Learning a New Language

It was one of my dreams to learn Hindi, the singing language. I was always fascinated by hindi words expressed in the movies. I didn't understand anything in those movies but listened to them as I was listening to music. I know when we opened our eyes to see the first ray of light in this world, we were unable to speak a single word in any language. It was our environment which made us fluent in the languages we practise.

If you put forth some extra effort you will not only learn another language but also experience the joy of the strength of words you are using and their effect on people.

I started with butter which I spread on bread for my breakfast. Here is what I have found.

The Hindi Urdu for BUTTER is MAKKHAN

Imagine making butter; it is hard work.

I started with breakfast. How long will it take for me to reach the night and master the most facsinated language I have ever heard.

Checkmate

I started playing chess with my father when I was seven years old. I still remember the wooden chess board we had at home. My father used to beat us all the time. We played chess just as a pastime. "Tinker Mama" was one of the grand masters of chess during my childhood. We were fascinated by the way he played chess.

The second era of my chess career began when I was in my A/Ls. It was my brother who started the first chess club in Rahula College. Tinker Mama's son Thusitha was not only my cousin but also my pal in playing chess. We trained some nice chess players. Chinthaka, Kovida, Kaumal and Amila were some of them.

I still remember the first chess tournament we played at DS. Our first opponents were Visakians. I played with Apsara Gunaratne. From the begining we played some good moves and tempted the Visakians to think more on their next moves. As the time passed we realised they have taken more time to think and we were in good positions to either beat them or draw the games. After four hours, they set the clocks by our sides. It was the very first time I used a chess clock. Everything went wrong because of our lack of experience about the clocks. We concentrated more on reducing the time to think and made loopholes for the Visakians to crawl through. We were beaten six-nil.
...........more to be written later........

Music is a Balm

"Sandak Basa Giyaa Avaragire Irak Udaa Karalaa....................."
This famous song by Clarence reminds me a lot about my childhood.
There are lot of songs which relate to my life. Every word of them remind me series of events threfore I don't need a Time Tunnel to go into the past.
One such song is "Me May Gaha Yata.............". I was far behind some of my batchmates who could sing well. Chandana, Sola and Suminda were great performers. However I managed to sing that song wearing a shirt similar to the colour of May flowers during the welcome party given to our junior batch. It was the third song I sang in open stage. Of course the first song I sang was " Banen Banda.........." at our "Daham Pasala". I was small then and sang without background music. These two songs remind me the two eras I spent.
The second song was the most difficult one I sang. I sang that song at Aquinas during an Oration, the topic was "Song is a Balm". During my speech I suddenly sang "One Day in Paradise.........."

Jealousy

This very strong emotional feeling which I have experienced throughout my life is really confusing in expaining. There are no clear cuts for jealousy.

One thing I experienced during my university days were the perpetual effort of fellowmen to be the best. But only one can be the best. When the best person is unanimously chosen, the members of the rest tries to be the second best. So it is perpetual.

The best doesn't have the feeling of jealousy(not always). Since there is no one above him. Instead, what he does is support the rest with what he already possess. For instance the best in my super senior batch used to write answerscripts for past papers in his own handwriting, photocopy the same and distribute among all his batchmates. Great! He had no doubt about the fact that they could beat his aggregate in exams. Or rather he had no feeling of jealousy that someone could climb the ladder closer to him. Furher he lectured them in so called "Kuppi" ( Campus term for conducting unofficial lectures to pass knowledge on difficult subjects, in Sri Lanka).

One friend of mine used to appreciate every good thing she sees with a very pleasant smile.I don't know what was in her mind but her expression reveals she is not corrupted with jealousy.

I was jealous of various things in life. I'm trying my best to get rid of this harmful emotion.

Reading People

Reading people!! oh I failed

This was completely a new subject for me. Though I spent thousands of hours in finding a method to read minds of people,I failed.

I was a good reader of books. I read many chess books and was able to memorise at least 10 moves from the beginning in popular chess openings such as Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit and of course the famous Guicco Pianno. I could predict the next move of my opponent by looking at the chess board.

I was a good reader in Science and was able to memorise what I read during my exams and fortunately the answer scripts have been read and understood in order to provide me with good Grades.

I was a good reader on the direction, speed and spin of the ball when I played Table Tennis, my favourite indoor game. I could even judge the ball in bad light.

But, still I was unable to read a single person exactly and predict what his/her next move should be.

Lions

People relate Sri Lankans to Lions. I was really surprised by the comments made by the Sri Lankans on the behaviour of the Lions linking to only the Laziness of the people. But when you relate Lions' behaviour in a different context we can see lot of similarities between Sri Lankans and Lions.

1.Lions hunt in open spaces and teamwork increases the likelihood of a successful hunt. I can remember the guys led by Arjuna, Sri Lankan skipper hunted the Australians, the favourites to win the Wills world cup in 1996. It is exactly the way Lions hunt in an open field.

2.It says both male & female Lions are defending the pride against intruders. That is why Sri Lankans possess a loving and caring family lives. They normally like to govern their own family husband and wife together.

truthabout

truthabout

Alcohol

My view about Alcohol

There is no much difference between guys who drink and who do not drink. But will there be a very significat difference when the same applies to ladies? What is the exact demarcation? That has to be really looked into since it is not the amount of alchohol you take but the amount you can withstand without affecting your normal behaviour.

I fully agree with the fact that teetotaller is not better than an alcoholic. But the demarcation I mentioned matters. In the case of ladies, there is a doubt on commenting because in Sri Lanka, the society I used to deal with, consisted of very few ladies who consumes alcohol. I'll leave the comments to the reader.