Whizpen's Blog

Colombo and the countryside

whizpen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:40:58 +0000

HERE I AM Back in Colombo after a month long vacation in the cool, mountains surrounded countryside of Gampola, the hometown of my grandmother. Adjusting back into the Colombo climate and lifestyle took a few days and it got me thinking about how different the lives of those living in Colombo and those in the countryside are. And if I had a choice where would really want to be?? Note the differences..
• The weather
Colombo is and has always been hot and dusty while back in the countryside even the hottest afternoon is comparatively not really hot. The evenings are cool and the nights and the early mornings are practically freezing. No need of a fridge to cool your water and those clothes that you never touched in the heat of Colombo are given a teeny break too.

• The people
The SriLankan people are already well known for their hospitality and those in the countryside are more symbolic of it. The first person to be there when the neighbor needs you and the first to assist an injured person on the road .The feeling of unity among this community is actually overwhelming and you don’t necessarily have to know them either. Maybe thats because Colombo has quite an exotic selection. With a few sour apples thrown in of course.

• The marketplace
Having to go to town for nearly everything from a needle to a newspaper can be pretty hectic and even annoying at times when you are in a real hurry, whereas as in Colombo nearly everything you need is conveniently right at your doorstep.
• The price
The prices of nearly everything in Colombo is more expensive than that of the countryside. So the toll on your wallet is much less in the countryside and you can buy more with less whereas in Colombo you are always short of money.
• Privacy
The countryside is most certainly not a place to be if you are someone who prefers a private life. With just fences to separate your house from your neighbors your life stays far from private. Your neighbor knows who just came to visit you, where you just went, what program you are listening to, what you are cooking for lunch right down to what you had for breakfast. And no, I am not kidding. But total privacy is what you get In Colombo. With high walls and fast lifestyles you get all the privacy you want even when you die. That’s until your body starts stinking to high heaven.

• Job opportunities
There aren’t much of it in the countryside unless you own a shop or business. So that means nearly every family has someone working or studying in Colombo with just the weekends spent at home. Even getting a passport or I.D done requires a four hour trip to Colombo.

• The children
The children in the countryside, I have noticed, lead a more carefree life than those in Colombo. They play with the neighborhood children from morning to dusk in the vast gardens that surround every house and grow up to be healthy and strong, just the way children ought to be. Preschooling starts at the age of five unlike in Colombo where the children start attending nursery the moment they leave their nappies. Literally .Children in the country are first taught mannerisms and behavior by the mother for four years before being bundled off for nursery. But on the other hand these kids enjoy less facilities than those in Colombo. No libraries, no enjoyment parks and you would even find a number of children who have no idea what a beach or a zoo looks like.

• Early birds
While we in Colombo prefer late mornings, those in the countryside are up before sunrise down to even the tiniest baby. No wonder they have all the time on earth to make even their own curry powder. So the totally homemade food ends up tasting just great.
• And finally Pettah
The town here has nearly everything you need and you could think of. But at the end of the day it doesn’t have Pettah. Colombo would be like totally incomplete without Pettah and I am sure many would agree. I mean Where else in the world can a person find personal computers being sold on the pavements?? Seriously?

At the end of the day when making comparisons, it seems that the countryside is better. But putting it in Kolu’s way all I’ve got to say is Colombo oh Colombo. There is no place like it..:)

