Plus - Letters to the editor

Sri Lanka does not need snow

It is both amusing and irritating when a TV station shows continuous snowing when the news is read. This is Sri Lanka, remember? It does not snow here. We are blessed with gorgeous sunshine and rainbows throughout the year. We are blessed with the best weather in the whole world. So why glorify snow?

Snow may look beautiful in pictures and on TV, but when you have to live with snow (as I did for four winters in England), you realise how horrible it is to have snow for any length of time. You have to dress in thick and heavy clothes, and you can hardly breathe or walk properly.

The roads are slippery and dangerous, and many are closed until the snow melts. Because of snow, you can be stuck indoors for days. The view is bleak and white to the horizon, and almost all vegetation is dead.

The English have learnt to make merry with snow because they have to live with it. By why should we? Why must we have snow on TV when our Decembers are bright with glorious sunshine, multi-coloured flowers on majestic trees, and beautiful singing birds hovering around our lush trees?

To depict December and Christmas with snow is nothing but acknowledging the slave mentality we have inherited from our former colonial masters.

Let’s drop these meaningless slavish habits. Let us be truly Sri Lankan, enjoying our own weather, our own sunshine and rainbows, and singing Sri Lanka’s praises.

Dr. Mrs. Mareena Thaha Reffai, Via email

Both ‘race’ and ‘religion’ are irrelevant in official documents

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) chairman Mr. C. R. de Silva, PC, was quoted as saying (Sunday Times, December 18, 2011) that to develop a Sri Lankan identity it would be desirable to do away with the classification of “race” in all government forms, such as passport applications, and so on.

I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. de Silva, and in the light of this suggestion, may this reader suggest that we also do away with the practice of recording both the “race” and “religion” of a person who goes to a police station to make a statement?

Of what earthly use or relevance in the administration of justice is it to record a complainant’s “race” and “religion”?

To insist on recording someone’s race and religion could give rise to negative emotions, such as fear, suspicion, doubt and hostility, on the part of the complainant and the police officer. It could interfere with objectivity in the performance of duty on the part of the police officer, and it only perpetuates friction between communities.

Dr. Rohan H. Wickramasinghe Via e mail

Renaming Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha: A grave historical error

It was with sadness and dismay that I read in a newspaper that Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha is to be renamed as Nelum Pokuna Road.

As an architect and designer I have supported the construction of this Performing Arts Theatre since the day I first saw it was being built. It is indeed an iconic landmark. But there is no better compliment to this institution than continuing to associate Ananda Coomaraswamy’s name with the street it stands on.

Ananda Coomarawamy’s contribution to the arts and crafts of this country remains unmatched: His book Mediaeval Sinhalese Art is the only comprehensive historical text we have on the arts and crafts of Sri Lanka. This book offers documentary evidence of the rich cultural heritage of this country.

There is a beautiful convergence between the past that Coomaraswamy celebrated and the future symbolized by the new Performing Arts Theatre. The fact that a key Colombo road is named after Ananda Coomaraswamy ensures that the generations to come will continue to be aware of this pre-eminent intellectual and scholar, and commemorate his outstanding contribution to the country. Removing his name from this street should not be allowed to happen.

Tilak Samarawickrema Via email

Bank medical scheme is hard work for old and feeble pensioners

At the beginning of the year, the Bank of Ceylon introduced a medical scheme to help ex-staff members. However, pensioners suffering from weak vision who buy a pair spectacles have a tough time trying to claim expenses. The claim form has to be signed by an A-class officer working in the bank or a pensioner who retired as an A-class officer.

Many pensioners are old and feeble, and cannot be expected to travel in search of someone to sign their claim forms. When these pensioners go to the BoC branches, they find the A-class officers unhelpful and uncooperative.

Pensioners have joined this medical scheme without thinking about the amount the bank deducts from their monthly pension. Senior citizens in this country, unlike pensioners in western countries, are not covered by health insurance.

Although, the bank is to be congratulated for introducing this medical scheme, the pensioners have a hard time getting the full benefits of the scheme.

W. G. Chandrapala , BoC pensioner

Fly-over essential for Kaduwela Town

The Low Level Road branching off from High Level Road at Kaluaggala turns up to Colombo through Kaduwela. After this road was recently widened, the number of vehicles using this road has increased drastically. High Level Road users too have started to use this route.

