U.N.O

Well we tend to be very reflective in old age and lament on the past.

Instead of the obituaries we should look at the birthdays.

Dead are gone perhaps leaving behind good memories, perhaps not.

Living in the past is not the way forward.

Past unfortunately tend to harbour all the thoughts of ill will and hate.

Digging into the past of miseries, war and death has made this nation to be very negative.

It is unfortunate even the United Nations Organization is also live in the past.

They cannot see the present devastation in the East with floods and they are good at counting the number of dead of the war past.

They are not making any attempt to make the life meaningful for the survivors of the ruthless war.

The survivors have water up to their neck but UNO is not ready to give a lifeboat or a raft to them but ready to spend countless dollars in counting the ruthless dead bodies of hate , violence and ill will.

They perpetuate ill will and difference instead of uniting and bridging the gaps. They are trapped in the vicious propaganda not knowing how to wade off or avoid conflict of interests.

How can they be called astute negotiators if they are trapped to the neck with propaganda of ill will?

When is UNO going to learn lessons from the past and prevent future catastrophes, I wonder?

When are they going to live in the present moment?

It is better to look at the present moment of truth.

It is far better to look at the present moment instead of the past or the future.

People who are in the present moment and reflective are the ones who makes companionship meaningful, even at the death bed.

We must make the present moment infectious even to the young and those going to be born.

That’s all we are sure of having.

That is the only way for reconciliation.

We need to learn how to forget the past, make amends and make the present moment beautiful.

They are trying hard to make even the present moment very miserable and are paid for that effort.

The are a very depressive lot!

The money spent by UNO is an utter waste and loss.

They do not know how to move forward.

They have put themselves shackles around their feet and grumble instead of releasing them of their bondage to evil.

 



Majestic Elephants

This is a country run with Mega Mania Memorabilia (3 Ms) but unable to look after our majestic elephants.

Three years ago one of the tuskers was dead due to negligence and dehydration after a so called majestic pageant that paraded the hill country.

Then recently a giant tusker was dead in captivity and the popular story circulating round is he was let to die to get the tusks for ornamentation in high office.

Then comes the floods in the East.

A young dead elephant is trapped in a tree. First of a kind of news item and quite relevant in context.

That tells the sorry story of our majestic heritage and how we care.

It is an eye opener for the world if not for this blessed country.

We had 90% forest cover at the beginning of the last century and had over 60,000 elephants.

By mid last century the estimate was 6000 in the wild.

I do not believe we have 600 left in the wild now and the the forest cover is less that 20% now not enough to sustain vegetation let alone elephants.

We are going to commission two mega coal power units in the near future.

The forest cover will be reduced to 10% within a decade of their operation due to acid rain and the environmentalist are hiding behind the saffron clothed M.P.s.

Very soon we won’t have a place in the jungle to meditate in quiet solitude.

Mega mania development will sacrifice the rest of the trees in the name of development efforts.

Very soon we have to import coconut timber with coconuts on top.

Last tsunami a few people survived by climbing on top of coconut trees.

We have mega floods after 53 years in the East and there are no coconut (palms) trees grown for 6 years after the tsunami to climb onto.

But we have election after election to elect representative who ruin this country.

Mega Mania Memorabilia at its best!

The carnival goes on!

Granny Award

I intend to award a “Granny Award” in my mother’s name in her early nineties to any person who come with an English Drama based on the stages mentioned below.

The contents are Open Source and are generally under the Linux GPL Convention.

1. Originator Unknown Sri-Lankan Author in his late Nineties (I claim he is not my late father)

2. Recent Rendering by a Bookshop Assistant in Kandy who wishes to be anonymous

3. This Edition is by Me (MINIME VERSION) and BABA (one of my dear friends who is no more with us), SAMBA, BIMBA, ZIMBA, SINHA BAR (Lion BAR), ALI (KANDY ELEPHANTS, THE TWO LEGGED VARIETY) and any HORA-BABA (fatherless baby) or any unborn Sri-Lankan Baba (baby) can participate in future developments of this  humane animal story(copyleft).

Currently the Pothe-Guru (story Teller) is me, the current author.

