Lankan News Style

From the days when the LTTE started their http://www.tamilnet.com/ website, we always get contradicting news to an incident that has taken place. For example, lets say a battle took place in vavuniya, the lankan media will say 10 tigers died in the batte, while some of the army personal were injured. At the same time tamilnet will say 10 Srilankan Army personal died, while a couple of their men were injured. So when i hear this kind of news, i add them both together and devide them and come to a conclusion that 5 army personal and 5 ltte militants died.

Its so interesting to listen to both the sides story. Both will look at the incident from their point of view, and as a movie maniac, its damn interesting for me.

Lets look at the latest Anuradhapura attack by LTTE, which they named as "Operation Ellalan".
The follwing is an extract from tamilnet. Helicopters including two MI-24 gunships, one MI-17, one PT6, one Bell 212, a CTH 748, and a reconnaissance aircraft were destroyed in the attack, according to Mr. Ilanthirayan.

Lets see what http://www.defence.lk/ (official webiste of ministry of defence). Meanwhile, it has been reported that a Bell 212 helicopter which was pursuing the terror aircraft was crashed onto Doramadalawa, in the Mihinthale area during the confrontation. According to the sources the two pilots and two gunners who were onboard the helicopter, have died in the incident. The helicopter was called in for assistance from Vavuniya, air force sources said. The reason for the crash is suspected to be a technical failure.

So its been accepted my the both sides that Bell 212 Helicopter was destroyed. But the funny part is http://www.defence.lks/ 's press release. They say the Bell 212 was on pursuit of the terrror aircraft, after being called in for assistance from vavuniya. It crashed after technical failure. Too much of a coincidence hey?? The helicopter was on pursuit of terrorist aircraft and was logically in a battlezone but didnt crash cuz of any attack, but of technical failure. Wonderful story!!!

And why would you want to call a Bell 212 for assistance???i mean why cant u ask for a figter jet or some good aircraft. According to wikipedia, Bell 212 is used as an air aumbulance or for rescue missions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_212) Why would u send an aircraft which is primarily used as an air amulance in the military all over the world, to go on pursuit of a terror aircraft???

Oh i love the lankan media. They want to lie, but dont know how to do it properly!!

Dumbledores Gay

Any Harry Potter freaks out here? You all must have known the headmaster of Harry Potter’s school, Albus Dumbledore.

The author of Harry Potter, J K Rowling, went on a book tour to america and was asked if Dumbledore found true love.

“Dumbledore is gay,” she replied, before adding that he’d fallen in love with his rival Gellert Grindelwald.

But she said Dumbledore was “terribly let down” when Grindelwald became more interested in the dark arts than good, and so he went on to destroy him.
Fans at New York’s Carnegie Hall were initially stunned into silence by the announcement, but soon started clapping and cheering.

JK said: “I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy.”

The news should help to clear up lots of rumours about Dumbledore’s mysterious past once and for all. But interesting hey, the best wizard in the wordl is a gay!!!

The Transformers

Watched tranformers..well quite late acutally as the movie is no more in theatres now. Man the robots were so cool, and the CGI was simply amazing. Al the actors were cool too. With a sexy girl who knows all about cars, to another sexy girl who figures out how to decode the alien voice while all the wise guys out there were scratching their heads... I mean the movie was so nice with fantastic action sequence, nice CGIs and good comedy and fun, but hey, the story line is so stupid. I mean just because a bunch of soldiers survived the megatron attack in qatar, doesnt mean they will give be made as a special force and promoted so fst just like that...it doesnt happen that way...not in USA. And the sector 7, was shown as a ultra secert organisation, but they revealed all the truth about them, and even gave complete tour guidance of their headquaters. They tried to kill bumble bee car, and freeze him, and suddenly they free him and ask him to save them...the whole bunch of sector 7 listen to this small kid and release the bumble bee just like that?? commmon guys, its too stupid to happen for a such high secret organisation. And when the megatron and the autobots were fighitng how do people know whom to support to?? i found the storyline of transformer so stupid, yet i enjoyed watching it!!

Oman - Wadi

Unlike what we know of desserts, it rains quite a lot in Muscat and its suburbs. When it rains, it rains hard, and the rain water flows through the valley between the hills. This river is called “Wadi” in local dialect.

