this is an old photo cause I’m scared to carry a digital camera
I cannot leave the house without seeing Mahinda Rajapakse or a cop. On my street there are at least two and maximum 8 policemen. There are also 12 Mahinda Rajapakses. Next to Anura Bandaranaike he looks like Chef Boyardee. What Sri Lanka lacks in competence it certainly makes up for in numbers. Shopping, for example. One person follows you around, another stands there, one will write you a receipt, and one more will hand you your purchase. As you leave 2 people will mindlessly guide your car into oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, security is very much the same. Instead of 5 agents that could spot a clear shot on Lakshman Kadirgamar, we get 120 guards sleeping in Pajeros. Instead of security we get endless checkpoints and green bribe-deposit-boxes. Instead of leadership we get a posterboy.
Furthermore, the 177 bus was the slowest ever – I think because of the new reckless driving/help-we-fucked-up-the-budget fines. I have always admired the bored and surly nature of bus conductors, but not this time. This time the conductor insisted on collecting all the money before the bus left station, which I’ve never seen. Took for bloody ever. What confused me even more was that the conductor tried to organize everyone so people getting off sooner were closer to the front. I have never seen a conductor make eye contact let alone think outside of the box. But I don’t want them to organize the bus, I just want to get where I’m going. Then the bus drove sooooo slow. Like, street dogs with two legs were passing us. Despite going 15 km an hour on empty road the bus was still pulled over, and we had to wait another 5 minutes for absolutely nothing. Aaaah, wtf.
Anyways, got there and Osama’s Bush won at Clancy’s Quiz Night – sample questions:
# What is a group of monkeys called?
# What was the Natalie Portman movie where she’s pregnant (was a picture)?
# What group recently set off 380 bombs in Bangladesh?
# How many men have landed on the moon?
# What has happened in some British sport I don’t understand?
# What is the Olympic Motto?
Went to Dine-Mor to spend some of the money and on the way back ran into another checkpoint. Wtf.
Earlier today I was shopping for a scanner and I saw some bigwig in a Benz convoy. Actually saw him like 3 times at various points around Temple Trees. Surrounded by police escort, whatever. One time I didn’t notice, I just saw a cop car stopped at a light, like in the crosswalk. I jaywalk behind the cop car to see that I am now directly in front of the bigwig, holding a big box. Nobody gives a shit. I’m trying to avoid the bugger and I’ve seen him 3 times – sirens flashing and flags waving, driving down all the main roads. They manpower is just a bunch of empty numbers, not intelligent security. Rather than training 1,000 people, GoSL just tosses out 100,000 monkies and waits for Shakespeare.
what happens in a check? do they check the car or do they just ask questions?
If it’s a bus everyone just gets out and they check IDs. Sometimes in car it’s just ID, but that night they made us get out and they looked in the car and trunk. Not very thoroughly, but it was fairly obvious we were just going home. I think it was Air Force that stopped us, in blue uniforms. I’ve heard that Army can be more power trippy.
I’m curious as to what they’re looking for. Like, do terrorists have a special designation on their IDs? That said, if I wanted to cart RPGs around I’d probably think twice with all the checks.
hehe clancy’s quizes, the only time we came close was when a sudda friend of a friend came to town and seemed to know loads of the answers to the bizarre questions asked..one of them was what is the Volksvagen slogan? :S
Other than that the only good thing our teams have ever come up with were the team names, Wal Quaeda once :D
indi: I am kind of new to this blogging thing. Got into it accidentally through your blog. But did some really serious surfing after that and came across a fantastic blog. The url is “bonnehomme.blogspot.com”
Check it out guys!
Must say that I’ve gathered some serious knowledge after one or two days and will get my own blogspot soon.
I was stopped this morning on my way to Uni. I had my Press ID with me (two in fact) but the Navy dude said I should carry my NIC along as well. Looks like checkpoints are back in full swing.
Man, Global Voices Online is really sweating you, Indi. Should we be amused or proud?
to tell you the truth i haven’t been stopped at a checkpoint since 2001. are we not exaggerating a little here?
I just received a call from a freind at Law College that Ranil is at Supreme Courts and there are fire crackers all over the place. So it’s official and the Elections WILL be held in November.
Great news Niroshan – I hope he gets in this time – let’s just hope he doesn’t get shot coming out of his – hmmmm – errr – welll – pantry – with some ginegerly oil for his hair & then you say that the LTTE did it – hmmm – let’s just hope hey.
Ranil is th ebest we have & the West wants him back in – you, chandicka & the JVP can all take a flying jump.
Oh & make sure you take that sex-obsessed Indi with you too – he’s always going on about girls – you know what the say – those htat have to talk a lot about it ain’t ever going to get it ….
Now, Shanthi, must we descend to such lows? I personally reserve the right to be obsessed with sexuality even and especially when mine is getting its proper exercise. When better to philosophize and speculate? I’ll admit our Indi sounds, at times, in rather surprisingly desperate straits. That’s no cause to hit, as it were, below the belt. Besides, he seems to like Ranil too. Maybe not in that way.
