Agents who play both sides

From childhood I've been an avid fan of fiction. And even more so of Science Fiction and Fantasy. From the easy and cosily read Famous Five and Hardy Boys to the refined approach of Sherlock Holmes to the bizarre yet majestic Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, the intrigue and political play + the adventure took me to another world. And in these other worlds, there were dark men, no not Africans but psychologically dark with crooked desires and wants.

And no wonder for fiction sprung from ideas, most based on real life. I've been bumping into these dark agents now more often that I move about in a few circles. Personal agendas are a huge no no for me, I always take the stance of the common good. What is the common good? It is one that benefits the majority and more nature centric too (because nature is a part of the greater good for all things in life). A little less known fact, I am a founding member of Reforest Sri Lanka. Yes I am very biased for nature :) But in human matters, I am for the common and greater good.

The dark agents have I believe in general less common sense, a lot less empathy and emotional intelligence, are power hungry and/or money centric. They scheme playing both sides, that's the more intelligent ones and believe their actions right and inteprit survival of the fittest godly. They also sabotage work, try to politicize larger movements and put in place puppets and people to sway opinion. You wouldn't believe, most of the great actions in history are carried forward by a few brave, idealogical men and women. The circle around them should be up right and good. Most citizens do not go beyond a certain point to see justice done. Isn't it time you all woke up. Hell I need to wake up more. Just be wary of these dark agents who play both sides and make decisions with people whom you can trust.

05 stages of distrust

1. Doubt: A slight feeling that someone is not what they tell they are to be. Some pieces in the puzzle that don't fit. In a movement, it is usually strangers who meet first with a purported common goal so you still cant ask around or confirm/ remove

2. Suspicion: Some doubts are confirmed. You see a pattern of actions that are leading to suspicion and your mind accedes there is serious cause for concern. You begin to look for ways of alleviating the situation. In a movement, it could be how to compartmentalize damage etc.

3. Anxiety: Your suspicions confirmed, you feel disgusted. You are physically feeling the build up of anxiety as it makes you angry, worried. In a movement, if you don't have a faithful group to relate these issues, serious damage is at hand.

4. Fear: After continued suspicions and continued anxiety build up, finally you give into fear. Fear for your own safety and others too. Sleeplessness, despair settle in. In a movement at this stage you might start to look for ways out, to stay silent and be more self concerned than about the goals.

5. Self-Protection: Finally you try to protect your self emotionally and even physically. You start to build up emotional walls against the persons and try to stop thinking about them. In a movement, at this point you might try to remove your self from it and or distance from the person/ movement.

You can easily see, Sri Lankan politicians are usually agents. They would tell you one thing, go to parliament and do something completely different.

These stages are common in many environments. Even a small company project team can go through this. But in a movement that counts on individuals with no budgets to speak of and sheer determination, it can be deadly to it. I hope I never have to go though all the above stages in our forthcoming work.

Understanding psychology is important to find out how best to survive the human condition, about how to make projects successful and attain goals. So I thought of coining this piece in the morning, and I hope to write about how to protect oneself and a movement against these agents in an upcoming post.

A psyscology of wanting more than we could afford

As children we got everything we asked for, we were pampered and brought up thinking it was going to be this easy as an adult too. From those Ice creams at a Soya centre or the daily dose of soda, the sugar rush is a subtle craving which we nourish as adults too every day or at-least a few times a week as a tasty piece of cake or a beverage. We have various excuses, ranging from its so hot outside, I worked allot today or just needing to chill. Our parents didn't know the consequences when they bought us what we asked for, that we would become over indulgent in every way, perhaps even a little lazier than they were at the same age, wanting more than we could afford. No our parents are not to blame, they just love us too much. We should blame our selves for not knowing better, they were simple Sinhalese folk who wanted to make their child happy. Now its our turn, and we should know and do better.

Credit cards, home loans, personal loans, leasing, post paid services, instalment plans... the list goes on, always inviting us to become indebted to something we really can do without. As we get used to transport over private vehicles, we shun cheap, doable public transport blaming the slow and congested service. We want a hybrid next, perhaps a sports car or and ever more luxurious vehicle. As audacious or perhaps naive and short sighted governments allow foreigners to purchase this limited land mass, land market and the ridiculous prices quoted to make a convenient nest seem impossible to a mere citizen. Is a financial crises, like the recession in 2007-2009 going to happen here. Remember it didn't affect us then, but will it now that our rupee is afloat and its at its lowest ever, when banks are offering so many schemes and companies struggle to stay alive.

Apple, Samsung, Reebok, Adidas, eat at 'that' cafe and 'this' lounge... do we really need to be branded and so expensive. If you can afford it, by all means do so. But if your spending the money that you could have used to help out your parents, buy essential goods home, doing so on credit then you should think again.

This condition, this psychology needs to change. We need to change. Maintaining a façade is short sighted, do what's right and be your self, not what the multinationals want you to be.

An unbalanced plane of power

Humiliation has never been too far for us in Sri Lanka. The land of the evergreen (once upon a time) has seen us also turn green over the years at government offices and at the hands of the officers of law.

It is easy to see, power corrupts, and the lack of united action of the Sri Lankan citizens to stand for our rights ensures it remains the same in the foreseeable future. Let me take three easy examples. 01 the police, 02 customs officials and 03 local politicos. These are all examples from factors of life in Lanka, usually connected with emotions such as distaste and fear. 

