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God and tsunami

I refer to the letter of Prof. Sunanda Degamboda (Sept. 4)). In spite of the circular logic put forward in an attempt to confirm the existence of God, can God, as some major religions teach us, be the One whose physical image we are created in; the Eternal Father; the Omnipotent; the Alpha and the Omega; the ultimate Judge of good and evil; the Creator of the universe; the All-Merciful?

From most perceptions, God is an awareness of a certain kind of human mind which stops short of the infinite. The unexplainable, projected into an eternal being which embodies the eternal. Creator for the sake of thought which is illogical and irrational, and judgment for the sake of disarrangement proceeding into arrangement.

As God cannot be sensed with any of the five senses, God is a projection of holistic feeling; a conceptual thought projected into realness by a certain kind of human mind.

But God, as some major religions teach us, can never be so elusive. He is to be experienced firsthand as a divine being, real and solid. He is also to be found everywhere and in every nook and corner - pervading the whole universe - every bit of atom and sub atom, moulding into the image of God.

He is to be found within and without one's physical and psychological being. He has been experienced, but only by a certain few - audibly in most cases.

Then from these entire points, one questions legitimately where God was on the day of the tsunami - where was His transcending mercy so bespoken of; where was His safeguard so anxiously awaited; where was His justice?

Why should human intellect, reasoning and wisdom to be condemned when debating such issues, and religious thought not to be questioned when one feels the inherent need to do so?

If God is an entity which is unfathomable to the human mind, how and why should one rely on such an entity to fulfil even some of human need? Yes God was there on the day of the tsunami - a static, unconceivable, unmovable force; totally, awfully and eternally present.

Is not God then merely the constant of which every dew-drop of life will slip into, once it has achieved same consistency thereof? (Dharma of Buddhist thought)


Are private bus mafia above law?

The operators of private bus services have become a law unto themselves over the years. Their callous indifference to commuter comfort, safe driving, norms of human decency and behaviour have been silently borne by the commuting public.

One of the offences is the non issuance of tickets. Are they above the law? After a lapse of years, tickets were issued in the first few months of this year. One thought ticketless travel was a thing of the past. But, it was wishful thinking. We are back to square one again.

Tickets are not issued most of time. Passengers are entitled to demand a ticket. But they never do so for fear of rude and crude remarks.

They are only interested to rake in shekels, yelling at the passengers, 'issaraata yanna' or passata yanna', to accommodate more people. Now, there is a 'middle row standing passengers' trampling, pushing, peeping, touching, sometimes 'embracing and kissing' as the bus is jampacked, bursting to its seams.

The hapless victims are the fair members of the species.

As the buses are driven at break neck speed, they are prone to accidents. If that is the case, commuters are unable to seek redress by way of compensation since there is no evidence to prove they are the victims of that particular vehicle. Daily the travelling public are at the mercy of these speed maniacs.

During the previous fare hike, we were assured of tickets, improvement in the service, ticket inspectors would be deployed and errant bus crews taken to task.

Were they enforced? Did we see any improvement? Absolutely nothing, only broken promises.

Once again, harassed commuters had to face another upward revision of fares in July. But we are dished out the same shoddy service.

Fares keep on rising while the service keeps on deteriorating. During rush hours, passengers are packed like sardines inside while a few cling like corals outside.

Drivers are notorious for snailing and speeding to suit the needs of the hour. They waste our precious minutes, waiting at bus stands to collect more passengers.

They speed when they want to compete, throwing caution to the winds.

They are more interested in earning a fast buck than the comfort and safety of those that travel.

It is a common sight to see buses pulling off before an aged person, a pregnant woman or a child alights.

To cap it all, most of the time, tickets are not issued. This depends on their whims and fancies. Passengers dare not question their 'prerogative'.

The management and supervision of the public and private road transport comes under the purview of the Ministry of Transport, National Transport Commission, Provincial Ministry of Transport and Private Road Transport Authority, institutions maintained at the expense of taxpayers' money.

Despite these, our private busmen act with impunity, paying lip service to the rule of law.

Have the aforementioned institutions become impotent, toothless to the dictates of the private bus mafia? Are they above the law?

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