The big DADDY VERSION (the language  of communication could be from simple to vulgar depending on the alcohol content) is only for private consumption of my friends especially after a suitable beverage except the Sri-Lankan dust TEA (not Tiger Wood’s recent TEE) which I use as manure for ornamental plants.

Evam Mesuthan Ekam Samayam (So, said and so heard).

1. I was a privy to Relay Carnival (passing the bucks relay, really fast, like the hedging deal) in the Animal (they are more humane and eat only when hungry) Kingdom.

I was the only Sri-Lankan selected by an island wide Lottery conducted by the Hela Urumaya (or Karumaya) Surakumu Foundation (HUKU-SUMU for short).

2. I was on holiday in a Forest Reservation (JUNGLE HABITAT).

3. I observe an elderly (prostate enlarged) Peter Rabbit grazing.

4. Jack the Jackal (with financial interests in Sri-Lanka) greedily waiting for an innocent prey.

5. Scene of Jackal (both hip joints and knee joints are replaced (by bionic prosthesis delivered by a Sri-Lankan TELESHOP GIANT on a Plate made of unclaimed Credit Cards-because of his Royal Ancestry) chasing the Rabbit.

6. BLIND forest (Hermen) hermit descend from heaven and lands on a busy Junction (Thun-Man Chinthana Handiya) for free dhana.

7. Rabbit approaching the hermit with break neck speed without a Crash Helmet.

8. Rabbit jumps over hermit visibly shaken up and annoyed.

9. Lands a squirt of Holy (Medical) Water (Urine for short) right on the nose and mouth.

10. Hermit really thinks the water is holy and ascends to a higher Jhana.

11. Jackal approaches the hermit with a bionic speed and put on breaks instantaneously.

12. Jackal licks the nose and face of the hermit.

13. Hermit rudely awakened from his Transient Trance(Transient Ischaemic Attack-TIA).

14. Jackal reprimands the hermit with a nasty comment; Why don’t you stay a few feet above the ground?

15. Well, I was thinking about my Bank Balance of Merit (PIN-Numbers) in Seylan Bank and settled where I ought to be, was his reply.

16. Well then, did you see a rabbit running this way?

17. Yes, Yes I heard some animal running but I cannot say what species he was but I can very well tell you that he was a male.

18. You say you are a hermit and blind.

How can one see the SEX of an animal running fast in a Meditative Mode?

19. Didn’t the Master tells you, it is an illegal task to think about sex in Meditative Trance?

20. We animals think about sex, only when we are in full sexual flow and not otherwise, he proclaimed.

21. Can you tell me how the BLIND HERMIT instantaneously guessed the SEX of the fast moving passerby?

Help;
Nothing to do with his urine or prostate and it is due to some other reason.

Only a Sri-Lankan would be able to guess the ANSWER and it is a common saying when a policeman is chasing a politician who has committed a traffic offense.

Postscript
Purva-Bhava Connections
1. The hermit was a Traffic Warden (an active member of Hela Urumaya) who went to heaven instantaneously when hit by a Guy from the Presidential Escort.

2. The rabbit was a monk who went in search of emancipation in Sri-Lankan Parliament and deposited his hard earned money in a private bank.

The Jackal was a Sri-Lanakan Private Banker, better than an American swindler.

I was of course the CNN Reporter Assistant (only doing the editing) of iReportes, using a stolen mobile telephone.

Corollary
Only a male Jackal with large prostate can squirt a healthy vigorous stream while running, and a man cannot.
The rabbit in this story did it due to fear and the anger (monk standing on his getaway flight).

A female (liberal woman) will never be able to perform this act even when standing, the future Female US President or probable female candidates included.

Asoka with special Urine Test for the prostate and prostrated Sri-Lankans without a fee.

Dengue Dilemma and the Escape Route

This was something I wanted to write for some time but kept delaying it for many reasons including political.

When some issue is taken out of context and used as a political gimmick, even with much discomfort, I tend to refrain from taking the center stage.

Train to think logically and constructively I sometime find it difficult to find an audience (group of intellectuals in a forum) to discuss a topic at length.

This was something we used to do even when we were just interns.

For an example we were faced with a dilemma of the treatment protocol as interns.

