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| Sunday, 30 October 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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To bathe or
to eat?
Kaleidoscope by Rohan Jayawardana It is a recorded fact of history that a certain King George of England who lived in the 18th century became of unsound mind whilst trying to cope with the requirements of his 'job'. Nevertheless, his sympathetic subjects did endure him for a very long time as a 'comic turn' who would also turn into a monarch as and when 'necessary'. The world's history has proved (all over the place) that this could often happen with the bearing of heavy responsibility for which there is low capacity. For instance the Emperor Caligula of Rome, who was actually a family connection with the first emperor Caesar Augustus, had departed from the sane realities of life after taking office and his close friends in administration had to assassinate him in order to pressure their sanity. He had in the first place got married to his own sister and thereafter nominated a horse (a genuine one) to the Roman Senate to do debate with the senators at the emperor's command! No one knows whether they tried to ride him out peacefully to pasture, but they would not have been too flattered over their emperor's opinion of their capacity to think! In the meantime Caligula's sister (now his wife) became pregnant. Then a soothsayer told him that their child would exceed him in prowess. So he did some of his own 'thinking' and thereafter promptly murdered his sister and actually ATE the foetus as directed by the 'seer' (who could see 'everything'). Then the senators did their own thinking and assassinated the emperor Caligula at 41 A.D. On the other hand, it is recorded that the 18th century King George of England had a wife who "bathed punctually once in every year". Was this the fundamental reason for the unsound state he had developed? We will never know, except that it is a well-known fact that a daily bath is contributory toward overall well-being and personal psychological balance. Water is indispensable for drinking it is true, but being friendly with it makes for a lot more: like being less frenzied and becoming focused and calm. To be collected and peaceful and to think about the sky and the trees outside. It is indispensable for the health of a well-balanced society of human persons to have plentiful supplies of water. Nevertheless there is a certain local family with a modern problem. The parents have two lovely children and they have been very happy with each other till a couple of years ago. When their 'business income' had become constrained because of some economic difficulties the quality of domestic life began to suffer. The electricity bill, the water cost and their telephone matters were 'bugging' them. So they reluctantly decided to cut back on the video games, the sausages, eggs and pizza, but the small fellows yelled and yelled like mad! Then came some tuition fees which were absolutely 'compulsory'! What were they to do? They found that it is not good to cut back on food because of the medical bills that arise. So after lots of analysis they are actually maintaining some minimal budgetary balance now by eating normally (lots of protein) at the expense of the water cost by washing only on Sundays! (What's going to happen next, considering the fate of George and the family of Caligula?) The big fellow has even installed a control switch on the water tank. There is a serious matter in other places. These households find all of a sudden that their gardens (and maybe even the houses) are floating in 'some sort of water'. The trouble is that the Storm Water Drainage might have been filled in with foundation stones and the rainwater has nowhere to go! As a result it must be easier nowadays to dig a Well in the garden and reduce further the Water Cost. The most alarming thing was that the Sunday Observer reported an interview a few years ago that even the Sigiriya Rock might be in danger of disappearing into waters underground. When further scrutinized it is noticeable that a couple of the Canals seem to regularly run 'upstream' from the sea (before getting bogged down) without going out the other way. This thought could make anybody mad; unless something is done about the underground leaks , and all that? With regard to the seas a funny thing are happened. A certain seafaring English captain James Cook somehow discovered Australia around 1770. Later he sailed further south and westwards, and finally came to the Hawaiian Islands (now part of the United State). When he went ashore he had omitted to check about the appetite of the resident natives! They actually happened to be cannibals. So they did the normal thing and ate him and his entire lot. Did they cook Captain Cook? Nobody has written that down, neither in the United States nor in Australia (he was far away from England, you see). Apparently the first 'thing' that had evolved on Earth after the 'sky' was the water of the seas according to Greek legend. After 'Gaea' (named Mother Earth) had evolved out of "chaos," the first ruler of the sky became Uranus. Later his 'son' named (Cronus had severed his genitals and thrown them into the ocean below for some reason or the other. All of a sudden there had come forth from the blue waters the gorgeous Aphrodite, the goddess of Beauty and Love! Therefore it was indeed the waters that yielded the aesthetics and exquisiteness. It is more than indispensable in itself, being natural to life and the survival of beauty. |
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