Serendipity: The oblivious man and " sansare piya satahan "

See the man sitting across the road in this picture?
I see him most of the days, around colour lights, where W.A.Silva mawatha turns to Galle road at Wellawatte.
I took this picture, waiting in traffic.
He sits there, not moving, no emotions in his face.
A pedestrian gives an occasional look & traffic moves through unbearable heat and sound.
What ever the chaos, he's oblivious to this world.

I don't know his story, but he teaches me one thing.
Life is a bubble, it can happen to anyone.
He makes me think about my life, my day, my time and my mind.
He makes me think calmly, to be responsible, in my thoughts and action.
It can happen to any one, I owe him for his message.

Then on Asela poya day, a similar experience to mine, had been captured on "sansare piya satahan". It's a 25 minute one episode SIMPLE teledrama, which captures essence of humanity. It airs on Jathika Rupavahini every poyaday at 0725 PM.

I loved this program from 1994, but missed it badly, till this episode.
It is one of the very few programs on Sri Lankan television, that deserves credit for authenticity and creativity. Even after all these years, it still inspires me.

Hats off to Mr.Ananda Abeynayake, the Director.
Those days Maliban used to be the sponsor, these days it is Sampath Bank.
A big thank you to both.

Prioritization - What would I do today?

Prioritization of work is really hard. That's why we screw up things, we should not.
Prioritization induces us to focus on what's really important, first.
Sounds straight forward and easy, yet so eluding.

Most of the time I end up doing things not so important, but seemed at the point of execution, so urgent.

Randy Pausch had a good story on this.

When you have a frog to eat, don't think, just swallow it.
When you have 2 frogs to eat, select, swallow the largest, first.

Frog is taken here to project our mental image towards important stuff, which is always not so easy, taking quality time, and produces lot of complaints from our mind.

Working from home

Life is much more simple - working from home.
All of a sudden I find my self working, efficiently, away from office.
Funny.

Mind works well with out interruptions. This is call freedom to the mind.

Problem is how disciplined I am. I can be much more productive for 4 hours - at home, which is more than work I can do in 8 hours at office + 3 hours of traffic - a wastage of fuel, time and tension.

Balance.

Yes, balance is the key. This whole day had taught me that. You can't be at extremes for too long.
I missed the tea time at office :)

Balance. Be happy for the moment. Don't hold on too tight.

I love new year...but

I see my fellow citizens buzzing around in the streets. They are holding bags full of clothes, food and drink. A time to celebrate. The new year.

One question kept nagging me for a week. Do we really need to buy this much to be happy and share happiness?

Do we really need to spend lavishly this much? I for one, is really curious.
How are they going to survive the next month?

To others as to myself

It is very hard these days. The Avurudu (the new year) is coming: getting gifts to relatives, cleaning one's own places, balancing the work at office. I heard many more from my colleagues to the list. Top of that the heat is really unbearable. Sun scorches in the day and at night, now heavy rains. Traffic is getting to the nerves. People seems to be crazy, and sometimes I also get in to the flow, making things worse.

With all these pressures...yeah...it is not a vacation anymore, it is more loaded work on your plate.

So sometimes the tension can get to you, may be depression in really good times around, but your heart and mind are somewhere searching.

So this few words "to others as to myself" worked well for me. It is so simple, and works as a guardian of your thoughts and action. Some times word and action slips away. It's ok. Let the peace come back to you.

Disappointed after Sri Lanka loosing to Pakistan? Don't be.

I would have love to see a Sri Lankan win. They had the edge - but things got messy and strengths became psychological traps. Every match is as fresh as a new day.

Good thing, Sri Lanka did show some resilience at the end of the innings to be just 11 runs short. Net run rate is stable. I felt we could win even with 8th man down. That exposure to batting line up very early in a world cup is priceless. It makes every team member to think and reflect " we are not bullet proof".

Thanks to ICC lackluster grouping and scheduling, Sri Lanka, for that matter the other 3 heavy weights in group A (Pakistan, Australia & New Zealand) need not worry. Why?  Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya will not challenge other top 4 countries in group A. Hence the top 4 moves to quarter finals unharmed.

Fact is, Sri Lanka can even afford to loose to Australia and New Zealand, and still be in quarters. Same applies to group B. South Africa, India, England and West Indies will be in. So basically first round of world cup is warm up for quarters. Funny, ICC should not have added OFFICIAL warm up matches before 19 Feb kick off, teams have plenty till quarters.

I remember how Australia bounced back after loosing to Pakistan in first round in 99 world cup. Then Australia was beaten by South Africa in super 6 stage too. But Aussies made their mark when it mattered, drowning South Africa and Paksitan in semis and finals respectively.

