Another One Of Those Situations

I hate having conversations with three wheeler drivers. Usually it’s about either the government, cost of living or cricket. After the first four conversations, you realize that you end up having the same conversation over and over again. Fucking dejavu. I’ve had my four conversations and don’t have anything more to contribute (and the ipod was invented in the mean time too).

That was until yesterday. I was on my way from office yesterday. I hailed down a three wheeler which was speeding towards Grandpass. Inside is a human hulk. I’m not quite sure whether to get in or not. I’m ordered to get in or loose my life. Courteousness was never a virtue of local drivers. So anyway, I get in. Partly due to the fear of the next guy who stopped (he looked like he kidnaps people), party coz I had the first season of “Lost” waiting for me at home (Yes, first season. After year of denial I finally gave in).

Now I’m on a bumpy and zippy ride from Grandpass to Wallawatte. A bus rams into a car in front of Colombo Uni. One thing that I have noticed about local drivers is the fact how they are ignorant about the traffic rules they break. You talk to a local driver and you will realize how many traffic rules he abides by yet have no idea how many he’s breaking. I see this as being optimistic. Anyway, now the conversation starts. I’m not quite sure how it exactly started coz I had my pod plugged in but I’m sure it has something to do with the accident. I get spoken to in English. And extremely good English at that. I get asked all sorts of questions that make me feel like I’m at a job interview.

“Sir, where do you work?”

I tell him.

“Sir, what do you do there?”

The only thing I seem not to do there is what I’m asked to do.

“Sir, do they give you a car?”

I give him a synopsis of my last year.

Then the conversation takes a dramatic twist.

“Sir, do you have a girl?”

WTF??!!! I’m not quite sure how to and why I should answer that. There should be a law against asking questions like that. Me being the sod I am, have this retarded habit of justifying everything I say. So I’m like “No….I mean I had.”

“These girls come and go sir; it’s very hard to find a good girl”

I’m like “ok”.

“Don’t worry sir, you look innocent. You will find a good girl”

Shut the fuck up dude. I will smack you on the head if you promise not to punch seven shades of shit out of me.

“eeerr….thank you”

“I have had enough girls sir. Enough”

Now what are you trying do? Make me feel bad just because I haven’t had my fill?!!!

“I’ve had girls up to here (making a level sign in front of his nose)!! All are bitches who are after your money!!”

They would be, if you told them that you would pay them for their services. Idiot.

“eer…really?”

“I will just fuck them like this (holding his nose), like this sir; and throw them away!!”

At this point I gave up trying to understand him. I assume he has had some bad experience with body odor. I dig you dude, I so dig you.

Somehow, later it dawned on me that it has nothing to do with odor. This guy has some serious issues!! This guy needs some serious closure on a bad relationship. I was told about what a disgrace, women are to human kind. That they evaluate men on what kind of car they drive and what kind of house you own.

Shit!! I’m going to die alone at a bus stand.

After seeing my dads’ name on the gate he asks me hundred questions about the man. I get off but not fast enough. He asks me for my number. I get off the ride giving my old number and run to the safety of the house.

Some people are just under utilized.

D'S

I’m not quite sure whether they got the spelling right but a stunning place nevertheless.

Surgery

The best thing that happened since my last post was Mark Cross leaving the morning show on Yes FM. Thank fucking god!! Somewhere between wise cracks and fake accents those two jokers lost the concept of radio. Which was primarily to PLAY MUSIC. Shack is as funny as drinking your own vomit and Mark just don’t know when to shut up. Tracy on TNL did the best moring show I’ve listened to. Now that’s one funny radio jock. I still remember the day she played “lankawe ape lankawe” by the Gypsies on the show. That’s kick ass DJing. Shack, dude I’m sorry to say that the only people who listened to you guys were recent middle management retards who still head bang listening to Summer of 69. So please do us all a favor and get another job.

I did come across a few interesting social situations that made me think however. If this post feels like surgery, please stop reading now. The worst curse you can carry in life would be not to fall in love. Imagine going through your entire lifetime but not falling in love. The social circumstances around you prevent you from feeling the essence of life itself. It’s quite amazing the number of people you would find in this social paradigm if you listen hard enough. Getting stuck in a marriage when you are barley out of your teens and before you know it fifteen years go by and three kids come along. All this and you’ve not even reached you 35^th birthday. Suffocating isn’t it? I want to do so much in life. I want to meet so many people. Visit so many places. It’s obvious we all not wired the same way but you speak to these people and realize that when they started out they had a lot of potential and hope by somehow it never really panned out quite like how they expected. Guess if its anything, life is full of surprises. The good, the bad and the ugly.

