Extreame Cold front @Texas

Texas weather today, Jan 6th, 2014. One of those days!

'Emaciated' 4-year-old boy survives in home for days after mom dies

This is just a fine example of the life in these countries (specially USA) where people no longer speak to one another and no body cares who lives next to them or whatever happens in your next door. I'm totally saddened by the story, hope the boy will recover someday!.

I guess this is something never gonna happen in Sri Lanka, where your relatives, friends and neighbors (for good or bad) there for you always.


A New Jersey boy was found Tuesday morning locked inside an apartment with his dead mother's body.It happened on Manor Drive in Union. The boy had apparently been alone for nearly a week and had not eaten.
Authorities tell news organizations the boy said he tried to get food from the refrigerator but couldn't open the door. He also said the boy had rubbed lotion on his mother in an apparent attempt to help her, leaving behind his hand prints.

The woman was found in a bedroom, and authorities believe she had been dead for about five days. She was not identified pending notification of relatives. Police do not suspect foul play.
Neighbors reported a foul smell and alerted police. Building managers reportedly found the boy behind a chained door.He was rushed to a local hospital. His condition was unclear.
One neighbor told reporters that he hadn't seen the woman since January and didn't hear any commotion coming from the apartment. The woman, who has not been identified, is believed to have died of natural causes several days prior and the boy could not get out of the house.

Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/21797791/boy-found-in-apartment-with-dead-mother#ixzz2Owm7Dh9N

How to kill Bed Bugs

Please read the "Disclaimer" before you read the method.

The best way to kill bed Bugs is to use Gasoline ( petrol/unleaded fuel), yes just spray your furniture, mattress with gazoline ( little) and wait for 24 hours, it will die from the smell you can redo this every 2 days to kill the eggs. its 100% trusted way to kill the bed Bugs, Just becareful don't smoke or turn on any electrical device that can make fire.

* Make sure to empty the entire room and wash all the cloths in hot water.
* Put some Gasoline in a spray bottle and start spraying all over the place. Make sure you cover the entire room, every inch of the place.
* Spray to your, furnitures, bed mattress and frames thoroughly.
* Open all the windows/doors and let the smell goes away. Don't use the room and mattress for couple of days. Let it air dry. If you can keep the furnitures, and mattress outside for air dry, that would be great. But if not possible, keep it for several days. The smell will eventually goes away.
* Use a vinyl mattress cover and use a double sided sticky tape to run around the mattress so that you can verify there's no more beg bugs in your room. Normally bed bugs will crawl to your bed at night, the sticky double tape can trap them for you.

Hope this helps and this really works. No more expensive exterminators :)

Disclaimer: Use it at your own risk. Any information on this blog post is for your convenience only and should not be interpreted as endorsements or recommendations by me. I cannot accept responsibility or be held liable for any loss or damage arising from using the information posted in this blog post.

New York baby delivered after car crash kills parents

I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad. I'm happy the baby is safe, but sad he never gonna see his parents again. I'm hoping there's some grand-parents in either side who can help this kid.

A New York couple expecting their first child have been killed in a car crash on their way to hospital, but the unborn baby survived the accident.

Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, were travelling in a taxi in Brooklyn when it was involved in a collision with another car close to their home.

Both were pronounced dead in hospital but the premature infant was delivered alive, police said.
Police are seeking the driver of the other car, who fled the scene on foot.

The driver of the taxi in which the Glaubers were travelling was in a stable condition in hospital, police said.
The crash happened shortly after midnight a few blocks from the Glaubers' home in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn.

The trip to hospital was related to Mrs Glauber's pregnancy but it is not clear if they were going there for the child's birth. The cause of the crash is under investigation and police are looking for the driver and a passenger in the other car, who fled the scene.

The Glaubers were members of Brooklyn's ultra-orthodox Jewish community - the largest in the world outside Israel. "It's a terrible, terrible tragedy," community leader Rabbi Bernard Freilich told the New York Post. "They were going for their first child. There are no words, I don't even know what to say."

Click here for the original news story.

How to sell your unwanted household items: Craigslist sales guideline

Happy New year 2013. Its time for your spring cleaning and throw away all your unwanted household items, right? Wrong! there is far better way to do than throwing away your unwanted items.

Sell it in Craigslist.com . Yes, sell your unwanted stuff and make some profit or break even or earn some dollars.

After buy and selling almost everything including couple of cars, motorcycles, household items, I'm far better knowledgeable in doing it better in craigslist and avoid scams. Follow my lead and learn some useful tips when you sell stuff in craigslist.

• First I hope you know how to create a free account in craigslist? If not, please follow the link to create a free account for you. 
• Find your local Craigslist city page from the list or find a city near you.
• Always do business locally and personally. Avoid trapping yourself in any of non-personal , over the phone or email scams. I always make sure I meet people to do the sales than making any email, over the phone or any other means of money sending like paypal. Almost always these transactions and people are scams. Avoid international sales, they are aleays scams. Don't trap into big check values. 
• Make your advertisement (hope you know how to type a nice short advertisement) short and sweet. Don't put your address, but remember to put your phone number in the content of the add. Please look at one of my craigslist ad I recently posted and successfully sold the item.

Features a full size door, working shutters and decorative shingled roof with skylight
Range top flips over to become outside barbecue grill!
Playhouse interior 55.5" (1.41 m) tall
Assembles easily without hardware (adult assembly required)

Similar new Step2 playhouses sell for about $350. Just $55. Moving, need to sell fast. This week only!
Please call (no text) xxx xxx xxxx

• This is important: avoid posting your email in the ad content or even in the reply to option. Select "hide" option from top in the reply to. Which would display the warning that you there is no reply option. So remember to include your phone number. Its far better to work with someone who calls your which are trustworthy. Also you have a possible record of a person if some scam happens. But with emails, its hard to track some of the sophisticated scams.  
• Don't write very long ads, but include all the features. Also make comparison to the original items and how much they sells so the buyer knows whether he gets the deal or not. 
• If you want to sell the item fast, check how much the same item costs in your local area cragislist ads and make it bit lower sales price. People who buy in craigslist almost always buys from the cheapest person for a similar valued items. Also be realistic, make sure you put up with a worthy cost. Example, I post my playhouse for $75 and nobody contacted. But I made it $55 and almost instantly I got couple of people called and one came and brought the item. By the way, I brought this playhouse for $45 from another craigslist saller months ago and paid $5 for the owner to haul it to me (I had a small car :)) So, here I'm making a $5 extra for using it almost several months till my 3 year old never wanted to play with it anymore. Good deal right?
• Keep your ad active, make sure to use "renew" option from your craigslist account to put your ad back on top. Don't let bury your ad in pile of other ads from the section. I guess you can renew every 48hrs. Here's a dirty little trick for you when you renew your ad. Wait till 11.55pm and renew so that this will go first in the current day when the day ends. Otherwise your ad will be sandwiched between 100s of other ads if you are posting your ad in a very popular section like electronics or computers. 
• Always make sure to select "Owner" option, unless you are dealer. I almost always remove the dealer option when I search items to buy from craigslist. There are some crappy scammers who overuse the dealer option to trap people. 
• Another trick to pop up your ad among others. Use some Icons in-front of your ad title. I always use 3 stars (★ ★ ★) icon infront of mine and it catch the eyes of others. 
• Use some catchy ad title and specially include if there's some special features. Example, one of my sublet ad says there is a $300 incentive, free washer and dryer and water with the sublet. 
• Don't forget to delete your ad when you get a deal and the item is sold. 
• And if you can take your item out of your house to show it, then do that. Always avoid bringing strangers to your house, specially after dark (after 6.30pm or whenever you think its not safe). 
• Always meet potential buyers in a crowded parking lot or in a restaurant like in Mcdonalds, Walmart.
• If you have to keep the item at home to show, then make sure you are not alone at home. Also make sure your significant other or some friend knows that there is someone coming to check out an item. If possible share the phone number of the person called you. Don't ever give them your address just by email. Make sure they call you first and then give them the address. So you have a recorded call transaction in any case.  If you cannot let anybody know about it, then make sure you write down the information of the person or email them back to you. 
• If possible make sure you can monitor them when you come to your house, which color vehicle they came in, what type of vehicle is that, how many people are coming, what is the behavior of the person whether he is careful not to show himself. 

