SRI PADA

Sri Pada is the fourth highest mountain in Sri Lanka.  It is a Holy Mountain.  All four main believers, such as Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims think that the footprint on the top of the Sri Pada Mountain belongs to their Religious Leaders.  Buddhists believe that the sacred Footprint belong to their Lord Buddha, Hindus believe that the sacred Footprint belong to Shiva, Muslims and Christians believe that the Sacred Footprint on the top of Sri Pada Mountain belong to Adam.  That is why that this mountain is called as "Adam's Peak".

There are several other names to Sri Pada.  It is known as "Samanala Kanda" (Butterfly Mountain), as well.  This mountain is located in Central, Sri Lanka.  There are six paths to go to this Holy Mountain.  It is 2,243 meters high (7,359 ft).  A big crowd is climbing this mountain.   The people will start climbing this mountain from the Full Moon Poya Day of December upto Full Moon Poya Day of May, every year.  Other time in the year, it is difficult to climb the mountain due to heavy rains, strong winds and thick mist.  Also the surrounding is mostly forested, there are wild animals and various species.  This mountain is situated in between Ratnapura District and Nuwara Eliya District in Sri Lanka.

People will be starting to climb - up this Holy Mountain in the night, while hoping to see the sunrise early in the morning.  The Sri Lankans are calling this event as "Ira Sevaya".   They come down during the day time.  Buddhists are believing the Sacred Footprint of Lord Buddha and Lord Buddha has gone to Sri Pada Mountain on the invitation of "God Sumana Saman".  There is a belief that, at that time, Lord Buddha has advised God Sumana Saman to take care of "Lanka Dvipa" (The Island of Sri Lanka).

When you climb this Holy mountain, people should be very careful.  That means, they must behave correctly, without taking liquor or not talking nonsense.  Nowadays young crowd is climbing this Holy Mountain for fun, whereas our elders have gone there to worship the "Footprint" with religious mind and heart.  

There is a water stream in the mountain, called "Seetha Gangula".  Water in this stream is very cold and it is believed that the pilgrims should have a bath in this stream and clean themselves, before climbing to the top of the mountain.  Anybody, who goes there first time is called as "kodukaraya" (amateur).

Most of the people start climbing-up this Holy Mountain from the Hatton side and going down from the Ratnapura side, as it is the shortest path to this sacred mountain.   There are shops and boutiques to serve refreshments to the pilgrims along the path to the "Samanala Kanda".  In ancient days, people used to go to Sri Pada, after writing their estates and legacy to their children and grandchildren, because the path of this pilgrimage is very dangerous.  Those people were not sure of coming back to their homes, as the surrounding of Sri Pada was filled with wild animals, such as elephants, leopards and other creatures.  In recent days, the cement steps were built for people to climb-up the mountain easily.  Also, Police Officers and other rescue teams are there, during the season of "Sri Pada" to help the pilgrims.

Think Positively !!!

- Every working day is a fortunate day.  Every working minute is a lucky minute!!!  - Chinese proverb

Every day is a heaven-sent day for all of us.  Therefore, it is our duty to feel the most of it.  A full day is contained 24 hours.  During that period, we spend nearly 8 hours by sleeping and during the rest of the time, we are attending to household chores, to fulfill duties to our loving family members and friends.  Some time we spare to attend our personal needs.  Our thoughts are always with us whatever we do and if we do not think positively in every moment, we are lost creatures. 

One can say that, it is very difficult to think positively at times, when we face to sad events.  For example, sometimes our loved ones will apart from us suddenly, we lose our loved ones, our business will go down, we lose our jobs and we step into unnecessary relationships and suffer a lot.  In those happenings, we shed tears.  Afterwards, we will have to move-on with our day-to-day work.  Since the world is moving ahead, we cannot stay in one place.  A new sun will come in the morning and a new moon will come with a smile in the evening.  Again, another day will dawn with new lives, new ideas and new happenings.  

