How to become an Alien?

How to become an Alien?

Let me say a few words about Ceylon, to begin with.

It is very easy.

YOU just become a politician and get elected to the parliament.

From the time of the election and oath taking ceremony in the parliament you are like an Alien.
The police treat you like a special ENTITY only an alien could claim in Ceylon.

You never see them in the respective electorates.

Only hear them giving edited false information to the media until the parliament is dissolved and NEXT election is called in.

In Ceylon politicians are a special kind of Aliens but my intention is for an average citizen to become one and live happy ever after in any country in this world.


How?

1. Destroy (if you have one) the Birth Certificate and just declare that you have no document proof to say “You were ever born” on this planet but a celestial entity.
 
The benefits are enormous.

2. If You are in India, they will treat YOU like a God and build a temple in your name. 
You have to adopt a name like “Sai Baba” but not Sai Baba but “Reborn Sai Baba-R.S.B would do.
 
Or Reborn Jaya Lalitha (R.J.L).

3. In Ceylon, they will treat You like an ambassador, and then issue you an Alien Passport (Illegal) and send you to the underworld after the first assigned official work is finished.

Two benefits.
 
The finance Minister along with Prime Minister will pay you a courtesy visit.
The first official engagement is signing a foreign loan agreement.
 
Moment you finish with the politicians, the Drug Mafia will visit You and they want YOU to make a special money laundering engagement with celestial beings in Gold and Silver and not in Paper Currency or dollars!

Gold include what was left behind by the L.T.T.E. and all confiscated at Katunayake Airport.

4. In U.K. they make you an IRA agent.
 
Not the terrorist lot now defunct or in legislature NOW.
IRA stands for person without an Inland Revenue Agent or declaration form.

A special category declared by MI5 and MI6.

You are exempt from paying taxes including the VAT.
The kind of operation is similar to Ceylon but all your Gold and Silver (including ill-gotten money converted to gold) is stored in Mars for safety.

5. Now come to America.
You are not allowed to enter the New York city.
You are not allowed a Valid Visa but You can remain eternally anywhere within the Air Port (see the Terminal film please) but with a little difference.

Since you have an Alien Passport, the airport authority takes over your passport and put it in a special locker and call the CIA, NSA and the FBI.
 
Now these guys have no place or strategy since Mr. Trump is confirmed by the electoral colleagues.
They ask money to establish a special branch in the precinct of the New York Air Port.

Then they build a special complex with special ventilation mechanism to avoid Alien Viruses infecting the World.

Part of the Area 51 technology is brought in, to reverse engineer the putative Alien Craft.

You must pretend You can build one by mere Mental Energy and Meditative concentration but won’t talk until a safe island is built for YOU, offshore.

6.This is where the Chinese will come in.

They win the contract for building an artificial Island and the infra-structure to house the Alien Space Craft.

They will also have a covert operation to reverse engineer the Craft.

7. What will happen in Russia?

You will be treated like SNOWDEN, first at the air port (similar to New York) with red carpet for three years of viral quarantine and thereafter Siberia so that no Alien journalist can reach YOU except over the Internet.

This list can go on until all the countries in the world are covered (except the purely Catholic countries- re Aliens do not exist belief) with their idiosyncrasies superimposed.

8. What about Vatican?
 
They will archive YOU in FROZEN state (until the revisit of the Jesus is declared) for another 100 years if necessary.

No offense is meant to Christians, Methodists, Catholic or any alien denomination one belongs to and who are celebrating Christmas in style.

9. What will happen if the alien is in Saudi Arabia?

They will tag you a Nuclear Bomb and send you to Iran Nuclear facility for reinforcements and Alien enrichment.

10 What will happen in the UNO?
Nothing!

According to their documents no Aliens exist on this planet.

Rats and Squirrels

Rats and Squirrels 
This was written long time ago and Indians have taken a cue and showing our lads how to play cricket away from home.

If I don’t say something about rats having hated cats for their killing spree, the spirit of this blog site is not complete.

Before that, I must talk about the squirrels.

They are very intelligent and watchful (scientific in many ways) and social animals.

They are the first to alert of any danger and Pol Kittcha is the other guy.

They work in tandem when cats and snakes are around.

I have looked after many orphaned squirrels as a kid and gave it up after two major incidents.
 
1. The cat (killing one of my favorite squirrels)
 
2. When they are uprooted from their environment they become dependent and vulnerable to infections and one day I found in it’s nest thousands of tiny flea like creatures to which I did not have any remedy.
 
With advancing age, I realized that they deserve to go back and since then every squirrel or animals saved were nursed back to nature.

If you do not have cats at home one can get them (squirrels) to feed from your hand like pigeons and they love cheese like any cat.

