A PLACE OF RELIGLOUS IMPORTANCE.

There are several places of religious importance in Sri Lanka. Among them, Sri Pada is regarded as the most important religions place.

Sri Pada is a sacred mountain situated in the Sabaragamuwa province. The distance from Colombo to this place is 101 km. The height of this mountain is 7362 ft.

The chief significance of Sri Pada is that it is held sacred by people belonging to all the four major religions.

Buddhists believe that the sacred foot print at Sri Pada is that of Lord Buddha while Hindus believe the foot prints of Adam. So they called it Adam’s Peak. Christians believe it to be the foot print of Christ’s disciple Thomas. Accordingly, Sri Pada has become a sacred place of all religions.
Devotees go on pilgrimage to this sacred mountain every year. The Pilgrimage season begins in December and ends in May. Thousands of devotees can be seen climbing this mountain during this period. They usually go as groups. The leader of the group is called “Nade Gura”. They recite devotional verses while climbing the mountain. People in all walks of like climb it. The young ones help old people to climb. They climb the mountain as members of a same family. They stop at resting places and have their meals. They share their meals among themselves. They don’t feel tired as their minds are filled with religious thoughts. Some people wear warm clothes as it is cold on the top of the mountain.

It is said that this sacred mountain is protected by God Saman. That is why it is called “Samanala Kanda”.

In ancient times people have been to this sacred place from various parts of the country on foot, as there were no transport facilities then.

It is the bounden duty of everybody to behave in decent manner in this sacred place, where the Lord Buddha has set foot thousand years ago.

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A COMICAL CHARACTER.

The world is full of all types of people as the crooks, the criminals, the cowards, the lazy, the active, the morose, the comic and several other characters. In my opinion, the comic character is a pleasant one, as he bears no ill – will to anyone, but is a source of happiness and laughter to others.

Kings of old had in their courts, clownish and comic characters to make them happy in their dull moments. In English literature, there are clowns like Fester, who amused the rich and in our own Lanka there were men like André, who made all laugh by their antics.

Such a man has l seen in Colombo. He is Mr. Silva. He wears a ragged black coat, torn slacks and an old pair of shoes of different kinds. He normally stands near the crowded stations or bus halts and lectures on the evils done by some of the politicians and says that he would be the next Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Then he says that he would catch every politician now in power by the scuff of his neck and throw them out, everything would be given free and no Army, Navy or Air Foci is needed for him to rule Sri Lanka. People ask him to what party he belongs. He says “Pus Party.”

Then boys start hooting and pelting him with banana skins and what not and he like the Christ makes a quick get away from the crowd.

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THE PROBLEM OF STREET CHILDREN IN SRILANKA.

Social problems are prevailing in every developing country. In Sri Lanka too there are several such problems. The problem of street children is one of them.

Hundreds of street children can be seen in our populous cities like Colombo, Kandy and Kurunegala. Most of them are in the age group of 5-10 years. The number of street children is increasing day by day.

Why have they become street children? This situation has been arisen due to several factors prevailing in our society. Unemployment, parental death and illness and acute poverty are some of them. These factors have paved the way for these children to leave their homes in search of jobs.

It is said that parental love and affection is essential for both mental and physical development of a child. All these children have lost their parental love and affection. There is no one to look after them. So they roam here and there in the streets. The chief means of living of most of these children is begging. Some children are engaged in odd jobs like pushing carts, washing plates and scavenging. They earn a few rupees by doing such odd jobs. Most of these children compel to engage in illegal and anti-social activities. It has been revealed that certain affluent people employ these children in their illegal businesses such as selling drugs and illicit liquor.

There children have no permanent abode. They have no beautiful clothes to wear. They have no chance of receiving education. They have no comfortable beds to sleep. They sleep in a corner of a building or under the shade of a tree or somewhere in the street. They wear ragged clothes. They eat rubbish dumped in dust bins. They have been deprived of all the privileges enjoyed by the other children.

The government has set up a separate department called “The department of Probation and Child care” for the benefit of these children. But the government alone cannot solve this problem. There should be benefactors for them. The chances of enjoying the Child’s rights depend on the generosity of the more affluent. The social services organizations and other voluntary organizations should extend their co-operation towards the government to solve this problem.

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THE FLORA OF SRI LANKA.

The flora of Sri Lanka means the plant life of Sri Lanka. Our country being a tropical one with plenty of rain and sunshine, we have an abundance of green life. The island almost throughout the year is covered by a green carpet of grass. There are then, the herbs, bigger plants, trees, palms and the jungle giants.