And there is no drainage system outside Muscat. While you travel on these roads you will see a lot Wadi crossing, and only in certain places where the predicted flow is high, you will see a bridge built across. On all other occasions the Wadi is allowed to cross the road, by building the road beneath the Wadi level. So when it rains and rains hard once in a blue moon, the road Wadi will be running across the road. So when it rains the transportation will come to a halt.

What is the big deal if the transportation outside the city comes to a halt once in a blue moon? Well guys, people do live outside the city area. There are lots and lots of tiny villages positioned all over the desert. Because that there is so much free space and land outside the city, the houses are placed quite far from each other. Heard that lands to build houses are given to the locals by the government according to their cast and status. Its pity you can’t choose where you want to live. Well anyway the problem is that, because you find houses all over the place and they are situated far from each other, it’s not possible to supply water and clear drainage through pipelines. So the water is supplied to the houses regularly and the drainage is sucked away by Tanker Lorries. By standard the water supplying tankers are blue in colour while the Yellow ones suck away the drainage.

So when the Wadi flows high, and blocks the road, people in the rural areas will not have access to water, and their drainage will not be cleared too. But luckily for them, the dessert sun is too hot, that Wadi doesn’t last more than a day. Cost reduction is the only possible explanation given by the road authorities, for not building a bridge and making the Wadi go beneath the road. Life is funny and different all over the world!!!

Oman - A first Glimpse

Sultanate of Oman is a Middle Eastern country, situated next to Dubai. I had to travel to this place for vacation, due to the fact that my dad is working here, and my mom is living with him. Though never fancied the idea of going to a dessert for vacation, I had to go there since it was the dearest request of my parents, who wanted to see me. Oh well that’s the background story, now lets see how Oman looked to me on my first glimpse.


I Flew from Tech Savvy, kiasu spirited Singapore to Colombo, from where my connecting flight to Muscat was scheduled by Sri Lankan Airlines. It was a wonderful experience flying from Singapore-Colombo on Airbus A340, with its wonderful In-flight entertainment and cool Lankan passengers returning home. But the Flight from Colombo-Muscat was utter disaster, with no In-Flight entertainment, and labourers travelling to Oman from Kerala filling the small Airbus A320.


But luckily the Grape juice (Cabernet Sauvignon) that I had, took me to sleep easily, and when I woke up, I felt I had time travelled back to the 80s. The flight didn’t move close to the Airport Terminal and halted in the middle of the tarmac area. Then only I realised that there was no aerobridge to connect the flight to the terminal, and saw a passenger bus approaching us. So climbed down to the tarmac and got into the passenger bus and went into the transit hall which looked like on of those old government hospitals in Sri Lanka. There was no order or no proper signage to follow, and I was strictly ordered by an Airport Police to join the Residents Visa line, although I told him 1000 times that I don’t have a Resident Visa, but a Family Visit Visa. Maybe it works like that here, and the staff at the counter gave me the chop on my passport and said “Thaankku”.


Came out, spotted my parents and after some warm greetings and some usual complaints, loaded the baggage on dad’s pick up, and rode home. After leaving the city I expected to see sand dunes with baking sun and Camels crossing roads. As the Seeb International Airport, where I landed was just outside the main City premises, didn’t get to see much of the city. The 55Km journey from the airport to my dads place was my first glimpse of Oman. The land outside was like small hills of rock and mud. But you see a lot these hills all around you. And you see some bushes by the roadside with small trees embedded on it here and there. And some of the hills were covered with a small layer of freshly grown grass, resulting from last night showers.



The Government of Oman is also quite interesting. The king (His Majesty Sultan Qaboos) is the head of the country. The government only allows Omanis (Local Arab Citizens) to buy property, land or even own a vehicle, in a country where foreign labour force is double the size of local population. So as a foreign worker you will be given a house, a vehicle which will be oiled by your company, and you water, electricity, gas, phone bills also will be settled. All you have to do is just do the work and earn all the money, while you only have to spend your money for Food. All this is given cuz you have to bear the dessert heat while working, and your only off day is Friday. And you are not allowed to kiss or flirt around with your girl in public. Heard that Dubai and Bahrain are the only other 2 Middle East cities where you are allowed to roam around freely. I was informed that Saudi Arabia is so strict that even foreign non-Muslim girls, entering the country are required to dress up like ninjas. Wierd ah???