Furthermore, do not have bird table if you have cats at home.

We have decimated our house sparrows and I am still wondering why they (house sparrows) disappeared in little over 20 years.

We cannot improve nature but we can make “live and let live” a simple principle.

Never ever try to improve nature knowing man is the biggest polluter and destructor of all living beings including man himself.

There is a house nearby where there is a bird table and I have often seen when the house is empty the cats from the neighborhood (including the cats of the same house catch birds).

They are not Buddhists but I often wonder this is one way to feed the hungry cats when they are away?

I never talk to them at the same breath as here but warn them and report them I have seen cats catching the birds and don’t leave food when they are away on the bird table.

This is where I want to write about wastage of food (the haves) in a lighter vein but perhaps not, except that my house is a classic example (I have been trying to make them understand for ages).

Now that coconut is fifty and tea is double the price and sugar and milk are up, going up by the wind (political), I make sure one article at home is in short supply, when asked to do the shopping!

Slowly but surely I am getting the message across through necessity.

Before I forget, I must state that India loses 40% of its grain to rats every year.

It is far better for the Indians, not to send their children to America for further study and corrupt them more but get them to do some ongoing research to minimize this waste and invest some I.P.L money to have this trend arrested and bring food prices down for the down trodden people who do not watch I.P.L. cricket.

They have done wonders for us and our team now even cannot make even 100 in test cricket.

Please kill our cricket in full then we won’t have corrupt politicians pulling strings behind the scene.

I wish English to white wash them in the coming series and (even without that we are going down precipitously) nobody can arrest the corrupt practices of politicians and their stooges at all levels which has ruined our cricket.

I was one of those who believed only way to arrest these corrupt practises (certainly not the ICC which is made corrupt by the IPL already) for us to lose and lose and then only few who love the game will play (like England County Cricket- Good example is Thescovisk of England) and without much crowd watching except the friends who join at the pub after the game.

In that case we can also go and watch cricket without a ticket like good old days with plenty of beer money saved (to purchase the ticket).

I am in the minority but sports should be for fun (not to destroy one physically) and not to make one fabulously rich and then lose touch with common sense.

I am way off the title but that was done deliberately (I am not going to write on cricket any more than what I have stated above and I have totally lost interest due to how it has become so corrupt) since what I am going to say from now onwards is not very appealing for a healthy being.

There are people on this earth who eat bats, squirrels and rats too.
 
There are rats bigger than some cats in India and some cats fear them.
 
We have of course big political rats of all shades.

I must mention here if anybody find a remedy for rat population he will get the next Nobel Prize.

I have seen rats in London Underground and now I believe they have made connections through the channel tunnel with rats from France who do not speak English but only French.

This was a big achievement of Mrs.Thatcher (Dame) and the idea was to get the message across through underground rats who will tell the French that English language originated from French.

Very clever political ploy or deal!

I am one who believes that rats fly through Trans Atlantic Airways to America from France and have made some good connection with American diplomatic rats without WiKiLeak tapes.

If not passenger flights, they are flying to America on cargo planes without having to get Visa from America or tickets for the flight.

They will have their head quarters near those hotels where IMF bosses play Pick a Boo.

I am told that the next IMF boss’s, one of the first priority jobs is to meet the rats alliance to discuss food storage in USA.

There is a grand world alliance of rats and they have a party every time the new candidate for Republican party is declared.

They (rats) now know that Americans are the best food wasters of the world.

I will list some cardinal facts about rats and then and finish with, how I used squirrels to complete with the rats.

1. I had to dissect rats with bare hands in school (please do not take this as a rag. Now present undergraduates need spoon feeding about leadership roles, which they will never get an opportunity with the present constitution which is being amended for third round or more).

2. It was uphill task to find one from the Municipality (there were rat catchers employed and some of them are now candidate for local elections after retiring fro their of posts and many of them are in the ruling party).

3. I once killed a rat in my rage for damaging a plastic top of a tin of baby milk powder imported during 1989 dark days.

4. His companion I could not kill but escaped. 
I never so that rat who was terrified with my temper tantrum.

5. I was angry that I missed the other one.

6. Then when the anger subsided, I asked myself why have you done that?

7. Plastic Micky Mouse Picture hanging on the wall told me a different story.

8. What is the different from a squirrel?
They almost look alike except the ugly long tail.

9. There should be a method to control not to kill.

10. Make the house rat friendly or is it not friendly?

Now I am a Mickey Mouse convert and my daughter was less than six months then and I am able to tell her that I kill a rat because of a tin of milk with plastic top?

Shall I make my children animal friendly?

