Nisadas

So there’s this little segment on radio called “The first step” or something of that sort. It involves a particular phrase being said in all three main Sri Lankan languages – Sinhala, Tamil and English.

It’s a good thing certainly and most of the phrases are likely to come in handy. Except that since I’m concentrating on driving, I don’t really remember most of them.

Except for one.

The lady says in Sinhala : ???? ???? ???? (Oyata call ekak – there’s a call for you)
Then some guy says in tamil the same thing in Thamil, except he uses the real Thamil words (my knowledge of the language is rudimentary, but it involved something like Ungalukku Tholeikasu Pesi)

That’s interesting because “????” isn’t even proper Sinhala – it’s the english word expressed in Sinhala. The right term would be “?????? ???????” (Durakathana Amathumak – phone call). Why complicate the Thamil version when it’s most likely that speakers of both languages would slip into using the easier english word? Especially since that word would be understood definitely by both of them (which is quite fascinating in itself – how ubiquituous English is in our daily lives).

This struck me as especially interesting when I was talking to an Indian colleague today – he was telling me about his driver teaching himm how to say good morning and good night. Of course, the driver had used the original Sinhala words – “??? ???????”(subha udhaesanak) and “??? ??????????” (subha raathriyak) – which my colleague found helpful due to their similarity to Sanskrit. Of course, I explained that no one really uses those terms anymore and the usual greetings are in English. Turns out, most people in India don’t really use purely Hindi while speaking, slipping in quite a few English words as they go.

The last time I heard anyone speak pure Sinhala was when we had Sathischandra Edirisinghe deliver a lecture at a workshop I attended.

Purists will shudder and thunder about the pollution of the language, but can that really be avoided in this day and age? With the proliferation of communication technology and all that jazz about the world getting flatter and smaller, there’s going to invariably be mixing. If that means we can all understand each other a little better – is that really a bad thing?

For those of you who have noticed the lack of unstructured Sinhala poems (Nisadas) on this blog;

I used to work at Vesess.
Prabhath (the uber-designer) blogged at Nidahas.
Venushka (the uber-coder) blogged at Adahas.

I wanted to blog as well – lack of talent notwithstanding – and tried to come up with a name for the whole thing. In my attempt to find a name that rhymed with Vesess (Sinhala for “Special”), Nidahas (Sinhala for “Freedom”) and Adahas (Sinhala for “ideas”) I put Nidahas and Adahas together -> Nidahas Adahas = Nisadas. So no, I can’t write poetry,

While Nidahas is no longer updated, you should definitely check out Adahas. Venushka is back from whatever dark place he was hiding. If you are one of those people who runs WordPress on your own domain, then you should definitely pay him a visit. Go to http://adahas.com now!

This year you’re sixteen and you’ve only just got on the internet. Some chap from a Bradby playing school (where at some charity walk you will win the voucher to get you internet access) has tagged me to write to you.

No of course not, that link doesn’t work ‘cos it links to a site in 2009. No, Netscape isn’t that cool, but yes, anything is better than Explorer. For what it’s worth, your dislike for Microsoft will continue and you will only get over it with the introduction of something called Office 2007. But then again, that will be more out of necessity than anything else.

And yes, you will (cringe) have your own site under (y)our real name. But you will call it Nisadas (a combination of Nidahas Adahas, which are two other blogs by friends at your old work place) and people will think that’s (y)our name, so don’t worry about sudden popularity. Besides, you still can’t write to save your life.

So what do I tell you?

