Since that debacle at World Cup, some people here are seeing that Sanga and his team deserve the Darwin Award, for exiting from the cricketing gene pool to make space for fitter contenders. That may all be fine, except these people do not realise that Cricket (is) by Chance, it might not appear so with all these referrals and TV umpires on fire. But the adage still holds, and there I believe, in MHO, the beauty of the game, making it unique among any other game out there: Who wants stupid football when you have this blessing of uncertainty worked into the game itself!
Besides we did not come out as hopelessly as some people paint it out, we are the runners up, and India did have to put out some effort to get the grail.
Now back to visa matters: Is there any award for those who voluntarily exit from Sri Lanka gene pool through coveted UK/USA/Aus/Canada/et al visa?
It may all sound derogatory, but in reality, with them goes the cream of local intelligentsia and skills base. Why are they all so hell bent on leaving? Truth is, there is no future here for an honest buck. The system just won’t allow it.
Darwin Award, or rather some other more gruesome award ought to be given to local politicians, who sustain this system – they thrive in it, like bugs in dirty sewer water.
Yet I would like to make two nominations for the Darwin Award – I know it’s a tad late in one case, but uniqueness of stupidity and utter ignorance & greed displayed amply makes up to merit a special consideration.
The Fashion Victim
Well, there has been a tsunami in Japan and we all know how dreadful it was. We had a similar experience here in 2004, a much larger scale one compared to Japs. Now I must tell you that we had no idea what a tsunami was till it hit us. In fact, very word itself was unknown – among my cohorts, I was the only one who knew the word before, never mind the consequences.
Yet, many people ran for cover when they saw the black monster wave coming towards them, coconut tree high, with a sound and a stink to match. It had been reported that most of the wild life had escaped too, and in a temple in the South, domestic (oh, well templestic) cat & dog have averted the tsunami and returned to the devastated temple when threat expired. Some monks were not so lucky though.
To cut a long story short, there was group of people (indirectly known to me) in a van, at the very gaping mouth of the tsunami, and it needed no academic knowledge for them to realise the imminent danger they are in – one look at the wave was enough to wet your pants. And all ran for safety, including the sick, the aged, the young & ignorant. Yes all.
Oh with the honourable exception of our nominee, who ran back to collect her shoe, she got off the van, ran towards tsunami – to collect the shoe. And how much was this precious object worth? $ 2.50 or LESS, just turn around a corner and you’d find better ones at a bargain price. I am sure she qualifies hands down, specially as she almost took the rest of the party with her (waited 10 precious seconds to let her back in) Except that evolution had other plans. Thank Lord.
The Trainspotter
I was reading Lankadeepa news paper yesterday. Now this one is going to be short. A few mates get together for a drink – the curse of Sri Lanka as a whole- and after their fill, most of the group had split. So of the remaining, two had decided to take a short stroll and in their drunken stupor, they found the ideal spot to rest a while: The Express Train Tracks. Oh baby, this is going to wild, one had found the sleepers to be ideal for a nap, and the rails soft and quite comforting. Sleeps he like a log, across the tracks. The other had decided to find rails rather comfy on the bottom to sit on and contemplate those deep philosophical matters pertaining to life and death…
When the train came, express and all, just around the corner, the engine driver noticed them in the nick of time. Sure it was too late to brake, but he did his best. The lovely sight of the oncoming train was enough to bring our armature philosopher out into the real world and he got off the nick of time. His mate, well he is with the angels. Why recommend them for Darwins? Cause they did have sense enough to know what they were doing except they were too lazy to get off. Testament at the inquest by the surviving mate was enough to send them off the deliberating committee.
Amen
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