Not due to religion but to simple logic that tells me that I have no right to kill or destroy any life.

Will I make them vegetarian?

In ten minutes of contemplation, I was a different person.

The next stage was to use my observation habits.
 
I looked for all the dwelling places of rats.

My rat research started, then and there.

It is based on rat friendly theme.

1. Baby Food were stored in either fridge or in steel cupboard.

2. Rat poison was banned from the house on the pretext of and lest the children be poisoned.

3. No rat traps

4. Store less food

5. Clean regularly and meticulously

6. Do not leave food out in the open, be that it may be, a bin, a table or the kitchen.

7. Cats were prohibited but one landed (black kitten) on a rainy day.

8. There were lot of opposition but I was the master of ceremony in charge little cat escaped from Kala Wadda.

9. After many months of perseverance and observation, I finally realized that rats never have their nests where squirrels were nesting. 
There was healthy competition and squirrels made sure that rats are chased especially when the young are nursed.

10. Rats make nest in total darkness, whereas squirrels need lot of day light.

Final conclusion no food no rats and if you have food put them in tight plastic or steel compartments.

90% of our problem will be solved.

Never ever keep your house / rooms not occupied a single day.

Every time you are out they know you are out they have a party late at night, like after the declaration of candidacy for next American Presidency.

There is a misconception that cats can see in total darkness and catch rats. 
The reason that rats prefer nocturnal activity is due to the fact that cats cannot see in total darkness. Cats have dark adaptation and the ability reflect light (photons) that had not impinge upon rods. 
Similar reflecting mechanism is used in roads to reflect light and that is why they are called cat’s eyes.
In addition cats have long whiskers to guide them in dim light.
So not feeding cats at night expecting them to catch rats is a total misconception.
However, Ceylon Civet (now Famous Kala Waddas are better at hunting rats at dim light than cats.
 
So it is better to have a Kala Wadda instead of cat at home but they are very secretive animals and avoid humans at all cost!

In Sri-Lanka rats come for a party only on President’s House where food is thrown at lib.

In our houses food is becoming scarce and most of our rats are hitchhiking to America.

The best way (Sri-Lankan way) to control rats is for us to eat less bread and rice.

We are on that pathway anyway, now.

India can follow without feeding their rats with stored grain.

Or else they should eat them without sending them across the Palk Straight for our consumption and make poor Indian strong enough to play IPL cricket (not test cricket).

CarrerIQ,s hideous attempt to snooze on YOU.

Reproduction

 My bone of contention was CarrerIQ,s hideous attempt to snooze on YOU.

My reservation was prudent even though I did not have anything to hide or fear.

My Justification for not buying a tablet this Christmas (2011).

My justification for not immediately going for a 

tablet is holding true to its tenet.

They were mainly personal reasons.

1. I do not like any proprietary software installed.

2. I do not like proprietary operating system too.

3. Even if the above two conditions cannot be avoided I need my own or selected operation system run independently of the above two.

4. Have android is not my kind of game.

5. I prefer sourceforge EyeOS instead of Android or vagaries of Android even though I supported the move by Google from the very beginning its embrace of Linux (they did it for different reason now I understand).

6. I don’t like even Kindle fire in spite of very vocal support for its success above all the other E-readers.

7. Apart from the above facts, it cannot or does not let you boot from a smart card like in Barnes Noble tablet. 

In that scenario I prefer Barnes Noble in spite of the higher price.

8. Not having the USB boot function was my major attribute that is missing in Kindle fire. 

But I do not make qualm at this stage before it get established in the classroom. 

I want it to be successful in an educational environment and if one has camera and lot of other utilities it divert the attention of the students and teachers will have a hectic time preventing little guys hacking into the system without the teacher’s knowledge.

 It is natural for kids to do that kind of things. 

If they want to do that their mums and dads have to buy a separate tablet.

9. I need a dock for a proper keyboard at my age. 

I am not going to fiddle with my fingers and touch screen.

10. Now comes the crunch point. 

Carrier-IQ’s attempt to spy on YOU is OUTRAGEOUS. 

What ever their industrial justification the METHOD is worse than a dictator/king attempt to say that he/she is not nude in front of his her subjects while parading stark naked.

It is naked attempt to hoodwink the not so sophisticated ordinary guy/girl.

I thought only Microsoft applied that principle and now that they are rich they seem not to repeat their old mistakes.

It is the new companies want to get rich quickly coming from Asian subcontinent who would apply those tactics. 

Already there is hush every China built chip has associated spy ware (it may be a ploy of IBM and the chip manufacturer to undermine China. But there is no reason such a rich and powerful company with lot at stake will go down that pathway unless they know something is brewing in China. I tend to believe them knowing what China is.

