Lottery

No sane mind
Buys a ticket
Without a wish
For winning

But
The logic of lottery
Or the statistical chance
Of wining is
Inversely proportionate
To number of other wishes
Of the same kind

So every other wish
Of the same kind
Make one less likely to succeed
In wining a lottery
Just like everyone else
Wishes
Peace
Freedom
Harmony
And in turn
Gets war and hate

The logic of democracy
In matters of peace
Does work like
A simple lottery
Unless of course
One is prepared
To use force of nature
And combat

Then when one wins
By force
The peace become
Meaningless
To the loser
But to the victor
It is like a handsome
Win in a lottery

In real sense
Dhamma included
Wining or losing
A lottery
Just only an act
Of coincidence

But one does
With money won
If benevolent
Acquires merit

But it is
Usually the case
With a win
Lust and crave
Increase in leaps and bounds
Along with demerits

This is in essence
The virtue of war and peace
Whether it is
On this land or in any wonderland
But what is lacking is the consistency
Of making a policy viable and lasting

Two Brothers of Contrast

When I was young

Working abroad

In a country down under

I met two sweet elderly

Gentlemen in their

Early sixties

They used to

Visit their mum

In her eighties

In a frozen state

Of mind and physique

In a clockwork

Precision

Their encounter

With their mum

Unable to express

Any feelings

Was a very sorry

State of affairs

Which

I could not bear myself

Or manage

Yet they did come

Day after day

In clockwise precision

To hold her hands

In frozen state

I always wished

I could be

Like one of them

If the need arises

But one day

She said good bye

And I did my part

And promptly

Attended to the formal

Paper work

 

I was very

Happy

That they could

Now

Attend to their

Own life

But for 20 odd years

They were coming and going

In untold pain

How could they forget

Their mum?

Yet,

I come to this

So called Buddhist State

I knew of a brother

Who wised his mother dead

Sooner than late

So he could get on

With his life

In private

That was a country

Under Christian Faith

But this is

A country

Of wonderful

Buddhist Compassion

Quite a contrast

To my likings

Would I go back

To my roots

Here

Or there

Is my dilemma?

Tribute to my Mother

The hands that

Took care of

Me and the rest

Of the filial

Relationships

Equally well

Tended the jasmine

The floral and fragrant

Plant

 

They in turn

Sprouted

Bloomed

Blossomed

Radiating

The fragrance

In the still and

Cold air

 

The clock

Stopped ticking

But the

The fragrance

The brilliance

The Jasmines

She cared for

Still dominate

The ambiance

Telling me

The story

Of tender loving care

Which she was

Able to radiate

In abundance

 

She was strong

At 91 in 2010

But she was

Very very feeble

In the cold frosty 2011,

So cold we had

To say Good Bye

For good!

Not cricket

I often wonder,

Why

The predatory cats

Whom I hate

For their vestige

Of predatory habits

Of evolution

Are given nine (9) lives

Whereas

Our closest friend

The dog

Of the Canine family

Has a life cycle

Of probably 15 years

And no more

This is something

I should ponder

Is it the predation?

Of capitalism

Or the protection

Underdog

Of civic minded

Society that matter

In Evolution?

Evolution says

Survival of the

The fittest

And the capitalism

Says the same

Survival of

The crafty

The predatory

And the greedy

Should hold fort

And the predated

Should be vanquished

But in cricket

The underdog has

A chance

If the umpires

Are neutral

In evolution

Isn’t that?

The nature

Should be neutral

In operation

I wonder

But coming back to

Canines life

It is actually fair

For them to

Have a shorter

Life cycle

Since the man

Wants to prolong his life

To 10 of dogs cycles

And actually lives like a dog

Under full medical care

With transplanted

Heart, kidney or lung

Or bypass

The man

Wants the dog

To be there

For his comfort

And long life

And when the dog dies

He gets

Another dog

And that is unfair

Isn’t it?

But if the

Man dies

Before the dog

The dog follows

His tomb

In desperation

And won’t last

Three months

After the master’s demise

Of heartache and pain

Who is more

Genuine?

Is it the master

Or the dog

I wonder

And I ponder

Buddha the Unsung Environmentalist

I often wondered
Why Buddha
Did not
Utter
A terse verse
On the mother nature?

Then again
He is one
Who lived
Half of his life
Under the shade
Of trees and caves
That mother nature
Had plenty then
Even in India

One who shed attachment
To dwellings of
All kinds
Be that it may be
Physical or psychological
He was wise
Not to trod on
To Climate,
Global Warming
A debate which illustrates
The fickle
And transient
Nature of
Material World

But where did he
Attained
The Enlightenment
Of all?