Hope this helps and happy Craigslisting my friends!

brain teasers: Girl and two pebbles!

Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of
owing a large sum of money to a village
moneylender. The Moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's
beautiful Daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his Daughter.
Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the Proposal.
So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let Providence decide the
matter. He told them that he would put a black Pebble and a white pebble
into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from
the bag.

1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her
father's debt would be forgiven.

2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's
debt would still be forgiven.
3) But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into
Jail.
They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field. As They
talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he Picked them
up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two Black pebbles and
put them into the bag.

He then asked the girl to pick A pebble from the bag.

Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have Done
if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you Have told
her?

Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag And
expose the money-lender as a cheat.

3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order To
save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with The
hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral And
logical thinking.

The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with Traditional logical thinking.
Think of the consequences if she chooses The above logical answers.
What would you recommend to the Girl to do?
Try to answer before scrolling down.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. ****
Well, here is what she did ....

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without
Looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path
Where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

"Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the Bag

for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I Picked."

Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had Picked

the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his Dishonesty,
the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into An extremely
advantageous one.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don't Attempt
to think.****


MY ANSWER
There's another way to solve this same problem. What if the girl ask moneylender to choose a pebble from bag? Again he dared not admit his dishonesty. If he choose black girls fathers dept payed and girls stayed, if white again girl's fathers dept payed but girl needs to go with moneylender.

The Worst US Bank : Chase Bank USA

After almost 7 years of experience here in US, I'm proudly present you the worst bank ever with their customer service, The JPMorgan Chase Bank. If you ask me why is that, here are the reasons!

• I used to bank with Wells Fargo, CITI and Chase among all of these, Chase is the only bank who doesn't give you free starter checks. Come on, if you do more than $2000 deposit and then if you make direct deposit to their bank how come they cannot make that simple courtesy of giving couple of free checks. I don't need a 100 pack check books. I just need couple of checks in case if I want to use it. Both Wells Fargo and CITI generously gave me couple of 100 starter checks and also pack of checks through mail without a cent. So, I can't believe or understand the idea of not giving free starter checks for a customer. Also what they offered me is just 1 check, but for that I need to go to their branch and get printouts from them. That utterly ridiculous. 
• Again, I can understand the use of account fees and if they want to keep a $1500 daily balance or a direct deposit to avoid any service fees on the checking accounts. I had the same issue with Wells Fargo but they were courteous to remove the fee if I asked them to do so. There may be reasons like I change my job and it takes couple of months to get the direct deposit back to bank account or may be some other reason. But they were professional in considering my requests, and they at least wait for couple of months before charging this fee from the accounts. When I open up Chase account I knew that my condition is to keep $1500 daily balance to avoid their $12 service fee. I had $650 apartment rent deduction every month the first day and for some reason, my rent was deducted 30th of the previous month and it was a Friday. So I did a deposit to make my account again $1500 by the 3rd which was Monday of the next month. You know what, after 10 days there is a $12 fee added to the account because of the laps in making $1500 balance (only during the weekend).

So, for these reasons, I'm pretty much fed up with Chase and I'm only staying with Chase until the 6 months period so that I can keep the $120 bonus gave it to me for signing up. I'm pretty happy with my Wells Fargo service and I'm going to stick with them for the rest of the years.

So what is your Chase story?

Craigslist Scams emails :Beware of these scam artists!

I recently posted an ad in Craigslist to sublease my apartment. After years of experience in dealing with all sort of scam artists, I guess I'm pretty good at finding genuine users from the scam artists. This is an email response I got from one of such scam. Remember, I already had most of these information the person is asking like the monthly rent, and other details like apartment availability etc. Also I specifically mentioned about my phone number so that people who are genuinly interested can directly call me or at least post their phone number with the initial email. But the email I got straightaway showed the hints of possible scam. Look at the first email I got

Hi,
I want to make inquiry for the sublet/room shared space you advertised on craigslist
What is the final price per month,date of it availability and other things have
got to know about the it.
I will be glad if you can kindly get back to me asap ...
Thanks

Even though I suspected this a possible scam, I sent couple of lines out of curiosity, and within 2 minutes, I got a reply and I'm pretty sure it takes more than that for a genuine person to reply

Thanks for the quick response,am okay with the price and date of
availability am very much interested but am not in the state
presently.
I'm Ms. Stéphanie Quentin, Female,23 Years, Switz. Was born and bred in
Zurich,Switzerland.
Am an international Student.
I am a christian,a Catholic to be precise, Single
My hobbies are watching Movies, Reading, Soccer, Traveling.
And for My nature I have a Great sense of humor,easy going and very out
going.
Drinking/Drugs/Smoking:social Drinker,don't do drugs nor smoke.
For the payment that is not a problem at all. My Guardian will be
responsible for all my payment all I have to do is to confirm the
amount of the room including the utilities and then get it sent to him
including the information of the person which the payment will be
issued to. So all I require of you is for you to send me your:
FULL NAME:
FULL ADDRESS:
ZIP-CODE:
CITY:
STATE:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
So that I can forward it to my Guardian because my guardian will be
paying for the rent, my flight and some other things so all you have
to do is that as soon as you receive the check he will send. You will
deduct your rent fee and the utilities from it and then get the rest
back to my flight manager so that my ticket can be booked. Waiting to
hearing from you. I will want all this information for quick payment
asap pls

Whenever someone starts with a guardian and international, I get the feeling of possible scam. So posting this out in public so that if you see similar email for your online ads, beware of scam artists like this.

2012 Nibiru : planet x

Astronomers fear the dark side of apocalyptic rumors. 

NASA scientists have been debunking pseudoscience and fantasy about the Mayan apocalypse partially because they worry frightened teens might commit suicide over the hoax.There are literally millions of people who are afraid who think the world will end, said David Morrison, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center. One particularly pervasive rumor concerns a fictitious planet, which Sumerians supposedly discovered, called Nibiru. On its current orbit, the fictional planet is slated to crash into Earth on Dec. 21, this years winter solstice, according to the hoax. Some people are so worried about the supposedly impending apocalypse that they cannot sleep or eat. Others have even started contemplating suicide as a way to avoid the chaos of end times, according to Morrison."While this is a joke to some people and a mystery to others, there is a core of people who are truly concerned," said Morrison. On behalf of NASA, Morrison routinely answers scientific inquiries submitted by the public. However, over the last few years, legitimate questions have been overwhelmed by questions about a 2012 doomsday. Morrison claims to have received many letters and emails from anxious people but he is particularly concerned about the effect end-of-days rumors might have on young people. I think it's evil for people to propagate rumors on the Internet to frighten children," said Morrison. Nibiru was originally predicted to collide with Earth in May 2003 but when that month came and went without cataclysm, doomsday prophets pushed the date back to December 2012. This move linked the suspected catastrophe with the end of a cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar, according to NASA. 



NASA scientists emphasize that there is no basis for this claim. If a planet were heading toward Earth, astronomers would have started tracking it at least a decade ago. People would also be able to view it with the naked eye. It would, in fact, be the brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon. You can dispel this rumor yourself. You don't have to ask the government or ask scientists.


Just go out and look at the sky. You will find no new bright object heading for the Earth.

The most and least corrupt countries in the world (with Map and ratings)

I can't believe we (Sri Lanka) are better and less corrupt than most of other South-East Asian countries!