Chinese and Indian guys did dirty things in this country prior to and during elections.

I retire into Christmas holidays not sporting a tablet or Kindle and my reasons are vindicated by and large.

It is prudent practice to wait and see policy and to see which direction the wind blows.

In this digital age one has to be not paranoid to believe anything they offer with market hypes and strategies.

Why I cannot Make Wine In Kandy?

Reproduced from Asokaplus; 

Posted on April 23, 2011 |  

Why I cannot Make Wine In Kandy?

This I have to post very quickly before the ordination of young ones by next Poya.

Then this country will be (alcohol free except in the parliament), smoke free (except smog from coal power plants and the variety of luxury vehicles imported for our representatives after elections and driving on our motorways built and will be newly built) and Buruwas free (except National Lottery and Lotto)  the National and Awrudu Game including Polburuwas watching our TVs for another 5 years (i.e the voter in peace).

These Buddhist monks first Kariya or the duty would be to get rid of the above three (alcoho, smoke and games) and disregard any excesses of other kinds that are not permitted to Dasa Sil Mathwas on a Poya Day.

But my real reason for not been able to Make wine is more of a scientific nature and is not in my control.

Making wine is simple process but this betel chewing (no taste for wine) and arecanut cracking (inhibit taste for wine but not for arrack) nation would not experiment on new varieties of taste except what the government wants them to be.
In wine making one needs five to six ingredients. 1. Sugar 2. Yeast, living organism 3. Water 4. Flavour 5. Time and Temperature
We have five of them in abundance but only one is missing.
Guess what it is?
Even in Kandy, I cannot provide it, the most important for correct brewing.

Well it is the temperature that is missing which has to be correct, precise and ideal.
1. Above 38 C (100 F) yeast will be dead. 2. Primary or the start up fermentation should start at 21 c (70 F) 3. Secondary or the slow phase fermentation should be at 16 C (65 F) 4. Finish product should be kept at 10 to 15 C (50 to 55 C) 5. Ideal requirement are 20, 15, 10 C (70, 60, 50) and very simple in arithmetic but never achieved in Kandy or suburbs.
That is the reason I cannot make wine in Kandy and the global warming has taken the tall.
I hope after Wesak Poya, the temperature should hover round 100 F (38 and above) and the newly ordained monks should meditate on this so that they do not have to worry about one of the three mentioned above for certain (that is the ideal way to kill yeast) but the mosquito menace and the music accompanied with the will hinder their meditative path.

In my case I cannot think of Pani Waraka Wine Passion Fruit Wine Banana Wine Keeri Samaba Wine Mangoostine Wine Belly wine Diwul Wine or any fruit cocktail Wine for certain

I have to think of getting them only in heavenly abode and probably after my death.

Elephant Bath

Elephant Bath

Elephant bath, it was where everybody who visits Kandy go to see elephant when it is not the Pereharas season. 

Botanical garden and Elephant bath were two landmarks of visit to the city.

Now no more thanks to development projects like Polgolla dam to divert water to the dry zone.

I must address an issue that this dam caused after its opening I must retell this story for the present engineers to understand the need to release water downstream regularly to avoid similar episodes.

The downstream water spilled over the dam was not enough to cover the river bed. Soon water pools begin to form and the mosquitoes started breading in them. For the first time we started detecting Malaria in Kandy. 

Any place under 4500 feet Malaria mosquito can breed.

Then water samples collected with mosquito larvae confirmed that Malaria mosquito was breeding in Kandy for the first time.

Now the remedy was to spray DDT on the river bed.

This was actually the consolidation phase of Malaria campaign and we prematurely relaxed spraying with the recommendation of the WHO.

Story circulating at that time was that the resident Malaria Campaign Officer who was  a foreigner, fearing his job would be axed if we successfully completed the campaign gave wrong signal to withdraw spraying prematurely.

In any case by the time of the opening of the Polgolla Dam in 1976, the malaria had spread all over and Kandy was relatively immune.

Now spraying the river bed was no feasible with people using it for bathing.

Our public officers gave the Mahaweli an order to intermittently release the water giving them correct instruction considering the life cycle of the Malaria larvae, so that the larvae get destroyed before they become mature mosquitoes.

This was a simple remedy but was very effective to arrest malaria spread in Kandy.

I do not think they still practice this simple remedy. 

One visit to Earl’s Reagent Hotel is enough to witness whether they are practicing common sense.

Now it was only yesterday I went to Kandy to buy something double sided sticker to stick the Telephone box to the wall. I was going from from one corner of the city to the other corner  to find the same without any success.

At one point the cross road and the main were blocked and people were getting ready (some Bank organizing the thing) a procession.