Was not
Under a bright floral tree
Knowing
Even the flora is transient
But under a Bo tree
Which gave
Shelter
From harsh elements
But bears tiny fruits
The avian fauna
Love to eat
When hungry

Didn’t he
As a gesture of gratitude?
Gazed at the very
Bo Tree
In solid contemplative mediation
For a week on stretch
I wonder, I wonder

How can I say
He is not
An environmentalist?
Not by preach
But by precept
And practice

Asoka

Paradox-03

Geopolitics is changing
And especially so
In Sri–Lankan terms
And its demographic
Activities and outcomes

I fail to understand
Why the so called
Political pundits
Educated only in Sinhala
Especially the journalist and media
Have failed to recognize
The fact of life
Of current politics

Nearly 4 million voters
Have not utilized
The franchise
This time around
Which is nearly 30%
Who have no trust
On the system
Or the system has failed
To recognize
Their need to participate
As living souls

If I break this down
Further
1.5 million
Which is 75%
Of the Tamil vote
Disowned
And turned a blind eye
To their aspirations

That is 15%
Of the total population

Nearly 50%
Of the Muslim community
Which add up to
Half a million
Abstained from voting

In other words
Nearly 20%
Of the ethnic minority
Did not engage
In participatory democracy

Why is this indifference
In our 5 Star democracy?

2 millions
Of the Sinhala majority
Especially the young
And the first time voters
For some reason or the other
Have not participated
In this activity
In spite of the
Freedom gained from
The ruthless conflict
Of violence

Abstained
And no true participation!

When we add
The little over 4 million
Who voted against
The ruling majority
Staggering figure
Of 8 million
Which is almost
60% of the total
Have no leader or leaders

This is an aberration
Which the Professor Edward De Bone
Highlights in his new wisdom book
“Think before it is too late”
Meant for the new millennium
Of geopolitics

A lateral thinking
In true practice

The fact of the matter
Of our democracy is
That the 40%
Of the vociferous extremists
Of the ruling elite
Run the show
Disregarding
The silent majority

My guess is that,
Come the Sinhala and Tamil New Year
Another 1 million
Will not vote
Adding the number
Of disenchanted mass
To over 5 million
Of the total electorate
Which is staggering 40%

In actual fact
Over 6 million (43%)
Twice as much
As my forecast
Did not participate
But doing shopping
For the New Year
Instead of polling

Edited on the 10th of April

Paradox-02

Many moons ago
When we got together
On a social occasion
With spirits high
Both in verbosity
And alcohol content
We had analyzed
(“I” eliminated on copyright basis)
The undergraduates
Who would take up
Politics
Instead academic
And intellectual activities

On a case by case basis
In the yesteryear scenario
The analysis
Would emerge like this

There was a guy
Who was not handsome
And unable to get hitched
To to suitable element
Of the opposite
Take respite
On the unthinkable

Another guy
Not so smart in physique
Unable to compete
Or take part
In any sport
Including rugger
Becomes an instant
Socialist

Then there was a guy
Who could not crack a joke
Or enjoy a flash
Of irrelevancy
In good spirit
Or take part in
The Sing Song Band
Or the “Gonpart Army”
Just like the “Barmy Army”
Take up
The Marxist ideology

Then there was a guy
Not eloquent in “Kaduwa”
But had all
The vulgarity
In his mother tongue
Ingrained in his system
And the life style
Paste and posted
All the “Kela Paththara”
On the walls

Then there was
A shadowy guy
Who frequented the
Unauthorized quarters
Especially at night
Lot to hide
But little to show
In character
Was the most vociferous

Unfortunately
These guys
Even though few in number
In our times
Repeatedly
Failed their examinations
And were the unwanted
In their own backyards
Ended up as
“Permanent Gajayas”
Existing on the
Union money
Use politics of the extremes
To regain
Some sort of identity

And there was
No other way
In this democratic society
Of ours
For the these guys
To survive
Other than parasites
In the vague politics
Of little substance
Or relevance

Fortunately
In our times
These guys were
Extremely intelligent
Who did come
On merits
Not on area basis
Realized their fallacious
And out of the fray activity
By the time
They failed the examination
For the third time
Rehabilitated
Out of politics
In good time
And never entered
The august assembly
Or the legislature

But strangely enough
When I analyze
The current situ
And the state of affairs
Of our modern society
There is striking coincidence
That the very same type
Of guys without rehabilitation
End up in our parliament
Who fail in our
Free
School Education System
Some of them
Even as Ministers
Holding important portfolios
Providing instant jokes
To the Media
And the Masses

For them
It is their very
Survival that matters
But not the welfare
Of the voter
Who voted them in
In the day to day
Affairs of our democracy

If that
Is not a wonder
What would be
The paradox
Of our times?

Paradox-01

In democracy
It is the voter
That matters.

But not so
In our democracy.

It is the elected
That matters.

That also the highest!

The lowest of all
The House of
Not so commoners
Does matter
As mouth pieces
Of democracy
But subservient
To the dictates
Of the party boss