So relax guys. It's just a practice match. The world cup is yet to start.
India Vs England match was also a practice match, with substantial excitement. But Sanga and his mates will have plenty to learn looking at how brits chased an impossible 330 +.


photo credit: cricinfo.com

Is Shahid Afridi way too much?

26 Feb 2011 - Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan - Group A, ICC world cup 2011.

Shahid Afridi, the skipper, came to field with his team to defend 277. Wasim Akram, the former captain of Pakistan, a crucial member of world cup winning 1992 team, was now a commentator.

Afridi was very vocal and animated. He shouted to encourage his team, had a constant chatter with every bowler, between every delivery. Wasim was upset. He said " Gul, Razak, and Akhtar are all seasoned bowlers. They shouldn't be told each ball, how to be bowled. Afridi may think he's helping them, yet it will put extra pressure on bowlers". Wasim went on to say " I ll be very upset if I was told every ball like this, I know my field and I would bowl according to my field".

This was the first 15 overs. Sri Lankan opening pair had put on 70 plus runs. Things were not good for Pakis. We could see Akhtar was panting in his very first over. The bowlers seemed agitated, exhausted very early on. May be humidity, may be crowd pressure, may be their internal team problems, who knows?

That 15 overs Afridi kept his vocal chords in charge. Then the first wicket felt. Then Afridi took his first in his first over, the priced wicket of Dilshan. Sooner Mahela was bowled by Akhtar, and then Afridi striked again removing Thilan. Sri Lanka struggled there onwards, with 4 down, before reaching 100.

That 4 wickets changed the flow. I don't know what Wasim would tell right now. Towards the end of the innings whole Pakistan team was vocal and Afridi achieved 300 wicket mark.


Moral: Leading a team is always difficult, when you have commentators buzzing. At the end of the day, when the voice of commentators are faded, when the dust on the pitch is settled, the result is written in history. Afridi did just that. This applies to our lives too.

photo credit : cricinfo.com

Floods in Sri Lanka: How Social media helped Sarvodaya's relief efforts.

Picture courtesy Sarvodaya Media unit

It was around 10 AM on Wednesday (12th January). I was writing a report, at my office, when suddenly a twitter alert popped up, mentioning my name. It was from one of my friends, wanting to donate his money to Sarvodaya's efforts, but worried because the online payment gateway of Sarvodaya website was not responding.

The tweets from @AmiSampath that got my attention.

Normally I would wait a while until I finished the report. That's how I manage twitter updates. But this one took my attention. I visualized the affected millions, and the ever so compassionate Sarvodaya field team with many volunteers, trying to help.
I got up, called few numbers from my mobile, and the technical matter was resolved in minutes. Thanks to Diyath Ariyaratne for speedy response !

@AmiSampath spreading the message after successful donation.

I updated, replied, retweeted the new link, and my friend Ami Sampath was able to do the donation. Not only he donated, but was kind enough to Retweet and spread the message.

Later in the day, few close to Sarvodaya, yet in different time zones, hearing the need from Sri Lanka, rallied on their twitter pages to spread the " need of the moment". Thanks Aparna Ashok, Isabelle Finateu, And Daren Forsyth for passionate tweeting.


Tag Development, the organization Daren works for, also joined in with a campaign.

On Friday (14th Jan) Sarvodaya joined in with a FaceBook page to spread the message on the rising demands. So Facebook friends also came in to help, in their smallest efforts, which at the end of the day, goes a long way to help millions !

I am still sharing and retweeting all #flood updates that I lay my eyes on. Thank you friends, I salute all of you on behalf of Sarvodaya, and in the name of humanity.

You can still join compassionately by clicking and donating at http://www.sarvodaya.org/wp-content/themes/arzel_gray/donate.html
AND sharing this story to 10 of your closed ones will be of greatest merit.

May the weather be peaceful !

Getting to work early morning - An example

pic by @isura

A little while back, I was inspired by a very courageous human. On my way from Piliyandala, passing Suwarapola, I saw a tailor, in his second floor shop, with a tube light on, working attentively on a dress. Time was 0605 AM. I was totally overwhelmed by the courage and determination of a single man.

Waking up early in the morning and planning the day, is the most important thing you can do in your whole life. It clears your mind out of clutter. You the see the day in different light. By the time you mix with the world, you have worked 1-2 hours more. And that's the best time of the day.

Here I am blogging this, to share a positive note. Have a great Monday, and have a wonderful week.

At 26, person of the year, 2010.

Many would argue, Is this the right time, for this accolade to Mark Zuckerberg.
I would say, I would not mind.
He has connected 550 milliong up to now. And at the rate FB is going, they expect the 1 billion mark in 2012.
It's no small feat.

This all started of a simple idea in a hostel room of Harvard in 2003. Simple idea, a simple mind. Wow.