Shocks 45 feet away

Yesterday morning by around 0851hrs a thundering explosion was heard. Apparently it was just 45 feet away from our head office. An army bus had been targetted by a suicide cadre; which was later revealed to be a remote activated bomb. Casualties are reported to be in the range of 5 members but we feel its much more. The whole area has been cordoned off and we had shut the office for safety. No fire was reported. The driver of the bus seemed to be in bad shape but sources said he will survive. The inability to access further info was due to the fact that; the area of the incident was just 100ftt away from the harbour and thus the forces were immediately in the scene to clear matters. There was also some rapid firing taking place to scare all away from the explosion area.

The bike used by the supposed suicide cadre is beyond identity (kuduvela). However on further investigation it was revealed that the person who tried this attack had used one of our wharf clerk's bikes to hang the bomb. The wharf works from 0700 to 1800 and his bike was utilised.

I apparently had the opportunity to have a sneak peak as Ms/ Bakshani's who are right opposite to us; who has(had) a wall at the rear which is no more due to the impact and is thus open to the reclamation road. On just looking through, i had found quite an amount of blood on the patch i could see from where i stood. However no bodies or flesh was to be seen.

Further on my return back to the office, certain other members who had gone in after me to view the incident had been taken by the police for questioning. Pity them. But thats life in Sri Lanka aint it?

The rest shall be followed in the news which shall be masked. My gut feeling is that there would have been around 8 casualties. The bomb was a claymore; although none of the windows close by have been damaged. However, i once again repeat that it IS a high impact device.

Whats very astonishing is that; the reclamation road is used by any person coming through mattakkuliya/grandpass to connect through fort/colpetty. And this area being a target seriously puts our safety in question.

Today, the site seemed to have returned to normalcy.

Until when?...thats the question....!
K!

Delhi heat

The ovation 2007 needed me to test as to how robust my tummy was. And it was indeed a great experience as i tried most of the clean street vendors. Astonishingly i had found that none had an effect on me. I guessed that the heat was doing the digestion on behalf of my tummy.

This provoked me to eat at a rate never before. And the mouth-feel with the new found taste added to the intake. Little did i know what was coming up.

3 days of fun, frolic, food and zilch excercise i returned to Colombo with a heavy stomach and light heart. Monday morning was fine. Tuesday morning i felt the tummy grumble. The rest of Tuesday was a killer. Wednesday was murderous. My system had been bugged by delhi food and the Heat. Whow, even now thinkin about it i am getting stomach cramps.

Thank god to moms home made medicine and grandma's tummy rescue tips, i recovered in less than a day.

Today i pen this down with a well regulated system. Phew....what a close call!

Delhi heat....now...thats a killer.....!
K!

Ovation 2007

The toastmasters of district 82 which consists of India and Sri Lanka held the annual conference at the heritage club in New Delhi, India from the 18th till the 20th May 2007. The event attracted 93 Sri Lankan toastmasters and many families from all over India. Although heat was unbearable, the atmosphere within the premises was great filled with joy, excitement and the warmth of getting to know more people.

The highlight of the event was the speech contest for Impromptu speaking, prepared speech session and the humour. Sri Lanka came out with flying colours by winning all three competitions and also bagging a second spot for the prepared speech session. I am proud to say that our fellow toastmaster CTM Dananjaya Hettiarachchi the VP Education was the person placed second in the prepared speech although i seriously felt his was far superior to any other of the day.

To just brief, Toastmasters is a personality development programme which is targetted at effective communication and thus leadership. I have seen some tremendous improvement in the past year since i had joined and find that it encourages you with lots of options available. Every meeting is a learning proces. Any out there who is willing to test this out, feel free to check http://www.toastmasters.org and check the club that meets nearest to your place; talk to them and get yourself invited for a demo meeting. you will get addicted undoubtedly.

The Ovation 2008 is planned to be in Bangalore, and im sure that its gonna be another session of great speeches.

So lets start toastmastering....!
K!

The Eye - Corrects itself

I have been wearing spectacles since the age of 10 if i recall correctly. The power has been a constant negative 2.5 indicating a very stable short-sightedness.

As usual i had wanted to change my 2 year old frames and had a testing done with optometrist Benjamin Yoga who also happens to be a member of the Rotaract club of Colombo Uptown. I was shocked to find that my power had decreased by a 0.25...corrected!

Maybe...finally...my body has thought in the lines of my mind and is putting its effort towards correcting itself.

I just hope my tummy and tongue get together and follow suit...lol!

Lets hope for the best.
K!

Spidey 3...

According to studio estimates, "Spider-Man 3" took in a record $148 million in the United States in its opening weekend, breaking the previous all-time high of $135.6 million set last summer by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

With $59.3 million on opening day Friday, "Spider-Man 3" also broke the single-day box-office record in the United States, which has also been held by "Dead Man's Chest," with $55.8 million on its first day.

Sony Pictures, the studio behind the "Spider-Man" franchise, also reported Saturday that the movie took in an additional $45 million overseas on Friday for a worldwide total of $104 million, a record for single-day grosses globally.

"That's why they call him the amazing Spider-Man," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "Just five years ago, these are numbers we thought we'd never see."

