'Cause Pigs can Fly

Story appeared in The Nation newspaper, and was criticized by some. Sharing the post here, as I usually do, but also adding emphasis to words and phrases people seem to have missed when criticizing this. (If you want to, criticize away.) Public Displays of Affection (PDA) are one of the worst forms of torture when you are in public transport or some public place. It’s a way for couples to suffocate others with what they call love. PDA is a form of assault. It needs to be stopped. PDA begins with words. In a country where people are generally loud, you don’t need to be an eavesdropper to know what people are talking about. Conversations between couples take place in public places and while some are about acceptable topics, most are certainly 18 plus material. It is doubtful that people sitting near couples want to know about all the unspeakable things they plan on doing to and with each other when alone. Of course, the perverts will enjoy it, but it isn’t only perverts who use public t...

When I left school two years ago, I left without making many friends. I did have 'friends,' people I spoke to because we took the same classes, and had spent most of our lives together, in the same school. Besides that, I had very little in common with most of them. Very few ended up being people I continued to be friends with, and two years after leaving school, I have just one friend who actually has an inkling about what is going on in my life. This isn't to say people have alienated me. Some make an effort to keep in touch, but I'm not the kind of person who really wants to make an effort to be friends. Slowly, people lost interest, I stopped appearing online and now, from a hundred students, only five or six can be considered friends, and only one can be considered a close friend. The Nation became my home last January. At first the people scared me a bit. I was just a school leaver, naive and new to this working world. Here were people with experience. People...

Free magazine editorial, May 18 A small, brown puppy, grubby. Not of a known breed, a street dog, as they are called. He runs across the Galle Road, making vehicles come to a halt. He could be easily knocked down, but the people are kind. At first, they are annoyed about the sudden halt in their journey. However, when they see the little culprit who is causing the traffic jam, they wait patiently while the puppy walks over to the other side. Then a motorcyclist gets off his bike, runs behind the puppy and gets it to the side of the road. The vehicles continue their journey, passengers stealing one last look of the puppy. An old man,  his walking stick held tightly by his twitching hand. He stands at the yellow crossing, waiting to cross the road. Vehicles go by, none stopping to let him cross. Finally, a few others gather around to cross the road. Vehicles stop. They cross. The old man takes longer than the rest. Hands are already reaching towards the vehicle horns, hoping...

බුද්ධ ධර්මයේ පරිහානියට හේතුව බෞද්ධ කාන්තාව යයි සමහරු කියනවා. අපිලු පන්සල්වලට යද්දී කොට සායවල් සහ තද ඇඳුම් අඳින්නේ. අපි විතරයිලු සිල් ගන්නවයි කියල ඕපා දුප කියවන්න පන්සලට යන්නේ. බෞද්ධ කාන්තාව තමයි හැම ප්‍රශ්නයකටම මුල. මිනිසෙක් හොරකම් කරයි. ඔහු තම බිරිඳට ගහනවා. මත්පැන් බොනවා. ඔය හැම එකකටම දොස් කියන්නේ ඔහුව හොඳට හදන්න බැරිවෙච්ච ඔහුගේ අම්මටයි. බොහෝවිට ඒ බෞද්ධ කාන්තාවයි. මෙතන කියන්න මට සීයට අගයන් නැහැ. හැබැයි ඉතින් මට පේන විදියට නම් පන්සිල් වලින් වැඩි ගණනක් පද කඩන්නේ පිරිමි. කවුද වැඩිපුරම සත්ත්වයන්ට හිංසා කරන්නේ? මරන්නේ? කවුද වැඩිපුරම හොරකම් කරන්නේ? එතකොට මත්පැන් බොන්නේ? හැබැයි මොන දේ කරත්, මොන දේ නොකලත් අන්තිමට හැමෝම දොස් කියන්නේ ඔය බෞද්ධ කාන්තාවටයි. ලඟදි බෞද්ධ කොඩි හදන හේමපාල ට කතා කරද්දී, ඔහු කිව්වා බෞද්ධ කාන්තාව කොඩි හදන්නේ නැති නිසා ඔහු ක්‍රිස්තියානි කාන්තාවන්ට ඒ වැඩේ බාරදීල කියල. ඒක අහල තරහවක් ඇතිවුනාට මම මුකුත් කියන්න ගියේ නැහැ. හැබැයි තරහ හිතුනේ කොඩි හදන්නේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි කාන්තාවන් නිසා නොව, ඔහු කොඩි සැදීම බෞද්ධ කාන්තාවගේ යුතුකම යයි කියූ නිසාය. ඔය කතාව කිව්වේ පිරි...

Pictorial warnings are disturbing. Each time I see one of them, I need to barf. I see those cartons, even though I don't smoke. Even though I don't carry cigarette cartons with me. Will the pictures stop me from ever smoking a cigarette? No. Will they make me want others to stop smoking? No. As kids, our parents made us do certain things by telling us some horror story. Athamma used to get rid of my brother and I when she was making milk toffees by telling us that the gonibilla will eat the milk toffees if we disturb her. We stayed away because we thought the gonibilla would actually eat the nice, gooey toffee. Are these anti-tobacco companies aiming at scaring the living hell out of us so that we would stop smoking? Is that why they want non-smokers to also be forced to see such gruesome pictures? In most stores, the cigarette shelf is kept just above the cashier. These stores sell more than cigarettes and we have to pay for goods at that cashier where, just above the ca...

We are told to love and respect our parents. We are asked to always listen to them and do as we are told. However, rarely can we ask why we should respect them. And even if we do ask that question, the answer will be, 'because they have sacrificed and done so much for you.' Looking at the number of abortions and orphans makes one wonder though, if parents are doing their job anymore. Recently, I was being dropped off to BMICH by one of our office drivers. He was talking about an accident that had happened, where a three wheeler driver, who was at fault, had demanded money from him. This is what he said, as I remember it. " ඉස්සරනම් මම ඕන දෙයක් කරනවා. ඒ බඳින්න කලින්. දැන් මට පවුලක් තියෙනවා. මොනවහරි කරලා හිරේ ගියොත් මගේ දවල් කෑම එක ගේන්නේ බිරිද. නැත්නම් දරුවා. මම ඒකට ඉඩ තියන්නේ නැහැ." (For those who don't understand/can't read the above: he said, "I would have done anything before I got married. Now I have a family. If I do something and go to prison, my wi...

Nation Free editorial- May 4 Schrödinger’s cat is an interesting experiment. What led to the thought experiment is slightly complex, and the experiment is often considered to be a paradox. The experiment involves a cat in a box. The box also contains a flask of poison. When a detector inside the box senses radioactivity, the flask shatters, thus releasing the poison and killing the cat. Since the box is closed, one never knows if the cat is dead or alive. Thus the cat is both dead and alive while the box is closed. However, to know the real state of the cat, one must open the box. Schrödinger’s cat has been picked up by many writers. There are various interpretations of it, and the experiment is often used as an analogy. If you look at Schrödinger’s cat, it’s a situation of maybe and maybe not. We often wonder about the outcome of a situation. Would result A happen, or result B happen? Would the result be good or bad? We spend hours and hours fretting over what...