What if aliens were to visit Colombo?

While sitting in a car on Duplication Road one evening around 6 pm in a traffic jam, it occurred to me that if an alien being happened to pass by, she would be intrigued as to why Sri Lankans are so fond of Colombo that they are prepared to sacrifice so much in order to gather in one bit of the country and practically ignore the rest. In fact, she may wonder why all citizens of Sri Lanka are consciously or unconsciously contributing towards Colombo’s growth and functioning.

If she asked me to explain, I would be helpless because I have no answers. With that possible scenario in mind, I thought of asking your readers if they knew why the people of Sri Lanka sacrifice so much to benefit Colombo. Let me offer some examples of what an alien may consider to be wildly disproportionate sacrifices and ask whether it is a price worth paying:

Nature, clean air and the environment

Burning fossil fuel to carry workers, schoolchildren and their families to and from Colombo on trains, buses, vans, cars, motor cycles and three wheelers, causing environmental damage, toxic fumes and global warming.

Building roads and bridges to accommodate the ever-increasing traffic in Colombo using taxes gathered from people living in all parts of the country, some of whom hardly ever visit Colombo.

Childhood and family life

Thousands of people commuting to work in Colombo before their children are awake and returning home when they are asleep. School children leaving their homes while it is still night to travel to Colombo, passing dozens or more schools on the way.

Already scarce government budgets and taxpayers’ money

Spending huge sums of public money to build or rent office blocks for government departments and resourcing them with ever growing numbers of personnel.

Quality of life

Overcrowding, forcing those with an income to live in high-rise apartment blocks and tiny houses, and those with a small or unreliable income to live in slum conditions. All surrounded by unmanageable household waste generated from packaging from convenience foods consumed by time poor people.

Health and wellbeing

Spreading infectious diseases due to high population density and then taking them all over the country by commuters. Long hours at work fueling stress and impacting on wellbeing. Leaving no time for home cooking, adversely affecting the nutritional status of the population consuming convenient but mostly junk foods.

Safety and decent work

Anonymity and overcrowding causing crime. Unregulated, informal jobs, ripe for exploitation and causing a shortage of labour in the rest of the country where food and export crops are grown.

Undoubtedly, those in power must be convinced that all this sacrifice is justified as necessary for the whole country to prosper. The problem is they don’t explain to us why and how they are necessary. Repeating terms like “economic growth” or “increase in GDP” will not convince the very intelligent alien. She would be aware as Robert Kennedy said 50 years ago: “GDP counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worth living”.

By prosperity she would have in mind something like: “For, at the end of the day, prosperity goes beyond material pleasures. It transcends material concerns. It resides in the quality of our lives and in the health and happiness of our families. It is present in the relationships and our trust in the community. It is evidenced by our satisfaction at work and our sense of shared meaning and purpose. It hangs on our potential to participate fully in the life of society.” (Quoted from Prosperity Without Growth. Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow by Tim Jackson)

Perhaps one (or more) of your readers will be kind enough make things clear and I can answer the alien.

Lal Jayasinghe

laljayasinghe@hotmail.com