According to Lord Buddha, every single person or an animal takes a birth will die one day.   That will take place in the same time, even in the womb of the mother (stillbirth), or the same day it takes the birth, or within a day, week, month, a year or after sometime of the birth.  Also, if a thing, which produced will be broken or lost one day.  That event is for sure at any time!!!

Therefore, we have to move - on with the others in the world.  Some people cannot bear this truth, they commit suicide.  But, that is not the last thing we could do.  Our education help us to prevent from those types of things.  Also, our elders, religious priests or teachers help us to refrain from dreadly things.  We should not think the life is over with some unfortunate happenings.  We should understand the reality of this life.  It may be difficult to face the tragical things, which comes into effect in a sudden way.  But, we must be able to face the problem in an intellectual way.  We must face the situation, whether it is good or bad, in an intelligent way.  If we cannot face that situation alone, then we must seek an advice from a person, who is having vast experiences in life.  Everyone face good, bad, happy and unhappy events throughout his/her life.   Everyone lose their loved ones, miss their loved ones, break the relationships, financial problems and several other situations.  Life is full of uncertain happenings.  We have to face them in a positive way.

According to Gautama Buddha, our life is full of labha (profits), alabha (losses), ayasa (disgrace), yasa (prestige), nindaa (blame/indignity), prashansa (respect/dignity), duka (sadness/poverty) and sapa (happiness/luxury).  This concept is common for all the human being in this world. 

Always think positively and act positively for a happy, delightful and blissful life !!!

SCHOOL

School is a place where we learn several things, such as, Science, Mathematics, Languages, Environmental studies, History, Geography and several others.  Also, we participate in competitions, games and several other activities in the School.

Firstly, we start early childhood education in the kindergarten. When we start to go to preschool, our age should be around 2 1/2 - 3 years.  After learning several things from our parents and elders at home, we start learning further from the teachers in the montessori and school.  From the preschool, we make friends and we learn manners and good behaviour.  Also, we learn how to share our things with our colleagues and play with them in peace.  We mostly attend to drawing, creative work, singing, dancing and sports in the preschools.

Once we complete the early childhood learning, we enter into the formal Government schools or International Schools, whereas Government Schools are not taking monthly fees from the children and International schools will charge a monthly fee from the children.  Children should complete the age of 5 years to enter into the formal schools in Sri Lanka.  We have to send applications to the schools, where we like to start learning, but there are specific rules and regulations to follow - up.  Parents like to educate their children in reputed schools, which are having all the facilities, like good education, sports, swimming, aesthetic studies, such as ,dancing, singing and drawing.

When we reach to the Grade five class, we have to sit for a boundary examination known as the "Scholarship Examination".  This examination is a one day event and held in the month of August in every year.  That is an all - Island examination and parents are bound to get their children to do this examination well, because Government offer a well - known schools for the candidates, who secured highest marks in this examination.  There are limited cut-off marks for the children to achieve to get a prominent school.

Afterwards, General Certificate of Education (G.C.E.) Ordinary Level (O/L) Examination in the month of December for the Grade 11 students.  Pupils in every school should get the minimum qualification of 6 simple passes, just to get through this Examination.  The results are counted by A, B, C, D, E.  To study in the G.C.E. Advanced Level (A/L) class, children should gain sufficient results with minimum qualifications of 6 simple passes plus As, Bs, and Cs.

There are three streams, such as Science, Commerce and Arts in the Advanced Level Class.  According to the results, children can study in the Advanced Level class in Science, Commerce or Arts Stream.  Every child has to do three main subjects and the English subject is compulsory. G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination is held in the month of August, in every year.  Three simple passes is the minimum results and if they want to enter into the Universities, there are limited marks to secure by the children.