I am sorry…

whizpen — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:15:02 +0000

It seems that my previous blog on “Why a Muslim woman cannot be raped” has angered many. And that, trust me, was not my intention. But if I had, then I am sorry..
That, however does not mean that I agree with the comments and neither does it mean that my facts were wrong. It is simply that I had failed to mention a single phrase at the end of my blog: Other factors not withstanding.
Youngling says that in an ideal society a woman will not be harmed however dressed and that in such a society a man would never behave like an animal and rape a woman and that an ultimate human being is a human who doesn’t hurt another regardless of gender. But I guess I have to break it to youngling that we DON’T live in an “ideal society”. We live in a corrupt one. Why else do you think the rate of rape is so high?? And during these times the veil is a good option. The veil is a covering meant to reduce your attraction when you LEAVE home (Jack point please note) and not something to keep a woman locked at home. This however is not meant for the one who wouldn’t mind men being attracted to her, but rather for a woman who prefers her privacy. And at the end of the day its her choice, not anyone elses, not even her father’s.
It was a woman’s husband, father, brother, uncle and such male relatives that I meant when I said bodyguards. They ARE her guardians and the ones who would protect and stand by her. But I guess I failed to mention that this protection does not apply in the case where these guardians themselves turn out to be human animals abusing and mistreating those under their protection. And human animals have no place in Islam.
BUT unfortunately they do take up a considerable amount of space in Pakistan and in the Arab countries. And Pakistan is well known for its religious extremism. I do not deny that this “act” called tribal rape does not happen here. But let me clarify to Inoka that it is something that we ourselves find nothing short of horrifying and idiotic. And mind you. It is NOT Islam and neither is it its law.
As for the cases in Saudi ,Bangladesh etc let me clearly tell you that even though it is true and has happened it is not the Shariah nor the Islamic law. It is what that has been belted out by selfish individuals in the name of Shariah. You can do a research if you want. A marriage without a woman’s consent is considered as null and void by the shariah. There is no need to say what it says about marital rape then. As for Muslim women sleeping with men other than their husbands, I see no connection it has with my blog. Even if it did, then I have already mentioned that my blog does not concern women who are namesake Muslims and do not follow Islam as it should be followed.
It is true that desert Arabs covered their faces to protect themselves from the heat and sand. But religion, mind you, is not something that is “imported” from one place to another. If it was ,then would you mind letting me know from where the Nuns, the true icons of Christianity came about wearing a garb that covers everything except their face and hands?? And too bad Youngling doesn’t seem to know that skin cancer is caused by the DIRECT EXPOSURE to the sun and not by covering yourself from it and that heat stroke is caused by dehydration mostly through the DIRECT EXPOSURE to heat. Genius.
When you want to judge a certain religion you look at an ideal person in that particular religion. If you want to judge Islam you look at an ideal Muslim and not, as mentioned before, a namesake one. But if during these times you are confused as to who the ideal Muslim is, then just look into what the scriptures and the stories of the Prophet and his companions say. For that was the time when this perfect and beautiful, but now misunderstood religion was followed in the manner it should be rightly followed.

Why a Muslim woman cannot be raped

whizpen — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:25:03 +0000

In America it is every five minutes. In India it is every twenty minutes. And in the world as a whole it is every SINGLE minute. Every minute what?? Every minute somewhere in the globe a woman is being raped, her honour is being played with and her dignity is being lowered..But a Muslim woman cannot add to these figures and statistics.
Don’t get me wrong cause when I say ‘a Muslim woman’ I don’t mean every woman who holds a Muslim name and blindly follows what she thinks and assumes is Islam. I mean the one who knows what her religion is and follows it just the way it should be. And listed below are a few reasons why this woman cannot be raped..

• The veil
Everything that Islam says is with a purpose and following it is for ones own benefit. The veil is a garb that is prescribed for a woman to be worn over her normal clothing (whatever it maybe) WHEN she leaves her home and not inside too as popularly assumed. Just the way an overcoat is worn above rich clothing as protection from dust and all elements until the party or location is reached. But here it is the woman herself who is being protected..and from?? The evil eyes of men who may, attracted by her beauty, her figure and her clothing lust after her and use her for their cheap pleasure. The veil protects the Muslim woman, covered head to toe from such glances . Tell me, who in the world would give a moving shuttlecock a second glance? No one would, for her beauty is not for the world to see. It is just for a few selected eyes that are meant just for her and her alone..

