot afford to overlook. As manifestly clear, this poisonous and baneful illicit kasippu industry is thriving manifestly because of the indiscreet taxation of the lawful liquor industry that led to the demand for kasippu. It has since flourished vigorously and proliferated like mushrooms to such a stupendous magnitude that a kasippu den is found in every nook and corner of the country. In this context the Minister would do well to implement the above mentioned proposal in respect of kasippu simultaneously with his campaign against drug abuse, in a bid to rid the country of this twin menace of drug abuse and kasippu and safeguard the health of the nation, which is a sine qua non for economic revival and progress. P. HERBERT MENDIS, Is there an alternative plan ? There had been many criticisms, regarding the ongoing peace process. Is there anyone out there with a better idea other than our PM who seems to be taking the best course he and his team sees fit. "If you can't beat them join them, at least temporarily until the situation gets better" seems to be the wise decision taken by the unassuming, publicity avoiding PM at present. Overall, it looks as if the PM is allowing Prabkharan to continue to do what he was doing anyway, only stopping the war till the economy recovers so that the common man can tolerate life. May be this is the best course of action at present when no better solution seems to be in sight. If and when the time comes may be the South can become 'stronger to take back what they are loosing now. Or may be the matters wont seem so bad when mutual trust is built up and north and south combined improve the country. If anyone still want to come out with the idea that war is better than the peace mode, they should come forward to take part in the war, or if they are old or infirmed, they must send their children to the war front. It is unfair to exploit the poor youth of our country to achieve some one's vague dream in the clouds. What our country needs least at this moment is "The dogs in the manger" - arm chair critics who would neither do anything worthwhile themselves nor would allow anyone else to do something worthwhile. Let's have some action instead of empty words. Or at least some practical solutions. Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai, |
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