Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Kandy City in the Serendib
Clockwork precision is something lacking in this country in workman's skills as well as in time management.
I leaned it from my father and the colleague principal who taught me the basics of it and the value of it which I perfected it in the Western World.
In the Labour Era (not the current one that ended recently) which ended with Mr. Arther Scargill, Mr. Tony Ben, Mr.Ken Livingston and many other names that I forget workers were well organized and down to earth and work to precision in London and suburbs (with the inflow foreign migrants including from Eastern Block),
this tradition of working according to clock and round the clock has
slowly and surely disappeared, with conservative's sweeping role of
market reforms and greed instead of welfare society, eroded to an extent that my decision to come back home was better option, than of becoming a
Senior Citizen there shivering in cold winter expecting the summer to be
sooner than late.
The British labour force maintained the British economy vibrant.
It is no better here for Senior Citizens except for politicians with clout.
The time and time management was ingrained in the minds of workers then.
Then came the goals, finishing targets and profits that ended up in stock market crisis.
Strangely now, Americans
are talking about social welfare and they cannot achieve the targets of
their choice in time frame before the elderly eventually succumbs to
ill fate.
What I am writing is not about the time management mentioned above but about the clock itself.
That itself is not the grandfather clock but the tiny digital wrist watch of mine which I used for the the last 16 years.
Before that I must write a few of the stupidest things I have done.
The things I did before going abroad was more ridiculous.
Whenever, I go abroad the first thing I used to do is to buy the most expensive wrist watch I could afford somewhat like a status symbol (I once lost one of them but was able to claim insurance-that was the only time I had claimed insurance in spite of heavy premiums I paid) and when I leave again buy something bit expensive.
This has become a liability when I come home.
I used to hire a taxi from Kandy to Colombo for Rupees 600 those days and I had several favorite and good drivers to take me all round the country (I was true tourist not the stingy white skinned ones that come here for boys now) and when ever I leave the drivers ask me,
"Sir, Mata Oya Wage Orolosuwak Denna Barida;
Sir Can you give me a wristwatch like what you wear".
One fine day I was in a good mood I gave it to the driver and told him it is expensive and take care.
This is the guy who used to take a famous films star around the country and he never got any presents for the film star guys.
He was happy and I was bit unhappy, to tell you the truth but overcame that attachment in good time.
When
I came the next time he was very unhappy, the reason being his lodging
was ransacked within a few months and he lost most of the valuables
including the wrist watch I gave him.
This incident changed my outlook completely and from then onward I used to buy the most inexpensive (sometimes children's ones) for daily use and disposed all my other comparatively expensive wrist watches to whoever who had some liking for them (mostly relatives).
This change (buying the cheapest and not looking at it) was consolidated when Ms.Chandrika was the President and her clock work activity was in direct competition to that of mine for 11 years.
The story about my clock is very simple.
One of my cheap (not the cheapest - I had brought from abroad) watches stopped working.
I went to a watchmaker in Kandy who was very good and showed him the watch.
He looked at it and said nothing can be done.
I walked in, to buy a new one and he called me back and said he can put a circuit for Rupees 240.
I asked him how long will it last and does it keep the time correct.
Ten years without a problem and it is Korean one he said.
I obliged and it was working for the last 16 years except for the brief period of one month.
I was busy and yesterday I went to another shop to change the battery.
The inexperienced girl there checked the battery and said it is OK but the circuit was faulty.
I could not believe it.
I asked her to check it with a new battery.
Result was the same.
She
fiddled with the contact points then called an older lady to help and
she fiddled with it some more and put some anti-corrosion oil and said,
nothing doing.
After all this I told them for 16 years this worked all right and I paid only rupees 240
and I cannot find my favorite watchmaker and I left saying that my
eyesight is weak, otherwise I would have found what was wrong.
All in all I now made my own diagnosis.
It is mechanical and nothing but.
I
came home late and I left the watch on the drawer but only after a
little fiddling and thinking that I would attend to it sometime later.
So, I did find the time and fiddled with it and it is working now perfectly.
This how Ceylonese operates.
Either the workman / work woman was / were not properly trained or they were trained to cheat.
I will not pass the judgment on this issue but only state that honesty has no place in this country.
The man who ran the shop with the honest watchmaker vanished within five years. The owner raised the rental and I never so him after that not even in the pavement.
This is the status of life in this Kandy City in the Serendib.
I am almost in my retirement I want the clock to stop lest I get older than now.
Fast forward, I am in Australia and I bought two semi digital wrist watches for Rs.1600/= each and gave one to our domestic aid who sometimes comes late (she is a very busy woman).
She passed way recently due to lack of medicine in Ceylon.
I made sure the family got some cashew nut treat.
She was very good cooking jack fruit, bread fruit and Kiri Ala (Innala).