Very young elephant with soaring sun beating down was covered with a decorated overcoat and was kept waiting till the men and the retinue got ready.

This poor animal while baking himself in the sun was trying to lift foot/feet in rotation, giving some respite to the burning feet (it was like the restless feet of old people who suffer from a similar burning but less distressful to the owner).

It was a pathetic sight to watch and mahout was nonetheless not bothered about the young animals welfare.

They are only exhibits without real life away from the jungle habitat.

Mind you, I am one who is totally against domesticating these majestic creatures.

Ill treatment is totally unacceptable.

Not only they have lost a place for bathing they have lost all sense of well being under human care in this Buddhist country.

These majestic animals love water and water is a sport for them and that is how they keep them cool under a thick skin.

With global warming and even in Kandy temperature going above 95 degrees Fahrenheit, they have no comfort zone.

It is criminal. 

Not only humans even animals need water for survival and that water has to be good for drinking.

Which is not true today.

Dog Puzzle with Economic Stint

Dog Puzzle with Economic Stint

Reproduced December,2011.

This is a puzzle I leave you to solve.

If you are an American I sympathize with you for using American businessman as a case study.

You should not be worried.

He/she is hypothetical in my puzzle.

The dog is typical Sri-Lankan Paraya (stray ) dog.

He/she was speculator, Hedge Fund Raiser and a swindler par excellence in money markets world wide.

He/she (hereafter only he) is 25 years of age and recently had a bypass surgery.

He wishes to live up to ripe old age of 80 with the ill-gotten money.

He would like to raise a dog for his companionship.

Because of his swindling he no longer has friends.

Q.1.

How many dogs he has to raise in the next 45 years?

Q.2. 

When he has to have a bypass operation for his dog to prolong its life by 5 years (equivalent to 30 to 50 human years).

Q.3. 

How much it costs for a bypass for the dog?

Q.4. 

What happen to the will that was written in the name of the first dog?

Q.5.

Is there a Carry Over Hedge Fund (C.O.H.F) for the next dog?

Q.6. 

How much is the value of it?

Q.7. 

When he actually dies at 80 what is the age of the dog (dog age not human)?

If you have correct answers not hypothetical please post it under comments.

Bakthi, the Prayer

Bakthi, the Prayer

This was posted on now defunct www.writeclick.net October, 2007.

Long time ago

One of my Indian friends

Expressed the view that

There are 800 millions

In India

And equally

There are eight hundred million

Gods to warship

What am I to do?

My prompt

And curt response was

Don’t warship any

Like me,

A simple Buddhist

But my dear friend

The problem in Ceylon is

That there are eight millions

Looking for a god of some sort,

In spite majority,

Of the beings are

Of Non-abiding Buddhists

Going back in history,

Five thousand and more years,

In India,

The seat of divine incarnations

And godly origin,

There were Rama, Ravana and Sita

Who are still revered as Gods

And the Hanuman who made

The Hanuman Way

The Rama-Sita Bridge,

The Satu Sunderum of new age,

To recapture,

Sita from Ravana (Was a celebrity)

And gods from,

Hindu to Judaism need

Bakthi as a nutritive element

Or an animal 

Or some other sacrifice

For the survival

Of the conceptual

God Wisdom

The Christ objected to

Animal sacrifice

The Roman Democrats

Crucified him

On Majority Vote

If the rule is applied

In the modern day

There won’t be any democrats

Or Meritocrats

Left in this World

The sacrifice of Christ

Was the first misadventure,

In the history of gods

And their counterparts

In the name of democracy

In this modern world

With so many adherents

Of its merits

How come the democracy still surviving?

In the midst of mayhem in Myannar

To autocracy in Russia and China

With so many

Not god abiding

Majority can be right

Majority can be wrong

Who is the best Judge of All?

Certainly it cannot be the god,

Since god made Man

With, so many impurities

The gods hands

Cannot be clean

At the barest of level

The love of god

Or the Bakthi associated with

The Brotherhood of All,

Is in fact,

The exclusion of the Rest

Of all other faiths

Of dissimilar gods

And the breeding ground for

Hate and ill will

The Bakthi is like

The two sides of the coin

One side with love and faith

The other side,

With Hate and Enmity

If all the god loving men and women

Stop propagating

The human and animal sacrifices

Many of the gods

Would die of starvation

Or the lack of nutritive sustenance

And we can let,

Gods fight their Own Wars

In heaven

Then, this planet would be

A nicer place to live,

To Live and Let Live

The energy saved

Then would be enough

To concentrate on preventing

Pollutants of all kinds

Including Noise (and the Web)

Chanting Music and Recitals

Chanting Music and Recitals

It was strange coincidence, I did some soul searching during the Perehara what relevance the dance and music has Buddhism and its practice.

