Many Happy Returns of the Day and Merry Christmas

December 25th is a very important day for me since it is the Birthday of my Better Half and of course the Christmas. I wish my wife "Many Happy Returns of the Day" and "Merry Christmas" to the whole world simultaneously.

Our Annual Christmas Party

We recently had our Annual Christmas Party at Dolphin Centre. I was the lucky guy to win the first prize in the draw which was held.

His Flexibility

My father was a very flexible person. He allowed us to decide of our own. This reminds me Buddha's teachings about "Kalama Sutra", the last line which says:

"After observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

My sister explained one such instance he allowed her to decide of her ownas follows:

"Thaththa used to dress me up sometimes, when I was in the kindergarten. I can remember once I wore a frock to school with all the buttons in the back. That dress had the buttons in the front but I did not listened to my father and said it is dressed in the other way. He didn’t argue with me. He was such a flexible person."

Vulgarising

I just read an article about Vulgurising one of the nice creations of Amaradewa. It is
"Shantha me re beela... pissu natai vedila, Mulu gama natavai pissa"
in place of
"Santha Me Re yaame, Kumudumale siriya"
The original song has a strong impression to calm down your stressed mind. The latter is only a distortion of lyrics in order to provide almost nothing.

I am really fond of wrap music and find nothing wrong in it. For instance "Rangahala Dan Atha.." wrapped by Sangeeth is really innovative. I enjoy both songs sung by Wijerathna Warakagoda and Sangeeth. Latter has not harmed the impression given by the song.

But the earlier example reveals a sad story of how people play with good piece of music and almost killing the great songs by adding no value to it. I wonder what these people expect from this sort of distortion.

A Management Practice

Today I learnt a management practice. That is, if you feel an employee is unnecessarily bothering you( fromManager's point of view) you will never give the message to him directly, instead he tells a selected employee (presumably senior to the earlier one) " why X is hanging around?, I don't have time to talk to him"

But when the said emplyee meets him, the manager never gives a least expression of his displeassure. See how tactful he is?

Pithu Padam Namamaham

One of my fellow emloyees used to read a piece of paper everyday before he started working. I asked him what was this? He said it was a prayer. I thought I am doing a similar thing since I used to keep my father's photograph on my dressing table and worship him, saying" Pithu Padam Namamaham" which gives me a very pleasant feeling to start the day and feel like getting my father's blessings to achieve whatever the things I face in my life.

Our Own Meal

We prepared a meal in an innovative manner. It is a great joy to taste the meals prepared of our own. Though I am not a good cook I contributed well so that the output was a great team effort.

The meal consisted of boiled vegetables and fried fish decorated with leaves.

The day I Met My Partner in Life

This white Octagonal tower made of solid blocks tells the whole story. During my childhood I was fascinated by this isolated giant located in Devinuwara, 160 feet tall. I used to visit this place as a school boy because one of my friends used to live nearby.

The lessons I learned in "Social Studies" in school allowed me to get to know about the symbol of a lighthouse which I put as a mean of identification in my tutorials, lecture notes, etc. whereas my friends used to ask me "Are from a Light House Family?"

On December 11, 1998 exactly six years from today, I met a lass in a train travelling from Colombo to Matara. We shared our feelings and decided that we are meant for each other. Today she is my loving wife and the marvel of it was that she hailed from a "Light House Family". She used to live at Lighthouse quarters with her family since her father was the Officer-in-Charge of the Structure.

Destiny made me to be a part of the "Light House Family". I am really surprised by this series of incidents.

Just to Share the Happiness I Gained

Yesterday I visited one of our fellow employees who was sick. I bought some oranges for him.I remember the days I felt very lazy to visit sick people. I hardly visited them.My fellow employee took the small bag of oranges and said "Thank You" in a faint voice. The gratitude in his eyes made me to feel happy, happier than ever. I knew he thanked me for my visit but the great thing is it was my father who paved the way to do little things like this on behalf of the others.

I was really surprised by the feelings I gathered.I observed my father from my childhood. He used to visit patients in " General Hospital, Matara".He hardly missed one. He not only visited his relatives and friends but also people who travel with him in public transport and the poor villagers.

I remember one of my relatives say " your father used to go to almost all the funerals of the people he knew".

My father never advised me to visit patients or participate in funerals.Instead he proved that is the way to treat people by his acts silently, similar to the manner he has passed away.

Thaththa, I don't have words to explain how I felt happy just by following the good habits you never insisted us to follow, but proved by your acts.

A Milestone

All of a sudden I saw that my blog has been viewed 99 times. This is my maiden century. Very few people knew about this blog and there were some strangers who shared my feelings with their own ideas.I wish to thank them all.

The mission remains the same." TO FIND GENUINE PEOPLE".

My Pal

Yesterday my sister gave me a very important contact detail. That is of "Thusitha", my pal. Though he is my cousin I never feel that he is so, because I consider him as my own brother.

I can still recall the good old days we spent together. We used to call ourselves "King Pawn" & "Queen Pawn". Of course we moved together as the said pawns who were very close to each other. I was really glad about Thusitha's perfomance in chess, just like "Tinker Mama" who was a grand master of our childhood. We reiterated the past by playing chess, where my father and his father used to play.

The perpetual check has commenced my friend, in the Chessboard of life where we cannot see any possibility of a checkmate.