1. You will not become a monk. Amma is going to be very worried about you and this tendency of yours to be cynical of life in general. Please spare her the trouble. You’re not cut for that kinda thing and sure as hell the Sasana isn’t cut out for the likes of you. But take the time to join her on her visits to the temple. You will grow out of this Heavy Metal/Atheism combination and mellow out with a more Agnostic and far more buddhist attitude to life. That will help you and it’ll help Amma as well.
2. No, that means you won’t be going to Wudang mountain either. Geez.
3. Yes, you will know all the songs of Metallica’s Reload by heart. What did you expect, playing it in the background while studying? Although, you might not want to write most of them at the end of your English Lit paper…
4. That first (and only) piece of vandalism on your school desk? The one where you painstakingly draw the Whitesnake logo? Well, you’re gonna miss school one day and come back to find it gone. Dilan will have scraped it away and replaced it with the words of “My heart will go on”. No, we’re definitely not going to understand nor forgive…
5. You have impeccable taste in women, my boy. Almost all of the really interesting ones you will not pursue on the grounds that they are older than you(No, we never really get along with anyone younger than us until much much later in life), the wrong religion (y’know the ones where your kind of atheism isn’t approved of) or just plain out of your league. This is generally due to your inherent geekiness, and you’ll never really grow out of it.  Nevertheless, you will be blessed with some very good looking and intelligent friends of the fairer sex. As for the ones out of your league, that won’t stop you from marrying someone who’s as out of your league as the All Blacks are in comparison with the school team. So don’t worry too much. But make the most of every opportunity
6. Yes, the All Blacks are a rugby team. Malli will take up rugby, so you will get to hear a lot about it. Try and be more involved – it’ll save you both the trouble of having to get him explain various technicalities while watching the matches.
7. Love your hair. Er… as in take good care of it. You’re gonna lose most of it pretty soon.
8. Yes, you will do Maths for your A/Ls. I know you wanna do it ‘cos of all the cool stuff in the Demo Scene, but you’re not going into IT. Not that it makes much of a difference, since everyone in your department is going to tell you that IT would suit you more than Finance, but the CIMA classes are a lot more fun. Trust me. But pay more attention when you’re in class, especially calculus.
9. Save money. A couple of years later in 2000, track down a guy called John Pereira. He has already sent himself a list of all the results of sporting events in your not too distant future. Be his friend and see if you can find some stuff out. Bet on that and make a lot of money.
10. Keep some of that money and invest in shares. All those times that you think share prices are good for buying will turn out to be just that. Well no, I didn’t save so I didn’t have the money to invest. So you change that.
11. Stay in touch with your friends more often.
12. Dream. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Yeah, that’s about it. That last part is from an awesome speech. Look it up when this thing called Youtube gets on the scene…

Enjoy being young. You will find that growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.

Chill, bro.

D.

P.S.

Just in case the Pereira fellow doesn’t help out, I’m sending you a list anyway. Check your mail in a little while.

And with that, the tag stops here. That’s all folks!

I recently had the opportunity to read Banker to the Poor – the story of the Grameen Bank by Muhammed Yunus. While you can easily find out the story of Grameen at its Wikipedia page, there are some points of interest in the book that don’t make it into Wikipedia:

The worm’s eye view

Most interesting is the point that is made right at the beginning, where the professor is confronted by the magnitude of human suffering caused by famine in 1974. Upset by the scenes of death in Jobra village, Muhammed Yunus decided to take a different view in order to help solve the problem:

I promised myself to try and learn everything about the village. I thought I would be fortunate if I could understand the life of one single poor person. This would be a big departure from traditional book learning. By attempting to equip the students with a bird’s eye view, traditional universities had created an enormous distance between students and the reality of life. When you can hold the world in your palm and see it from a bird’s eye-view, you tend to become arrogant – you do not realise that when looking from such a great distance, everything becomes blurred, and that you end up imagining rather than really seeing things.
I opted for what I called the ‘worm’s eye view’. I thought I should rather look at things at close range and I would see them sharply. If I found some barrier along the way, like a worm, I would go around it, and that way I would certainly achieve my aim and accomplish something.

Not only did Muhammed Yunus adopt a radical approach to the problem, but he also adopted an attitude of not letting obstacles prevent him from achieving his goal. There is a lesson here to anyone in business – your feet need to be on the ground if you plan on delivering a good value proposition.

Cynicism and Independence

Another constant theme throughout the book is the professor’s cynicism towards the various international aid agencies and notably, the World Bank. His reasons for independence from their influence reminds me of the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. By refusing to obey the rules set by international agencies, he has been able to formulate an approach to the problem of poverty in Bangladesh. The book details many occasions where Grameen has maintained its independence, even though it meant refusing significantly large amounts of funds in the form of “soft loans” from the World Bank.

Interestingly, he alludes to a proposal made by the World Bank in 1984 for an alternative micro-credit organisation; the Bangladeshi government rejects the proposal which (according to the prof.) is then amended slightly before being thrust upon the government of Sri Lanka.

