Malu paan and elovalu roti, from kade
Recently, the government has made wheat flour something of a nationalist issue. Schools canteens have been told to serve ‘local’ rice and pulse based stuff and not the usual patties and rolls. Because those are based on wheat, and wheat is imported. I would venture that we also import rice, and that chili and tea cultivation was brought here by colonials, but what’s the point. I think there are things it might serve a better end to put the nationalist spin on. Tobacco imports, for example. Or the proclivity of MPs like Mervyn Silva to blow public money on foreign cars. But wheat? Really?
One of the greatest things about Sri Lanka is paang. Or, literally, bread. Unlike the homogenized, perfunctory loaf of sliced bread you get at supermarkets, this is a real hunk of bread. It’s baked fresh and available at any bakery or corner store. It’s great on its own, or with hodi, or with whatever you have on head. I just had paang and leftover potatoes, for example. A loaf costs Rs. 48 last I bought one and it’s good. I do find the bread not ideal for sandwiches, but it is ideal for soaking up gravy.
This is not to mention malu paan, or bunice, or kimbula bunice, or any number of wheat based products we have made as much our own as cricket. This is what Wimal Weerawansa calls wheat terrorism, foreign forces trying to disrupt our food security. Um, no. They still serve plenty of wheat based products in Parliament. Everyone should just have an apple cake, plain tea, watch the cricket and enjoy the benefits of living in an island nation, influenced by many ideas but still uniquely our own.
Did you know that people like Mervyn exist because of people like you? :)~
@DD – Weren’t you the one proclaiming Mahinda king on your blog and sticking your tongue so far up his metaphorical ass your tonsils were tickling his balls? You’re the kind of idiot that has been allowed to unfortunately reach adulthood that allows people like Merv the Perv to exist.
Aren’t there some guidelines for ministries when purchasing vehicles.
Even if there were, what would be the use? We don’t have an opposition anymore and we, the people, are zombies.
mmm Maalu paan and gal bunis…please don’t let them take it away from me.
You guys are very silly.
Let me give you the bottom line in all this. The price of wheat has gone up by 80% since june. So the government cannot import bread at these prices. We are getting massive bumper crops of rice. The efficient thing to do is substitute wheat. not only is it efficient it’s also much more egalitarian, money is going to the poor farmers in rural areas as opposed to wealthy business men who import rice. End of story.
I seriously don’t see why you people can’t see beyond the rhetoric.
mervyn’s car! seriously!
oops, i meant ‘import wheat’
I’ve heard that during world war II, people in SL made roti using milk powder. Must be a lie. But I like it.
I find that kind of spending of public funds rather obscene. The government has to continue maintaining that car. What kind of fuel efficiency is it capable of? It’s not just Mervyn. Everyone who gets in to power in this country does it, because people just tolerate it, and people like you Dodo, don’t even see anything wrong with it.
There’s nothing wrong with promoting the consumption of rice. What is wrong is the irresponsible and insensitive statement the PM made about raising the price of bread to Rs. 200/- per loaf just to force people to switch to rice. He is obviously unaware of what it costs to prepare a meal of rice and a meal of bread, and that people are already finding it difficult to manage three meals a day.
While I do personally think that the prevalence of malnutrition in this country is more due to ignorance about healthy eating habits and laziness to take a little trouble, it is unseemly for these politicians with perpetually expanding waistlines to preach to the masses about how they satisfy their most basic human needs while flaunting the luxury cars purchased with public funds.
With the high cost of LP gas and substitutes, the time constraints on a family where both parents have to work and use public transport to get to work and back often wasting hours on the road, and coming home bushed, and the additional accompaniments a meal of rice would require (or do they expect us poor peasants to eat pol sambolai buthui all the time) it is obvious how far removed these people are from the plight of the masses.
Similarly, I remember Mahinda once extolling the virtues of cooking with curd, when coconut prices soared. Move over Marie Antoinette.
Shammi, the problem is that people are mixing up this issue with Mervyn being mervyn, with the real issue of wheat. Indi’s article does a horrible and lazy job of looking at WTF is going on. Instead, we have a bunch of people wailing like morons cluching to thier dumb party line.
wheat prices have gone up 80%. are you seriously expecting the government to subsidize that. Same with gas and all, most gas & gasoline companies here are running at losses at the current prices. those are the real issues. The government is doing a good job of handling them.
What I’m sying is that they should do it by example. The government would be justified if they didn’t waste vast amounts on pet projects, gaudy publicity etc.
For instance, Mahinda seems to want to make a show out of this swearing in thing, and spending won’t be a problem for everyone else who is trying to impress him. The withdrawal tests for the O levels this time were postponed without any warning this week, sending awry the plans that teachers and students made for preparing for the exam. Some schools will be closed on Friday, just for these celebrations.
I’m happy that there are people like Indi still talking about these injustices because the people who should be talking are silent.
