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Sri Lankan motorists and pedestrians are notorious for their lack of
road discipline. Given below are some aspects where the police and other
relevant authorities should educate our road-users:-
1. Use indicators whenever a motorist wishes to turn right or left
and change lanes.
2. Give way if a motorist wishes to change lanes, turn or enter a
road. (Almost never done)
3. Keep to one lane unless there is a genuine reason to change lanes.
4. Avoid the use of horns, unless it is absolutely necessary, such as
to prevent an accident.
5. Make it mandatory for children on motor-cycles to wear helmets.
(In Sri Lanka only the parents wear helmets - how stupid can people be?)
6. Children should be on the inner side of the road when walking with
adults. Most people hold the child’s hand, but the latter is on the
outer side, exposed to vehicular traffic.
I am sure the electronic media could be used to convey the above,
which would not only reduce accidents, but also make driving more
pleasant.
ASOKA DE SILVA
Panadura
The letter by Tuan Riza Rasool of USA (DN, Aug 20) abounds with
arguments which are amazing if not amusing. The statements he makes are
assumptions that he would like to impose on everyone.
‘Death is only a transition from this phase of life, as we know it,
to the next’, he says. It should be corrected to say ‘as I believe’ for
there are billions who think otherwise and at least not in the sense
that Tuan Riza Rasool knows it. (Strangely his letter carries the same
tone and type of statements that Dr. Mareena Reffai made in her letter
against astrology).
It is not the intention of this letter to discredit or challenge any
religious beliefs but to drive home that when all such beliefs are
founded on faith, it is futile to make imposing statements.
Tuan Rasool speaks of relief that always come eventually and says
that we are not burdened with trials more than we can bear. Would he
apply this to a three-year-old who found overnight that his home and
parents, brothers and sisters were swept away by the dreadful waves of
the tsunami or to a man who finds that he is the sole survivor in his
family and is driven insane?
The tsunami indeed was only a rare occurrence but we know that every
moment somewhere in this world disasters such as mud slides, floods,
earth quakes, forest fires which are beyond the control of man and even
legally are defined as ‘an act of God’ are claiming the lives of men,
women and children in the most gruesome ways.
Would Rasool have us accept that they are all on trial, so that they
may qualify for an unending life of bliss? I am sure that there are
countless numbers that would rather prefer cessation to exist as a
better option.
Rasool marvels at the phenomenon of sight in all its complexities (I
have intentionally left out his attributions to his beliefs), indeed as
we all should. However, he should also mention that in the beginning,
life forms which have marvellous eyes had only a patch in their bodies
that was sensitive to light and gave rise to the wonderful organ called
the eye.
If I may site a closer example, we know that early man and woman
looked very different from the stunning couple created by Hollywood,
happily eating apples and were filthy terrible creatures not much
different in their bodily functions from other forms of life with whom
he had to compete.
The fate of Rizana, the unfortunate maid is in the balance and I
understand that not only prayers but bodhi poojas too are held by
sympathetic people from her village.
Neither can guarantee results and both are ‘hit or miss’ rituals to
use the same terms as Rasool used to describe astrology and with equal
justification. It would be foolish to claim that astrology can predict
with scientific accuracy any future event.
Yet I have proof even this day of a prediction made accurate to the
day six months in advance of an event where the astrologer could neither
deduce not guess by any form of logic and by no means a ‘hit or miss’ as
I myself did not have any knowledge of the event.
This is not a solitary instance as so many people who have had
similar experiences would vouch. It also does not mean that I can
predict with my astrologer what Rasool is going to have for dinner six
months hence for I am as much perplexed as anyone.
Lastly there is one paragraph where I agree with Rasool
wholeheartedly and without reservation. It says, ‘It is unfortunate that
most people have an opinion, even a judgement about subjects that they
have not really looked into.’
K. C. DE SILVA
Nugegoda
This refers to J. B. Muller’s article on the birth rate of the Sri
Lankan Burghers and their impending extinction (DN July 19).
This article presents an out and out racist mindset with ideas of a
pure ‘Aryan’ race (though he does not use the term as such).
These are ideas of racial purity that Adolf Hitler and the
long-discredited biology theorist, Lysenko, sported.
Muller disapproves of young Burghers who marry outside their
community. Surely, that is a personal matter and marriage is not
programmed as in the case of pure-bred dogs or horses.
The Burghers arrived here speaking Dutch but picked up English from
the British with the change of foreign governers. But when the
indigenous languages obtained their rightful place with independence,
the Burghers did not learn Sinhala or Tamil but fled to Australia.
Can the Burghers in Australia preserve what Muller calls pure
‘Burgher Culture’ or a ‘pure Burgher race’ in Australia or will their
progeny be acculturated to the cosmopolitan Australian culture which
includes Poles, Checks, Slovaks and Hungarians etc.? In the melting pot
of Australia, what racial purity is there?
Sri Lanka has been good and generous to the Burghers as well as to me
of a minority community. Some like Pieter Keuneman and Spittel have
reciprocated this.
PATRICK JAYASURIYA
Kandy
Why the imposition from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.? Why not implement 6 p.m.
to 5 a.m.
This is the period children are engaged in studies, sleeping, etc.
There should be no exception to this rule even for places of worship
for if you give a concession to a particular religion, then the problem
becomes complicated.
All religious places of worship could be allowed to use amplifiers to
confine their noise only to their premises and not outside.
Meditation and prayers will done in a silent atmosphere than in a
noisy environment. Most people use loudspeakers in religious places for
publicity, competition, with tit for tat and not for piety.
RILA
I read with interest the article on the above written by Gehan
Wijesinghe which appeared in the Daily News of September 4. I agree with
the writer on most of its contents.
A letter to the editor with the identical caption was written by me a
few years back and my contention then was the effect of the very rapid
increase in the use of various agro-chemicals today even in the small
home garden set-up, could have been responsible in someway towards this
sad phenomenon.
The increase in the urbanisation alone may not be a factor as the
sparrow is a very close associate of human habitation, probably due to
the readily available food supply and security.
I had my early childhood in a village atmosphere, and to this day I
remember the three clay pots my mother hung up for the exclusive
habitation of the sparrows.
One was outside while two were inside the house. And there we were
not short of the little chirping bird, the pots being always in
occupation. I have had one clay pot in my Colombo residence for a long
time, but alas no sparrows. It is frequently used by our songbird
‘Polkichcha’ and at times even by squirrels to raise their little ones.
We hardly ever see these little birds in Colombo unlike in the past,
a few decades ago. Recently I saw a few sparrows foraging for food at
Kollupitiya near the Bank of Ceylon building and a few near the Borella
Supermarket sometime ago.
As we are still ignorant as to the long term effects of these
agro-chemicals and other pesticides on these little birds, my own
feeling is that there could be a slow negative effect on their
reproductive capacity which will gradually dwindle the sparrow
population over the years.
To my knowledge there is no proper study done on this matter to date.
I would be very interested to hear from any reader who has any further
information on this subject.
Dr. A. N. DHARMAWANSA
Colombo
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