Fly High and Fall Flat
Posted on February 18th, 2015
Gomin Dayasri
Think twice before agreeing to appear on the cover of a business magazine. A cautionary notice (need it be enlarged to the extent of a ghastly warning on a pack of cigarette) as the perilous rate of casualties of the introduced icons is phenomenal. Those who zoom to the maximum and strike cover page, often end in a free fall to crash land on the buttocks.
In the streets of Colombo, in its halls of infamy-rather than call it loosely, city’s rouge galleries — history keeps repeating itself in perpetuity. Supposedly good guys are notionally made outlaws whereas purported crooks pass off as winsome cowboys carrying the badge of sheriff in the rotating cover pages.
“Nominees of every government, once they plunge from giddy heights to rock bottom, try to cross the great barrier to the other side knowing of the shelters provided with hedged funds and exclusive favours given as a safety measure, in the event of a change of administration. In the gamblers jargon it’s placing bets on a win or a place. Such fall only to rise from the other side”
Featured celebrities have become fugitives running abroad on the night of the elections; holders of passports including diplomatic red been impounded by state authorities; became inmates at the Merchants Ward or a Prison Hospital when they were ordered by court to spend time in remand or in jail; were faulted by the Supreme Court for acts of wrong-doings on Fundamental Rights relating to shady deals; were adjudged as fallen judges allegedly for not been properly appointed/removed; internationally humiliated for serious allegations of misconduct or questioned intensively by the local law enforcement authorities for serious crime and removed from office unceremoniously. Indeed the tumbled idols were in full flight at the time of the photogenic presentation before falling from the sky.
Are the Front Covers an open warrant for the long arm of the law to send sniffing dogs on trail after gaining fame and fortune? Among those that struck front-pages are judges, financiers, businessmen, bureaucrats, sports administrators (fortunately not sportsmen), heads of state institutions and famed politicians. What a lovely bunch of bananas they were – day previous to the fall? Bottom line is their linkage to politicians; unlike men in business for business alone – the genuine purebreds: such rarely seek the front cover.
“In the streets of Colombo, in its halls of infamy-rather than call it loosely, city’s rouge galleries — history keeps repeating itself in perpetuity. Supposedly good guys are notionally made outlaws whereas purported crooks pass off as winsome cowboys carrying the badge of sheriff in the rotating cover pages”
This applies more to journals that ride cuddly with characters in the inner fringe of politics that helps circulation to reach dizzy heights and raise biz barons to social acceptability to hobnob in star class. A word for the genial publishers – the political spectrum is covered across the board in its full splendor, democratically distributed to incur the wrath of none and become every body’s darling or in pithy Sinhala a ‘kageth sundari’.
Such are the numbers of displaced luminaries whose mugs were made presentable for the photo shot with brush and paint of a make up artist: may be prudent on past performance to search for an insurance cover before taking again a photo plunge and launching on a discourse on creative wisdom? Some of the featured characters-down the ages have being made to hang their heads in shame especially after being serenaded while holding office. To be deflated after being inflated is hard to bear.
There are a few names that hold untarnished images irrespective of being in dubious company on the front covers — those non-buddies of politicians — the self-made men standing on their own feet – great men that ride to their true potential on skills and talents. Wise are they to remain low profile wherever possible without mounting the grand stand. Falling from a pedestal is hard rock when ground is struck.
Biz magazines are in the minscule on the newsstand while the fallen guys in the front – pages sulk at home in silent nights. It’s a Man’s World with a peep hole for the local Barbie dolls’-notwithstanding liberal use of make up are unlikely to make the grade on the covers of business journals’ as much as the same undressed men would not attract a playboy calendar.
Yesterday’s financial wizards, heroes of the Grecian bonds rightfully under investigation are unwarrantedly in the dog-house, spanked by their own master’s chain and by the voters for wrecking the economy on their misplaced guidance. Yet, when the biz pages splashed their worldly wisdom it made good reading in happier days to the strains of : These are the jolly good fellows” often heard at seminars of many pretexts. Has the mood shifted or shifty shifted or sense regained? Why crow now if you failed to cry foul in the jolly old days!
The replaced mandarins sit pretty on a friendly mini budget that places them in a transitional superman grade, make wisecracks of their betterment of the previous; gems eagerly sought by the fickle business community that claps at every sentence, keeps the unread biz periodicals gathering dust in the lounges that welcome guests. Mind you, master, your day of reckoning will come some day too? That is not a comfort zone for sure. Watch your steps in your interest and be smarter by learning lessons from the bunglers of the past.