• Bodyguards to protect her
President Obama, Hillary Clinton and anyone who has the possibility of being harmed due to their importance have bodyguards surrounding them every time they leave home. Does this mean that they are being oppressed or does it mean that they are important? It means that they are important. If this is so then how is it that the Islamic law which requires that every woman, who in the eyes of law is a VIP to be accompanied by her personal bodyguard, a close male relative every time she leaves her home is proclaimed to be oppressed? And how too can such a protected woman be raped??

• Trained bodyguards
In case you tell me that there have been cases where despite being accompanied by a male, women have been assaulted it certainly would have been where the man was unable to defend even himself. But know that in Islam it is extremely recommended and required that every single man be trained in martial arts. Better if the woman is too. But if she is not, no probs .She’s got trained bodyguards at her service!

• Not for everyone to meet
Everyone doesn’t get to meet the queen even when she is in the castle. Only certain selected people. Just so not everyone, in case they may harm her, can meet the queen and the foundation of a Muslim home where she resides minus her veil and maybe too with the temporary absence of her bodyguards. Thus again she is safe.

• That of her creator..
When a Muslim, be it male or female, follows the commands of their creator, not only does he or she get worldly respect and protection, they also get the love and the protection of their Almighty creator. And trust me, if you have this you don’t need yoga classes to attain peace of mind and nor do you need bullet proof care to protect you from rape.
And these are a few reosons why a muslim woman cannot be raped..

Sa’eed Anwer comes to Islam

whizpen — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:08:00 +0000

Saeed Anwer was born a Muslim. But unfortunately his life was not like that of one. Just like millions of others who lived under a muslim name but sadly did not have in them that which Islam had to offer.ie “salam” or “peace” meaning peace of mind, peace of soul and peace of body. This peace, which is sought after by many in this chaotic world, is not something that all muslims have. It is something a muslim has to seek. And Sa’eed Anwer, the world renowned Pakistani cricket star did not have it.

There was most probably no cricket fan who had not heard of him and no Pakistani who had not admired him. Cricket was his life and his soul and nothing and nobody came before his sport. Not even his family. When victorious in any match or series he was jubilant, but when Pakistan lost…..well….all was not well. Upset, sad and angry he would shut himself in a separate section of the house that was meant only for him and which held all necessary facilities, for some days at end withholding himself even from his family until he got over his teams’ defeat. And until that time no one disturbed him.

One such time when Pakistan had lost a match and the cricketer had shut himself up for a few days until one night his solitude was disturbed by an urgent knock at his door. Angry at being disturbed, he opened the door only to find his distraught wife. Their daughter who had not been well for a few days had just passed away. And Sa’eed Anwer, shut inside, hadn’t even known about his daughter’s illness.

Cricket might have been his priority. But yet, nothing can be compared to a fathers love for his daughter. Shocked and grief stricken Anwer left the his home and went to the only place his numbed mind could think of : the local masjid or mosque, a place he did not usually frequent . But being late in the night he found the masjid closed. Not knowing what to do and not willing to go back home he sat on the steps of the masjid and in a little while fell asleep on its steps.

Recounting that moment to a scholar of Islam “if you had seen my bed at home you would have seen how comfortable it was, but that night I slept in the steps of the mosque was the first time I had slept so peacefully”. And so it was in the tragedy of his beloved daughter’s death that the Pakistani cricket hero found solace and strength, at the doorstep of the house of God. A place he had not seeked before. Sa’eed Anwer had come to Islam.

