Of this and that: mind ramblings of significance

Devo vassatu kalena/ Sabha sampati sidiya

Bheeto bhavatu lokoca/ Raja bhavatu dhammiko

My brief interpretation being that when rulers are just and rule well, gods are pleased and rains come when due, and people and the country prosper. The South West Monsoon did come on time and has rejuvenated itself as I write this on Thursday June 3. But crops won’t be what they can be with the sudden decision taken to ban inorganic fertilizers used over so many decades and proven not being the cause of kidney disease in the north central part of the island.

Lockdown

We are at the moment totally dismayed; certainly not at being locked down. That is a necessity and we older persons particularly, manage well. But the general public do not seem to recognize, as yet, the full impact and consequent ravages that can befall (or has befallen) our nation, by their careless and totally selfish action. Consequences are already staring us in the face with more to come: community contagion and the almost impossibility of containing C19 infection.

Thus no one can point fingers of accusation solely at the government nor law enforcement officers and say they are responsible for the state we are in. The people themselves bring disaster on themselves and fellow citizens. This fact was displayed in TV news on Monday May 31where traffic jams resulted and long lines of waiting vehicles when the police ascertained legitimacy of motorists and others on the roads.

Vaccination

The dismay is on account of bungling plus hijacking as it is termed now, of doses of A-Z vaccine which were earmarked as a second jab to those who were injected with this vaccine in February and March. These have been appropriated by others with clout. We hear tales of the vaccine being injected for payment of Rs 5,000. I don’t know the truth of this but the undeniable truth is that some favoured persons had even their young children vaccinated, out of turn. I’ve said it before and I say it again, I will not jump the queue, though invited by a friend to do so. I’ll wait my turn for the second jab and hope fervently that process will be managed much better than the first. There is plenty of time, (too much really), for the organization of vaccination to be planned well with no gathering in jostling, fighting masses.

This bungling of vaccination has had absolutely devastating consequences in the hinterland, as close to Colombo as 50 or so miles away. The vaccine, if not A- Z, Sputnik or even the Chinese allowed by WHO in the present emergency, should have been brought to this country long long ago and mass vaccination undertaken, at least at the first signs of India’s rapid devastation. Vaccination is a sure way of keeping Covid 19 at bay. This could have gone alongside the frantic passing of 20A; and most definitely along with the frenetic, apparently urgent passing of the Colombo Port City Commission Bill to a lawful Act. It is easy of course to say ‘this should have been done’ – the armchair critic’s weapon. But I believe my complaint is justified.

Personal story

This regret and even anger at delaying vaccination hit me with gale force when I heard from the niece of my ex-domestic that the aged father of her husband got a urine blockage, was taken to the hospital in the closest large town to them, PCR tested and found positive and so moved to the Covid ward. All that is routine. The crunch here is that the son had to live in the hospital for otherwise absolutely no assistance would be given the patient. The young man, father of three and benefactor to even my ex-domestic, was four days in a Covid 19 ward not having been inoculated even with a first dose. This is evidence that the medical and hospital system in many places are non functional or out of joint. I know their household and the entire village was waiting so eagerly for vaccination.

I burn with concern for my ex-helper living with this nephew and family, in quarantine but…. She served me faithfully for 52 years and brought up my two sons with love and

devotion. My sons too are extremely worried as they know she was more a mother to them, than me holding a nine to five job. When the older son was in his 20s and naturally interested in girls, my domestic mentally made a suitable match for him and conveyed her choice to me. I relayed it to my son to be laughed off hilariously.

Spotting him with another, she got neurotic, worried he would soon be married, so that I had to have her seen by an understanding physician who advised a mild tranquilizer. So much her love and concern. As she advanced in age, she decided to ask me to place her in a Home for Elders. The nephew I speak of invited her to their home and gave her a spacious annexe to live in. It’s here that the C19 case was detected. Hence my justified worry and my sons’ concern. If the government had imported vaccines in time, these village dwellers would have been safe to continue their productive lives. Millions of such cases.

The burning ship in SL waters

The tackling of the burning ship is a disaster too. Under-prepared with fire fighting equipment and those to tackle leakage from ships’ cargo, the Colombo Port had the temerity to undertake the job by itself. I heard an expert say that at the first receipt of an SOS from the ship, Singapore or Dubai should have been contacted and they would have come to its aid, according to ratified marine protocols. No, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (?) had the hubris to think it could tackle the job and earn forex which seems to be the main consideration now. The fire still smoulders; the ship is sinking; and the sea around woefully polluted, damage spreading to the east coast and attacking not only marine animal life , but plants and mangroves too.

Face the Nation

of MTV1 Channel had the ship’s disaster as its topic of discussion on Monday May 31 with competent Shameer Rasooldeen as moderator. Four speakers were Dr Dan Malika Gunasekera, International Marine Law expert; Rohan Masakorale, CEO/ Shipping Academy; Rohaan Abeywickrema, Former International VP/ Chartered Institute of Logistic and Transport; and Ravindranath Dabare, Attorney-at-Law, Chairman/ Centre for Environmental Justice. They spoke with concern for the country and were unafraid to place their fingers on faults. Rohan Masakorale said that in the first years after independence we were second best in ports management, and now way way down.

The thought foremost in my mind was that Sri Lanka boasts such clever persons, fully educated and experienced in their specific fields of specialization. And then the dismal truth creeps in insidious and unbarred – What uneducated persons we have ruling us like two ministers whose comment on the ship disaster was: “But we will make money out of this.” (Not exact words of the idiocy expressed). One was Vasudeva N; the other not remembered. Certainly the two who came forward as in charge were Ports and Shipping Minister – Rohitha Abeygunewardena and Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunge who brought in tourists boastfully in safe bubbles but unbubbled no sooner they settled down in selected hotels.

A new angle has crept in. An opinion expressed in the Island of Thursday June 6, implies a conspiracy aimed at disrupting the Port City. Conspirators? Methinks maybe the pundits accuse a nation against China’s dominance in Asia. Another expressed opinion adduced tennis champ Osaka leaving the French Open due to racism. To me she was under pressure and thus depressed. Messages of solidarity went to her from players of all nationalities.

Coming back to our beloved Sri Lanka: she could be successful in every way, but through incompetence is forced to bungle from crisis to crisis.