Welcome To Paradise- Part I

They've said that if you can drive in Colombo then you qualify to drive anywhere on earth. "Law" is just another fancy word in a dusty old book right next to the words "manners", "politeness" and "consideration". This goes for drivers and pedestrians alike. It seems most of them pack their brains into a nice little backpack whenever they step out onto the road or into their vehicles.

The Pedestrian Crossing
As a Sri Lankan even I still can't help but laugh when I see cattle and dogs using those white or yellow lines across the road... Btw, we humans call them Zebra/pedestrian crossings. Unfortunately, humans don't seem to know its purpose. Pedestrians cross the street wherever they want and motorists don't seem to get it either, when they see a handful of people standing by the side of the street next to this "squiggly" thing. I think they're under the impression that they're supposed to speed up and the people standing next to it are simply there to cheer you on as you make it across the line.

The Traffic Lights
These are signaling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic. However, I'm sure railway engineer J.P. Knight, the brain behind the 1st traffic light and Utah policeman,Lester Wire, the inventor of the electric light would turn in their graves if they knew that the world today, Colombo in particular, paid no heed to their precious invention.

These colourful roadside devices to most, are wonderful street decorations blinking their way from red to amber to green, keeping the spirit of Christmas or some other festival, alive 365 days of the year.

The Traffic Signs

How much more should one simplify traffic/road signs? Hey, all who step onto the streets, do you even know you're being treated like Kindergarten kids or the demented? In other words they're telling you, "hey fool, you are far too stupid to manage to read a street sign so here it is in the form of a picture." But what I find more sad and sometimes disturbing than the insult itself, is that you really work hard to prove them right every time you disobey the rules of the street that communicate to you via PICTURES. Seriously, I wonder what's next. You are way too stupid to get behind the wheel of your car, so pleeeeez let your dog do it and spare us the heartache of scraping what's left of you and others off the side of the road!!!

T0 tell you the truth, as much as all this really get on my nerves and thoroughly angers me to the core, I admit that I remain entertained.. When I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere or I'm on a balcony looking out onto the street, I look upon the "man in khaki" who knows not his right from his left and not realizing that the zig zagging Merc has a drunk driver behind the wheel and is conveniently ignored but the careful 3 wheel driver is probably a terrorist dressed in a dirty old sarong chewing on beetle.

And my favorite of all is that when you're driving at night and stopped by the "boys" in order to make sure you haven't been drinking... well, the boys in khaki are more intoxicated than you are. LOL

Btw.... I'm not done with this as yet... Just taking a long chocolate break before getting to the rest of it. But enjoy this for now.

THE BIG AND THE BEAUTIFUL

How does society view "big" people? Are larger people considered lesser beings by the "beautiful" folk? Even more important, does it automatically mean that if you're thin you're beautiful? Or even more successful? And the slightly larger person is not even close to these two things? And More important, does it mean that skinny is always healthier that fat?



Unfortunately I know people who chose to be friends with the good-looking, therefore more popular people. Does this mean an automatic step-ladder to the top of society? I wonder.. Or does it simply mean these leeches latch on to the "attractive" because they're "good-for-nothing" themselves? They seem to ignore the fact that these people are unfaithful, disrespectful and of no substance.

Why is it that people think it's OK to be insensitive towards the "bigger" person? I've had strangers walk up to me and tell me I should join a gym and go on a very strict diet when they conveniently don't see the zit covered, maggot looking, sickly thin person next to me. Doesn't it matter that my skinny neighbour's got multi-coloured teeth and is smelling of something that even NASA is yet to figure out?? And what gets to me the most is that even larger people make fun of the "full-figured"...

Does this happen because we allow it? Whenever someone's mean to me I just laugh along with them a maybe even crack a joke. Maybe I shouldn't... Maybe I should retaliate with a remark about them and their shortcomings. But if I do that, I wouldn't be any different from them, would I. There's a limit to ignoring the insensitive folk even though it doesn't bother me as much as it should.

It's really sad that people are this shallow. We call it the typical Sri Lankan mentality. Perhaps its the same in other Asian countries. Where it's accepted that it's OK to comment on another's appearance.. Shouldn't a person's heart and attitude towards others matter more than the way they look? Sadly, there's a very small percentage who think so....