On many occasions we were sure we had made the correct diagnosis but the standard treatment did not ensue improvement or recovery.

In one of these occasions we decided to double the dose of an oral antibiotic which was only 12 cents a capsule.

We could not double the other agent given I.M and very painful too since with the wrong dose of that I have seen few children dieing (not any one who was under me) as misadventures.

Most of the misadventures were hushed up even then since the treatment was free and innocent patients were prepared to take some of the gullible lies from the administrators.

This has become a common occurrence nowadays let me not digress.

When we did increase the dose the patient started responding.

That was good news.

Unlike today we did not rest with that we asked the question why half the capsules were not working?

Obvious conclusion was that somebody was introducing dud capsules in the supply chain.

We reported this and the Ministry then had the way to investigate the supply procedure and then caught pilfering from the Medical Supply Division and the substitution of dud ones to replace the same.

This was big news then.

This is a common practice in India even now before they reach our shores.

That was Professor Senaka Bible’s time and we were very happy.

Years later I came to Colombo General Hospital and this practice was rampant as nothing constructive to abort this practice was in situ and Professor Bible had died under mysterious circumstances.

The modus operandum was for the guys to come as patients and take month’s supply of drugs and unload them at the nearest private pharmacy.

There were many other offenses (rice and eggs were meant to for patients were stolen during the Pang Polling days) I discovered as a D.M.O but these things are happening in much bigger scale now and I am still digressing from the major objective.

The point I want to bring out is that there is very poor accountability and the procedure for investigations is hampered both within and outside the health sector.

This is true for correct diagnosis too.

If one looks at a record of a patient who returns home comparatively well or who succumb in both private and public institutions the error rate of diagnosis is around 60% to 80% .

This figure has never been estimated for PMs (postmortems and not prime minister) after the introduction of private practice. Many a times not done in a proper scientific way.

Postmortems are avoided at very convenience of the doctors.

The other issue is that there is no proper consultation among individuals with expertise in other fields and different skills.

This is the salient feature in the practice of medicine in Sri-Lanka.

When something goes wrong the the diagnosis that come to the forefront is dengue. The gullible media also report them without serious investigation.

All what one needs is a platelet count and a slide test that detect antibodies (no distinction from old or new antibodies).

The test to show rise in titre is not evident in many cases.

There are multitude of other that can lower platelets.

 

Concrete proof is lacking and impartial objective scrutiny is never done before or after the event.

 

Once it is labeled as Dengue many doctors can have a sigh a relief that they have covered up their inefficiencies and tracks.

Unfortunately it covers up the administrative failures too.

 

When a society is corrupt to the core and in effect the legal and medical systems are not strengthened to investigate and find viable remedies this filters to all the other segments of life including schools and universities and proper conduct of examinations and elections to are left to the undesirable elements.

That is when non-medical people too get involved in detecting virginity when the pertinent question that should be asked is; Is it consensual (does not matter one is married or not-even in marriage it should be consensual not by force due the fact one is legally married; marriage gives a license) or not?

 

Every other case of death is buried under the mountain of dengue (we have to formulate strict guide lines).

1. The correct procedure is to have strict guide lines for diagnosis of dengue.

2. Then the next step should be and when the death is contentious (not dengue) there should be a procedure to arrive at an alternative diagnosis.

3. The third step should be to have independent clinical audit that is not practiced in this country.

 

 

 

I can give you an incident when medical people failed to come to consensus regarding the increase of kidney disease in North Central Province.

 

They did not have a protocol to deal with the scenario.

The dengue scenario is no different to me.

 

We are barking at the wrong tree

Only taking political mileage.

Poor mosquito should not be an escape goat and escape route for our indifference since medicine like books are given free by the government.

 

All governments are also culpable whether they are democratic or otherwise.

We need a system in place when the system fails everything else fails.

Nobody ask the question why almost 50% did not vote.

Simple answer to that is when the system in place has failed the very system that generate credibility is lost for ever and the apathy sets in.

These are not only philosophical points but these are social issues too.

Everybody in power, not in power, able, disable, in private practice, in government institutions and in all spheres of activity should have a fare share of responsibility.

We are all culpable either direct or indirect or not in action or out of action or in the thick of actions.