To my surprise nothing at all. 

Buddha was never a musician.

One and only reason for the musical tone, if any when chanting stanzas was to enhance the memory power of the reciter, the colossal volume of Dhamma in the three baskets was prohibitive.

It is said devoted monks use it even during the Baminitiya Saya, the 11 year period of famine in our history.

That was the devotion. 
 
In actual fact, even the Gatha or the Stanza should not be recited in a musical tone, lest the actual meaning that they convey would be distorted out of context and practical use.

All these musical activities of the Vihara, Devala and Kovil are a corruption and should be considered a sub-religion.

In the entire Theravada Tradition and history there are no musical notes.

The musical sub-culture was entirely of Indian (they should be proud of it) Origin.

Of course India is the seat and origin of music in Asian subcontinent and civilization.

The Tibetan and Chinese drum beating associated with Mahayana tradition is entirely a different preposition.

They were probably developed to gather masses.

Whether it is Bali, Thovil or Kohomba Kankariya or any other derivative of music or Thalas and dances or the Vannamas have no relationship to Buddhist outlook but a local sub-culture of quality.

If at all, they are hindrances to the devoted meditator who chooses to retire to the jungle for solace.

With domestication of monks (they are supposed to walk bare foot in all directions, spreading Dhamma) in temples or Viharas with the help of the late kings of this ancient Kingdom, the musical traditions were perpetuated and the dancing took a root in the sub-culture.

However, in Hindu tradition music was a vehicle and Bajjan is a rule not an exception.

It says how much Hindus contributed to the variegated sub-culture.

In spite of all this dancing and chanting were limited to the males of the species.

Buddhist ladies never took part (in my time) in these practices.
I now observe that Girls are too parading, dancing and reciting (I believe that is emancipation, in practice).
Ladies were paraded in Ran Dholis carried by the lowest of the caste.
I hate this caste tradition and they  are not allowed to wear footwear under the hot sun on "Day Perehara". 
When (ladies taking part) it was practiced in the palaces they were for the entertainment of the King (and Queens) and the entourages were brought from South India.
However, there is a difference in practice in Devalas and Kovils.
In the Kovil it is the practice by the Bahamian and it is caste oriented but not so in Devalas.

The Kapuva was a Buddhist but he could be of any caste.
The language was never Pali but was Sanskrit in verse and were handed down by family trait for many centuries.
There are even few well known politicians who have descended from these family traits.
In today's context they are part and parcel of the organized ingrained traditions and a religion of their own and have no relationship to Buddhism.

So enjoy, the dance and music at Perehara but sooner it is over retire to the jungle (if there is any left in this blessed country) for meditation which is practiced in style in the jungles of Burma and Thailand.

Local Mafia, Wild Elephants and Elephant Cruelty?

Local Mafia, Wild Elephants and Elephant Cruelty?

Each elephant that parades the pageantry has an untold story behind which our politicians and monks hide.

Below is a summary of what happens to the rest of the elephants in the wild.

There is a hive of activity as regard to the elephant trade.

There was a mafia that operated with the connivance of the politicians.

There are thugs hiding behind saffron cloth that made the outer circle of this mafia.

The same Mafia is operation under the Good Governance.

Not a single culprit was apprehended or brought to justice!

My third book on elephants (elephant myths) was deferred with a valid reason.

I could not bear to reveal the 10 or more cruel ways of killing elephants since these methods once revealed would be used for further cruelty to even the surviving animals.

Like aiding and abetting in criminal law not revealing the operational methods is also a crime.

Let me list them for investigation by proper officials of the present corrupt Department of Forestry.

I think police should take a leading role since I do not believe the forest officers would do justice this gentle giants.

1. When elephants venture into huts of Ganja growers (in the name of vegetable farming), they cut the tip of the elephant trunk with a Kattha or a sword.

Without the tip of the trunk the elephant cannot survive and die an agonizing death.

That is the end of the majesty.

2. They cut 1 ½ 2 by 1 ½ 2 inches square hole in a pumpkin and introduce a poison inside and seal the hole with the cut piece.
Within hours the poor elephant who partake the poison is dead.

3. They used what is called the 'Hakka Pattas', an incendiary device packed with explosives similar to the hand bomb.

The “Jonny Buttas” are wrapped and covered with cucumber, melon or pumpkin and dabbed with honey.

It explodes when crushed inside the mouth.

4. Shooting or trap guns.

5. Use 6” by 6” square wooden plank driven with 5 inch nails. Once a foot / feet stuck in it there is no way to rescue the giant.

