It's myself and myself only

OH! my goodness! What a nerve-wracking experience it was for travellers in the Vavuniya/Colombo intercity recently.

The train was midway at a speed in which I thought would rip the steel under its wheels when suddenly something from out of the blues crashed down. Everyone's hair stood straight. Even dentures may have come off. Spectacles certainly slid down some old passengers' noses, glued to newspapers.

All of us thought it to be someone's luggage coming off some suspended rack only to find the overhead fan falling off its suspension right near a woman passenger.

With hands outstretched heavenwards - apparently in a show of gratitude to the unseen power for sparing her silver strewn head, she seemingly a devout Hindu shut her eyes in what one could observe as further thankfulness to that merciful redeeming source.

She was far too engrossed in thanksgiving quite oblivious to the rest in that compartment who expressed surprise, disgust and to say the least, were angry.

After a while, supposedly the railway attendant casually came in picked it up and walked away as though it was just another happening. As he went past this writer I told him:

"Dekkada ape Railuway heti" ("See how our railway functions").

He in his typical nonchalant style simply said: "Ekenennan," ("This is it") as though he was not part of the railway fraternity.

No, not a word of apology was delivered.

Where this fan may have landed whether in the railway workshop or what no one will ever know judging from the numerous things gone amissing in public transport - not replaced for months if not years.

Getting back to the fan that unscrewed itself off the hook, now should it have by chance landed on the poor woman's head, that certainly would have seen the lid on her life. The sorrowful brunt would certainly not have been the railway's but that of her kith and kin. No financial compensation could equal a life's worth.

One thing comes off this tragedy-saving happening. Whatever transport mode Sri Lankans may choose they must ensure being signatories to their Last Will for the great uncertainty one carries when leaving home - an uncertainty more certain than even the weather itself.

We Sri Lankans are disaster-prone, more than any other world citizenry - more to man made ones with the exception of tsunami coming off nature's wrath.

Ill-paved sidewalks now the preferred ride of motorcyclists, who to avoid traffic snarls, get on pedestrians' nerves, buses with bits and pieces of steel jutting out which rust makes one entertain an anti-tetanus, seats that put to test one's spine's infirmity, train steps that are placed directly one under the other so uncaringly designed for those in mid years when once missed takes less than a second to find 'safe' lodging in an equally uncaring hospice.

These days no amount of money could buy the kindness you want even from a private medical enterprise.

The reckless driving, overtaking from the wrong side, being unmindful of pedestrian crossings and what not, vouch for the marauding dracula-type environment we've been thrust into which ironically has found involuntary social acceptance.

This then is a reflection of Sri Lankan mentality in a broader sense. It speaks of a people so unmindful of the one another's feelings - of cunning, craftiness, jealousy, animosity, ill-will and to top it all vanity. Yet, it is they that will approach you when penniless and in need of some favour or the other - the humility of such times supercedes any other.