There are only limited vacancies in the Government Universities in Sri Lanka,  Therefore, now-a-days children look forward to enter into the branches in foreign universities, situated in Sri Lanka or well-to-do families are sending their children abroad for higher studies.  They mostly go to the universities in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, United States of America and United Kingdom.  There are plenty of Agents to send those children to foreign universities and they do all the paper work and some agents are taking money from the children and some are taking money from the foreign universities.  Therefore, those agents are serving the local students, without getting any money from them, because they get a good sum of foreign aids from the foreign universities.

Anyway, schools are offering a very good service to the children to gain their knowledge in several things, other than subjects.  We are lucky, as Sri Lankans, we get free education from the inception upto the University level.  Therefore, we should get the maximum of this free service from the schools

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 WE THANK THE SCHOOLS FOR THEIR PRECIOUS SERVICE!

What is the real Freedom?

The National Day of Sri Lanka is fallen on the 4th of February in every year.  In 2016, too, we celebrated the freedom of Sri Lanka by hoisting the National Flag, singing the National Song and with some cultural events at the Galle Face Court on 4th of February with a huge crowd of local and foreign well-wishers.  

In the year of 1505, the coastal area of Sri Lanka was captured by Portuguese.  Afterwards, Dutch and lastly British Rulers came into the power of our motherland for several centuries.  Our fellow Citizens were discriminated by the foreign rulers with tragic and harsh laws.  Although the coastal area was under the power of British Rulers, they could not touch the Kandyan Kingdom until 1815.  

With the unfortunate struggle suddenly propped - up among the King Shri Wickrama Rajasinghe and our Chiefs, our power hungry Chiefs have been supported the English Rulers to take the liberty of spreading - out their strength all over the Island.  With the signing of Kandyan Convention in 1815, our whole country was under the control of the British.  They took the King Shri Wickrama Rajasinghe under the imprisonment and took him and his two queens to Vellore Fort in Southern India and he died at the age of 52 years.  

British Administrators took the power in a terrible way on our citizens and exploited the resources, as well.  These unethical happenings carried - on to start - up  struggles everywhere in Sri Lanka against the British Leaders.  These conflicts were led by our National Heroes such as, Veera Puranappu, Gongale Godabanda  and Kappetipola Nilame in which we lost the lives of those fearless National Heroes.  Among all these antagonisms, British were able to control the whole country, without loosening their power.  

In the 20th Century, the master-minded people, such as S. Mahinda Thero, A.F. Senanayake, D.S. Senanayake, Sir Arunachalam Ponnambalam, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala and some other learned persons got along with some peacemaking societies seek the independence by common masses and discussions with Colonial Rulers.  At this time, our neighbouring country, India, too, was fighting against the British Rulers for their freedom.  Finally, just after the freedom given to India, Sri Lankans, too, were fortunate to get the freedom from the Colonial Empower.  

Though we got the freedom before 68 years, still we are having cultural, economic, social and ethnic problems.  But, as a multi-national and multi-religious country, we all have to get together and bring the real peace to this country.  

We salute the three forces for their valuable contribution given to the 30 years of ethnic war and was able to bring the peace to the Island.  Also, we must think the value of freedom one can get in this life and put the whole heart to protect the freedom, which we got 68 years back.  

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

     

READING

"Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader"  - Margaret Fuller

Reading is fantastic, if one could have, as a hobby.  If you are used to read, books will be your forever friends, who will be there with you through - out your life.  When you are reading something, may be a book, a newspaper, a magazine, an article or any other document, you can develop your knowledge about the people, art and craft, cookery, food, gardening, landscaping, electrical and electronic equipment, mechanical work, engineering, medicines, medical treatments such as Western and Ayurvedic, continents, countries, animals, birds, insects, species, fish, water, oceans, lakes, rivers, canals, ships, boats, all kinds of vehicles, aeroplanes,  mountains, fauna and flora, indoor games and outdoor games, various climates, prevailing in the world, cinemas, photography, sky and clouds, rain, planets, ancient kingdoms and kings, famous people, great leaders, scientists, human body, geographical situation and whatever you are interested in learning about.  You can gain a vast knowledge of anything and everything by reading.  It will help you to advance your vision and mission.  

