Archive for the ‘Sri Lanka’ Category
Buying Local is Overrated, At least for Web Hosting!
When it comes to buying services and complex products I always prefer buying from a local seller. This makes it easy to communicate and handle any matter that might come up when using the product or service that we buy. But in some cases the typical Sri Lankan customer relationship attitude make it a nightmare.
This happened way too often with my hosting provider. To be specific the X hosting provider. Not that this blog is some mission critical application, but when ever there is a problem with servers or downtime, a simple proactive mail from the host can save lot of time for customers. Instead they just make us panic and wonder what is going on. And in most of such incidents it takes ages to get a response from them.
Empower Farmers, Without Burdening Government or People!
MAHOtrain recently posted two posts on their views on farmers problems and solutions that they propose. This post is an attempt to continue and expand on the discussion they started. But with a slightly different view.
Should the farmers problems be governments problem?. Well as far as the politics and votes are concern, yes it should be. They represent a large percentage of voter base outside Colombo. But should it involve itself at the level it does today? I don’t think so.
Farmers has many problems. Their crops are not market driven. Their decisions are driven more by tradition than science and economics. There is a disconnect between them and the market. They have very high production costs and low returns. They import fertilizer and machinery, but the product is locally consumed. And when it comes to selling their harvest the middle man is pretty much a monopoly, which farmers can’t control.
I agree with MAHO in many of its points. Specially about the gap between science and farmers on the ground, Diversification, Proper Planning and Organization. But I do not agree when it comes to government should do this, that and what not.
Electronic Billing Proof, Anyone?
These days you need billing proof for everything. Good old days of opening a bank account with just your ID and money is long gone. I was lucky enough to have my first bank account and my prepaid phone connection that way. In case you don’t know, billing proof is a piece of paper which has your name and address on it. Without it, you don’t exist. But once I started to work and wanted to get a credit card and a post paid phone connection, it turned out to be a whole new ball game. Apparently I did not have any acceptable billing proof. In other words, I was a ghost.
On Parking Fees in Colombo City and Our Vehicle Owners
Yes! parking cost is high in Colombo. Specially if you don’t want to park your vehicle under boiling hot sun and leave one of your biggest assets at the mercy of robbers. It’s high not because some people trying to rip off vehicle owners, but because the gap between supply and demand has driven up prices. Sunday Observer recently ran two articles on this topic (this and this). And they shed some light on this issue. How ever what took my eyes was the pathetic situation of hippocratic in the minds of our own people exposed through these two articles.
We all have at some point used all the sorts of car parks in the city. Most outdoor parks has little or no sense of security, (I have lost few parts of the vehicle by parking in those places and it has cost me lot more than what I could have saved by parking there) and bake everything inside the car if you park during the day. Then there is those indoor parks attached to main shopping malls in the city. They have better security (at least you feel that way) and better protection from elements. And for that there is a higher demand to park there and the prices are high. Also these are not public parks by definition. Those parks are setup by those companies for customers who are shopping in those malls. But we all take those for granted and happily use/misuse them. We all know where we prefer to park between those dusty hot outdoor parks and nice indoor parks.
How Not To Celebrate 2600th Sambuddha Jayanthi: Music at Temples!
Ok! first of all I am not a very religious guy. But I do go to temples and worship once in a while. Most of that credit should go to my mother and my wife. And I normally avoid going to temples on poya days as temples tend to be too crowded, and lose their relaxing and peaceful environment which one would need to do religious activities.
How since this is our first Wesak festival after getting married and the 2600 Sambuddha Jayanthi, we went to the temple close to our house. It was a good thing that we left the vehicle at home and walked all the way. Traffic was like hell. Vehicles were jammed bumper to bumper. There was even an ambulance with sirens running but going nowhere. Hope whoever inside that is still alive. I also could not help noticing that the dansala with the longest queue was the one done by the local BBQ shop.
Is Democracy Being Flushed Down the Drain in Sri Lankan Blogosphere Or Are We Just Playing Naive?
For many countries Internet, World Wide Web, social networks, blogs are the strongholds of democracy. In recent events in middle east they have served as the last line of defense for democracy, allowing it to fight back dictatorships and totalitarian societies. But Sri Lankan blogosphere seems a little different. It appears that some people thing that it should be more totalitarian than the Sri Lankan Society itself. Of course Sri Lanka is not a totalitarian society. At least not yet. But the Sinhala blogosphere seems becoming one thanks to few fundamentalists. Of course they do not have the support of the majority, but I think it’s the lack of awareness of the majority that is creating them room.
Drama over ‘Enna’ (Banned Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup Song)
This is not a post to defend Lahiru Perera, his music or anything. This just what I see from all the drama happening over his world cup cheer song ‘Enna’. If you have listened to any of Lahiru Pereras songs, you must have realised that he is not Amaradewa, Suni Edirisingha, or not even Sunil Perera or Iraj when it comes to music style. He is in a different class, popular among some and not so popular among others. In songs like Rambari and this one, his lyrics are mostly a meaningless bunch of words thrown together in a way that rhymes. Nothing more. If some one is trying to measure his music with a measuring stick any better than that, I don’t think it is practical. Because any one can see that his songs are mare entertainment and not serious art work.
No Papare Bands At Cricket World Cup 2011 Matches?
If you have subscribed for Ada-Derana news updates, you must have received a message saying “Banners, parsals, musical instruments, glass bottles, crackers, laser lights, sharp instruments are not allowed in World Cup venues in SL”. And some time later you must have got the message “Following appeals by public IGP has allowed spectators to take posters & banners promoting cricket & players ….”.
This news item in Daily Mirror says that SLC will provide music so the bands are not needed. What the hell! At SL-Canada match there were some bongos that never fit in to the picture and some DJ music which were annoying. In Sri Lanka there is nothing that can boost a cricketing atmosphere like a papare band. It is something unique to Sri Lanka and a part of Sri Lankan Cricket identity. If we are to promote cricket and Sri Lanka that’s what we must promote. Not bongos.
Thank You 46 Unique Viewers!
First of all let me give a big thank to 46 unique viewers for watching the crappy online broadcast of our wedding. That was in fact a several times larger audience than we expected 
. And thank you all the guys who took turns holding the phone during the broadcast. Sorry HaYa for misplacing the backup phone you gave . And thanks for all the wishes. I was hoping to write this little early. But unfortunately my blog went down day after the wedding, and I was too busy catching up with the work I had to leave behind because of the wedding.
Based on the feed back and calls we got during and after the event, we would have got few more viewers if we managed to spread the word little further. If any of you guys are planing to do this kind of broadcast, here comes few pointers. Try to spread the URL to people you know as much as possible. Because when some of your friends/relatives get to know that your event is online, and want to know the URL, you will be at the event and unable to help them out. It is best if they can get it from some one else. More of your friends and relatives know it, better.
Watch Our Wedding Online :)
If you have read my last few posts you should have seen this coming. However this is a big if. We are not sure if we will be able to do this until the last moment. In a wedding online broadcasting has lower than the lowest priority. Lot of thing has to come to place.
We are planning to do this using a 3G camera phone. Therefore the venue must have good 3.5G reception with good upload speeds. Venue doesn’t have a Wi-Fi hotspot so that option is out of the table. We should be able to find a volunteer to hold the camera phone. And the phone battery must last long enough to do a meaning full broadcast. Oh also I must be able to borrow a backup phone to use my sim while my phone is being used for the broadcast with a mobitel broadband sim.