The herbs and smaller plants form the category of medicinal plants and vegetables and even creepers. The bigger plants provide fruits, the palms yield food and drink and the giants of the jungle give wood for furniture and fuel.

Some of the Sri Lanka herbs are so rare that it is said many medicine men come to Sri Lanka for certain herbs found here, but absent even in the Himalayan hills.

With nearly every Sri Lankan meal, vegetables come from the plants and creepers. Toddy and fruits come from the palms like the coconut, Palmyra and kithul.

The giants of the jungle, some over 500 years old as ebony, satin, teak and mahogany etc. provide wood for furniture, some of which are exported.

Animal life has protection from our flora and the tall trees bring down the rain which otherwise would have passed over without giving the life – giving waters from the heavens above. The thousands of birds and myriads of insects find a safe shelter in, on, among and under our wide and varied flora.

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BEGGAR PROBLEM IN SRI LANKA.

Hundreds of beggars, both young and old, can be seen in our populous cities like Colombo, kandy and kurunegala. Thousands of other beggars go from house to house in rural areas.

They have taken to begging as they do not have homes any means of living and also as they do not have homes of their own. This situation has been arisen due to various factors prevailing in our society. Poverty, parental death and illness, loss of parental love and affection and loss of love and affection of their children are some of them. The number of beggars is increasing day by day.

Most of the beggars are not disabled. Most of them are able bodied. They can earn money by doing some sort of work. But they beg because they are lazy. They think that begging is the easiest way of living.

Sometimes, beggars become a nuisance to tourists. They drag after the tourists grumbling until they are given something.

Beggars wear ragged clothes. Even children in the age group of
5 – 10 years can be seen begging. This is a very sad state of affairs. Most of these children have lost their parental love and affection. According to the Police, most of these children become criminals at the end.

During the past few years several camps were established by the government for beggars. But they do nit like to live in these camps. So most of them have escaped from these camps.

They walk under the scorching sun. they get wet in the rain. But these things do not affect their health.

It is the bounden duty of the government to look into this burning problem and take steps to wipe out beggary. This can be done by setting up special homes for beggars. The government alone cannot solve this problem. All the social service associations and other voluntary organizations should extend their co – operation towards the government in this connection. Children who are engaged in begging should be schooled and taught a trade or vocation. The able bodied must be provided with some sort of employment. Laws should be passed to ban begging.

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FISH KEEPING.

Fish keeping or rearing is a great hobby among teenagers and even adults in Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. Some do it on small scale, others on a big scale. But nearly every home has just a few fish in a bowl inside the house.

Young boys, especially school boys have taken to this hobby with a lot of interest and at great expense. In some houses, there are aquariums of various sizes, shapes, and colors. There are adults and even companies which deal in fish and fly them across the seas.

Fish keeping is a very good hobby because it keeps young boys engaged in their leisure hours and come to know about life in a big way.

How delightful it is to know the habits of multi – colored fish like the ‘angels’, georamas’, ‘Siamese fighters’, ‘zebras’, ‘sword tails’, ‘jewel fish’, ‘horse fish’ and scores of other fish that swim so beautifully in the glass – cages and live safely in these concrete – glass ‘prisons’. They seem so happy and contented.

As in any other business or industry, there is the sale of fish and bartering. These readers also learn the art of inter – breeding fish and so getting hybrids. It is a wonderful experience to talk to some of these teenagers and see how much of knowledge they have gained from this paying and entertaining hobby.

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THE LOCAL FISHIHG INDUSTRY.

Our fishing industry is as old as when time began. Of course, it was not so high in standard, as today. Long before fishermen caught fish in the Indian Ocean, our men caught fresh water fish in the Mahaweli Ganga, Kalu Ganga, Kelani Ganga and in the many water holes scattered throughout the island. Fist in those places contained a lot of blood and vitamins, unlike the salt water fish of the sea.

The tasty loola, magura, weligowwa, theliya, koraliya and the kanaya enriched the blood of the Sinhala race that produced the engineering wonders of the ruined cities and tanks.