Too often we are prepared to take solutions from elsewhere and simply dump them on our problems with the expectation that the results will be the same. Blind faith in foreign intervention is clearly not the best approach. Possibly, the approach of learning from others (the prof. was a Fulbright scholar with a degree in economics from Vanderbilt University) and tailoring the solution to the specific problem would be the better alternative.  Here in Sri Lanka, IMHO we find that many policy proposals are made by people who believe wholly in western ideals, or those who wholly reject them. Perhaps a healthy dose of disbelief of foreign motives, coupled with lessons learned from foreign lands would be better?

Charity is not a solution

This is a theme also constant throughout the book, where that age old adage of feeding a man for life by teaching him to fish can be evoked. Muhammed Yunus criticises Bangladesh and other third world countries for adopting and sometimes deliberately promoting the view that they are in an incurable situation. Being a realistic observer of politics in South Asia, he points out how little of donor funds would actually end up helping the supposed beneficiaries and how much would be pocketed by intermediaries. This is a lesson that we should take to heart. As a nation we have many issues to sort out, but also many avenues of growth. While it may be difficult to sway those “educated” people who firmly believe it is the government’s job to generate employment, there are surely plenty of people with the skills and the desire to grow wealth who can do some wonders with access to funds (see Rajaratarala’s post on Sri Lankan ingenuity).

Passion and Attitude

HRH the Prince of Wales in his foreword mentions the passion in Muhammed Yunus towards poverty alleviation. Similarly, there is mention of how recruits to the bank were hired not on banking experience but on their desire to carry out the bank’s goal of reducing poverty. In fact, “experts” with experience in traditional banking were rejected, since “re-programming” would take too long. By generating the feeling that they are instruments of change in the community they operate in, Grameen empowers its employees to help alleviate poverty, empower rural women, encourage entrepreneurship and educate the younger generation among other things.

In a country like Sri Lanka where the traditional “honour thy elder” culture has been perverted to the stage where hierarchy exists to stifle employee motivation, there is much to be learned. There are companies which have grown thanks to passionate people which have nevertheless burdened themselves with unwieldy hierarchies. While in some cases a hierarchy cannot be simply done away with, it must not exist to distance the employee from the company’s objectives. Of course, it’s a lot easier to create employee engagement when dealing with a notion like eradicating poverty, but there are surely ways of engaging employees in order to achieve optimum results. By creating a passionate environment and encouraging a “can-do” attitude firms can achieve good results, but it may require a lot of management of the egos of those higher up on the ladder in many cases.

A poverty free world

The book closes with the question on whether a poverty free world is possible. While economically there will quite likely continue to be a gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots”, Professor Yunus’ ideal of a world where everyone is able to meet their basic life needs seems quite plausible. Hopefully, we can learn from his experiences in Bangladesh and perhaps adopt a similar approach in Sri Lanka.

Not long after my serendipitous discovery of MobilePress, I wondered how cool it would be if all the WordPress.com blogs that I visit via Achcharu/Kottu were more mobile friendly. Especially since I spend more time reading up on the blogs via mobile browser.

Turns out that WordPress.com has taken a move in the right direction. As of today (at least, as per this article “The Hero Is In Your Pocket” via Chanux) blogs hosted with WordPress.com will adjust for access from mobile devices. It also refers to two more mobile-friendly WP plugins – WPTouch and WordPress Mobile Edition which would be of interest to anyone hosting their own WordPress blog (like yours truly). I’m not aware if other blogging services like Blogger and Typepad have adjusted accordingly, but it’s good news with positive ramifications.

The future is most certainly mobile.

I’m fairly sure there must be some kind of demand for these things. With a heel of variable height, straps to hold the shoes in place and other features depending on the lady’s taste and enough protection to ensure that those delicate toes are well protected.

It’s either that, or there’s gonna forever be a new variant – the Cha-Cha-Ow!

Of course, 595 US dollars is a little too much for what I’ve got in mind…

Anyone in the footwear industry?

I know I really shouldn’t get hung up over this, but it just beggars belief.

See my post on how Daily Mirror has no clue about copyright, or even the Creative Commons licensing terms.

Now read what they have to say about the PTI allegedly copying their stuff:

The Colombo based reporter for the Press Trust of India (PTI), not for the first time has copied a story off the Daily Mirror website and published the same content with his byline without giving due courtesy to the original source. Not only is this unprofessional but also takes away the due credit that the original reporter deserves. Below is part of the PTI story while the original Daily Mirror story also appears on this page.

(Emphasis mine).