Nominees of every government, once they plunge from giddy heights to rock bottom, try to cross the great barrier to the other side knowing of the shelters provided with hedged funds and exclusive favours given as a safety measure, in the event of a change of administration. In the gamblers jargon it’s placing bets on a win or a place. Such fall only to rise from the other side.
Flipping through the covers of prime local business journals featuring the great people of contemporary times, an intriguing question that came to mind was whether they were Colombians or Mahindians? Truth lies in between, as Mahindians became Colombians and the Colombians become Mahindians.
Such is Sri Lanka’s creative editors of rich pages, will shun for a while those lauded luminaries during times of imposed disgrace; once the wheel turns around: a second coming is possible on another cover page and thankfully cosmetics can bridge the interlude between the two epochs; to recreate the aged as youthful looking smiling dudes reappear on the front covers. Who said ‘Punch’ is extinct?
To most on the covers of the last few years –excluding one who worked like a eager beaver- the military triumph over the terrorism-miracle of 2009-went in to their silly heads to think stupid in terms of astrologically that it had lasting powers enabling them to be arrogant, corrupt and lazy and hit by the eternal travel bug at state expense – never thought the carnival will ever end; Biz Magazines glossed over it many becoming part of the entourage in the kingdom of fun.
No fear – new faces will appear in old places in the magazines in between the same advertising spaces.
February 17th, 2015 at 5:21 pm
Gomin we want to hear something constructive from you. How to get out of the fire to which Sri Lanka has fallen from the frying pan? You are a wise man – let us hear of the kind of wise politician out of the present milieu and who can fit the bill to lead Sri Lanka. We have to be practical and not idealistic nor philosophical. Time is of the essence!
I vote for reformed Mahinda / Gota.
February 17th, 2015 at 8:43 pm
Ratanapala don’t expect Gomin to give any one constructive suggestions. Tell him to deny this: Rani. W offered him 6 million US Dollars to defend him at the up coming court case. Looks like he has turned it down. Now he has boxed him self-in and has no way out. In the British Colonial time to be a judge in the supreme court one had to go to Tamil Nadu and get married to a pitch black Tamil woman. Good example is Judge Wijayamanna. He was form Kaluthara District. His house was called Ragland Castle and was facing the Colombo Kaluthara Road. He was very, rich. Please read my article and the comments. You will get a good idea why you cannot vote for reformed MR. Gomin will never want to discuss who the Election Commissioner is: He is a MUSLIM and, both he and his brother are JVP Criminals. Mahinda Deshapriya MUST be removed from the Election Commissioners office and charged for aiding and abating to create an illegal regime. What he did was a treasonable act and should be jailed for life. Ratanapala, don’t give-up hope tide is changing.
February 18th, 2015 at 6:05 am
Editor,
Please publish the FRONTLINE article on SL.
http://www.frontline.in/world-affairs/indias-sordid-record/article6901590.ece?homepage=true
An Endian telling the truth how Endia created the war in SL in great detail!!
February 18th, 2015 at 8:25 am
lanka
give more details —interesting ………who is muslim gomin or commissioner.. more about judge vijayamanna
February 18th, 2015 at 12:21 pm
Senevi, don’t even think of Gomin as Muslim; he is from a well-respected Sinhala, Buddhist family. As I remember, Gomin’s father is one Q Dhiyes (please correct me if I misspelled the name).
Lankaputhra, can you please explain the following?
What’s the upcoming court case against RW? If Gomin has turned down the offer, how can he be boxed him-self in?
Also, as a lawyer Gomin has a right to appear for any one of his clients unless it is morally not acceptable incident.
And also as I know Gomin is a lawyer but not a judge. Not an ordinary lawyer but a very patriotic lawyer!
February 18th, 2015 at 1:08 pm
රැළියට ජන ගඟක්
“මහින්ද සමග රට දිනවීමට ඔබ සූදානම්ද” තේමාව යටතේ ඊයේ (18දා) සවස නුගේගොඩ පැවැති ජනහමුවට පැමිණි අතිවිශාල ජනතාවගෙන් කොටසක්.