From the inception, we should make our children to read about everything, as they are very curious about their neighbourhood, when they are small.  We can start - up with story books and then they will use to read about other subjects, as well.  This will help them to enhance their general knowledge.  Children should not stick only to read their text books, which they use to pass the exams. Children should know about their atmosphere and about the fellow citizens.  Apart from them, they should know about the other species, who are living in their surroundings.  It will support for them to choose their future careers, as well.  

Some children would like to learn about human body and to be doctors, some would like to know about the space and to be space scientists, some may be talented in dancing or music and to be artists, some may like to be media representatives or writers, mechanics, engineers, electricians, teachers and so on. 

Reading will help anyone in this world from young people to elderly people.  Children who used to read from their childhood, will be good in writing, also, because, they are familiar with letters numbers and sentences. They will show extra talent in other subjects in the classroom, as well. Reading should not be framed into one subject or to one topic.  You should read about various fields. Nowadays, apart from hard books, you have electronic books and you can read from Internet, as well. It is a good sign for our children, as they are more attached to Internet related programs now. Reading can be done at home, in the garden, in a park or when you are traveling in an empty bus, train or travelling in an aeroplane or a ship. One way, reading is like one type of a meditation. 

There are things that we need to learn until we go to our grave.  When you grow old, your spouse might die and the children might get married and leave you.  If you are used to read, then you do not feel lonely at any moment.  Remember, Books are good companions !

Reading gives us some place to go, when we have to stay where we are !!!

Sigiriya

Sigiriya is another artistic place in Sri Lanka.  According to the folklore, the name of "Sigiriya" derives from the word "Sinha Giriya".  Sinha means "lion" and the giriya means "rock/hill".  So the meaning of Sigiriya is Lion Rock.  This name would have come to this wonderful rock, because there is an enormous Lion at the gateway of the rock.  This is an ancient fortress in Sri Lanka.  This rock kingdom is situated closer to the city of Dambulla, in the Matale District of Central Province of Sri Lanka.

King Dhathusena is the father of King Kashyapa.  Since King Kashyapa was the eldest son of the King Dhathusena, he was asking the dowry from the King Dhathusena and King Dhathusena told that his dowry is "Kala Wewa" (a Lake), which is in Anuradhapura. King Kashyapa got angry with his father, he has seized the throne from the King Dhathusena, while throwing and wailing his father alive.  

King Kashyapa was scared of his half brother, Prince Mugalan, who was the real owner of the throne, after the King Dhathusena.  Prince Mugalan has been fled to India and organized an army to fight against King Kashyapa.  In the meantime, King Kashyapa has brought the capital and the kingdom to Sigiriya from Anuradhapura. Therefore, this Rock fortress has been created and built by the King Kashyapa.  He has done a marvelous job by constructing his new kingdom on the top of the rock. There were palaces, parks, water fountains on the top of the rock and in the surrounding area.    

This rock is 200 meters (660 feet) high,  King Kashyapa was a very creative person, as he is the one, who has got done the beautiful world famous wall paintings on the walls of the rock. There are "Kurutu Gee" (poems) written on the walls of the rock.  They are very famous among the world.  One time, it was nominated for the 8th wonders in the world.  Today Sigiriya is a UNESCO listed world heritage. 

It is our duty to protect these world famous heritages in Sri Lanka !!!

**Some facts have been taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigirya**

- Shrimal Champika Wickremasinghe -

OLDEN  AGE

Old is Gold

Olden age is the precious age among the three stages in the life.  When you reach to your Old Age, you are thorough in everything.  You have gained a very good experience in life, whatever good or bad.  You know what mistakes you have done previously and at least, now you can put yourselves in the correct path.  Or else, if you think, now you do not have time to adjust, you can, at least, help the youngsters to make their lives perfectly.  Everyone do not get a chance to experience in everything in the life.  You can learn the other things from your friends or relations, what and what hardships they have undergone and what are the things they think to keep - up the lives in a perfect way.

