tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5647561953942883640.post785884364478445579..comments2024-03-28T06:08:29.049-07:00Comments on Colombo Medgrads 1962: Sriani Snippets - 7Lucky Abeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14193645922522446176noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5647561953942883640.post-65341366851440842322014-12-09T23:58:39.834-08:002014-12-09T23:58:39.834-08:00Another enjoyable snippet, very funny as it is als...Another enjoyable snippet, very funny as it is also so true and like all comedy, reality is hard to beat. The business of finding connections appear to be peculiarly Sri Lankan, or is it? I can't recall an Englishman trying to trace connections apart from trying to relate to Sri Lanka through possibly a great uncle who has been to Trincomalee or Colombo during the War ("lovely country, lovely people" etc). The other Sri Lankanism is the use of the word "one" - such as - my daughter got married to the son of "one" Siriwardena from Horana who married the daughter of the famous Silvas of Kohupitiya. <br /><br />Although I empathise with Sriani's airline experience, things could have been worse, as happened to me once. Just as I was leaning back with smug satisfaction that the seat between the pleasant lady on the window seat and my aisle seat was unoccupied as we were getting ready for take off, this rather enormous man wearing a flowing white robe and a big smile on his face inserted himself with great difficulty in the middle seat, with generous amounts of his personage overflowing on to my seat and that of the lady. He then repeatedly leant forwards rhythmically while praying, ( I suppose I should have been thankful as the flight was now going to be safe for me as well). Very soon, an overpowering aroma of scent and sweat spread around him and at that moment, I believed in Karma - I must have done something in my past life to deserve this. <br /><br />When meal time came, he could not bring his tray down as his stomach was already occupying that space. His tray was perched precariously on his tummy. But give him his due, apart from being generously endowed with the stuff we are all made of, he was extremely pleasant and I found it hard to be hard on him..... if you see what I mean, no?Mahendrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11940825368030959494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5647561953942883640.post-42512059248458215862014-12-01T03:39:55.787-08:002014-12-01T03:39:55.787-08:00Sriani
Thank you for that insight into a fast disa...Sriani<br />Thank you for that insight into a fast disappearing world of aristocracy. From your story vestiges of it still prevail. It is now gradually being replaced by meritocracy, where people's position in society is based on ability and talent rather than on class privilege or wealth. In SL like in the rest of the Indian subcontinent the closeness to the seats of power in the field of politics overshadows all other differences.<br />"The 20th Century Impressions of Ceylon" is a treatise on the delegation of power by the British to maintain the system of aristocracy for their own benefit.<br />NDDr Nihal D Amerasekerahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02583970465135902534noreply@blogger.com