The police are hated and despised. I have only had three brief but memorable (due to their rarity) meetings of police officers who were, truly what the entire force should be for us. One was a gentleman who caught me overtaking a lorry up Saradiel's mountain (mawanella) and warned me and let me go. I was so surprised when this gentleman asked me where I was coming from, where I was going and looked me directly in the eyes and said, son be careful and drive with care and handed me the license back. The other gentleman was a Director of the PSD who I got to associate via my father. He too helped the law be implemented when a drunk man troubled us some time back. The final was in Kalkuda when me and my MBA batch-mates were fortunate to hear of a school provisions aid camp organised by the Police there, for which we also donated books and stationary. 

We despise them because of the way they bend the rules for profit. They are themselves mostly drunk when they stop cars to inspect for drunkenness. They violate the women who come for their aid in their darkest hour or beat evidence out from innocents. They are tools of politicians, drug lords and prostitution gangs. The main reasons for this is in my view, the low pay they receive, the harsh working conditions, long hours and mostly the power they posses, a power which is hardly in check or can be refuted by the majority of citizens.

Customs officials, well I'll refer to this article for why this example came to my mind to. They also are not in check unless such a large scam is brought to notice. I can also remember the hardship I had to go through to release a wedding jacket I received from abroad, and how I had to pay a sum, which I was then lead to believe was paid legally, of which some portion I believe was 'mis-placed' in the pocket of a customs officer.

Politicians, members of the parliament and ministers of public offices. They would do almost any crime. Some do have periods of good will and genuine care for us citizens. Yet after a few months in office, start to peel off the sheepskin. Damage and profit off the best in nature, kill-maim and corrupt for personal gain and stand above the law.

It is high time the people of this country put away petty quarrels and unite to push for a better tomorrow. Not just better than now, but truly a place where society is equal to the paradise on earth this land is. Let me wish this new year 2016 to be the year that we move towards this united path.

Kitchen Sink

Clean the dishes, the kitchen zinc waits. While you play politics and rave on, the sink allows water and soap to mix with the grease and other rotting particles, cleaning it up.

Life and its many adventures

I am quite happy these days. I am busy and it makes me feel alive. juggling many responsibilities is and adventure in it self, one where the slightest mistake can put your life, literally in peril. Let me explain and see if I could too in the process figure out why I revel in it. But let me tell you, we are still far from having made it, actually it is never going to have made it and that's the joy of a tall order.

Meaning

He stared to the horizon, he stared through the roof, he looked at his feet and hands he touched the wooden table and the warm plastic on his laptop...
those eyes those deep pools of wonder, the electricity that sparked on my skin at her glance, it was and is the only thing that clouds this vision and warms this soul. Every blink of these eyes the time ticking at rambling meetings those eyes stare back at me and it has become the meaning of this life.

Politics: 02 sides of the same coin

It was time again for presidential elections and the heat was on. Mahinda Rajapakse, in his power hungry craze miscalculated, or shall we humourously say the royal astrologer screwed his stars. Some say this election call was illegal, summoned during Mahinda's second term, 02 years pending the current ones life. He did this, presuming he will win again while his approval rates were still good, anticipating them to slump in the next years. And behold the fall of the power hungry, he loses quiet unexpectedly. We have to remeber he was the one who brought in the 18th amendment to the constitution, removing the 02 term per person limit on presidency. This shows just how much he wanted to be in power, some say so his son, Namal Rajapakse was capable enough to take over a most vile syndicate.

It seemed injustice, corruption, nepotism, murder of good governance, dictatorship, mafia mentality, family patronage, scandals upon scandals do turn on their heads; but the question remains, is this enough to recoup all that has been done to rape Sri Lanka. Or it seems like a convinient exit to indulge in untold wealth forever lost to us it seems.

I remebr the 21st of November, 2014, a great day it seemed when Maithreepala Sirisena (then SLFP General Secretary and Minister of Health under Mahinda's government) confirmed his intention to oppose Mahinda in the upcoming elections as the common opposition candidate. His promise: good governance, abolishment of the executive presidency, stop corruption, enacting the 19th amendment amoungst others. I remeber my good friend, Tharindu was in jubilant uproar over the fact over social media from his hot seat at the media breifing as were thousands. I was skeptical. I wondered if this was a setup. As an entreprenuer I realise the importance of planning. SWOT is always primariy on my list and a simple analysis would unravel any opposition for Mahinda, that was just how powerful the Rajapakse camp was. My argument was how could such a company (yes it is a business), plan and announce an election without setting up the opposition. I hope you have not forgotten how Sirikotha road access was halted by re-carpetting the roads when Sajith Premadasa loyalists and other fed up UNP supporters planned to route the executive comittee protecting Ranil Wickramasinghe as the leader of the UNP. I re-iterate this to show via a simple example how conntected these people are. There are no enemies within parliament, there are only friends and compromises between them. On January 8th,2015, Maithree won, and I was feeling rather hopeful after nearly a decade of waiting. Avurudu seemed truly to come sooner than expected.

Half an year has nearly passed, the great 100 day plan is half baked and overdue. Things of note that have changed include improved media freedom, no MR posters, adverts, name boards and other paraphernalia showcasing a madmans power fetish and finally 19th amendmant adopted: killing off executive powers of the president. The wealthy still do get away with most everything, implicated politicians still vacate in luxury hospiticals and we are still waiting for the aboloshment of the executive presidency.

Again are we duped, the cycle of media, family relations, great acting, money and vileness seems to revel in our society strong as ever. But a ray of hope is there. Yes we can change this. But we need a new weapon, a new pen on new paper with new minds of great intellect and humanity driving this change. Not JVP, UNP, SLFP, UNFP, TNA, SLMC. We need something more, something bigger and better. I still strive to define it but I feel it. And it's coming to save all of us. But first let's save our selves. Be a model citizen, uphold the law, say no to corruption, voice loudly against injustice and be the change you want to see. Then be ready to change of our nation.