Speak a word and bend a world!!

whizpen — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 07:22:06 +0000

“People tend to become what you tell them they are”

There was an inmate at a certain prison who had been given a death sentence for a crime commited. The doctors there used to place a tablet beneath his tongue daily, promising him every single day that on the 30th day this tablet would cause his death.The doctors, however, were flabbergasted when the inmate, as promised immediately died on the 30th the moment the tablet touched his tongue.The reason for their surprise was that the tablet which was being given to him was vitamin C! Nothing else. See what you mean by the power of words??
Then how about your children who you continuously keep calling ’mutt’, ‘idiot’, ‘stupid’ and ’good for nothing’ (these are just a few of the many words) each and every time, sometimes every single day, everytime they do something that doesnt appeal to you?? If some words for continuously 30 days could have killed a hardcore fully grown criminal then how could not your words day by day dent the life, personality and future of a child who is but yet a young sapling and not a fully grown tree?? How can you feel sad or bad when your child has grown up to be each and everything that you daily rightly or wrongly accused the child of being?? when you scream and scream at the, your kids mind you, may not obey it, but they sure are listening to each and everything word you say and storing it within their mind word by word.
Of course you love your kid and you would always want the best for them, but in real terms what your children really need is not material things but rather a few words of appreciation, few words of encouragement, a few words of kindness and many of love. This is what they really need to shape their future and stand up in the society.
Try not to call them names, try to give them a few words of encouragement and kindness and watch your child transform into model citizens in this society. The key remains with you.Just dont speak a word and bend your childs world!!

Gee..we lost the cup, didn’t we?

whizpen — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 04:58:19 +0000

This wasn’t going to be my topic. But having lost the world cup just three nights ago, and like any other Sri Lankan there is not much else inside my head. And I don’t mean those Pakinis supporting “kalu suddhhas” anyway.

It WAS pretty much disappointing, especially when we were quite sure at the beginning that we would surely win. But it is not like we didn’t try ,it was just that those Indians tried harder. Tough luck I guess. But for us, the champions would always be the Sri Lankans. No change there.

Maybe that’s the best part about the Lankans. Their positive attitudes and their open hearts to accept anyone as they are .No one scorched Sangas house or burnt Mahelas car and no effigies were burnt either. Only welcoming crackers (which was most probably the sadly unused ones from the night before) and cheers to the team returning home the next day.

Going a little further from cricket to prove a point, I happened to go to the hospital, ward43 a few weeks ago to visit a sick aunt of mine. It was after some time that I noticed an old lady on the next bed. In her shrunken frame she seemed to be bedridden and With No visitors by her side and her bedside table empty she seemed pretty lonely. But that didn’t keep a smile away from her face. She seemed delighted when I walked to her bedside and the fact that I was completely covered leaving only my eyes open didn’t seem to bother her in any way. Asking what was wrong with aachi I found that she had a big time iron deficiency and had been in the hospital for sometime. And in answer to my inquiry she assured me that she had food coming on the way. But with the visiting time over and me having to depart, it was what she said that shook me to the core. Holding my gloved hands she asked me not to worry about my aunt as she would definitely look after her!!

I was seriously shocked. Here was an old woman, much older than my aunt and most definitely in a condition more serious assuring me not to worry about my aunt when most definitely she couldn’t even get up from the bed!! It reminded me once more why I love this little island. And this was the Sri Lankan spirit. A spirit that, despite there being a few rotten apples not in the basket, but the orchard, ensured the wellbeing of others before themselves…

So this being the Lankan spirit and since we didn’t have anything to lose it must have been that we cared about the reputation and the hard earned property of M.S.Dhoni and his troupe..uhh no..i mean team and maybe..just maybe we didn’t lose the cup after all…maybe we just gave it away!!! Soo…what do you think?? Yes no??

2010 in review

whizpen — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 11:52:16 +0000

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2010. If those were steps, it would have climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa 4 times

In 2010, there were 11 new posts, not bad for the first year!