6. 'Waga Lin' or the pits made to trap (8x10x8) the baby elephants.

Once in the pit the baby elephant cannot escape.

Once trapped, no escape and they die a slow death of starvation.

7. Wanton Poisoning the vegetation where the gentle giants feed.

8. Baby elephants when separated from mother die of starvation.

9. Infected 'Madhu' - trap wounds and sepsis.

10. Electric currents.

11. Use chillies or petrochemicals to bring unpleasantness.

12. Fire traps.

13. Use Fire Crackers

14. Blinding one eye without killing.

15. Dig holes and bury sharpened and pointed Kithul pikes and cover with grass.

In addition if a mahout is changed he does harm to the animal before his discharge.

Methods include giving toddy in excess, blinding one eye, driving a nail to its spine or any other (feet included) unsightly site.

The last method cause unbearable pain and later sepsis and death.

Reproduction

By Dr Rohan H Wickramasinghe



Some days ago, I received an article on elephant conservation by Jeremy Hance in The Guardian of August 12th. Much of the piece concerned the ‘Elephant Sanctuary’ in Tennessee, USA, which was established over 20 years ago on 200 acres and now covers 2700 acres. It presently hosts 10 elephants and sightseers, parties and casual visitors are unwelcome and not admitted.



The staff is very experienced in the various aspects of the management of the sanctuary. They are, also, devoted to their charges. One such is Otto Fad, Animal Behaviour and Research Specialist (see below), who notes that ‘elephants have deep psychological needs’.



The article on ‘Elephant Conservation’ was published in support of 2017’s ‘World Elephant Day’ (WED2017). This was co-founded on the 12th August 2012 by the Canadian film director, Patricia Sims and the ‘Elephant Re-introduction Foundation of Thailand’, which was founded in 1996 on the initiative of Queen Sirikit. (The latter Foundation was set up to attempt to re-introduce some of the approximately 2800 ‘domesticated’ elephants in Thailand to the wild.) Patricia Sims was the director of the documentary ‘When Elephants were Young’, which was narrated by ‘Star Trek’ actor, William Shatner. ‘World Elephant Day’ is managed by the ‘World Elephant Society’.



The populations of elephants in the wild have been diminishing significantly in recent years. This is primarily due to poaching for ivory and, also, to human/elephant conflict in areas of increasing human activity. Some estimate that the numbers of African elephants (i.e. Bush Elephants and Forest Elephants) in the wild today approximate 400,000 and those of Asian elephants are 40,000. Others view these figures as grossly exaggerated. Be that as it may, it is indisputable that the numbers are declining.



The concept of doing something for elephants has been spreading rapidly in recent years. Animal rights groups, such as PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), have been working on different fronts to improve the ways in which people treat these and other animals. This includes the way animals are treated in some zoos and, especially, circuses.



The three decades-long battle the animals’ rights groups had with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus is a case in point. The Bailey Circus was launched in about 1806 by Hachaliah Bailey and was probably the first in the US. It included an African elephant, a trained dog, a horse, some pigs and a wagon. After ups-and-downs and a merger, a revitalized circus began as ‘P. T. Barnum’s Great Travelling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Hippodrome’ in 1871. The circus developed over the years and came to be billed as ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. Animal rights groups, including PETA, however, took up in court battles the cause of what they claimed was ill treatment of animals, which included elephants, lions, tigers and kangaroos. Eventually the circus withdrew on 1 May 2016 the 11 Asian elephants they had performing with the circus and sent them to join the approximately 31 others they had in their 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida. This was the largest herd of Asian elephants in North America. This move was followed on Sunday 21 May 2017 with the complete closing down of the circus after a history of 146 years due to lack of income to meet expenses. The success of the animal rights organizations in this matter is attributable to the public pressure which had been created.



The foregoing brief account of the history and fate of the Ringling Circus demonstrates the growing concern for the way animals are treated. This includes the way livestock is treated and is not confined to the Western and developed worlds. The urge to do something for elephants is growing in recent years and ‘World Elephant Day’ is now observed in numerous countries, including, for example, Australia, Canada, India, Nepal, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, UK and USA. As regards organizations involved in activities and events in relation to ‘World Elephant Day’, the 24 listed in Wikipedia are only a few of the many. Activities related to marking ‘World Elephant Day’ included, for instance, a march in Washington, D.C. and the Wildlife Conservation Society arranging for the ringing of the closing bell at the Nasdaq Market Site in Times Square, New York City. The Wildlife Conservation Society also joined with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in crushing almost two tons of ivory (value: 8 million USD) in a symbolic start to WED2017.