Today, Sri Lanka’s population has risen by leaps and bounds to 18 million and the rivers and water holes and streams cannot supply the fish to feed these millions. So, sea – fishing on a big scale has been launched. With foreign aid, especially from Norway, trawlers, mechanized boats with nylon nets, rods and other fishing gear set out morning and evening to reap the harvest of the Sri Lanka seas and come in with their catches of seer, shark, cod, rock fish, sprats, crabs, prawns, lobsters and a variety of other fish. There are collecting stations in several coastal towns that are engaged in fishing as Negombo, Kalpitiya, Galle, Matara, Batticaloa, Jaffna and Kankasanthurai. They bring in plenty of fish, but often beyond the purse of the common man, because of the purchases made by the Tourist Hotels at fantastic prices.

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TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka is famous throughout the world as a tourist paradise. There are many tourist attractions in this island. Most of the tourists come to Sri Lanka for holidaying or for sight seeing.

Sri Lanka has attractions of various sorts to satisfy the varying interests of foreigners. Some of them are ancient ruins, waterfalls, sanctuaries, botanical and sandy beaches. Our country has a proud history. The tourists who are interested in ruined cities, arts and crafts, sculpture and painting can visit our historical cities like Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambulla and Kandy. We have religious festivals and processions. The Kandy Esala Perahera is world famous. Thousands of foreign tourists visit this perahera which is held in the month of July every year. The fire walking ceremony at Kataragama too attracts thousands of tourists.

There are three main sanctuaries in Sri Lanka. They are Yala, Kumana and Wilpattu. Yala is famous for deer. Wilpattu is famous for wild animals in their natural habitat. The Botanical gardens at Gampaha, Peradeniya and Haggala have become very popular with tourists. Dunhinda is the most beautiful waterfall in Sri Lanka. The other attractive waterfalls are Diyaluma, Bambarakanda and Bopath Ella. Our beaches along the southern coast have become very popular. With tourists, particularly, the beaches at Bentota and Hikkaduwa. In these beaches there are facilities for tourists for sun – bathing and swimming. Another attractive place is the Coral Gardens at Hikkaduwa.

Thousands of tourists visit the world famous Sigiriya. It is famous for its frescoes. Sigiriya is considered the eighth wonder of the world.

A large number of tourist hotels with modern facilities has been set up by the Ceylon Tourist Board throughout the island. Even the private sector companies have put up many tourist hotels.

Nuwara – Eliya has a salubrious climate and this city has become a popular tourist resort today.

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DRUG MENACE

Drug menace has become a burning in Sri Lanka. The number of drug addicts is increasing day by day.

As described the Psychologists, drug addiction is a state of indiscriminate of herbs and herbal preparations, which enslaves the user to them. This is not something new in human society. What is new and alarming is the indiscriminate use of drugs on an unimaginably large scale which may be attributed to spiritual and religious value systems that kept man integrated as person and with his family and society.

Some of these drugs are Cannabis, heroin, brown sugar, cocaine, LSD and marijuana. It appears that the most widely used drug is heroin. Drug addiction is fast spreading in urban areas of our country. According to the Police reports 50% of all crimes in Sri Lanka are drug related. Dope peddlers earn a large sum of money through this business.

The drug addicts think only of their temporary satisfaction. They never realize its harmful effects. When a person takes drugs he abruptly becomes insane. He does not know who he is and what he is doing. He cannot identify even his own brothers and sisters. It is said that even school children are addicted to drugs. This is a very sad state of affairs. At present Counseling centers have been set up in several government hospitals to give free advice and treatment for drug addicts. Special programmers must be implemented throughout the country in order to make all keenly aware of the harmful effects of the drugs.

The government alone cannot solve this problem. All the social services organizations and voluntary organizations must extend their co-operation towards the government to eradicate the drug menace.

Smoking is also a baneful habit. It has been revealed that smoking is increasing in developing countries such as Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia. Despite the anti-tobacco campaign worldwide, global consumption of tobacco grows rapidly. Rate of smoking among the youth too has been increased. The World Health Organization says that tobacco use is a communicated disease, communicated through advertising and sponsorship of mainly sports. Tobacco advertising directly or means of sports helps persuade non-smokers to start smoking and helps dissuade smoker from quitting. Tobacco companies spend hundreds of millions of dollar every year into sponsoring sports events worldwide. Many athletes, sports fans and spectators of sporting events are young people and it is those young whom the tobacco companies are targeting through sponsorship and advertising. This is a very sad state of affairs.

My web blog :- http://.Jayanath.wordpress.com
Home page   :- www.oasisdamahana.org / Student
E-mail          :- lasanthajp@yahoo.com