The busiest day of the year was May 20th with 65 views. The most popular post that day was Why I veiled myself.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were kottu.org, digg.com, healthfitnesstherapy.com, slashingtongue.com, and latest-payment-proof.co.cc.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for whizpen.wordpress.com, whizpen wordpress.com, international burn a quran day, hospitality of sri lankan people, and quran book srilanka.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Why I veiled myself May 2010

PRINCE SIDHARTHA AND PROPHET MUHAMMED THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY SLEPT May 2010
3 comments

HOLIDAYS,HOSPITALITY AND SRI LANKANS May 2010
2 comments

INTERNATIONAL BURN A QURAN DAY-A JOKE September 2010
3 comments

WHY IN THE WORLD DO GIRLS WEAR MAKEUP??? May 2010
1 comment

Dear Atheist,

whizpen — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:44:35 +0000

How are you? Doing well I hope . I guess you must be surprised to hear from me. But did you know that:

Your heart pumps approx 65litres of blood per day.
Your brain sends out billions of tiny electrical signals every second in order to control your body.
Your lungs contains over 300,000 million capillaries (tiny blood vessels) and if they were laid end to end, they would stretch to 2400km.
Your bone is as strong as granite in supporting weight. A block of bone the size of a matchbox can support up to 9tonnes –that’s 4times as much as concrete can support.
Each of your kidneys contains 1 million individual filters. On average they filter and purify up to 1.3 litres of blood per minute and expel up to 1.4 litres of urine a day.
The focusing muscles your eyes move around 100,000 times a day. To give your leg muscles the same workout, you would need to walk 80km every day.
In 30 minutes, your body, on average, gives off a combined heat to bring half gallon of water to boil.
A single blood cell takes only 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of your body.
Your toe and finger nails take up to 6mnths to grow from base to tip.
Your hair grows up to 6inches a year.
The largest organ in your body is the skin, covering approx 20sq ft. The skin constantly flakes away and in a lifetime each person sheds around 18kg of skin.
And my favourite: Your pancreas right from within you does work equivalent to an 18 storey factory!!!

These are just a few facts about what happens inside you hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second each and every day of your life until, until the day comes when your heart stops pumping that 65litres of blood. Its amazing isn’t it? But do you know what I find more amazing?? It’s the fact that when your documents are scribbled on and you don’t believe it when your kids deny that it was any one them….BUT dear atheist, you still believe that everything that happens in nature and sooo much that happens right inside your body came just by chance?????

It just doesn’t make sense does it? Most certainly not to your sensible and logical mind? A book without an author? A machine without a mechanic? Planets orbiting in a flawless route? The sun setting in a prescribed time? Man made in such a perfect form? Millions of hearts beating rhythmically at the same time? Death? Life? Intertwined destinies……..Then how, dear atheist, for heaven sake, did the universe go on like this for millions of years without any one behind it? Seriously??

DON’T KILL ME MOTHER!!! : The plea of a fetus

whizpen — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:59:37 +0000

Its dark and wet inside .There is enough room for my tiny self to move around, yet I am alone in here. But a reassuring steady rhythm beat keeps me company in my loneliness. Your heart beat mother. Yet..I wonder how long this would be, because mother, I know that you want to kill me and I want to know why??

Or maybe I do know why. It’s because of him isn’t it? He who would be called my “father” IF I’m allowed to live. But that is why he doesn’t want me, isn’t it? He doesn’t want me to live and call him by that name. He’s already got two to call him so legally with another one on the way. And I am not included. And you don’t know that yet mother .You still believe his story about enjoying life a little more before marrying, having kids and settling down, don’t you? Believe me mother, he’s done that already. And this time around you are not a part of it. Not even a little, mother, and you would never be. For him you are just one of those pretty dolls he takes to play with. The prettiest and the sweetest by the way…..

Your parents, my grandparents, don’t know do they? That’s why you haven’t been visiting them for a long time. You do love them and you do know that it would break their heart if they knew. But why didn’t you think of them even a little before you fell for “his” charms mother? Did you not come to the city despite their protests because you wanted a better life for them? Not to destroy your life was it? I just wish you the best mother…..

It’s not like you don’t love me. I know you do. The way you stroke your belly when you are alone and the way your heart beat quickens every time he brings up the topic of killing me reassures me of that. But I know you love him more than you do me and I know I have to go sometime soon. I have to go even before I see the outside world. But I’m not sure how. Maybe you would take a drug that would poison and destroy me or maybe I would be torn away from you limb by limb.