As regards ‘World Elephant Day’-related matters in Sri Lanka, the only event brought to my attention was the launch of a book on ‘elephants’. However, The Island newspaper on Monday the 14th August did carry an elephant-related news item titled ‘Hakka patas injures jumbo calf seriously’. This noted that a young elephant wounded by a ‘hakka patas’ had been found in the Hambantota Port premises. It was noted that the mouth of the elephant is seriously injured. The animal also bears a gunshot wound on its head and it has also lost part of its trunk due to a previous injury. The photograph accompanying the article gives clear evidence that the report does not exaggerate the suffering of the animal.



It is appropriate here to return to the observations of Otto Fad of the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. He notes that ‘Welfare is a concept that can be applied to any animal in any situation…….. Does anyone think that a starving elephant who has just had her lower jaw blown off by a hakka pata (a makeshift explosive inserted in fruits and vegetables to injure or kill any animal raiding fields) takes comfort in her ‘wild’ status ?’ It is noteworthy that this observation does not explain that ‘hakka patas’ is a word used in Sri Lanka. In other words, to many if not most elephant lovers worldwide an explanation is already unnecessary that it is in Sri Lanka that this abominably cruel contraption is used.



The excuse will no doubt be advanced that the ‘hakka patas’ (incidentally, a most cynical term which is translated as ‘bang goes the lower jaw’) is used to protect the crops of the farmer. While the writer does not profess to be an authority in the area of protecting crops from elephants, he does not accept that a solution cannot be found, which is more humane than the use of a ‘hakka patas’. The Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS), which has been established since 2002, is working actively in the area of human-elephant conflict, which it estimates has an economic cost of 10 million USD per year in Sri Lanka. Its field work by local and foreign volunteers is conducted around Wasgamuwa National Park.



Fire crackers have traditionally been employed to scare elephants away from crops and human habitations (particularly when paddy is stored after the harvest). However, this technique is less effective after frequent use. The SLWCS also makes use of solar-powered electric fences. A more recent approach introduced by the SLWCS is the use of bee hives in the path of routes taken by elephants. This has been found in African countries to have a useful deterrent effect. However, this is not universally applicable, since bee colonies may abandon their hives during unfavourable conditions. Again, excessive dependence on bee colonies to deter problems with elephants is inadvisable as honey bees are on the decline in many parts of the world due to problems with pollution and disease. (The pollution problems may include disorientation due to the use of radios, TVs and cell phones.) The SLWCS is also experimenting with planting fences of citrus (i.e. orange and lime trees) to deter elephants as well as to provide additional sources of income to villagers. A further novel approach being tried out by the PAMS Foundation (co-founded by the late Wayne Lotter) is ‘Chillie Pepper Fences’ on the outskirts of Ruanda National Park in southern Tanzania to protect crops during the growing season.



The argument that ‘hakka patas’ is used to protect crops and habitations from elephants ignores the fact that the ‘hakka patas’ is also used to procure the meat of the wild boar. This is often offered in a quiet voice by bungalow keepers managing circuit bungalows etc in relevant regions. (As regards consuming the flesh of elephants, Siran Deraniyagala in his authoritative ‘The Prehistory of Sri Lanka’ (1992) notes that there is no firm evidence that the Veddahs hunted elephants for food. This was probably linked to a taboo among the Veddahs. )



Locations in Sri Lanka where elephants may be observed are the Wildlife Parks, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Dehiwela Zoological Gardens and the various Peraheras. Some elephants are privately kept. Reams have been written on elephants in these locations and it is not the purpose of this article to enter into these discussions, which are freely available for reference by those interested.



The purpose of this article is to focus attention on the outright cruelty practiced in our treatment of our wildlife and other animals on occasion. The packed conditions under which cattle are sometimes transported when some of the animals die of suffocation before arrival at their destination and the indiscriminate killing of friendly street dogs are other scandals which need to be addressed effectively. The use of ‘hakka patas’ in Sri Lanka to kill wildlife is evidently becoming widely known internationally. It is fortunate that the recent incident where a live eagle was reportedly skinned in the presence of others in order to satisfy the sadistic instincts of a few did not receive wider coverage in international circles.



We are already having to defend ourselves internationally against charges of being abusers of human rights. If we don’t take effective action against the practice of employing ‘hakka patas’, wildlife organizations around the world will enter into the picture sooner rather than later and, in the first instance, urge their nationals to avoid tourism to Sri Lanka until we set our house in order. Schools, religious bodies and law enforcement agencies could help. The Ringling Circus matter provides ample evidence that once the international animal rights organizations around the world get their teeth into an issue they do not give up. In the matter of taking effective action against the continuing use of ‘hakka patas’ I would be in sympathy with them.