" Ashirwada" - the blessed done and gone!

From tuppence to tuppence, from string to string and from paper to another you knit it tightly and gently. You had your own wings; you had your own dreams with your feet on the ground. You weren’t just a bird in the flight, but a special one. You held your fist tight to the strings of your kite. Pulled it soaring up through the higher skies. At times the air was clear, at times it was haze. Haze was your kindred. The one who pushed you higher and higher till you were lighter than air. The one that taught you to dance and sing over houses and trees. The one who taught you that there is a thin line between laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy and humor and hurt.

Sometimes life will only leave us a little space to think, to do things, to make love, to break relationships and even to make promises. Life loathe at times that it is enough for us to part so quickly. Remember the note you hunted down on Facebook   three years back?  It was a long promise to show what is best for everybody, a promise to form the right attitude so that nobody will give up and that impossible is nothing.

22 years of his life wouldn’t have had much to do with such a promise. It’s indeed a difficult task. Yet the little things that crept into his life proved that thunder is milder in rain.

Ashirwada Pahan was an Undergraduate of the School of Computing in the University of Colombo. He was diagnosed of a Third Ventricular Colloid Cyst with Obstructive Hydrocephalus and was in an extremely critical condition. Consequent to the initial treatment, he underwent multiple surgeries at Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital. For some time he crossed the crisis time and was recovering to a semi-conscious state where he was eligible to perform normal but with meticulous care.

Pahan was brought up by his father after his mother died at the tender age of six. His father was financially unable to meet the expenses for medication. Thanks to many helping hands who most generously volunteered to treat Pahan free of charge and those who bore expenses to fill the cost for his surgeries.

Pahan was headstrong and ambitious. Despite the deadly disease he managed to finish up his first year education at University. He never let life play with fear instead he hit most of the times with a good laughter. That was a rare spirit of someone who could hardly think of standing on their own feet and enjoy life the way they want. But Pahan was different! He was wrapped in stitches. Spent numberless days in hospital beds. Yet he lived the days happier as he can because death was certain.

Karma was too bitter and strident on him. He bit the dust sooner than we thought. For him it was well known and noted. But for a father who nurtured him single handed isn't biddable.

May early each day to the steps of his soul the good things come, in the way he loved and bestowed in   his people. While overheard “sublime happiness fill his skies”.

“Anicca vata sankhara, uppadavaya-dhammino;

uppajjitva nirujjhanti, tesam vupasamo sukho.”

( Published on the 9th February 2014 in " The Nation " )

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WAITING FOR GODOT

Formerly it was known as “Siam”, meaning the dark or brown because the Thai ancestors were black skinned. Interestingly all men and women in the country are whites.  The black magic of the African ancestry is no longer there in Thailand. The Lao and Chinese origins have brought about a mystic combination in Thais. Thai women are well formed and tempting. So does the men! Fine dining and attention to detail are the hallmarks of the Mandarin oriental. Bright colors—from umbrellas, clothing, and wares—brighten the muddy water of the Amphawa floating market in Samut Songkhram. Fruits, vegetables, flowers, and food tempt buyers are at floating markets across Thailand.

The twilight settles on the Chao Phraya river around 6’o clock. Chao’s sunset is the most beautiful I think.  A rare view of the sun, so closer and perfectly round in shape. It dazzles with bright red and luminous orange on a yellow mixed magenta canvas fringed beneath the faded bluish patches. Climbing for some 140 meters high and approximately 50 meters wide, recline the gold plated Buddha statues guarded by thick forests.  It is a mark of Buddhism underlying the khama in daylight along Pattaya and Phantong beaches. Thailand is mesmerizing. But not for its yellow mixed magenta skies or the bright waters of Amphawa or the tempting cuisine can cool down the boiling war between Thaksin and his opposition.

The wars fought against Cambodia, Laos and Burma waxed off the Kingdom. The Burmese held up. It was time for Thaksin! Since the day Thaksin became the Prime Minister he has been a busy man. He bought and sold England’s Manchester City football Club, acquired a titanium mine in Zimbabwe, started a lottery in Uganda, acquired a Nicaraguan passport, met with Vladimir Putin and met Nelson Mandela.

Wait! He is still busy doing things.

He now dreams of becoming the Head of Thailand. Thaksin is a successful mobile operator. A silicalite chip running with signals. What matters and mattered him was   the increase and decrease of figures. Law was second hand. Moral values weren’t a part of him.  He was happy when the GDP increased. He enjoyed the comforts when the debts fell off. Perhaps a typical business mind turned into politics. He was a proud owner of many developed transport systems in Thailand,   A bombastic figure of the highways and Airports in the country. But did he ever smile at the corruption? the authoritarianism? the money he laundered for him and his family through government commissions?

He was a total crook  who artificed a bleeding heart. Many men of the country are being fooled by his money. He confidently announces that he wants to come back to Thailand and serve the people.  Why then escape?  It should be remembered that the tongue can lie a many but not the heart can be duped easily.

Money has turned out to have a better heart than for the virtues of a man. This is why Thaksin is still energetic, ambitious and alive among many Thais. He empowered the long ignored voices of the countryside. He managed to develop funds worth 1 million TBH (Thai Baht) to help the poor. The Rice Subsidy project raised by him became popular among farmers but eventually resulted cash shortages. Yet there will be more about Thaksin, Thaksin and Thaksin running up in the lips of people in years to come in Thailand.

“If you love my brother, will you give his younger sister a chance?”  Once Yingluck Shinawatra led the crowd roar of approval at a camp, leaving little doubt as to whether the Gulf City is home to her brother Thaksin.

It’s a hunger game. Hungry for power. To own the flesh , to earn more and to celebrate the throne. To have pictures and posters of him on the city walls , every doorstep or the clock wall. Its nothing more than the greed , perhaps unending satisfaction. Nevertheless it’s a man’s thing. There is no therapy unless proper medication is found.

( Published on the 9th February 2014 in "The Nation " )

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