This post is, sort of, all over the fking place as I have been over the past few months. April and May was like going through surgery. People came and went. Functions were attended. Plans were made. Deadlines were missed. I lost myself in the whole eruption of materialistic orgasms. Not being able text “my favorite mistake” didn’t help either. So here’s hoping that the next few months will be something to celebrate about.

Places To Watch The Annihilation Of Cricket Australia On Saturady.

CH is nice. Proper Sri Lankan cricket match atmosphere. Cheap but due to the crowd, service is poor. You have to buy grub and booze for the entire night in one go coz you won’t get another chance. Eat or drink to kabba limit would cost you approx. Rs. 1500.

Cheers is more wanna-be. Tries very hard to serve the local cricket flavor and succeeds to a certain extent. Excellent service. Not the place you can reel off four letter words about Ricky Pointings mother though. That sota takes away half the fun doesn’t it? Eat or drink to kabba limit would cost you approx. Rs. 3000-4000.

Bayleaf has simply lost it. Bayleaf is great as Bayleaf and not as a CH wanna be again. Fails miserably as a recommended place to watch the match. Place was great during the football world cup last year. The white plastic tables take the entire beauty of the lawn away. Sad case of affairs Harpo. Eat or drink to kabba limit would cost you approx. Rs. 4000-5000.

Sugar is recommended for a more sedated match. Ideal for England vs. West Indies on a Sunday. Nice music. Excellent service. Though you would miss the match if a tall goon is seated at the bar as that would cover your view of the screen. Eat or drink to kabba limit would cost you approx. Rs. 3000-4500.

Tramps was like Bon Jovi. A metrosextual rock musician. The novelty of having a Papare band in side a club made me go check it out. Band was excellent. In Sri Lanka no matter where you watch the match from a good papare band gets you in to the mood. The sad part was that on the day I went there the bar closed at 12mn. However it’s a great place to party, not exactly a great place to watch a match. Eat or drink to kabba limit would cost you approx. Rs. 5000-6000.

I’m too fucking spoilt to go Parliament grounds but assume that would be one of the best places to watch if you don’t have your own giant screen. Crazy fans, you can talk about not only Ricky Pointings mother but his grandmother too, cheap food, you take your own booze. Nice don’t you think? Eat or drink to kabba limit would cost you approx. Rs.1000.

Don’t even sight Inn on the Green. Too expensive. No giant screen. Too many expats. Not enough swearing.

Please feel free to add other places of your choice.

Another Old Incomplete Post.

It’s not even mid December yet and I’m already getting in to the Roy-Tho mood!! With the Roy-Tho looking for sponsors, guess I got involved sooner I suppose. For some reason or the other you just can’t beat this feeling. I guess, like most that attended either school, I too lead a sorry life and gets excited over a “bloody cricket match” played between two schools!!! Fools watching fools in flannels. Those of you, who don’t understand, don’t even try. We are just retarded. It’s as simple as that.

I’m not going to write about some big match that happened long time ago or about a scintillating inning played by some fool. The year was 1996. My last year in college. Initial pledge was to start studing for A’ Levels from the first of Jan and then take a break during March and start again after the Mustangs Trophy. My plan went as far as my plan. Cricket World Cup happened, Roy-Tho was played, rugby season came a long. You wouldn’t believe the events you have to attend in you final year at college!!! Thank god some smart blighter decided to sabotage the Electricity Board and the exam was postponed by a month. First instance I started believing in God.

Anyway as I started, the year was 1996. At Tuesdays special assembly, Warden W.M.N De Alwis appointed the cricket captain as a college prefect and issued a death warrant against all who would be breaking the law in the next couple of days. The threat was remembered till around 10.00am. Approximately till 5 minutes after assembly was over. Come Wednesday morning a small crowd of around 120 creatures clad in different shades of blue and black meet on top of Orbanside Street Dehiwala. Trying hard to look as inconspicuous as possible. However war paint made us stand out like…….