Well, on my personal view, it has always been the case that the sequels are never as good as the originals. Hope spidey proves it wrong again. I just cant wait to see this movie no sooner i make time.

The web is spun.....for the third time?
K!

Catalunya.........5 days to go!

3 races allready done with Mclaren reigning on the constructors points. Mclaren, indeed the best of all the cars had been having sluggish years since Mika Hakkinen's departure and is now very much on track with Alonso and Hamilton. Catalunya last year was a sweep and shall be the same this year where Alonso shall reign for 4 continous races from there on.

5 days to go and we shall see as to how the race turns events.
Mclaren leads the constructors with 44 while Alonso and Hamilton cap 22 points each to reign the drivers points tally.

for further info log on to www.f1.com

Catalunya.....here we come.
K!

Aerial Attack

Last week we had seen or heard of aerial attacks in colombo which were retaliated by tracer bullets. I had the oppurtunity to view them and even take a couple of snaps. However, whats very astonishing is that, we, the people living in Colombo were more in danger with respect to the tracer bullets returning down on firing than the bombs dropped by the LTTE. Isnt that so weird?

Let me explain the same in detail.
The red lines you see are the tracer bullets. Each tracer has around 5 to 6 bullets. The red colour is due to the outer chemical in each bullet combusting on friction.
Now, whatever goes up has to come down, so does these bullets that do not contact with the target. It is then that the Colombo public are in grave danger. It was seen that 4 people had been severly injured and had later succumbed to injuries, purely because of these tracers.

So the next time you see this, dont stay out like me to take pictures. Remain indoors at the bottom most floor, use underground carparks or if out, remain out under shelter looking for any suspective material falling from the sky for quick recovery.

Eitherways, this pic seemed to be the best fireworks seen in reality, but it is indeed the beauty of the face of death.

Beauty.......does kill!
K!

Roxy Pit

This is the pit mentioned under "Wesak Rains". Its 15ft in depth.

Fly we can - but no more at night

The shock to the travellers to and from Sri Lanka, has changed and taken a turn of astonishment. The Sri Lankan airport authorities have informed that from the 9th May until further notice the BIA (Bandaranaike International Airport) shall remain closed from 2200 hrs till 0400 hrs daily. This shall see to it that all carriers have to alter their schedules to fit with the BIA regulations.

Now, the good news is that Emirates who had pulled out fully is flying in again during day times. However the flight fares shall see a rise of upto 40% owing to security measures and higher flying costs at day. Following the emirates decision even SQ is looking for a similar option.

BIA had come out of a worser situation when a dozen crafts were bombed within the Sri Lankan airport. This gives faith that the BIA shall come out of this situation again.

We shall revive......!
K!

Wesak Rains

Summer generally sees some rains in Sri Lanka. This year was not far away. Wesak; which happens to be the Sri Lankan festival of lights has the myth that, it shall always be followed by rains. This year, the myth turned to be true yet again. Not only was it true, also it saw tens of thousands becoming homeless, organisations closed, transport hampered and a huge pit on one of the Lankan main roads. This time it was not a rain, but a 40 hour continual storm flooding most of Colombo!

After all, mother nature has her way of passing the message. We are not living our lives to her satisfaction. I guess the war, corruption, disgraceful deeds are all to blame. Its time for the long awaited change for a better future both for us and our younger generations.

I am ready for the change.....are you?
K!

Fly - We cannot

Sri Lanka being an island has only 2 options of travel abroad. The first being by air and the other being by sea. It is the latter that is not preferred due to tedious factors.

However, the recent incidents in the country have contribued to the instability of the security and thus has resulted in the largest carriers operating in Sri Lanka as a transit destination such as Cathay, Singapore Airlines and our owen Sri Lankan code sharer Emirates pulling out until further notice. Aint that great....!

What happens to all who have moved out on their journey? What happens to those who have come in to Sri Lanka? And what happens to people like us who are looking forward to the trips to be made in weeks to come?

The situation grows grave on a daily basis with no remorse. Why? we know...! Can we corect it....? Yes we can...! Do we want to....? Yes very much...! So what in heavens name is the fault.......?
"Those who need to be interested to get this going are not."

I am seriously looking at options of going out. Profesors may call it brain drain. Bu after all, dont i have to look at my life wih perspective to the brighter perspective? But what keeps me in Sri Lanka, is the country itself. I just want to do so much for my motherland....but remain unable to just because I JUST CANT!

I firnly believe that we are very close to the snap thast gonna change us forever either for the good or the worse. Just pray its not the latter thats in God's mind.

I regret not being able to help my motherland.......Damn!
K!

Fireworks

The moment Jayasuriya Played a four i saw an amazing range of fireworks. It was so gripping as the work looked so different. Then a few more minutes and more works for a single, continued by a blackening power failure. Thenit all set in place in my mindset.......Colombo is being atacked again. This time it was reported that 4 places were targetted of which 2 were hit and damages done although not to the LTTE's expectations.

But the simple fact remains as....Why is it that 'we' the Sri Lankans are being penalised of the simple independant facets of life. I just cannot grip this. A world cup failure, disgusted and panicked citizens, presidentless country, chaotic ginfire....all resulting in an economic downturn.

I just wish that the Pearl remains the pearl and the ppl within do not tarnish its image.

God...do you mind savin us?
K!