Here are some of the ratings from recent most and least corrupt countries list. Remember 100 is very clean and 0 is most corrupted.  After all sort of corruption in our country, specially among the politicians, I still can't believe we are in 40s, I suspect somebody bribed the Transparency International to put us ahead, just a thought :)

Sri Lanka -40

India - 38

Nepal - 27

Pakistan - 27

Bangladesh -26

Corruption can often be hard to track, so each year, one watchdog group puts all of the bribery, back-room deals and other nefarious practices going on in the world on one technicolor map.

Transparency International just released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index on the perceived level of public sector corruption in 176 countries around the world, and once again, Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan rank as most corrupt, with scores of 8. (Burma, also known as Myanmar, joined them last year but has since moved up two spots, to just ahead of Sudan).

Fast track US Citizenship for F1 Student Visa (Without Perment Resident Status) (and other legal non-immigrant visas) - MAVNI Program

Please see below for further information regarding Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) program details. The "Sinhalease" language skill is also included as a criteria and this would be a good opportunity for Current Sri Lankan F1 visa holders studying in US with a valid status.  There are other visa categories included with this program. Please spread the word, you can also share this blog article using the icons below (facebook, twiteer, or Google+) or reblog. The age limit is 35.

Go Army! Rectangle Sticker (Google Affiliate Ad)

MILITARY ACCESSIONS VITAL TO NATIONAL INTEREST (MAVNI)
RECRUITMENT PILOT

Secretary of Defense authorized the military services to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills are considered to be vital to the national interest. Those holding critical skills – physicians, nurses, and certain experts in language with associated cultural backgrounds – would be eligible. To determine its value in enhancing military readiness, the limited pilot program will recruit up to 1,500 people per year, and will continue through May 15, 2014.

U.S. Air Force Survival Handbook (Google Affiliate Ad)

ELIGIBILITY

1. The applicant must be in one of the following categories at time of enlistment

            a. asylee, refugee, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or

            b. nonimmigrant categories E, F, H, I, J, K, L, M, O, P, Q, R, S, T, TC, TD, TN, U, or V

2. The applicant must have been in valid status in one of those categories for at least two years immediately prior to the enlistment date, but it does not have to be the same category as the one held on the date of enlistment; and

3. An applicant who may be eligible on the basis of a nonimmigrant category at time of enlistment (see 1b above) must not have had any single absence from the United States of more than 90 days during the two year period immediately preceding the date of enlistment.

4. An applicant who is eligible under #1-3 above is not rendered ineligible by virtue of having a pending application for adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence. In the specific case of an alien with H nonimmigrant status at the time of filing a pending application for adjustment of status who has lost such status while his or her application for adjustment was pending, and who is otherwise eligible for enlistment under the MAVNI program, the military Service may on a case-by-case basis waive the requirement that the alien be in a status described in 1 above at the time of enlistment.

NASA Open Source Agreement (Google Affiliate Ad)

Health Care Professionals
􀁸 Applicants must meet all qualification criteria required for their medical specialty, and the criteria for foreign-trained DoD medical personnel recruited under other authorities
􀁸 Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English
􀁸 Applicants must commit to at least 3 years of active duty, or six years in the Selected Reserve
􀁸 Applicants must possess specific language and culture capabilities in a language critical to DoD Enlisted

U.S. Army Sniper Training Manual (Google Affiliate Ad)

Individuals with Special Language and Culture Backgrounds
􀁸 Applicants must demonstrate a language proficiency
􀁸 Applicants must meet all existing enlistment eligibility criteria
􀁸 Applicants must enlist for at least 4 years of active duty

(Services may add additional requirements)

Languages
􀁸 Amharic
􀁸 Arabic
􀁸 Azerbaijani
􀁸 Bengali
􀁸 Burmese
􀁸 Cambodian-Khmer
􀁸 Cebuano
􀁸 Chinese
􀁸 Czech
􀁸 French (limited to individuals possessing citizenship from an African country)
􀁸 Haitian-Creole
􀁸 Hausa
􀁸 Hindi
􀁸 Hungarian
􀁸 Igbo
􀁸 Indonesian
􀁸 Korean
􀁸 Kurdish
􀁸 Lao
􀁸 Malay
􀁸 Malayalam
􀁸 Moro
􀁸 Nepalese
􀁸 Persian [Dari & Farsi]
􀁸 Polish
􀁸 Portuguese
􀁸 Punjabi
􀁸 Pushtu (aka Pashto)
􀁸 Russian
􀁸 Serbo-Croatian
􀁸 Sindhi
􀁸 Sinhalese
􀁸 Somali
􀁸 Swahili
􀁸 Tagalog
􀁸 Tajik
􀁸 Tamil
􀁸 Thai
􀁸 Turkish
􀁸 Turkmen
􀁸 Urdu
􀁸 Uzbek
􀁸 Yoruba

BACKGROUND

Non-citizens have served in the military since the Revolutionary War. The Lodge Act of 1950 permitted non-citizen Eastern Europeans to enlist between 1950 and 1959. Additionally, the United States officially began recruiting Filipino nationals into the Navy in the late 1940s, when it signed the Military Bases Agreement of 1947 allowing U.S. military bases in the Philippines. In total, over 35,000 Filipinos enlisted in the Navy through the program between 1952 and 1991.

U.S. Army 1st Aid Manual - Paperback (Google Affiliate Ad)

Today, about 24,000 non-citizens serve on active duty, and about 5,000 legal permanent resident aliens (green card holders) enlist on active duty each year. Law ensures that the sacrifice of non-citizens during a time of national need is met with an opportunity for early citizenship, to recognize their contribution and sacrifice.

US Army Survival Handbook (Google Affiliate Ad)

In fact, today's service members are eligible for expedited citizenship under a July 2002 Executive Order, and the military services have worked closely with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to streamline citizenship processing for service members. Since Sept. 11, 2001, over 78,000 (as of April 2012) members of the Armed Forces have attained their citizenship while serving this nation.

Please see more information here or at GoArmy.com

Today is 10/11/12 and 13:14pm

The way we display the date in  US is,
Month/Date/Year.
So today is 10/11/12

And I totally missed the opportunity to make this post at 10/11/12 at 13:14pm

Quotes:

friEND
girlfriEND
boyfriEND
bestfriEND

Everything has an ...END.....except,

famILY....which has ILY = I Love You!

Buddhism more scientific than modern science

Ven. Ajahn Brahmavamso reflects on Buddhism’s enduring significance

I used to be a scientist. I did Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University, hanging out in the same building as the later-to-be-famous Professor Stephen Hawking. I became disillusioned with such science when, as an insider, I saw how dogmatic some scientists could be.

A dogma, according to the dictionary, is an arrogant declaration of an opinion. This was a fitting description of the science that I saw in the labs of Cambridge. Science had lost its sense of humility. Egotistical opinion prevailed over the impartial search for Truth. My favourite aphorism from that time was: "The eminence of a great scientist, is measured by the length of time that they OBSTRUCT PROGRESS in their field"!


To understand real science, one can go back to one of its founding fathers, the English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561 - 1628). He established the framework on which science was to progress, namely "the greater force of the negative instance". This meant that, having proposed a theory to explain some natural phenomenon, then one should try one's best to disprove it! One should test the theory with challenging experiments.

One must put it on trial with rigorous argument. When a flaw appears in the theory, only then does science advance. A new discovery has been made enabling the theory to be adjusted and refined. This fundamental and original methodology of science understood that it is impossible to prove anything with absolute certainty. One can only disprove with absolute certainty.

Some misguided scientists maintain the theory that there is no rebirth, that this stream of consciousness is incapable of returning to a successive human existence. All one needs to disprove this theory, according to science, is to find one instance of rebirth, just one! Professor Ian Stevenson, as some of you would know, has already demonstrated many instances of rebirth. The theory of no rebirth has been disproved. Rebirth is now a scientific fact!