I know it would be so painful more than anything I know, but I am so weak, mother, there is nothing I can do. There is no way I can stop you and there is no way I can talk to you. I wish I could tell you that after me there won’t be anyone else for you. Your womb will be never the same again mother. It won’t hold anyone after me. It won’t be able to. “He” will leave you in some time when he gets tired of you. Your parents will get to know and that heartbreak will take them faster to their graves. You won’t ever marry for your name will be tarnished forever. And when you die it will be in an obscure elders’ home, alone, without a single person to mourn for you. There won’t be me to grow up and look after my beloved mother, to stay close with her, to love her and to be with her. I would be dead by then. Even before I see her beautiful face.

Don’t do this for yourself mother. Don’t destroy your life even before it has started. I love you, mother. Just listen to me mother. Please don’t kill me..

PLEASE DON’T INSULT THEM..

whizpen — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 05:10:50 +0000

Want to know what made me, a Muslim, write this in the first place? It’s the sight of a sculpture termed as “Lord Buddha in the decayed form” I mean like DECAYED FORM??? Maybe you would say that it is a form of art and needs a lot of imagination for that and me being an art dodo wouldn’t understand any of it. BUT STILL?? Don’t you people worship him, make offerings and ask him for help whenever you are in any need?

If I had a teacher whom I declare to love and after his death if I make or draw picture of him in the way I imagine him to be looking now right below the sod, decaying slowly, and put it up and proclaim to the world that it was because I loved him, you are sure not going to believe me. You would most probably say that I have some sort of grudge about him. Then why on earth do you so completely insult him by making sculptures of Lord Buddha in the supposed DECAYED FORM?? And in case any of you haven’t already seen it, trust me. It is NOT exactly flattering. If you ignore the fact that Prince Siddharthas eyes seem a teeny bit smaller in the Eastern sculptures he looks just fine otherwise.

On the other hand you might say that it is a Buddhism related thing and I not being a Buddhist wouldn’t understand it. I don’t think so because let me tell you that I, despite being a Muslim, have most probably listened to more Buddhist sermons even more than most of you in my age have. And let me tell you that I find the teachings very beautiful and the similarity of most of them to that of Prophet Muhammed pretty much intriguing. But have any of you noticed that in none of his teachings has Lord Buddha said that you should worship him, but rather he says that you should follow him?? The word worship is, as according to the oxford dictionary defined as the practice of praising and praying to a god or goddess while to follow is defined as act according to an instruction or example. And Prince Sidhartha mind you, is Lord Buddha and NOT God Buddha.

Well anyway, another factor I find that I feel, please correct me if I’m wrong, that pretty much insults Lord Buddha and the other gods (including their sons in the case of Jesus Christ) as in Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism etc is the sale and the actual prices of their statues and pictures. While a kidney costs hundreds of thousands and a heart bypass costs approx one million and other parts of the body would cost even more the God whom you worship, ask for help, seek protection from and seek forgiveness from costs much much less???I have even found their dusty posters costing a mere Rs30 on the pavements. Don’t they deserve at least a little more respect and regard than that??

And then too does it mean that a god who costs more is more powerful and is more capable of providing you with what you need than another who costs less. Like a poster priced one? Why is one god in gold and the other in bronze? Where is the connection between them? Are their spirits divided among their statues and the pictures or is it that they take turns in visiting each one of it? If so then would it not be that their devotees might be a bit overlooked??

But at the end of it, all I got to say is that Please forgive me if I’m totally confused or if any of my ideas don’t agree with any of yours. Maybe I’m wrong and please correct me if so. It is simply that I earnestly feel that the way things are done are just not the right way to respect them, it insults. And I have found too that , even if it was the hard way around, at the end of the day it is religion that take you through this maze of life. So please don’t, for any reason, insult any of your gods.