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Thursday, 18 April 2013

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Spring time in Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya is the centre stage at the moment. Thousands of holiday makers have converged on the 'In Place' during 'The Season', to revel in the invigorating mountain air. Horse racing, motor racing, boat races, carnivals, fashions shows keep the crowd entertained here.

Nuwara Eliya was discovered by Sir Solomon Baker while on a hunting trip in 1819. But folklore goes much further. According to the Ramayana, Hanumantha set fire to Ravana's residence and the hill station came to be known as the mountain top from where the people saw the city burning. In Sinhala, Nuwara means city, and Eliya means light.

Sir Samuel Baker made Nuwara Eliya his home and turned it into an English village that fell onto the island from heaven.

On Baker's Farm (the name still exists), he had English Hereford and Durham cows, a Blacksmith and a forge and even a Bailiff. With the tea carpets eroding every slope and cranny and the soft 'Englandish' spring attracting many others, Baker took to developing the city as a mountain resort. The Barns Hill, authentic colonial brick-walled post office building, English country manor like Hill Club, the Anglican Church, the English countryside houses, well-trimmed lawns edged with beds of English roses, the golf course, trout steams meandering merrily in that cold clime make one feel that he is in some English highland hamlet.

Beds of cauliflower, rhubarb, strawberries and other English vegetables on the slopes cause one to stop and gaze. A Canadian traveller was once wont to comment that she got a 'non-cultural' shock seeing the local elite aping the West with gay abandon and revelling in it. Even sea planes are now an access method to this fairyland of near-impossible climate and cultural and even vegetation extremes.

It left me wondering which of the many scores of deities knocked this place into its magical uniqueness .... perhaps some English deity ?

One snag in Nuwara Eliya is accomodation. During the season, all hotels and holiday bungalows are full. Individuals rent out their houses which are costly, considering the poor facilities available.

It would be the obligation of the Mayor to build and make available affordable accommodation projects to cater to the average traveller not only during the season but the off season as well, in the acres of land available in Sita Eliya, Hawa Eliya and Pundolu Oya areas.

Reviving trilingual activities in Mannar

The Trilingual Association of Mannar was the first of its kind to be formed after the official launch of the Ten Year National Plan for a Trilingual Sri Lanka. It was launched to create awareness among people of the district of the need to learn all three languages for a peaceful, harmonious co-existence of all Sri Lankans. This association comprised people from the government and private sector, as well as school leavers who were either bilingual or trilingual and carried out their trilingual activities with much popular support and enthusiasm.

But a few short-sighted miscreants, fed by ill-advice caused unexplained administrative blockades to the smooth functioning and activities of the association for about four months. However, the Northern Province Governor G.A. Chandrasiri took prompt measures to put all trilingual activities of the association back on track and provided all required assistance to the association.

Teachers who are members of the Trilingual Association of Mannar are now able to render their services with regard to language teaching to students through the school system and to other societal members through the activities of the association, thanks to the Governor.

The Pope’s first homily

I refer to the homily of the Holy Father to the Cardinals, in the Messenger of March 24, 2013. This homily has been blended so well to make it extremely simple and short but very effective, covering the most vital areas in a short resume, making its substance most pleasant and soothing and palatable for all concerned to absorb and implement, if necessary.

Considering the contents therein, he has been extremely wise and clever to identify correctly the most vital and the only cause, thereby recommending a simple solution for same. This goes to prove that he is a man of God, chosen to repair his church. Accordingly, it is my opinion that the words spoken by him in this instance came from God the Father through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I say this because he practices poverty which is a great consolation to the world in general and to the church and the poor in particular, thereby making others see the Christ in them, while bringing back to the church the simple style of Jesus in full.

Finally, the above occurrences bring to my mind how true the words spoken by Pontiff Emeritus Benedict XVI were when he said prior to his retirement that, “The Lord will not let his church sink”.

Villages and bridges

We have seen on TV news programmes the difficulty, villagers especially small school-going
children face when crossing dangerous, broken bridges.
They have to wade through the waters where there are no bridges, for their daily needs. These
villagers mention how politicians during elections periods, promise to repair broken bridges
but forget the matter after the elections. They also state that despite letters to the
authorities, especially their Divisional Secretaries,
nothing happens.
The government is developing roads and is creating highways as well,
spending billions.
Why not repair bridges too that are in dilapidated conditions? Villagers are innocent and helpless people,
therefore repairs or replacement of bridges should be attended to without delay
for them to attend to their daily needs.
Hope the government will launch a program of ‘repairing or replacement of bridges’ and also
instruct authorities to give priority to instances where life is in danger, as seen on TV news
telecast.

 

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