We wait a good 45 minutes for our ride. A C.T.B half bus!!! Don’t even ask how we got a C.T.B bus to go trucking. Somebody can still go to jail for that!! How 50 teenage boys, 6 members of a papare band, a driver and a conductor fitted in to a 45 seat mini bus still don’t fail to amaze me!!

So we make our way in to Colombo and girls schools. First stop, Bishops College. Of course. This school always made me feel privileged. The only girls’ school in Colombo a boy was allowed to just walk in to, as long as he had either blue, gold or black war paint on him. Structured classrooms, obliging teachers and generous students. That’s like, a hat collecting Thomians wet dream!! Except for one social studies master who didn’t know the secan but was soon taught, everything was a rewarding experience. Your truily and Amila, the opening fast bowler the next day, takes up the challenge of conducting the year 11 history lesion as the teacher was not available. History always fascinated me!!

We exit as peacefully was we entered, passing the Double-Decker bus. Ah, that bus. I am yet to come across a Thomian who has not given thanks and prays to that bus. I love that bus. Next stop St. Bridgets Convent. I remember SBC now with more affection than then. High gates, higher walls (with spikes, what purpose they serve at such an altitude one fails to comprehend) and young security guards. One girls school which didn’t believe in hiring sweet retired old men. All of us generally charge the gate when we sense hostility. In the cheos that follows, a handful will penetrate the forward defense lines of any security measurement. Somehow the gates withstood the force of the blue army. Yours truly and the now infamous Malaka Silva climb the penitentiary like wall. Hurray! Penetration successful. Now we will attack from both sides. Unfortunately the wiseasses on the other side decide the effort was not worthwhile. Now we were prisoners of war. Shit. I fail to remember how but we somehow get on top of the 12 feet high wall. Jumping off it to the tar pavement is another story all together. To add to the agony Malakas’ t-shirt gets caught on one of the spikes. He yells at me to let go. I tell him that I’m not holding on. He threatens to jump. I ask him to fuck off. The next sight haunts me to this day. Malaka bare bodied running to the mercy of the bus while his t-shirt hangs on one of the wall spikes at SBC!!!

We go all the way down to the beach just to get in to Methodist College. Here I end up taking an English class but gets shooed away by the teacher who arrives late. I exit the class by writing down Umeshs’ home number for those who want private tuition. Sadly that never got us anywhere. The most chaotic was HFC Bambalapitiya. It was the mid day break. And when a horde of boys invade a girls school at a time like that, you wouldn’t believe the amount of Chinese rolls one gets to eat!! The most outrageous moment was when Sister Maxine (who’s name we got to know later) pointing to the gate and asking us to “Get out” and Nishantha “Willa” Wickramasinghe taking her hand and kissing it!!! I could have died laughing. Good thing we turned heel and ran or else I would be still at HFC laughing.

Come 1.30pm we end up at Ladies College. Another girl’s school I love in Colombo. Whoever who said that walls were built to be jumped over, built that wall. A Nissan Hilux with the most infamous of the Chikera boys in it enter the school. If he knew the ordeal he had to face, he wouldn’t have mooned Ladies College with his rugby jersey on!!..............................

From Six Months Ago

In an attempt to be more frequent on kottu, I have decided to post all my old posts which I never got down to posting. So here's one more.

No cable still and I’m watching a Tamil film advert on TV. Hostage situation. The hero comes in a Mahindra jeep. I wait to for an ugly looking fuck with a musto to get out and start shooting. The ugly fuck does turn up; he actually rolls from under the vehicle. In my sorta sedated state I’m mildly surprised. I go get myself some chocolate biscuits, iced milk and a banana. That’s a meal fit for a king if you ask me. The state of sedation has lasted for almost three weeks now and doesn’t seem to be caving in any time soon.