Ordinary people know so little about science that they can hardly even understand the jargon. Yet, if they read in a newspaper or magazine "a scientist says that?", then they automatically take it to be true.

Compare this to our reaction when we read in the same journal "a politician says that?"! Why do scientists have such unchallenged credibility? Perhaps it is because the language and ritual of science has become so far removed from the common people, that scientists have become today's revered and mystical priesthood. Dressed in their ceremonial white lab coats, chanting incomprehensible mumbo jumbo about multi-dimensional fractal parallel universes, and performing magical rituals that transubstantiate metal and plastic into TV's and computers, these modern day alchemists are so awesome we'll believe anything they say. Elitist science, as once was the Pope, is now infallible.

Some know better. Much of what I learnt 30 years ago has now been proved wrong. There are, fortunately, many scientists with integrity and humility who affirm that science is, at best, a work still in progress. They know that science can only suggest a truth, but can never claim a truth. I was once told by a Buddhist G.P. that, on his first day at a medical school in Sydney, the famous Professor, head of the Medical School, began his welcoming address by stating "Half of what we are going to teach you in the next few years is wrong. Our problem is that we do not know which half it is!" Those were the words of a real scientist.

Buddhism is more scientific than modern science. Like science, Buddhism is based on verifiable cause-and-effect relationships. But unlike science, Buddhism challenges with thoroughness every belief. The famous Kalama Sutta of Buddhism states that one cannot believe fully in "what one is taught, tradition, hearsay, scripture, logic, inference, appearance, agreement with established opinion, the seeming competence of a teacher, or even in one's own teacher". How many scientists are as rigorous in their thinking as this? Buddhism challenges everything, including logic.

It is worth noting that Quantum Theory appeared quite illogical, even to such great scientists as Einstein, when it was first proposed. It is yet to be disproved. Logic is only as reliable as the assumptions on which it is based. Buddhism trusts only clear and objective experience.

Clear experience occurs when one's measuring instruments, one's senses, are bright and undisturbed. In Buddhism, this happens when the hindrances of sloth-and-torpor and restlessness-and-remorse are both overcome. Objective experience is that which is free from all bias. In Buddhism, the three types of bias are desire, ill will and sceptical doubt. Desire makes one see only what one wants to see, it bends the truth to fit one's preferences. Ill will makes one blind to whatever is disturbing or disconcerting to one's views and it distorts the truth by denial. Sceptical doubt stubbornly refuses to accept those truths, like rebirth, that are plainly valid but which fall outside of one's comforting worldview. In summary, clear and objective experience only happens when the Buddhist 'Five Hindrances' have been overcome. Only then can one trust the data arriving through one's senses.

Because scientists are not free of these five hindrances, they are rarely clear and objective. It is common, for example, for scientists to ignore annoying data, which do not fit their cherished theories, or else confine such evidence to oblivion by filing it away as an 'anomaly'. Even most Buddhists aren't clear and objective. One has to have recent experience of Jhana to effectively put aside these five hindrances (according to the Nalakapana Sutta, Majjhima No. 68). So only accomplished meditators can claim to be real scientists, that is, clear and objective.

Science claims to rely not only on clear and objective observation, but also on measurement. But what is measurement in science? To measure something, according to the pure science of Quantum Theory, is to collapse the Schroedinger Wave Equation through an act of observation. Moreover, the "un-collapsed" form of the Schroedinger Wave Equation, that is before any measurement is made, is, perhaps, science's most perfect description of the world. That description is weird! Reality, according to pure science, does not consist of well ordered matter with precise massed, energies and positions in space, all just waiting to be measured. Reality is the broadest of smudges of all possibilities, only some being more probable than others. Even basic 'measurable' qualities as 'alive' or 'dead' have been demonstrated by science to be invalid sometimes. In the notorious 'Schroedinger's Cat' thought experiment, Prof. Schroedinger's cat was ingeniously placed in a real situation where it was neither dead nor alive, where such measurements became meaningless. Reality, according to Quantum Theory, is beyond measurements. Measuring disturbs reality, it never describes it perfectly. It was Heisenberg's famous 'Uncertainty Principle' that showed the inevitable error between the real Quantum world and the measured world of pseudo-science.

Anyway, how can anyone measure the measurer, the mind? At a recent seminar on Science and Religion, at which I was a speaker, a Catholic in the audience bravely announced that whenever she looks through a telescope at the stars, she feels uncomfortable because her religion is threatened. I commented that whenever a scientist looks the other way round through a telescope, to observe the one who is watching, then they feel uncomfortable because their science is threatened by what is doing the seeing! So what is doing the seeing, what is this mind that eludes modern science?

A Grade-One teacher once asked her class "What is the biggest thing in the world?" One little girl answered "My daddy". A little boy said "An elephant", since he'd recently been to the zoo. Another girl suggested "A mountain". The six-year-old daughter of a close friend of mine replied, "My eye is the biggest thing in the world"! The class stopped. Even the teacher didn't understand her answer. So the little philosopher explained "Well, my eye can see her daddy, an elephant, and a mountain too. It can also see so much else. If all of that can fit into my eye, then my eye must be the biggest thing in the world"! Brilliant.

However, she was not quite right. The mind can see everything that one's eye can see, and it can also imagine so much more. It can also hear, smell, taste and touch, as well as think. In fact, everything that can be known can fit into the mind. Therefore, the mind must be the biggest thing in the world. Science's mistake is obvious now. The mind is not in the brain, nor in the body. The brain, the body and the rest of the world, are in the mind!

Mind is the sixth sense in Buddhism, it is that which encompasses the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, and transcends them with its own domain. It corresponds loosely to Aristotle's "common sense" that is distinct from the five senses. Indeed, ancient Greek philosophy, from where science is said to have its origins, taught six senses just like Buddhism. Somewhere along the historical journey of European thinking, they lost their mind! Or, as Aristotle would put it, they somehow discarded their "common sense"! And thus we got science. We got materialism without any heart. One can accurately say that Buddhism is a science that has kept its heart, and which hasn't lost its mind!
Thus Buddhism is not a belief system. It is a science founded on objective observation, i.e. meditation, ever careful not to disturb the reality through imposing artificial measurements, and it is evidently repeatable.

People have been re-creating the experimental conditions, known as establishing the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, for over twenty-six centuries now, much longer than science. And those renowned Professors of Meditation, the male and female Arahants, have all arrived at the same conclusion as the Buddha. They verified the timeless Law of Dhamma, otherwise known as Buddhism. So Buddhism is the only real science, and I'm happy to say that I'm still a scientist at heart, only a much better scientist than I ever could have been at Cambridge.

Be Your Own Therapist - Venerable Robina Courtin (A Tibetan Buddhist nun)

Google Tech Talks October 3, 2008

ABSTRACT

We spend our lives being seduced by the outside world, believing without question that happiness and suffering come from "out there." In reality, Buddhist teachings explain that they come from the way we perceive and interpret things, not the things themselves.

This deeply held misconception is at the root of our dissatisfaction, self-doubt, anger, depression, anxiety, and the rest. But our minds can change. By becoming deeply familiar with the workings of our own cognitive processes through introspection and learning to deconstruct them - truly, being our own therapists - we can loosen the grip of these neuroses and grow our marvelous potential for contentment, clarity, and courage, which are at the core of our being.

Speaker: Venerable Robina Courtin
A Tibetan Buddhist nun for 30 years, beloved teacher and power-house personality, Ven. Robina Courtin is Executive Director of Liberation Prison Project, based in San Francisco. (LiberationPrisonProject.org)

A lifeline for people with nothing and no one, since 1996 Liberation Prison Project has supported the spiritual practice of over 15,000 prisoners, mainly in the US and Australia. These days, the project spends $50,000 every month, nearly half of it on salaries and benefits for a fulltime staff of ten (eight in the US and two in Australia, including three former prisoners), supported by a team of 150+ volunteers worldwide.