The whole swearing in issue is bedazzling to a chap like me. It must be costing a huge amount of money, which the country can ill afford at this present time. In fact, there are few countries that would spend anything like that amount of time and money on such a victory celebration.
Sure, the government has to make the best use of the resources available to it, so if the state cannot afford to subsidise wheat (or anything else), then they will have to rationalise those programs. However, as Shammi points out, it’s very much one rule for those in power and another for the voters. Nothing new there, but it should make people angry.
Kids in school and sick people in hospital will be denied food derived from wheat, but politicians can eat what they like, drive what they like and act how they like, all at the hard-pressed taxpayers’ expense. Zero accountability.
I’m pretty sure I saw that red Jag driving past the gym yesterday. Imagine how many teachers’ salaries could have been paid for if the taxpayers only gave him a Toyota for his excellent public service?
Look, I never said mahinda’s swearing in or Mervyn’s jaguar aren’t a waste of resources. Indi is writing about making wheat part of the nationalist war cry and all sorts of other hoo haa. I’m saying all this other stuff is bullshit considering this policy has merit in its own right. how the government goes about selling this stuff to the people is not my concern, Mervyn’s jaguar has nothing to do with this and neither does mahinda’s ‘coronation’.
Hey, it’s a Jaguar, not a Ferrari or Bugatti. Do you expect a Minister to travel in a Maruti Suzuki? What’s 18Mn to the government? A small house in Punchi Borella costs as much. Hah hah.
I think ministers should all get Micros, like Indian ministers used to get Ambassadors. But other than that, what’s wrong with a nice big Toyota or Nissan? And that 18mil is tax payers’ money — if it’s nothing to the government, why don’t they give it to me?
It’s actually far worse than that. Mervyn didn’t buy this car the ministry did.
Agree about the wheat subsidy, but what infuriates me is the belligerent way it’s pushed. The fact is, there’s no alternative for the poor labourer on a daily wage.
I think Indi was pointing out that the staple of humblest section of the population was targeted, whereas so much wasteful expenditure went unchecked, the unfairness of it, and I agree.
By the way, Mervyn might not be supplying small time junkies just getting in the mood for listening to Lou Reed for much longer, he’s going to move on to bigger pickings at the planned new vice dens. Better find a new pusher. : )
Besides he’ll probably pick it up for himself for a song, once the book life is over.
@Blacker
Suck some government dicks, like Mervyn did, and you’ll get your 18Mn.
@Blacker
A Toyota is okay, if it’s a Lexus
Just let him have his bloody Jaguar. It’s no big deal. Compare this with the vehicle Chandrika got some European company to make about a decade ago, this is nothing. This is not even bullet proof.
Take Lamborghini Reventon. Above $1.6Mn without taxes.
Take Bugatti Veyron. Above $1.7Mn without taxes.
Take Ferrari Enzo. Above $0.67Mn without taxes.
Jaguar XJ. $70,000
These days, it seems that everybody has a Montero. What. 120, 130 lakhs? A diesel vehicle.
Can’t man. Queue is too long. Plus you keep going back for seconds and thirds.
Thanks for the price list on the Lambos and Ferraris but no minister’s buying those. At least CBK was the president, not a two-bit minister of an incompetent ministry.
Chandrika bought herself bulletproof S Classes.
How is this different from our friend Mahinda, who seems to use at least two B7 S600’s? Do you know that it costs over 4 million rupees just to change the front door window on these things? I can’t even begin to imagine how much those cars actually cost.
BTW if you can get me a low mileage Enzo Ferrari in good condition for US$0.67m, I’ll have it – I could flog it for twice that, no problem ;)
@Boss
Hey. A ferrari is never about the price.
@Blacker
Me sucking government dicks? Hah.
It seems you’ve given a lot of thought to this. Would you do it if the queue is short?
Whats it about then?
Anyways, an Enzo is no ordinary Ferrari – if you were to spend a day somewhere like, say, central London, you’ll see plenty of 360’s and F430’s, but the chances of catching a glimpse of a Enzo are pretty fucking slim. I’ve only ever seen an Enzo once, a used one in a dealership (they actually let me sit in it), and that was priced at well over $2m.
Aside from the F40, Enzo Ferrari and other classics, a Ferrari is not that exclusive. Do you know that if you lived in the UK, even with their high taxes, you could buy a 355, 360 (or even a F430 with high miles) for the same price (or less) than United Motors sells a Montero or Montero Sport? You could even get a 348 for cheaper than a Toyota Corolla at Toyota Lanka.
@boss
Thanks for the info boss. Forgive me for not knowing the correct price of an Enzo Ferrari, which I’m not planning to buy.
So $2m. Compare that with $70,000. Proves my point, right. It’s no big deal.
P.S. The thing about Ferrari is never the price.
So an enzo ferrari would cost about 8 million dollars in sri lanka.