If Mahinda is Chef Boyardee (yes) then which food-related advertising figure is Anura? My vote is Dave Thomas, the Wendy’s guy. Do Sri Lankans know about Wendy’s?
sittingnut : no. indi and the others are abosloutely right. check point are back in full swing, i think even a little more actively than before, if at all. i get stopped constantly, and i never remember this happening before. my friend got stopped 8 times (no joke, 8 bloody times) on his way from galle face to battaramulla. if you havent been stopped yet (that’s some luck) haven’t you even noticed the rapid increase in the cops and the army guys prowling on the main roads? they’re practically everywhere. its a very very significant change in matters.
my best friend lives on parliament road and i get stopped each and every time i go down to her place (which is every day now). yesterday i got asked (after him having looked at my ID, scanned my perfectly normal name and smiled sweetly at me) why i came back to sri lanka? like WTF? i gave him a quizzical look and said i’d always been here to begin with. trace and i were casually walking down green path the other day, and there were a bunch of army guys at a checkpoint leering at us from a distance. grinning, saying shit, the whole works. when we neared, he stopped us and asked for ID. is that allowed? i suppose…it seems though that they are using their uniform and whatever authority they have to ‘get at’ girls. freaks. but atleast they’re DOING something now.
so, what’s a perfectly normal name
Shanthi_now: So you want Ranil back in because the “West” wants him back is it? If the majority of the citizens in this country started giving everything the “West” wants, then I dare to think what will become of our country and our future generations.
I am not very clear on your comment ‘-you, chandricka & the jvp can all take a flying jump”.
For your information let me just say that I am not a member/supporter of Chandricka’s party or her nor am I a supporter of JVP.
As far as the Elections are concerned, I think we should wait and see waht Mahinda’s stand on the various National Issues (including the Paece process but not limiting to it) are- well he hasn’t said anything much about anything , has he now?- then take a decision as patriotic citizens of this country who want this country to come out of the hell hole it is in right now.
As for your comments on Indi, well I would’nt exactly know whether he is sex-obsessed or not! I guess it’s up to him to comment/no comment on that.
Sri Lankans probably do not know about Dave Thomas but Aura is probably Roland McDonald or even better(non food related) “Bozo the Clown” in Sri Lankan politics.He provides entertainment .
(During 80’s his nickname in Sri Lankan leftist newspapers was “Michelin Baba”.The Michelin Tyre mascot.Baba is baby, not baba in Hindi. He is juvenile and filled up with empty hot air.He even looked like the part considering the average Sri Lankan person’s size.)
perfectly normal name? i guess i meant perfectly local. sorry, my bad.
btw, while we’re on names, if ananthan is your’s, i think its very cool.
Ugh, one time (not recently) I was walking around Fort photographing architecture etc and wanted to snap the Police Station. I was worried they’d freak out and think I was a White Tiger (!!) or something, so I very politely (and somewhat fearfully) approached the guard on duty and asked him, in very polite Sinhala, could I please take a photo of the building, if that’s not too much trouble. I expected to get yelled at and chased away.
Instead the bugger calls over the other on-duty guy and the two of them start chatting me up in the most aggressive sleazy way. We’re so happy you speak Sinhala, where are you from, how do you like Sri Lankan boys? and all that rot. They tried to get in all my photos, and asked for my number. I felt so safe and protected.
electra that just shows indi is right. security guys are just stupid incompetent monkeys in uniform – you get stopped 8 times while i never get stopped.
Coming back to what Reb said earlier, someone once told me that Prabakharan himself could just drive into the city, whizzing past all the checkpoints-if he was accompanied by a white (European) girl. The heavies would be busy checking the girl out and Prabha would just fly under their radar…
Hello ppl…… I’m guessing it’s a load of jobless fuck-ups who come here and blab about shit they don’t even really know….. You’ll talk about the police officers, body-guards, check points, and moreover CLANCY’S as if you’ll really know anything and everything about this country, it’s places, and it’s people….. For one thing, Sri Lanka is one country loved by fellow sri lankans, and outsiders….. I’m guessing it’s very disheartening to see a bunch of ungrateful asses like yourselves, who bitch about a country so beautiful…… It makes me wonder if it’s people like you who make this country the way it is….
I guess you’ll forgot to talk about the police, army, navy, air-force, and other security personnel who stand on the roads for hours, only so citizens & those travelling in this country, like you & I, can go about their businesses safely…. Before giving your comments here, did you’ll take a minute to wonder that the country known to be world’s “safest country” – UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, was bombed and hundreds of people lost their lives…….
All in all, I’d just like to say that it’s really sad to know there are a few people such as yourselves, living in/outside this country who have the capability to say & do what you please…. Therefore, you take the liberty to talk shit about this country & call it names… Think to yourselves bros & sis’s…… Thank every policeman you see on the road for the “few” duties they carry out, only to make this a safer place…..
I’m glad I came across this web page, while researching for an assignment…. I’m glad I spent my time reading what people say about “MY” country…..
You wouldn’t know what a nice place this is, until you leave it…. I found out the hard way myself….