ඡායාරූප- කමල් බෝගොඩ, කමල් වන්නි ආරච්චි
අනුර බාලසූරිය, සිරිමන්ත රත්නසේකර
හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා නැවත දේශපාලනයට පැමිණිය යුතු යෑයි ඉල්ලා සිටිමින් ඊයේ (18 වැනිදා) සවස නුගේගොඩ ආනන්ද සමරකෝන් එළිමහන් රංග පීඨයේදී “මහින්ද සමග රට දිනවීමට ඔබ සූදානම්ද” තේමාව යටතේ පැවැති ජනහමුවට අතිවිශාල ජනතාවක් සහභාගිවී සිටියහ.
නව රජය බලයට පත්වී මාසයක් වැනි කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ විපක්ෂයේ පක්ෂ කිහිපයක් එක්ව සංවිධානය කළ පළමු රැස්වීමට මෙවැනි අතිවිශාල ජනතාවක් සහභාගි වීම කැපී පෙනෙන සිද්ධියක් බව දේශපාලන විචාරකයෝ පවසති.
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ නායක විමල් වීරවංශ, ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී වාමාංශික පෙරමුණ නායක වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර, මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණ නායක දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන යන හිටපු ඇමැතිවරුන් සහ පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමය නායක සහ හිටපු බස්නාහිර පළාත් සභා ඇමැති උදය ගම්මන්පිල යන මහත්වරුන්ගේ සංවිධායකත්වයෙන් මෙම රැස්වීම පැවැත්විණි.
මෙම රැස්වීමට එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ හිටපු ඇමැතිවරුන් කිහිප දෙනෙක්ද පළාත් සභා මැති ඇමැතිවරුන්ද පළාත් පාලන ආයතන නියෝජිතයෝ රැසක්ද කලාකරුවෝ හා බහුජන සංවිධාන නියෝජිතයෝ රැසක්ද සහභාගි වූහ.
මෙම රැස්වීමේ ප්රධාන වේදිකාවට බස්නාහිර පළාත් මහ ඇමැති ප්රසන්න රණතුංග මහතා ගොඩවීමද විශේෂ සිද්ධියක් විය. රැස්වීමට සහභාගි වූ ජනතාව අත හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ඡායාරූපය සහිත පුවරු සහ ජාතික කොඩිය බැගින්ද තිබුණි.
රැස්වීමට සහභාගි වූ අතිවිශාල ජනකාය ආනන්ද සමරකෝන් එළිමහන් රංග පීඨය අවට සහ අසල ගොඩනැඟිලිවලද රැස්ව සිටීම නිසා ඊයේ සවස එම ප්රදේශය එකම හිස්ගොඩක් බවට පත්ව තිබුණි. මෙම අතිවිශාල ජනකාය නිසා නුගේගොඩ ස්ටැන්ලි තිලකරත්න මාවතේ වාහන ගමනාගමනයද තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටුවීමට පොලිසියට සිදුවිය.
මෙම රැලියට සහභාගි වූ සියලු දෙනා එක හඬින් ප්රකාශ කළේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඉදිරි මහ මැතිවරණයේදී අගමැති අපේක්ෂකයා ලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කළ යුතු බවය.
වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර, විමල් වීරවංශ, දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන යන හිටපු ඇමැතිවරුද හිටපු පළාත් සභා ඇමැති උදය ගම්මන්පිල, මොරටුව නගරාධිපති සමන් චන්ද්රලාල්, ප්රවීණ දේශපාලන විචාරක දයාන් ජයතිලක, දක්ෂිණ ලංකා ප්රධාන අධිකරණ සංඝනායක පල්ලත්තර සුමන ජෝති නාහිමියන්ද මෙම රැස්වීම ඇමැතූහ.
February 18th, 2015 at 10:19 pm
Piyadigama,
You could be my valued friend who penned exquisite Sinhala poems at both Defencewire and SriLankaDefenceForum.
Unfortunately, “Fukumar Thutmoses” now dubbed “Ado Yakko Facebook Lorenzo” by me, also knows everything I know about you and your beautiful Kaviyas. Even though he is a relative NOVICE in Internet hacking, he does not have to be the “War-Games Expert” without “portfolios” that he has declared himself to be, to easily extract your poems from the Archives of SriLankaDefenceForum and present them here under a new LankaWeb handle as “Piyadigama”.