Rows of vehicles miles-long form quickly, and there is congestion daily, especially during in the early hours near and around Kaduwela town, causing delays and inconveniencing employees going to work.
Long, heavy vehicles, such as containers and bowsers, and other types of vehicles, occupy the full length of Kaduwela’s long bridge, causing recurring traffic jams. This happens mostly in the evenings.
A fly-over is essential and should be built to avoid all these inconveniences.

Gunasena Marambe, Kaduwela

‘Alberta’ love letter prompts another tribute to those ‘Canadian beauties’

Dr. Gyan C. A. Fernando’s article about his beloved Canadian railway engines (“Alberta darling, I’m back!”, Sunday Times, December 18, 2011) has prompted me to send this response with my own thoughts and experiences of those “Canadian beauties.”

On the morning of Sunday, December 18, around 7.00 am, having purchased the Sunday Times, I was driving back home to read the newspaper at leisure when I was forced to stop at the closed gate of the Ganemulla railway station.

I love trains, but do not enjoy the sight of the dirty trains that run on our tracks these days. I therefore waited, not expecting to see a pretty sight. Then I heard, from afar, the sound of a Canadian engine. To borrow a phrase from Gyan Fernando’s article, it was “the throb of her big, big wonderful heart.” The train came to a halt right in front of me, its “heart” beating to that beautiful beat and rhythm. It was music to me. Every time I see one of these “Canadian beauties”, I make it a point to mentally note the number and the name. There it was – No. 570, “Alberta”, and she was playing her music.

I lowered the window to better enjoy the music, which quite drowned out the purring of my car engine. Then she blew that beautiful horn and with a roar pulled away from the station, making her way towards Gampaha, her music and “heart” beat fading in the distance. There was no black smoke from the exhaust and no oil stains on the deck and doors of this nearly 60-year-old beauty. The gate opened and I drove on, my head filled with nostalgic memories.

What a pleasant surprise, and coincidence, then when I opened the Sunday Times at home and saw Dr. Gyan Fernando’s article, “Alberta darling, I’m back”!

His article and his words (“tears rolled down my cheeks”) got me started on this letter. Like Dr. Fernando, I too recall standing next to one of these Canadian beauties at a railway station, probably Maradana. Reluctant to be seen kissing the train in public, I respectfully touched the black walking deck, and physically felt the pistons of the V12 engine running idly.

On one occasion, when I was a child, an engine driver saw a 12-year-old boy hanging around one of those Canadian engines. He invited me into the “cockpit” and explained the controls. He seemed very proud to be at the controls. He had every right to be.

I repeat: I love trains. In the 1950s, in the steam locomotive days, I travelled by train to Colombo to school. Naturally, my first love was the “steam engine”, with all its power-moving parts visible to us schoolboys, allowing us to guess how it all worked. Those engines were some kind of inspiration for me when I decided to become an engineer.

Then along came the “Canadian girls”, and they stole my heart with their beautiful colours, their straight-line body work, and their impressive statistics. Unassisted, they could pull the “Udarata Menike” along those steep hill-country tracks.

Sadly, like Dr. Fernando, I never had the opportunity to drive one. My girlfriend (of the human kind), now my wife for more than 37 years, and I have a special love and respect for trains. In the late Sixties, trains gave us opportunities to travel to and from Colombo, to meet, and to build our relationship.

In those days, the Canadian beauties did not stop at the Ganemulla railway station. Always on schedule, they ran away with the Yal Devis, Udarata Menikas, Podi Menikes and other express trains.
Standing on the station platform, we craned our necks to see these beauties approaching. And then, when they pulled out of the station, we would follow them until they disappeared around the first bend.
On our trips to Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak) by train, we made it a point to take the daytime Podi Menike or Udarata Menike in order to enjoy the scenery and, more important, to experience a Canadian beauty pulling the train all the way to Hatton. The thunder inside the many tunnels on the way had to be heard to be believed. Those memories will live on.

Thank you, Dr. Fernando, for rekindling that love of the Canadian beauties. Your story is truly a love story, besides being very informative.

It is a pity we do not have more of those Canadian beauties running on our tracks these days. The cheap trains we now have lose their colours in no time under the grime of oil stains, black soot and dust. We have read and heard a lot of stories about the purchase of trains. And when you look at the pathetic state of the rail tracks – you would think the less said and written on the subject the better. We can only hope that our railway system will some day return to its glory days, so we can travel with confidence and see the country in the best way possible – by train, that is.

Dr. Fernando, you and I are not alone in loving these beauties. It is a love the engines richly deserve. I wish and hope these Canadian beauties, engineering masterpieces built to last, will keep running for as long as we live.

W.A. Perera, Ganemulla

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