We cannot leave it to the politicians alone.

 

What is lacking is sincerity and transparency.

As Buddhists we will have to pay our dues for these crimes of inactivity and indifference now not in next birth.

Biophysics

This is another word I would like to add to English, if it is not there already in existence, this time in Scientific World.

We had an Engineering Exhibition in the University, I do not know what was being exhibited there but what my gut feeling says is that they are all big events for public consumption and certainly not miniature exhibits of biological nature.

I am pretty sure they did not talk about biophysics and nano-technology.

I have been against the Coal Power Project form its inception.

 

I have many reasons including Acid Rain and I have stated that Coal Marketing Board will be as bad as the Paddy Marketing Board of yesteryear and its corruption scale will have to be estimated in time to come.

 

Suffice is to say that most of the Coal would wind up in undesirable places and the scale of corruption will be covered by black soot. 

How black soot will effect our children’s chest physiology and sporting outcomes are a different kettle of fish. 

I have voiced these concerns with scientific data but they are under the carpet of power politics now.

 

One pertinent question our energy planners not addressed is that these coal power plants are operational 24 hours a day and the interruption of nocturnal terrestrial cooling effect that is necessary for air circulation and water condensation and the night rain pattern that we used enjoy that invariably purified the air of soot, dirt and chemicals is going to be disturbed due to constantly warm air that is not circulating. 

The effect of this is going to be phenomenal.

 

As long as the rain is there even infrequently and with disturbed patterns then there is some reclamation. 

But think of the scenario for some reason or the other if the rain fails for a period of two years with drought. 

Then we have to be using more and more coal power to generate power, the conditions are conducive for catastrophic events.

 

The nocturnal cooling effect is negated for a prolonged period of time and the pollution it created is of clinical scale. 

We see this pattern in Kandy even without the warming effect discussed above and that is why Kandy is the most polluted city of the country when rain fails the nocturnal cooling draft fails and the pollutants remain for considerable length of time in the lower atmosphere. 

We have now cleared our rain forest to less (33% is the critical value) than the sustainable level for natural rain and ecological balance. 

We can see the effect of acid rain in less than 5 years after a period of prolonged drought.

 

I will talk a little about the miniature life of biological nature that can mop up some of the CO2 created by the mega projects like Coal Power Plants. 

But more than thousands of other chemicals that are emitted which cannot be made safe and some of them causing cancer (are the projects for future studies) in the air not diluted due to stagnation and failing air circulation.

These are mega events and banning cigarettes has no ameliorating effects once these chemicals are in air and in circulation and when we have to breath them 24 hours a day.

 

The algae I had been interested in are tiny but common in nature and their contribution can be very significant if properly harnessed but the experiments done on them are very few an far between.

I gather in Germany they are working on them to mop up CO2 emitted by coal power units.

What ever big or small engineering feats it may be whether it is motor car or a rocket no engineering feat can bring about more than 33% efficiency or throughput.

 

In biological system this is scaled down to less than 3 to 4% and even though the process is very slow by the shear numbers of biological beings and the multiplying cells the process of conversion is made good with eventually.

 

Problem with engineering feats is that they are not cost effective or efficient. 

The rate of conversion is fast and the rate of production of pollutants and poisons are also fast.

 

This is what I used to argue with my fellow engineering students at the campus many moons ago and also asked why they used heavy metal to built cars (that also not stainless steel) that is subjected to resistance or impedance or inertia of motion and why not aluminum like in aircrafts.

 

They will give some answers and I will give counter arguments while playing bridge (which I learnt from them) and this goes on with new themes added.

Years went by we parted and departed from ivory towers we built and went into real world and domestics. It is sad now I cannot find somebody to talk ten words in analytical English on a scientific topic or discussion.

Even, people like Prof. Carlo Fonseka talking and taking partisan in bizarre politics in their twilight years sadden me most. 

I am not saying that he not entitled to it. With his reputation if he makes a mistake his ardent followers are left astray.

 

What has happened to their scientific inquiry and what has happened to their inbuilt instincts.

 

We were fed a good and healthy dose of inquiry and free discussion then and now there is paucity of inquiry and query, question or rationalistic views about world around us living and inanimate (Physics).