Both of us are very aware of the DIRTY TRICKS played by the Eelamists in the past. Therefore, before I accept you as my old friend, let me ask you to verify your identity by sending me an email on this subject, mentioning the Piyadigama LankaWeb blog handle and your old blog handle at SriLankaDefenceForum, from the SAME email address that you used under your old blogging handle. OK?
As you well know, even in those days, Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo was characterized by his EXTREME VIEWS which if adopted, would have brought Sri Lanka and its Patriotic Government into INTERNATIONAL DISREPUTE. As you know, these proposals were resisted by me and several others. As you aware, those views included white-vanning of opponents without prosecution in the courts, ethnic-cleansing, using EXTREME weaponry without regard to civilian casualties, and many other DEVIOUS methods … all in the name of Patriotism. He has CONTINUED to ADVOCATE those strategies, adding to it the engineering of a coup-de-etat by the military against the MR/UPFA GOSL, altough recently in his support of Yahapalanaya he has become the quintessential CHAMPION “Human Rights”, “Democracy” and “Anti-Corruption”, which is why I call him a DIABOLICAL EELAMIST HYPOCRITE! I have resisted HIS EXTREME PROPOSALS before he started on his Yahapalanaya drive at LankaWeb as well, for in my view NO END JUSTIFIES CRIMINAL MEANS.
After having DONE HIS VERY BEST to UNDERMINE & OUST the MR/UPFA GOSL from power, Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo is NOW continuing to execute a complex KOLAM dance here with an entire TEAM of AVATARS in tow, to MISLEAD & DIRECT Patriots over a CLIFF that would DESTROY Sri Lanka and ENABLE the CREATION of an EELAM. His favorite ploy to drag Patriots into the net is that he would support MR again if he REPEALS the 13A! Should we TRUST this SNAKE AGAIN, I ask, and fall into the same deep pit in mid-day that we fell into in the pitch darkness of mid-night?
Judging ALL of his POST-WAR ACTIVITIES I have CONCLUDED that he was an EELAMIST all along, a MOLE who BURROWED DEEP INTO THE FABRIC OF THE PATRIOTIC COMMUNITY, to EMERGE at the CRITICAL MOMENT to STAB THEM IN THE BACK. OAOAsithri, whom you know well, has also come to the same conclusion.
The OUSTER of MR was a SEVERE SETBACK for Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and Economic Growth that now threatens to CREATE an EELAM in Sri Lanka and RESTORE the Sri Lankan Anti-National and Foreign Neo-Colonial Forces attempting to DIVIDE & ENSLAVE Sri Lanka. “Facebook” Lorenzo has been helping that effort to the BEST of his ability, and is now trying hard to ensure that an MR-led UPFA does not emerge VICTORIOUS in the upcoming General Elections to rescue our Motherland from the grip of its ENEMIES …. AGAIN.
When Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo’s AVATARS are found out and banished with their SHEEPSKIN cloaks trailing in the dust, NEW AVATARS are inserted into LankaWeb trying various ALTERNATIVE TACTICS to CONTINUE the program to mislead and misdirect patriots ahead of the CRITICAL upcoming General Election. As in the past, he uses his BAND of AVATARS to shore up his arguments and carry on debates with them in a MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY consisting solely of he, himself, his creations, and his lapdog followers. This is a strategy we have seen him REPEATEDLY deploy in the past as well.
In a moment of MISGUIDED EGOTISTICAL BOASTFUL BRAVADO, that is characteristic of him, Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo has COMPLETELY DISCREDITED himself by ADMITTING and TAKING CREDIT at LankaWeb for the BAG OF DIRTY TRICKS he used to DISCREDIT & UNDERMINE MR in the Presidential Election.
If you are trying to “Rehabilitate” Lorenzo in my eyes … please be aware that it is an ABSOLUTELY WASTED effort. I do not make such DECISIONS LIGHTLY and WITHOUT CAUSE; but when I do, it is VERY UNLIKELY that I will change my mind. ONCE BITTEN; TWICE SHY!
February 19th, 2015 at 4:45 pm
What the heck is my friend Gomin talking here. I don’t understand what he means, and I am not recognized as having ‘learning difficulties’ or simply ‘stupid’. Even a lawyer like you should be able to write in understandable language. I was disappointed not to see you in the NUGEGODA RALLY yesterday. But then again, you could have been there among the 5 lacks of people.
February 19th, 2015 at 4:50 pm
Also Gomin, do you think this government is legal. What is your honest opinion, I know you have to be very careful in what you say, because the UNP thugs are watching.