Ven. Robina travels the world, teaching and raising funds, touching countless hearts and minds with her down-to-earth, no-nonsense packaging of the Buddha's teachings, often filled with tasty stories from her own real-life struggles, attachments and relationships. She is able to put across to her students in and out of prison that change is possible; everyone can learn to develop their qualities, to be joyful in the face of difficulties - even on death row.

"Ven. Robina has taught me to look at everything that occurs in my life with a different view," writes one Australian prisoner. "She has given me dignity, courage, and honor."

රට ගිය ඇත්තෝ - must read this

I'm not sure this is a true story or not. But worth to read it............


මේ කතාව කොහොම පටන් ගන්නද කියල මටම තේරෙන්නෙ නැහැ.
අපි මෙහෙම පටන් ගමු. මගේ නම සමන්. සමන් ජයසිංහ. ගම කඩවත. මම සිංහ සමාජයේ සාමාජිකයෙක්. සිංහ සමාජයේ වාර්ෂික සමුලුවකට තවත් කට්ටියක් සමඟ ඇමරිකාවේ චිකාගෝවට යන්ට මට (අ)වාසනාව පෑදුනා. ඇමරිකන් උණ සෑදී වලිප්පුව සෑදී සිටි මම ආපසු ආවේ නැහැ. මට එහේ පොඩි ජොබ් කට්ටක් සෙට් උනා. දැන් අවුරුදු හතරක්. තව අවුරුද්දකට වීසා තියෙනවා. තව කීයක් හරි හොයා ගෙන ආපහු යනවා.
මට රැකියාවක් ලැබුනේ ගෑස් ස්ටේෂන් එකක. ගෑස් ස්ටේෂන් කියන්නේ පැට්‍රල් ෂෙඩ්.
පැට්‍රල් ෂෙඩ් එකක වැඩ කරනවා කියන කොට ඔබට මතක් වෙයි කාකි කොට කලිසමක් ඇඳල කාකි අත් කොට කමිසයක් ඇඳල රබර් සෙරෙප්පු දෙකක් දෙපයට දාගත්තු බුලත් හපයෙක්.
ඒත් ඇමරිකාවෙ එහෙම නැහැ. අපිට ලස්සන යුනිෆෝම් එකක් තියෙනවා. ටයි එකකුත් දාන්න ඕන.
මෙහේ ( ගෑස්) පැට්‍රල් ගහන්නේ වාහනය පදවන්නාමයි. පොම්ප 10 ක් 12 ක් විතර තියෙනවා. ක්‍රෙඩිට් කාඩ් පාවිච්චි කරල තමන්ටම ගෑස් ගහගන්නත් පුලුවන්. එහෙම නැත්නම් ඇතුළට ගිහිල්ලා පොම්පයේ අංකය කියල මුදල් ගෙව්වාම මට කරන්න තියෙන්නේ කොම්පියුටරයෙන් පොම්පය විවුර්ත කරන එකයි. ඊට අමතරව හදිසියෙන් ගන්න අවශ්‍ය බෙහෙත් පෙත්තේ එක දක්වා බඩු විකුණන මිනි මාකට් එකකුත් තියෙනවා.
මේවා හදිසියට හොයා ගන්න පුලුවන් අඩුවෙන් ගෙවන පොඩි රස්සාවල්. තනිකඩයෙකුට යම්තම් ජීවිතේ ගැට ගහ ගන්න ඒ මුදල ප්‍රමාණවත්. වැඩිපුරම මේවායේ වැඩ කරන්නේ නීති විරෝදී සංක්‍රමණිකයන්. මට බැංකු ගිණුමක් අරින්නවත් , වාහනයක් එළවන්නවත් බැහැ. not authorized to work කියල පාස්පෝට් එකේ ගහල තියෙනවා. නිකමට හරි පොලිසියට මාට්ටු වුනොත් ඩී- පෝට් තමයි.
ඇමරිකන් ඉංග්‍රීසිය අමුතු ඉංගිරිසියක්. උන්ගෙ “ඇ” කාරය වැඩි. ඩාන්ස් – ඩෑන්ස් ,… ක්ලාස් – ක්ලෑස්.. පාස් – පෑස් වගේ. ඒ අනුව මගේ නම සමන් :…. සැමන් විය යුතුය. ඒත් උන් මගේ නම වෙනස් කෙරුවා ” සෑම්” කියලා. මම සැමන් නොවී සෑම් වීම ගැන සතුටු උනා.
ගෑස් ස්ටේෂන් එක ඇතුලේ තියෙනවා කස්ටමස්ලට යන්න වැසිකිළියක්. ඒවාට කියන්නේ “රෙස්ට් රූම් ” නැත්නම් “වොෂ් රූම්” කියලා.
ඇමරිකාව කියන්නේ ගෙදරට මරගාතෙ- ලෝකෙට පරකාසෙ කරන රටක්. මෙහේ තරම් හිඟන්නෝ නැතිව ඇති ලෝකෙ කොහේවත්. මුන්ට කියන්නේ “හෝම්ලස් පීපල්” කියල. “බෙගර්ස් ” කියන වචනය පාවිච්චි කරන්නෙ නැහැ.
අ. පො. ස. විභාගයේදී මට විශිෂ්ට සම්මාන තියෙනව ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවට සහ සාහිත්‍යයට. ඊට අමතරව උසස් ආයතනයකින් ලද සහතිකයකුත් තියෙන නිසා මා හිතා හිටියේ මා තරම් ඉංග්‍රීසි උගතෙක් තවත් නැතිව ඇති කියාය. එහෙත් මා කියනා දේ මුන්ට නොතේරෙයි. උන් කියනා දේ මටද නොතේරෙයි.
ඒ නිසාම මට දී තිබුනේ කස්ටමර්ලා අඩු රෑ සේවා මුරයයි.
දිනක් එක් හෝම්ලස් මිනිහෙක් ඇතුළට ඇවිත් ” may I use your rest room ” කියල මගෙන් ඇහුවා.
“rest room only for customers” කියලා මම මිනිහව එළවා ගත්තා. මගෙ තාත්තගේ වයසේ මිනිහෙක්. මට පස්සෙ දුක හිතුනා. උගෙ මූන අමුතුයි. හමේ පාට සුදුත් නෙවෙයි.. කලුත් නෙවෙයි. ඇස් දෙක පැහැදිලියි. බැල්ම තියුණුයි.
පසුවදා සුපුරුදු රෑ ෂිෆ්ට් එක නිම වෙලා මම පයින්ම මගේ නවාතැනට ගාටමින් හිටියා. වෙලාව උදේ 7.30 ට විතර ඇති. පාර අයිනෙ බංකුවක් උඩ හෝම්ලස් මිනිහෙක් ඉඳගෙන හිටියා. මිනිහා මොනවද තාලෙට කියනව මට ඇහුනා.
” ඩූව් ඩීමට් කාරෙ බෙන්ඩා…” ටිකක් පුරුදු හඬක්. ඒ අර මම එළව ගත් මිනිහා. මම මිනිහට කිට්ටු කළා.
හලෝ.. are you singing ?
මිනිහ පැහැදිලි ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් ” cold….can you buy me a coffee ? මිනිහගේ කකුල් දෙකම වන වෙලා. ඒවාට දැමූ දම් පාට බෙහෙතට උඩින් සාරෙ ගලමින් තිබුණා. මම වහාම කෝපි එකක් අරන් දී,
” are you sick?”
“I am having cold and fever”
මගේ සාක්කුවේ ලංකාවෙන් ගෙනා පැනඩෝල් පෙති වගයක් තිබුණා. ඉන් දෙකක් මම මිනිහට දුන්නා.
” Panadol ? are you sri lankan ?”
” my god ! are you sri lankan too ?
දිග සුසුමක් හෙලූ එයා මොනවදෝ කියන්න ලෑස්ති උනා.
මට මහන්සියි. නිදිමතයි. අපි පස්සෙ හමුවෙමු කියල , රෑ ෂිෆ්ට් එකෙන් මාටියා ගහපු ඩොලර් කීපයක් මම මිනිහගේ අතේ තියල නවාතැනට ගියා.
රෑ නිදි වරා සිටියත් උදේ සිදුවූ දේ නිසා මට නින්ද ගියේ නැහැ.
කොහොමටත් රෑ නින්ද වගේ නෙවේ දවල්ට නිදා ගන්න එක.