Whatever the experience you gained, it is good, if you keep your health in order.  Must do regular exercises, walk daily, eat healthy food and have a good sleep.  You would have under-gone a tough life in previous days.  So, this is time to rest and keep - up yourselves, without any mental agonies.  

Do not keep grudges against anyone, as it is like you are taking poison, thinking that other person to die.  So, forgive and forget.  This is the time that you really understand, all are not the same. Different people are having different ideas, behaviours and qualities.  So, accept all and you go on your way of quality life.

Don't think much on little things.  There are good and bad things, that you have to undergo, through out your life.  Everyone has to under - go different things during the life path.  So, you are not the first one or the last one that experienced bad things and sad things, as well.  That is the life.  Anyway, at this stage, you faced everything and come upto some extent.  So, you should be happy and now is the time to have fun.

Don't give up love life.  Love you partner, love your family, love your friends and love your neighbours.  Take time to read about love and love everyone, who are around you.

Keep - up your hobbies.  If you don't have one, start now!!!  You can do reading about everything, such as Autobiography of famous people, then you come to know that most of the things that you come across, all the others, too, have come across, upto some extent in their lives.  You can do gardening and when your plants blossom with flowers and fruits, you will be cherished.  You can distribute them among your own family, friends and neighbours.  Then you will feel to grow more and more.  You can write some documentaries, blogs and articles to Newspapers or to the Internet. When they are published, you will cherish and you will feel to write more and more!!! 

Don't give - up to think about your outer personality.  It is worth to take time to go to the salon and make your hair, do a facial, do your eyebrows, manicure and pedicure.  Once in a way, go for a head massage and foot massage.  You will have a thorough relaxation.  

Go to a park and spend time with children.  Go to the beach and look at the waves for sometime.  It will give you a good experience of your life.  Waves are going up and down, as if your life.  There are ups and downs in the life, too.  You can breath good air and can have a good relaxation, when you go to the sea beach.  You can do Yoga or meditation.  That, too, will give you a good relaxation. 

Once in a way go to a coffee shop, lunch or dinner or to a movie with a friend.  You can talk about your past, how you cried on a silly boyfriend and you can have a good laugh.  Now, there is no secrets to cover - up from anyone.  All the stupid things, you have done in your small age and young age, now you can wipe - off with a good laugh!!!

Try to learn something, you loved to learn, such as a different language, to play a musical instrument, or to make cakes or attend to a cookery class.  You can marvel your grandchildren or friends, with what you learn.  

Have chats with youngsters and learn whatever you can get from them.  Don't criticize them or their work! They are the future of this world.  They will direct the world as per their choice and desire. Surely, you can advise them, but not under-estimate their thoughts and work.  They are better in current technology. You can learn them and try to keep an e-mail circle and be a partner of the new techniques.  

Do not take care of what others would think or tell about you.  That is none of your business.  Give them the freedom to think or talk, as per their wish.  You do whatever you like, as far as, your behavior is not guilty or harmful to anyone.  

Go on a trip, once in a way with your family or friends and enjoy the situation.  Attend to the religious activities in the temple or church, weddings, parties, graduations, musical shows.  If you can afford, travel all around the world.   Help the people, whenever you get a chance! Admire other's good qualities!  Praise their good behavior !!  Wish the Best of Luck for others !!!  

ALWAYS TRY  TO PLANT THE BEST IMAGE IN THE HEARTS OF YOUR CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, FRIENDS AND THE SOCIETY! 

BE HAPPY  WITH EVERY SITUATION AT YOUR BEST, AS YOU HAVE ONLY A LITTLE TIME TO HAVE FUN IN THIS BIRTH!  

- Mrs. Shrimal C. Wickremasinghe -