Tourist who go there come out confused.
Some of the scams, skims the life long savings of the elderly of the Western countries.
Do not go there for an easy life and end up in one of their many trikeries.
The Thai Law protects the locals and scams are perpetual.
Think before you book a holiday which on surface looks promising.
Stay where you are and enjoy your Own Hospitality at a higher cost.
This piece is to highlight monasteries and Thai Meditation Masters who lure tourists and leave them stranded without inculcating Dhamma Principles.
Read my book on "Meditation (Weaponized) Commerialized", coming soon at Amazon books.
This book was long ovedue.
I postponed publishing it, mainly due to a few of my family members were involved in Buddhist Meditation, not as monks but as lay people.
Daryl Ankar come to my mind and he has gone nuts.
30 years ago, I had seen at least 6 guys over 55 with problems after attempting Meditation in their Retirement. I referred them to a psychiatrist who was a friend of mine. He said that they have no psychological problems except their recent meditation practice. I told them to stop meditation and their physical symptoms aborted in a few weeks.
Many years later, I found a book by Rerukane Chandawimala Himi who had described these symptoms and signs in SINHALA book to monks. I saw him in death bed with JRJ and my boss Juranapathy at Navaloka.
What a cionicidence?
I signed JRJs last blood report saying that, according to blood chemistry of this report, this guy ought to be dead.
I was his best man in his wedding.
By the way, I had performed this task 13 times and I quit this ceremonial function abruptly after the 13th event.
The last one was with a Doctor a few years younger to me.
He ended up as a biochemist in U. S. A.
He was an Anandian and was a crook.
I was to to go to U. K. at the end of the same year on "No Pay Leave" and this guy somehow knew this and approached me one day and asked me whether I could become his bestman.
I said Yes without any hesitation since he was my deputy when I captained the University Hockey Team. He did all the organizational work of matches and I had only to come lead.
He was very good organizer.
The understanding was that he would spend money for my 3 piece suit that would be useful when I visit UK.
I did not bother to select the material and the colour.
Of course, my look alike opposite Left Wing man was (I was Rught Wing) with me to guide me with the instructions on the day of his wedding. He was a parallel batchmate of him from the Science Faculty and he had the Wedding Schedule.
From 9AM in the morning delivering the invitation bouquet, till 630PM in the evening Wedding Photograph we were running from one place to another non stop. We were promised lunch at his home but we did not get even a cup of tea or a soft drink.
Afterall, we could sacrifice a meal for a friend.
After the photograph, I told my cohort "his job is done" and I would not come for the wedding ceremony. If I remember right, co- left wing player had his own car and I asked him to drop me at the Colombo General Hospital.
I told him, I need a good bath and a drink at the 3rd floor Grandpass Grill and Bar at Lipton Junction, located near the Colombo General Hospital. This was the time when cats and dogs were served for Chicken, in Colombo.
We used order a full chicken at Grandpass Grill to avoid eating cats' and dogs' flesh.
Everything was cheap then and my take home salary was Rs.1450/=. I started with Rs. 415/= and we had Industrial action to raise our salary 3 times under Sirimovo.
I left to UK after my compusary service and vouched never to join the Government Service.
Many moons later, I joined the University, that also not Medical but Dental School.
Hyde Park Corner which ARPICO acquired later was famous for political meeting. Lipton Corner was substituted for politicsl rallies for Hyde Park on subsequent years.
SARA Center or something similar to that name became established when Grandpass Grill went bust.
Coming back to my friend's wedding:
He should proceed to the Hotel and If asked about me, say that I was dropped at the hospital.
I kept the wedding invitations of all 13 of bestmans.
I made it a point to invite all 13 of them (most of the already left CEYLON) but none who remained in CEYLON came to our Wedding.
The excuse they gave me was that JRJ had come to KANDY for an official function (I wasn't invited by JRJ) and they attened that function.
Then, I replied that, they could have slipped away for a moment and rejoined the official function. Also said, do not expect any future engagement with me official or otherwise.
Those who came had a Field Day at Swiss Hotel, Kandy as far as refreshments were concerned.
In 10 days we were in Northern Island.
Hotel Swiss was closed for practical purposes and I made it a point that Billiard Room was open for me to play a game weekly. This was extended to Mahaveli Reach for official functions of the Peradeniya University and an occasional billard game for me.
I believe late Professor R. G. Banabokke had shares of this hotel. Their entire family is gone including his wife and he did not have any friends to call and I was his mental buffer.
He used give me a call everytime a tragedy hits.
By the way, I haven't played a Billiard game since I arrived in Australia. The last occasion was in Phillip's Island, the Table was occupied by kids. I did not bargain for a game, since as a real sportman, I should see that the next generation of players should be trained instead of an old coger like me with poor colour vision hitting the wrong ball and making the opposition guy wins.
If I rember right, I never lost a game in England.
I only lost to Mr. Banda (from whom I learned the game as a medical student) who was our Faculty Boy and Marcan Marker who was our Faculty Club boy to where I went almost every day with Laxman Denipitiya.
Laxaman is currently in America, a fabulously rich dental surgeon.
He is the only guy of all the bestmen in their wedding ceremonies who kept an amiable relationship.
I made it a point to invite him as a Guest Lecturer in one of our Symposiums in Dentistry in the Faculty of Dental Sciences.
Coming back to "Bestman Saga" all 13 of the ceremonies were significantly different from the other 12 and there is "No Standard" as such.
I behaved like a puppet and that job is ideal for master puppet like me.
When the bridgegroom started coming on elephant tops, I had fully retired and already married with kids.
I made it a point to refuse all wedding invitations (except the last one), knowing very well that there is an upper ceiling of 250 in most of the hotels, now.
Mr. Rajanayagam
The suit I was given by this guy was of poor quality and was disposed of immediately.
This is where Mr. Rajanayagam came to my help. Good suit materials were hard to come by, then. I told Mr. Rajanayagam our Chief Technician my predicament.
Don't worry, Doctor was his usual expression.
He found me a good piece.
Sad part was when I came home on holiday with a present he had passed away. I met his wife still residing at the Government Quarters at Colombo 7. She said that he had not saved anything for himself and she was fighting eviction from the quarters.
He did not have any children and I lost touch with her subsequently.
Of course, first thing I did was to buy a Marks & Spencer 3 piece suit for £100/=.
Later, I tailored, a made to measure suit by London main street tailor for £110/=.
I was obsessed with my dressings from underwear to the top.
I donated both those suits and now I have only one suit left for any formal occasion.
My hacked two suits were left in CEYLON for good.
I love my pijamas and I have one sarong left made of pijama cloths in my tiny traveling bag. That is not going to be used since I do not intend to visit CEYLON again.
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