ඊට පස්සෙ දින කීපයක් යන තුරු මම මිනිහව දැක්කෙ නෑ.
එදත් සුපුරුදු පරිදි මගේ රෑ ෂිෆ්ට් එක. හදිසියේම ” අරයා” ආවා. රෑ 12.30 ට විතර. ඇතුලට නෑවිත් වීදුරු ජනේලෙන් මා දිහා ඔරවා ගෙන හිටියා. ඔහුගේ රැවුල , කොන්ඩේ දිගටම වැවිලා තිබුනා. වැඩි හරියක් සුදු කෙස්.
ඒ වෙලාවේ කස්ටමර්ලා අඩුයි. මම කෝපි එකකුත් හදාගෙන මිනිහ ළඟට ගියා.
” Are you speaking Sinhala ?” මිනිහා මගෙන් අහනව.
” මම හිතුවේ සෑම් මහත්තයා ඉන්දියන් හරි මෙක්සිකන් හරි කියල. ලංකාවෙ කොහේද ?”
මටයි මිනිහගේ විස්තර දැන ගන්න ඕන. මිනිහ මං ගැන අහනව.
මෙතන ඉඳල ලියන්නම් ඔහු මට කී කතාව.
මගේ නම සිරිල් සපරමාදු. මගේ වයිෆ් පද්මිනී. අපි හෝමාගම.
ලොතරැයි දිනුම් වලින් හරි ගියේ කීයෙන් කීදෙනාටද සෑම් මහත්තයෝ. මටත් ඇදුනා ලොතරැයියක්. වීසා ලොටරි එක. දැනට අවුරුදු 25 කට ඉස්සර මම මහ බැංකුවේ මාණ්ඩලික නිලධාරියෙක්. මගෙ වයිෆ් ගුරුවරියක්. අපි ලංකාවෙ හොඳ ජීවිතයක් ගත කළා. ඇමරිකන් එම්බසියෙන් ලියුම ආදා ඉඳල සතියක් අපේ ගෙදර ලිප පත්තු උනේ නෑ සෑම් මහත්තයෝ. අපෙ සේරටම ඇමරිකන් උණ හැදුනා. අපිට ළමයි තුන් දෙනයි. වැඩිමළා පුතා ඊළඟට දූලා දෙන්නා. අපි මෙහේ එනකොට පුතාට 7 යි. දූලට 6 යි, 5 යි. අපි තිබ්බ සේරම සේසත විකුණලයි ආවෙ.
මාත් ඔයා වගේ ගැස් ස්ටේෂන් එකක වැඩ කළා. වයිෆ්ට මොන්ටිසෝරියක රස්සාව ලැබුණා. අපි දෙන්නාගෙ පඩියෙන් පවුලක් නඩත්තු කරන්න අමාරු නිසා මම ජොබ් දෙකක් කළා. ඒක හරිම අමාරු වැඩක්. හිතේ වේගෙට කළාට මම නිතර නිතර ලෙඩ වුනා.
විවිධ හැල හැප්පීම් මැද කාලය ගෙවී ගියා.
පුතා නම් ඉගෙනීමට වැඩි උනන්දුවක් පෙන්නුවෙ නෑ. දූල දෙන්නම ” මාස්ටර්ස්” දක්වා ඉගෙන ගෙන දෙන්නම ඇමරිකන් කාරයො දෙන්නෙක් එක්ක විවාහ උනා.
ඒව නිකම් ” නමට විවාහ” ලාස් වේගාස් වල තියෙනව ” drive through ” කසාද බඳින්න තැනක්. ලොකු දුව වෙන ස්ටේට් එකකට ගියා පදිංචියට.
ඉන්න තැනක අපි කාටවත් කීවෙ නැහැ.
පුතා මෝටර් මෙකැනික් කෝස් එකක් කරල මෝටර් රත හදන කොම්පැනියකට බැඳුනා. මිනිහට හොඳයි. හැබැයි නාස්ති කාරයා. බීමට ඇබ්බැහි උනා. ඉතිරියක් , අනාගතයක් ගැන හිතුවෙ නැහැ.
පොඩි දුවට බබා ලැබිල අවුරුදු 5 කට පස්සෙ අපිව එක්ක ගියා එයාලගෙ ගෙදරට. අපි එහේ හිටියේ ආගන්තුකයෝ වගේ. මගෙ වයිෆ්ට නම් වැඩ තිබුනා. ඒ මිනිපිරී – නිකෝල් – බලා ගන්න එක. කෙලීට තිබුනේ නිල් පාට ඇස් දෙකක්. සුදු පාට හමක්. කොන්ඩෙ නම් කලු පාටයි. ටිකක් මගෙ වයිෆ් පද්මිනිත් වගෙයි. සමහර දාට නිකෝල් මගෙ උනුහුමට තුරුල් වෙලා නිදා ගත්තා. මම ඇගේ හිස පිරි මැද්දා. ඈ ඊට ආසා කළා. මම ඈට ” කිරි සුදු හාවා” ඉගැන්නුවා.
දවසක් අපේ බෑණා – මයික් පියර්සන්- අහනව මගෙ දුවගෙන් what the hell that old man doing here කියල.
Don’t talk like that. He is may dad. ඒ මගෙ දුව.
But this is my house– ඒ බෑණා.
OK I will ask them to leave. You can hire a baby sitter for 600 dollars for a week.
මම එදා හිතා ගත්තා මම තව දුරටත් මෙහේ හිටියොත් ඒක මෙයාලගෙ පවුල් ජීවිතයට බාධාවක් කියල.
” පද්මිනි… මම යනව පුතා ළඟට. ඔයාට මෙහේ කරදරයක් නැහැනෙ.”
අපි දෙන්නා බැන්දට පස්සෙ කවදාවත් වෙන් වෙලා ඉඳල නෑ. එයා කඳුලු පුරවා ගෙන මා දිහා බලා ගෙන ඊට කැමැත්ත දුන්නා.
” මතක් කරල බෙහෙත් ටික අරගෙන යන්න”
පුතා ජීවත්වුනෙ single bed room අපාර්ට්මන්ට් එකක. මිනිහ මාව සතුටෙන් පිළිගත්ත. ඒත් වැඩි විස්තර ඇහුවෙ නෑ. ඒ එයාගෙ හැටි.
මම ගිය ගමන්ම කළේ ගේ අස් කරන එක. පුතා කැම බීම කරල තියෙන්නෙ පිටින්.
” තාත්ත බියර් එකක් බොනවද?” පුතා බියර් බෝතලයක් කටේ තියාගෙන බොන ගමන් මගෙන් ඇහුව. මම මගේ තාත්ත ඉස්සරහ වාඩිවෙලාවත් නැහැ.
මම මටම සාප කර ගත්ත. දුර දිග නොබලා ගත්තු තීරණ නිසා අද අපේ පවුල සී සී කඩ. දරුවන් දෙමාපියන් අතර සම්බන්දයක් නැහැ. දරුවො හිත් පිත් නැති මැෂින් වගේ. රොබෝල වගේ.
මම මාකට් එකට ගිහින් පුංචි රයිස් කුකර් එකක්, තේ හදන්න අවශ්‍ය කරන දේ සහ තවත් දේ ගෙනාවා.
” පුතා මීට පස්සෙ පිටින් කෑම කන්න එපා. අද ඉඳල මම උයනව”
“ඉතින් කොහොමද මේ තත්ත්වෙට වැටුනේ ?” මම එයාගෙ කතාවට බාධා කලා.
” අනේ සෑම් මහත්තයෝ, මං ගැන කාටවත් කියන්න එපා. ඒක අපේ රටට කරන අගෞරවයක්.”
පුතා මගෙත් එක්ක මුලින් හොඳට කතා බහ කළා. පස්සෙ පස්සෙ අහන දේට විතරක් උත්තර දුන්න. සුමානයක් දෙකක් යනකොට මට එයාගෙ වෙනසක් තේරුනා. මිනිහ මාව නොරුස්සන ගතියක් මට දැනුන.
එදා ජූනි 15. පුතාගෙ උපන් දිනෙ. මම උදේම නැගිටල කිරිබත් ඉව්වා. පුතා කිරිබත් කන්න හරි ආසයි.
” පුතා අද කලින් ගෙදර එන්න. මම ඩිනර් ලෑස්ති කරනව.”
මට හොඳට උයන්න පුලුවන්. මම කහ බතක් උයල චිකන් උයල, පරිප්පු වේලෙන්න උයල, ලූනු සම්බෝලයකුත් හැදුව. පුතා ආවෙ නැහැ. මම රෑ 11 වෙන තුරු බලා ඉඳල තනියම කෑම කෑවා.
තව ටිකක් බලා හිටියා. මට දන්නෙම නැතිව ඉඳගෙන හිටි පුටුවෙම නින්ද ගියා. පුතා තව කට්ටියක් එක්ක එනකොට පාන්දර 3.00 ට විතර ඇති. සේරටම හොඳටම වෙරි.
උන් ළඟ වස ගඳයි. මරිජුවානද මොනවද ගහල. සාලෙ ලයිට් පත්තු උනා. එකෙක් අහනව “Who the fuck is this ?” කියල.
“Are you living with your dad ?” ඒ තව එකෙක්.
මම දවසක් පුතාගෙන් ඇහුව ” පුතාට මම ඉන්න එක කරදරයක්ද ?” කියල.
” කරදරයක් නම් නෑ. ඒත් යාලුවෙක් වත් ගෙන්න ගන්න විදිහක් නෑ. “I too have a life තාත්තෙ”