Guess life on a life support system would feel this way. Two blimps on the radar would have to be the NTB quiz and Anils concert. Come to think of it felt sedated after one fateful night at Clancys. Got dragged in there would be more appropriate for the record. It’s a Wildfire night. I’m like, oh hell, might as well enjoy the ride since I’m on the trip already. Wildfire at Clancys’ still brings a bit of nostalgia and I haven’t heard WF in awhile. I survive through Shakira singing “pelvic bones don’t break” (or some shit like that) yet again. After a couple of rounds of Chivas mixed in with the occasional shooter, my ears are toned for Wildfire. The guys walk up on stage and I notice a couple of new faces. I’m like no big shit. They might sound better. It actually took till the chorus of “Hotel California” to find out that I’m not drunk enough. Urgh!!!! WTF????? If ever a boy band got drunk and tried to butt fuck each other and in the process sang “Hotel California”, I would assume they would sound something like this. This shit was not even worth getting yourself hammered so you’re put out of your misery. Seeing that the majority on the almost empty dance floor was from the Indian contingent seated next to our table made me feel a little better. They screaming their lungs off to “Summer of 69” made me feel even better. I still don’t know the words. I shit you not. We got up to go when the band started to play “one for the ladies”. Six years ago if you told me you heard WF play “Beautiful” I would have told you to go boil your head. Alas the day came WF played “Beautiful”. James Blunt style. Listening to WF now is like having a kink for getting pissed on. Nuff said.

NTB quiz was a blast. Thumbs up for an excellent event organized. Good questions, better ushers, free booze and walk next door to Onyx for Anils’ concert. Only in Sri Lanka.

Oh yeah, meet Mendez. Our business development help form El Salvador. Till now all I knew about El Salvador was that it meant “The Savior” and some of the greatest chicks in Central and South America came from there. I mean these are “magnificento” chicks! The promotional dames defy God. The distance between belly button and crotch makes me feel the belly button is somewhere around the rib cage. How low can a hipster get? God works in mysterious ways. I like.

From Six Months Ago....

In an attempt to be more frequent on kottu, I have decided to post all my old posts which I never got down to posting. So here's one more.

No cable still and I’m watching a Tamil film advert on TV. Hostage situation. The hero comes in a Mahindra jeep. I wait to for an ugly looking fuck with a musto to get out and start shooting. The ugly fuck does turn up; he actually rolls from under the vehicle. In my sorta sedated state I’m mildly surprised. I go get myself some chocolate biscuits, iced milk and a banana. That’s a meal fit for a king if you ask me. The state of sedation has lasted for almost three weeks now and doesn’t seem to be caving in any time soon.

Guess life on a life support system would feel this way. Two blimps on the radar would have to be the NTB quiz and Anils concert. Come to think of it felt sedated after one fateful night at Clancys. Got dragged in there would be more appropriate for the record. It’s a Wildfire night. I’m like, oh hell, might as well enjoy the ride since I’m on the trip already. Wildfire at Clancys’ still brings a bit of nostalgia and I haven’t heard WF in awhile. I survive through Shakira singing “pelvic bones don’t break” (or some shit like that) yet again. After a couple of rounds of Chivas mixed in with the occasional shooter, my ears are toned for Wildfire. The guys walk up on stage and I notice a couple of new faces. I’m like no big shit. They might sound better. It actually took till the chorus of “Hotel California” to find out that I’m not drunk enough. Urgh!!!! WTF????? If ever a boy band got drunk and tried to butt fuck each other and in the process sang “Hotel California”, I would assume they would sound something like this. This shit was not even worth getting yourself hammered so you’re put out of your misery. Seeing that the majority on the almost empty dance floor was from the Indian contingent seated next to our table made me feel a little better. They screaming their lungs off to “Summer of 69” made me feel even better. I still don’t know the words. I shit you not. We got up to go when the band started to play “one for the ladies”. Six years ago if you told me you heard WF play “Beautiful” I would have told you to go boil your head. Alas the day came WF played “Beautiful”. James Blunt style. Listening to WF now is like having a kink for getting pissed on. Nuff said.

NTB quiz was a blast. Thumbs up for an excellent event organized. Good questions, better ushers, free booze and walk next door to Onyx for Anils’ concert. Only in Sri Lanka.

Oh yeah, meet Mendez. Our business development help form El Salvador. Till now all I knew about El Salvador was that it meant “The Savior” and some of the greatest chicks in Central and South America came from there. I mean these are “magnificento” chicks! The promotional dames defy God. The distance between belly button and crotch makes me feel the belly button is somewhere around the rib cage. How low can a hipster get? God works in mysterious ways. I like.