Lefroy, you keep saying “thing about Ferrari is never the price”
What does that even mean??!
@Boss.
That it’s never about the price. JESUS. You don’t what it’s about?
The Enzo was initially announced at the 2002 Paris Motor Show with a limited production run of 349 units and priced at US $643,330.
Nowadays of course, it’s sold at higher prices.
It was, like FXX, only sold to selected customers. That’s the thing about Ferrari. Some of their cars are sold only to a selected few, and they charge more for the privilege.
“So $2m. Compare that with $70,000. Proves my point, right. It’s no big deal.”
What IS your point? That one of the world’s rarest cars is more expensive than Mervin’s Jag? No shit, Sherlock, what would we do without you and your Google button. So we should be grateful he didn’t bill us for an Enzo? What should be the point is, why am I, the taxpayer, forced to buy a corrupt and incompetent politician a car that is three or four times the price of a satisfactory luxury car?
Now you’re just being stupid.
Owning a Ferrari is ALL about the price. If I had a spare 40 or 50 thousand pounds burning a hole in my pocket, I’d definitely be the proud owner of a 360 Spider. Rosso Corsa with Crema Leather, of course.
Oh so you’ve heard of wikipedia…
If you’ve got a couple of million dollars, I could buy you an Enzo.
If you’ve got a bit more than that, you could pop into the Maranello factory and have a Ferrari custom built to your specifications, or even buy an F1 machine (although owning an Ferrari F1 car is a complicated affair where you own it and can drive it, but it stays at the factory or something like that).
Owning something like an Enzo or an F1 car is quite exclusive and is only available to “a selected few” as you put it, but the determining factor for this sort of thing is just cold hard cash. If you’ve got cash, they ain’t going to say no to you.
However, Ferrari ownership is nowhere near as exclusive as you seem to believe – the vast majority of Ferrari’s are just owned by regular people who have a bit more disposable income than the average guy on the street. One of my friends had a 550 Maranello and he was definitely not a celebrity or anyone special – he was a regular guy whose business just happened to be doing well.
@boss
ok boss, the potential Ferrari owner. Thanx for all the information you have so pompously given. So $2m.
@Blacker.
OK David. What luxary car you think Mervyn should’ve bought for less than Rs. 11Mn?
I think any mid-sized Japanese saloon would’ve done — a Skyline, a Corolla, a Cefiro, etc. Why does a minister of highways require a Jag?
@Blacker
Corolla? You call that a luxary car? Seriously? God.
There are too many Allions these days. That means there are too many luxary cars on our streets these days.
There are too many politicians as well, so a Corolla would be perfect.
I find it a bit upsetting that Nissan didn’t call the R35 a Skyline and instead gave this legendary name to that hideous looking car…
The promise of all these unnecessary perks is a reason that attracts the wrong sort of people to politics these days. Driven by greed, the competition is high and in most cases the unsavoury types who won’t hesitate to play the dirtiest game are the ones that survive, ending up as ministers.
Shammi, has there ever been the right type of people doing politics anywhere on this planet
Why concern ourselves with the rest of the planet? The extent of blatant disregard for the law, wasteful and selfish spending of public funds, sinfully large entourages, not to mention public displays of indecency, in short, a total disregard for the sensibilities of the public is a growing phenomenon, which we shouldn’t encourage.
We shouldn’t just shrug it off with a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude.
People in power not being selfless saints has little to public attitudes, it has more to do with human nature. I don’t expect ministers, or any other leader for that matter, to be anything other than self serving.
More the reason we should make sure we put whatever checks we can in their way, in order to make them more accountable.
They didn’t GIVE it to anything. The Skyline always came in both saloon and 2-door GTR versions. The new GT-R is a brand new platform, and totally different from the saloon, unlike in the past. Besides, Nissan was pretty much guaranteed that the GT-R was gonna sell regardless of what it’s called, whereas the saloon probably needs the Skyline name to sell. So it makes sense. Besides, I don’t think the Skyline saloon is hideous by any means — I think it’s one of the better looking Japanese saloons around.
This new “Skyline” simply offends me – it appears to have absolutely nothing in common with the R-35 (although I’m sure it is a nice car and wouldn’t offend me at all if it was called a bluebird or something) and I think it is an insult to this legendary name.
The R-35 seems to be one of the greatest cars ever built (I’ve never actually seen one in the flesh, but have checked out virtually every YouTube vid about it there is, and have been in a bonkers GT-R 34 V Spec, so I know what Skylines are about), and it would have been very fitting if it continued to bear this great name.
Just my opinion.
Thing is there’s nothing legendary about the old Skyline saloons either. It was just the GTR versions that got cult status. I know there are a couple of R34 series saloons in Colombo driving around like they’re Godzilla, but they ain’t. It was only the 2-door coupes that were so desirable. That line ended with the R34. The new Skyline and GT-R are completely new cars. The V35/R35 code is just cosmetic.