මට දැනුන ලොකු විනාශයක් අත ළඟ කියල. මම දවස් කීපයක්ම පොඩි දුවටත්, පද්මිනීටත් කෝල් කරන්න උත්සාහ කළා. එයාලගෙ ෆෝන් එක ඩිස්කනෙක්ට් කරල. එයාල වෙන කොහාටද ගිහිල්ල.
පුතා හදිසියෙම එයාගෙ කාර් එක වික්කා.
” තාත්තෙ මම යනව නිව්යෝර්ක් වලට . ට්‍රේනින් එකකට. සති දෙකකට.”
එයා ඇඳුම් බෑග් එක, ලැප්ටොප් එක එහෙම අරගෙන පිටත් උනා.
එදා ඉරිදා දවසක්. මම ටිකක් දවල් වෙන තුරු නිදා ගත්ත. කවුදෝ දොරට ගහනව. මම ගිහින් බැලුව.
නෝටන් ලෝපෙස්- අපාට්මන්ට් මැනේජර්.
“Your son din’t pay rent. You have to pay or leave the apartment”
” Can’t you wait? He will be back in two weeks”
” No he is not coming back. He moved to NewYork”
මගේ පුතා අභිනිෂ්ක්‍රමණය කරලා.
පුතා ඉපදුනේ ජයවර්ධනපුර රෝහලේ. මට පනිවිඩේ ලැබෙන කොට හවස 3.00 ට විතර ඇති. සීසර් සැත්කම නිසා පද්මිනීට සිහිය ඇවිත් තිබුනේ නැහ. පුතා කොට් එකේ හිටියා. අඬ අඬා. මම ඇඟිල්ලෙන් එයාගෙ ලපටි ලා රෝසපාට කම්මුල් ස්පර්ශ කළා. ඇඬිල්ල නැවතුනා. ළඟ ඇඳක හිටි ගැහැණියක් ” දැක්කද තාත්ත අඳුර ගත්තු හැටි කීවා. මට අද වගේ මතකයි.
සපරමාදුගෙ කතාව ඇහුවට පස්සෙ මෙතෙක් කල් ජීවිතය ගැන තිබූ ආසාවන් සේරම වෙනස් වුනා වගේ කියල මට හිතුනා. මම නවාතැනට ගිය ගමන්ම අම්මට කෝල් කළා. මගෙ තාත්ත ජීවතුන් අතර නැහැ. ෆෝන් එක ගත්තෙ අම්ම.
මම “හලෝ” කිව්වම” ආ මගෙ පුතේ.. දැන් කාල බීලද ඉන්නෙ? දැන් ඔහේ වෙලාව කීයද?” කියල ඇහුව. මට එක පාරටම ඇඬුම් යන්න ආවා.” ඇයි පුතාට සනීප නැද්ද?” අම්ම අහනව.” ඔය හිටිය ඇති පුතේ ඉක්මණට ආපහු එන්න”
ෆෝන් කාඩ් එක ඩොලර් පහයි. ඒක ඉවරවෙන තුරුම මම අම්මත් එක්ක කතා කළා. ඒත් මගේ හිතේ ඇතිවුනු පීඩනය ඉවත් වුනේ නැහැ.”
ඇයි සපරමාදු අන්කල්ට පංසලට යන්න තිබුණනේ?” බුද්ධාගමේ නේද ?
ඔය සිංහළ ඇසෝසේෂන් එකට එහෙම ගියෙ නැද්ද?”
ඒව තියෙන්නෙත් ලොකු මිනිස්සුන්ට විතරයි. ඒවයින් කෙරෙන්නේ බාස්කට් බෝල් ටූනමන්ට්/ ඩිනර් ඩාන්ස් වගේ ඒව කරන එක විතරයි.
හැමදාම ජොබ් දෙකක් කරල මම ගෙදර එන්නේ කොයි වෙලාවෙද ඇඳට වැටෙන්නෙ කියල බලා ගෙන. ඒ නිසා මට යාලුවෙක් ආශ්‍රය කරන්නවත්, පංසලකට පල්ලියකට යන්නවත් බැරි වුනා. මගේ හිතේ තිබූ හීන මාණය නිසා ලංකාවෙ මිනිස්සු ගැවසෙන තැන් වලට නොයා ඉන්න මම පුරුදු උනා.
මම කීප වතාවක්ම ලංකාරාමයට ගිහින් තියෙනව. ඒ කඨින දවස් වල. කටට රහට කාල එන්න. මට ජිනානන්ද හාමුදුරුවන්ට මූන දෙන්න බෑ.
මගෙත් එක්ක වැඩ කරන උන් මම නිතරම හෝම්ලස් මෑන් කෙනෙක් එක්ක කතා කරනව නෝට් කරල. උන් කියන්නේ ඒ මගෙ ඩෑඩ් කියල.
මගේ තත්වයත්, සපරමාදුගෙ තත්වය වගේම බරපතල එකක්. “මටත් වඩා අබලන් මගෙ හැරමිටිය” කිව්ව වගේ අනේ අපොයි කියල හිත හදා ගන්නව ඇරෙන්න මට වෙන කරන්න දෙයක් තිබුනේ නැහැ . ඉඳල හිටල මම කීයක් හරි සපරමාදුට දුන්න.
” ඉතිං සපරමාදු අන්කල්, ආංඩුවෙන් ගානක් හම්බ වෙනව නේද?”
මුලදී මට සෝෂල් සෙකුරිටි ලැබුණා. ඒත් දැන් මට ඉන්න තැනක් නෑ. ඇඩ්‍රස් එකක් නෑ.
මට හිඟමන් ලැබෙන්නෙ කලාතුරකින්. උන් හිඟමන් දෙන්නෙත් පාට බලල.
” දැන් කොච්චර කල් වෙනවද මෙහෙම වෙල?”
දැනට අවුරුදු 5 කට වඩා .. සමර් එකට නම් ගානක් නැහැ. වැටිච්ච තැන නින්ද යනව. වින්ටර් එකට අපි ගිහින් දානව කෑම්ප් එකකට.
” ඉතිං අංකල් ගෙ වයිෆ් දැක්කෙ නැද්ද ඊට පස්සෙ?”
ඇයි නැත්තෙ ?
දවසක් මම පාක් එකේ බංකුවක ඇලවෙලා හිටියා. මං දැක්ක හැඩ රුව හුරු පුරුදු කෙනෙක් පොඩි බබෙක් කාට් එකක දාගෙන පාක් එකට එනව. ඒ පද්මිනී. දිග කලිසමක් ඇඳල. අඳුරන්නත් අමාරුයි.
මම ඒ වෙනකොටත් හොඳටම ජරා ජීර්ණ වෙලා. මම එයා ළඟට ගියා. එයා ඇස් උඩ තියා ගත්තා.
” ඔයාට මොකද මේ උනේ?” මම ඔයා හැම තැනම හෙව්වා”
” පුතා මාව දාල ගියා.. ඔයා දැන් කොහේද ඉන්නේ?”
“පොඩි දුවලත් වෙන කොහාටද ගියා. මං හිතන්නෙ ෆ්ලොරිඩා වලට… බේබි සිටින් කරල පළපුරුද්ද තියෙනව කියල මට සහතිකයක් දීල ගියා.. මම දැන් ගෙදරක බබෙක් බලාගන්නවා.. ඔයා කොහේද ඉන්නේ ?”
” මට ඉන්න නියම තැනක් නෑ. හුඟක් වෙලාවට ෆ්‍රී වේ එක යට තමයි නිදා ගන්නෙ”
” ඔයා කෞන්ටි හොස්පිටල් එකකට ගිහින් ඔය තුවාල වලට බෙහෙත් දාගන්න”
ඉස්සර මට ලෙඩක් හැදුනම වැඩියෙන් කලබල වෙන්නෙ පද්මිනී. මාව බලෙන්ම දොස්තරගාවට ඇදගෙන යනව. ලෙඩේ කියන්නෙත් එයාමයි. හැමදේම වෙනස් වෙලා.
” මට පරක්කු වෙනව. 5.30 වෙන කොට මේ බබාගෙ අම්ම එනව”
මගේ පපුව හෝස් ගා ගෙන ගියා. හැමෝම වෙන් වෙලා යනව. අපි ආයෙ කවදා හමුවෙයිද ?
දවසක් මං හම්බ වෙන්න රෑ 12.30 ට විතර සපරමාදු ආව. එයා මට දුන්න පොලිතින් වලින් ඔතාපු පාර්සලයක්
” සෑම් මහත්තයා මට පොඩි උදව්වක් කරන්න. මේ අපේ ෆොටෝ ඇල්බම් එක. ඔයාට පද්මිනී අඳුරගන්න අමාරු වෙන එකක් නෑ. ඔය ඇල්බම් එක එයාට දෙන්න. ඕක ඇතුලේ සල්ලි වගයක් ඇති . ඒකත් එයාට දෙන්න.”
ඔයා ආපහු ලංකාවට යනව කිව්වා නේද ? යන්න…… මේක හොඳ රටක් නෙවි.”
සපරමාදු එදා නම් කතා කලේ සිහි විකලෙන් වගේ.
‘ඔයාට මගෙ වයිෆ් හම්බ උනේ නැත්නම් ඔය සල්ලි වලින් මහත්තයගෙ අම්මට මොනව හරි අරන් යන්න..”
පහුවදා පාන්දර මට කස්ටමර් කෙනෙක් ඇවිත් කිව්ව ට්‍රෑෂ් බින් එක ළඟ හෝම්ලස් මිනිහෙක් වැටිල ඉන්නවා කියල. මම විගහට ගිහින් බැලුව.
ඒ සපරමාදු. මම 911 කෝල් කළා.
ටික වෙලාවකින් ඇම්බියුලන්ස් එක ආව. මම වීදුරු කවුලුවෙන් බලා හිටියා.
සුදු රෙද්දකින් වහපු සපරමාදුගෙ සිරුර ඇම්බියුලන්ස් එකෙන් කොහාටද අරන් ගියා.
සපරමාදු මැරිලා.
නිමි.