Priceless. Absolutely priceless.

UPDATE Cerno was the victim of a similar issue long ago. By the looks of it, no one in Sri Lanka actually gives a damn about copyright, or even the more liberal licenses.

Eat five fruits or vegetables a day! by st3f4n

A couple of days after reading on Indi’s blog about the effects of a low calorie diet and Rajaratarala’s posts about his latest misadventures in farming and the dietary habits of rural Sri Lankans, I came across the following TED talk by Carolyn Steele. (Embedded YouTube video. MP4 download available at the TED site).

It’s an interesting look at the intricate relationships between humans and our food and how all of this has affected the placement of cities.

Especially important I thought was the point on how our demand for food (which isn’t helped by the amount we waste) is literally eating into the rainforests. Given the limited amount of arable land, this will mean that we will have food production issues far greater than that the sort you would find playing Caesar or Settlers.

Given that the population of the world is on it’s way to the Nine billion mark by around 2050, food will definitely be an even larger item on the global agenda than it is today. If Carolyn’s “Militarized shopping spree” comparison to the growth of the Roman empire is anything to go by, the latest acquisition of farmland in poorer countries by richer nations should also ring a bell (The Guardian, UK).

This brings us to the subject of vegetarianism. Surely the ancient Indians were on to a more sustainable system when they espoused a vegetarian lifestyle. After all,

• A higher portion of grain goes towards meat production, so cutting down on that would also make more land available for agriculture for human consumption.
• A pleasant side effect for those with a hindu/buddhist/PETA mindset would be the significantly less slaughter of animals, not to mention the less animals being maintained for food in awful conditions.
• Fewer cattle may have an impact on reducing the amount of methane gases being released into the atmosphere and causing global warming, but that’s just taking it a little too far…

So there’s definitely scope for businesses in the food industry for the future, especially if they adopt newer methods and possibly focus more on the vegetarian option. Neville from the USA has had an interesting experience after switching, too.

But even if you’re not so hot about switching to a full vegetarian diet (it will take me a long time before I can truthfully say no to a breakfast of bacon and eggs), perhaps reducing your meat intake could possibly help the world, one step at a time. You might want to read up on Cerno’s guide to insecure meat eaters while you’re at it.

Post Script:

On a wholly different note, the Stormtroopers365 by Stefan set is just awesome!

For about a year, my internet access was severely limited. Being far from the WiFi at home, I relied on my mobile phone for access. That sucked.

Using a Nokia 7260 as a GPRS modem wasn’t such a hot idea. Thanks to the Opera Turbo feature (then still in Alpha) helped a little, but it was even slower than dial-up. Surfing the net from the phone itself was a little pointless, especially since most blogs on Achcharu/Kottu aren’t very mobile friendly.

Well, amongst other things I upgraded to a newer phone and the Dialog Data package. It serves my purpose – quick checks on email, the blogosphere and updates on Cricinfo.

That said, it was a quite interesting to check out the latest Beta of Opera Mini. Having an iPhone-like theme, the browser is faster than the built in browser (due to caching/compression of the content through Opera’s servers) and makes it easier to view blogs off the phone.

However, it was a pleasant surprise to see Kottu on my phone. Since there’s no way I can think of showing you what it looks like on the phone, let me show you what Kottu looks like to Firefox masquerading as an iPhone 3.0 (thanks to the User Agent Switcher):

The result seems to a lot friendlier to mobile browsing, which is great for times when I’m just stuck with only my phone. Of course, since the blogs that are linked to aren’t running MobilePress, there’s not much change once you leave Kottu.

Sadly, it looks like MobilePress isn’t available as a plug-in for anyone on WordPress.com. Perhaps if there was more interest in mobile browsing, that would change.

So there I was feeling all upset that my crappy photo made it to the front page of Ada Derana without my being credited.

But why stop there? Turns out the people at the Daily Mirror (http://www.dailymirror.lk) aren’t very original either.

Barely a coupla days after my photo turns up on Ada Derana, it turns up on Daily Mirror as well, which at the time I took the screenshot below, was right next to their own copyright notice.

As of September 24, 2009 their article on the subject at http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=61811 still carries the photo, despite an email informing them of their unauthorised use in violation of the licensing terms.

What occurs to me however, is that these guys probably stole the photo off the Ada Derana site and therefore don’t even know the licensing terms in the first place.

O tempora o mores!