I dearly remember Prof. Osmond Jayaratne and his investigation into lightening.

There was Prof. Rnjith Ruberu with beautiful exposition of Botany and Biology.

I am not talking about Chintanaya Professors with mathematical talents.

I never talked about biophysics then since all medical stuff including biochemistry was boring for me.

 

Now that I am somewhat of an independent thinker my argument of biophysics start with a simple relationship (not Newton’s equal and opposite reaction).

This is where I have element of disagreement with Buddhist practices, too.

Why only animals are sacred?

Why not other living things, the plants that all animals depend directly and indirectly?

To me plants are sacred too.

Without plant life the world cannot exist.

This is where my thinking is at variance with even Buddhist tenets.

Why there is only a law for animals?

Is it only animals with brains or nervous system that is important to Buddhists?

I have not found a answer for this in Buddhist scriptures.

So I am entitled to my own analysis in a biological sense.

So my simple theoretical aspect of biological relationships especially the biophysics is that there is infinite relationship one to one and one to many in every biological cell or biological system.

There is no distinction of pant life and animal life whatever the form it may be.

They are all life forms in a constant web of actions and reactions.

As far as we know they can be seen with definite evidence only on this planet.

This planet is the only planet we know of and I am not extrapolating to any other heavenly objects with life or without life in this universe.

Ever since the life began in this planet this biological or biophysical relationship continuously existed without a break.

There is either positive or negative relationship but this relationship is such that it was never to destroy or eliminate one or the other.

 

Continuity of life existed uninterrupted in spite of major physical catastrophes.

 

If this would not have being the case various new forms of life would not have emerged in evolution.

There was competition but never extermination by living thing by living things.

That is my bona fide or the compelling argument.

All life forms are important including mosquitoes whether they carry infectious agents or not.

We cannot argue that world should be without insects including mosquitoes.

There my argument and tent converge with Buddhism.

All life forms be happy!

It is the physical catastrophes that eliminated species lock stock and barrel but never simple biological competition.

This theoretical aspect had very interesting convergence when I saw my fish dieing in the open including the Guppies.

First I thought it was the algal bloom and the lack of oxygen.

It is the very simple and straight forward plausible explanation I can give.

But when this happened again and when I checked with the internal digital temperature it was not strange coincidence that the temperature was above 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

It was the global warming (atmospheric temperature) that killed the fishes, other factors were contributory.

 

Interestingly high atmospheric temperature encourages mosquito breeding.

 

Every ton of coal (when it is burnt 24 hours a day) we burn will increase the number of mosquitoes by billions!

Single physical change, the temperature alone can kill animals.

Humans can die of heat stroke and why not fish.

There is a protein called heat shock protein even in bacteria and our cells also have it in a different form and all animals too have this protein to overcome stress.  

Heat is a stress.

That system can easily be damaged.

Yes most of the fish who are kept indoors especially the mollies cannot live above 86 degrees.

 

It was only algal bloom and lack oxygen alone the some fish could come up and breath at the surface or produce young ones before dieing but this did not happen.

 

The biological relationships I propose in theory could not keep pace with the adverse temperature which is partly man made.

There was no time for evolutionary adaptation.

The other relationship is human population expansion.

I believe we have come to the optimum population of 6 billions.

The earth cannot sustain 9 billions.

This extra 3 billion will upset the balance of biophysical relationship that come into equilibrium in the microscopic levels.

The mega level is man and his megalomaniac beahviour.

Earth cannot sustain its biophysical relationships with the rate at human population is expanding and consuming all the limited resources.

Biophysical barrier will break down soon.

Then calamities after calamities would occur.

Gloom, bloom and doom unless we arrest the population expansion and the rate of use of easily available energy resources.

First we have to arrest the population growth.

Second we have to have a food security.

Third we have to prevent the made made causes of global warming.

Even in this country the priority is on energy and its use and its expansion and not conservation.

We got our priorities wrong.

We will loose all the biodiversity and elephants in no time.

We do not have neither the master plan nor the vision.

We do not have philosophers.

We do not have scientist of international caliber.

We only have politicians of various shades and colours but without a distinction.

23rd September (Poya)