I was on the bus and this drunk guy leans over and says, ‘Centigrade?’ I don’t know what the answer for that is. 27? I try ‘no’ and putting my headphones back on. Turns out he thinks I’m from the band Centigradz, which makes him comfortable enough to lean over and rub my head. Anyways, long story short, I can’t move and this is his tale.
Basically, Sri Lanka is going to shit and I should move to Europe. He said he recommends coming back once a decade. He said the only people making money are those who bought land a hundred years ago and that it’s the ‘end of an era’. I tried to explain that the Euro is crashing and there’s no work in the Europe or US, but he didn’t understand, and he may have had a point, albeit perhaps involuntarily.
I mentioned tourism and stuff and he said he was a musician and it didn’t help. He seemed to be talking about some place that existed before the Cinnamon Grand and Crescat and stuff, and how there was nothing for him there now.
I dunno, I think he was mainly drunk, but he’s certainly a lot less optimistic than I am. For a long time the safest, sanest options were buying land or getting out of the country (preferably both). Which is what dude drunkenly advised, but I thought perceptions might have changed. It’s a sample of one I guess, but sitting there on the bus, I honestly couldn’t see development. Public transit still sucks, as do a lot of public services.
If you think about it, a lot of stuff is going down, but it’s all big money. The jobs are then supposed to come, but that’s in a while, plus it’s not even clear that enough Sri Lankans are trained for those jobs, or that the system as is can train them. The people making mad money will be investors and a lot of that money will go out. A lot of the consumers, also, will be foreign. I still think a rising tide lifts all boats, and that development’s not a zero sum game, but at least one random guy on the bus is pessimistic. Just saying.
well if our musician is always drunk, that may be why he is unable to find work?
and work is always there. you just have to find it and adjust yourself to suit that work.
learning something and waiting for work to come to you does not really work (in most cases).
Development needs to address the basics with a long term aim, education, transport, energy, institutions. All the ugly towers and night races and expensive crab restaurants that you can build won’t be enough if we don’t do that.
Agree with n. The ‘developments’ that we see around Colombo are targeted at a small segment of the population where our foundation that requires fundamental change (public transport, public administration, education, etc) isn’t happening. Then again people deserve who they elect.
I think the guy on the bus hit on a real truth that no one seems to want to openly accept at least, and I agree that all this development is superficial and wholly inadequate for Real Long Term progress. While infrastructure is important I believe we are bulilding our new house on stilts in marshy land, soon to sink. Real development will come only with coherent public policy, independent institutions and a well educated people – not a boastful 98% that can read and write yet not analyze for themselves the rights and wrongs of a undemocratic, non-socialist, non republic, Sri Lanka.
Sound like yet another wallower in his own self pity, blaming everything on the system when it’s his inability to buck up and do the job that is bringing him down. Good luck surviving in today’s Europe or USA with that mentality
So the EU and the USA are in recession but that doesnt right all our wrongs. Don’t forget that we are the underdeveloped ones, not them. We are fortunate to be in an economy that is 20 years behind. There will naturally be opportunities. That is not something to be proud of. We all need to seize the opportunities but surely that is not development?
Developed, underdeveloped this is such western bullshit. Quality of life is high in Sri Lanka. Life is about being happy not about how may Jimmy Choo’s you own. I know people living on Rs12000 a month who are happy. Get a life and some perspective.
True, it’s still not difficult for people to live happily on very little here, and I know a lot who do, in spite of all the horrid politicians and other lowlife, but I wouldn’t underestimate what Jimmy Choos or Manolo Blahniks could do, though I can only imagine.
By the way, what’s the latest on Mervyn Silva vs the Kelaniya crowd?
Marlin: How do you define quality of life in Sri Lanka
I said Quote: ..and I agree that all this development is superficial and wholly inadequate for Real Long Term progress. Unquote
I agree that REAL development is not about the tangible changes we see around us. (The Jimmy Choose if you will) but exactly about the intangibles – perhaps like happiness. But how do you get there? Remember money is part of the deal too. Your friend earning 12000 probably doesn’t have a family to consider. The musician on the bus probably wouldn’t complain if the world around him at least seemed to be fair.
Perhaps we do need to reconsider that definition of development. For me it starts when we leave the law of the jungle and enter once more a hallowed rule of law and justice