“Be Bold in Gold “

That was the theme of the Secretaries Evening celebrating the International Administrative Professionals Week on the 25^th of April 2007 held at the Galle Face Hotel. The theme was Ruveena’s idea and soon everyone was enthusiasitcally caught up with the idea. Our invitations were on gold coloured conquorer board printed in black and enclosed in black envelopes.

The hall was decorated with black and gold helium filled balloons. The tables were covered with black table clothes while white roses with candles sat in the middle of each table along with the programme printed in gold and tied with black ribbon and a package of ten ferror roche chocolates all tied up in gold net. The chair covers were in black with gold sashes on them and the participants all came beautifully dressed in black and gold.

The evening started off with the launch of the SLAAPS website www.slaapsoneline.com! All the past presidents were requested to come forward where Ruveena had got a laptop with the projector and screen all set up, and everyone participated in opening the first pages of the website. There were 10 past presidents to launch the website and to cut the huge cake in celebration. Another milestone in the SLAAPS calendar…

It was a nice evening with DJ music (even the DJ was in black and gold). Every member was greeted at the door with a bag of goodies and a gold sash. What fun we had watching how innovative the ladies got with where they wanted to tie the sashes. They were used as Alice bands, tied turban style, big bows made and pinned on sarees, tied on wrists or ankles and thighs and around the throats.

There were the games Fly to your ASA Destination, and the Numbers Games, the Baila Competition and lots of little surprises and of course as always quite a bit of dancing. Even the huge thunder storm that raged outside didn’t deter the invitees who know that SLAAPS always puts on a good show… and I’m sure that everyone who came was very glad they did!

Spring Cleaning

Got a bit of a break because of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year and Sunethra and I decided to make the break count. Casting a look around our house that generally resembles a disaster zone, we thought we’ll give the kitchen a good clean up, especially since of late we’ve heard the squeaks of baby mice around there.

So Friday morning saw us busily cleaning away. How ever many articles I may read on clutter control, organizing your home and such stuff, it never quite seems to apply to us. There are loads… and I mean loooaaads of things that have gotten collected in every nook and cranny which on examination can’t be thrown away because… they were weddings gifts my parents had got. Yeah they are cracked and chipped and tarnished and grubby… but well… they were wedding presents and have lived with us for so long that no one dares to get rid of them…. Immediately springs to mind crockery (mostly mismatched, cracked, some with their handles off and so on but supposed to be something like Johnsons??? or something, cutlery (BONE handled!!!!) and so on. They can’t be thrown away due to sentimental value (the person who gave it has since died and gone to Heaven), because my mom wants them (there is no logical purpose for them… but hey … she wants them) and things that we can’t throw away, we can’t do garage sales, we don’t know anyone else who would want them.

So there we find old teapots … yup many of them, and stacks of saucers (where are the cups to them??) soup plates and bottles of various shapes sizes and hues. Among all of this we find jam jars, ice-cream and other plastic containers, sili sili bags, brown paper bags, cardboard……….. gosh the list is endless and we ended up with huge garbage bags filled to the brim and taking up quite a bit of space themselves.

My mom was getting quite jittery when I lay my calculating eyes on two huge monstrosities that squat in the kitchen. One is this large waist sized cupboard which holds the stores (yeah we found bottles of jam, sauces, honey, wine (I didn’t mind finding those) and packs of food like noodles and jelly and flour and cake ingredients well past their expiry dates – yuck! Its an absolute eye-sore (I’m still talking about the cupboard here) because its large and hulking and despite holding lots of stuff also has a large number of mouse-sized holes in them which allows the rats easy access to the cavernous interior. No one really clears it often other than opening it to get at stuff in the front of the cupboard.

That…. decided Sunethra and I… must go! We even decided that it could be donated to the nearby bakery for their fires. Though how to set about it ??? and how to persuade my mom to part with this treasure that can hold all the above stuff ??? and worse yet…. Where to put all the ‘stuff’ if we get rid of the holdall??

The other bit of furniture that I feel needs to ‘go’ is an olden days ‘whatnot’ made of some good wood I’m sure, but one drawer is missing, the handle off the other drawer is gone while the bottom of the little cupboard thing also dips down to the floor. Well.. it probably looked great many, many, years ago. Perhaps its some type of antique… but who on earth will got through the trouble of cleaning and polishing it up? I would give away in a flash ………. but it belongs to my dad sigh!

Even the fridge got a good clearing out. What a load of stuff we discovered in there too…. Kinda like a treasure hunt…. Chocolate, marzipan, jars of cherries, sweets, …. Loads of stuff.

Might try doing a similar spring clean to our room the next time around !

Fern Green Paint

Since we had’nt given the hall a paint this Christmas, we decided to do so at least for Easter. So on Easter Eve, Sunethra and Uncle George (I was more or less stuck with the SLAAPS Magazine) with a bit of my help, hauled out the furniture from the hall and gave the hall a coat of paint in a lovely minty green. I must say the hall looked really nice on Easter Sunday. Even the effort we made to remove all the books from the book cupboard and the writing desk before moving them away from the walls, and then putting them all back again was worth it.

A Shining Example from a Buddhist Monk

Have you been on a bus and had to give up your seat to a healthy young Buddhist priest? Sometimes one who has not even shaved his head? Well, I have. More times than I care to count. I do so gladly…. especially since the seat in front is reserved for the Buddhist clergy. Sometimes though, I must shamefully admit, I do so rather resentfully, given that our 175 bus route is about the worst, most crowded route in the world. You long for a seat and you finally get it, and then ……… quicker than a flash of yellow …….. you are deprived of your coveted seat. Even when you immediately rise to your feet and give up your seat it would be taken without the least acknowledgement of thanks.

Many is the time that I’ve seen an old archchi tremblingly getting up from her seat in the front to make way for a strapping Buddhist priest who would arrogantly and most times impatiently wait for her to move so that he can claim his rightful seat. I also seen heavily pregnant ladies and mothers with babies and little children willingly giving up their seats. Anyway…….. the reason why I started writing this was because about two weeks ago, I had the great fortune to come across a Buddhist priest who restored my faith in their kind (or at least some of them).

It happened once again in our crowded 175 bus. I was seated in the front seat along with a mother and her child. And in Rajagiriya in gets a Priest. Of course immediately the mom and I both got to our feet to give him his seat. When he saw us, he said "na, na ohoma inna", and forcefully motioned us sit down again and proceeded to take a seat on the opposite side that a gentleman offered. That was sooooooo nice!!! It quite made my day! Here was one priest who practiced ‘karunawa’ and ‘maityriya. My hats off to him and others of his ilk! Of course

I WAS feeling rather uncomfortable sitting in his place while he sat in the ‘common mortal’s’ seat. But he smiled and made a ‘stay’ motion with his hands several times when I tried to move. His shining example of humility made him (in my eyes) a GREAT man of his vocation. Yessssss I’m glad of that fleeting meeting!!!