For all those born in 80’s !

I was born in February, 14th 1980 (Yes Valentines Baby). And if you think about our past, this is so true :) 

We are the last generation that learnt to play in the street. We are the first who’ve played video games, see cartoons in color and went to amusement parks. We were the last to record songs of the radio on cassettes and we are the pioneers of walkmans and chartrooms…We learned how to program the VCR before anyone else, play with Atari, Super… Nintendo and believed that the Internet would be a free world all on a 56Kbit model. Traveled in cars without seat belts or air-bags and lived without cell phones. Rode our bicycles down the roads without breaks. We never had phones but still kept in touch. We did not have Play stations, 99 television stations, flat screen’s, surrounds sound, mp3s, iPods, iPhone, iPads, touch tablets and broadband……….

 

But nevertheless we had a GREAT TIME……

Criminal penguin captured on film

A "criminal" stone-stealing Adelie penguin has been captured on camera by a BBC film crew.

The team, filming for the documentary Frozen Planet, spent four months with the penguin colony on Ross Island, Antarctica.
The footage they captured shows a male penguin stealing stones from its neighbour's nest.
The birds build their stone nests to elevate and protect their eggs from run-off when the Antarctic ice melts.
Males with the best nests are more likely to attract a mate, so, in a colony of half a million penguins, the best stones are highly prized.
In the chaos of the penguin colony, cameraman Mark Smith managed to capture a remarkable sequence, with one penguin repeatedly returning to its nest to add stones, apparently unaware of the fact that his neighbor would steal a stone every time his nest was unattended.

Rare Photos

Google in 1999, when they started

Lady Diana accident scene

Football player dies while playing

Pope John Paul with the man that tried to kill him

The moment when Geoge Bush was notified of the attack on the Twin Towers

The Titanic ship before sailing

Holocast done by Hiltler

The Beatles when they were adolescents

School grades of Albert Einstein

Construction of the Empire State Building. This is a copy of the original photo

Jews in concentration camp

First computer ever made

Charlie Chaplin and Mahatma Gandhi

Construction of Christ The Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro

Black physicians treating in the ER a member of the Ku Kux Klan

Body of President Kennedy in 1963

Adolf Hitler as a child

Evolution of the Coca Cola

Berlin wall being torn down

Construction of Disney world

Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee

Osama Bim Laden Family. Osama is the one with red circle around his face

The Beatles before they became famous

Elvis Presley drafted into the Army

Papa Pio XII and Hitler

The Titanic at the bottom of the sea

Sadam Hussein with the noose around the neck

CHE GUEVARA AND FIDEL CASTRO

The FIRST McDonald

Early construction of Brasilia, capital of Brasil

OUTSIDE THREAT Comet ElENIN october 16 2011...UFO invasion?