Don't speak unless you know about it well.....

Today just as my father came home after work, I happily told him- "We have Marxism in our syllabus". (I am not that into politics and thought this was a good way to make my father happy to know I have learned something he knows well about).

His response surprised me. He said "Ah, Marx...that's nice. So..tell me, what's the name of his book?" (Now I knew we were taught this but I really couldn't remember). Though I told him we were taught about Marx, I never said I studied or read more about him. (I of course couldn't tell him this). So, I softly said "I remember I wrote down the name........"

My father then disapprovingly looked at me. "If you don't know his book, I don't think you know about him at all. (I of course felt so bad. I shouldn't have started this conversation. Now I am in trouble).

I was hoping my father would go to take a wash now. But NO, he asked, "which country is Marx from?" This, was such a simple question and we were taught that too. BUT there was a small problem..... I COULDN'T REMEMBER!!! I know..I know.. Now I do sound really dumb right? I don't know where Marx was from. I gave the most obvious answer... "Russia". My father smiled and said "That's what a lot of people think. But he was a German. And I said "Ahhhhhh...". Actually I knew that...I think! :P

My father went in to the bathroom while still telling me things about Marx. After he went in I was so relieved. I also was blaming myself for starting a conversation without really knowing my facts. I just turned to my mother to tell her this when I heard my father ask from the bathroom "What was Lenin's political party?" I felt like banging my head on the wall. I just jokingly answered, "Sama samaja pakshaya". My father said "Ya.Right!"

I knew it was time for me to quickly escape. So, I went far away so that I couldn't hear even if my father asked another question. However, I learned a good lesson. "Don't speak unless you know, or else you'll get stuck in the middle".

However, my father said he will teach me about Marx when he has time. I am going to read about Marx and be prepared for that. I am not going to teach my dad about Marx... :-D (Or maybe at least try to answer the simple questions he asks... "

Be satisfied with what you’ve got

It has been about two weeks since the University closed down. When I had to go to university I was so bored to wake up in the morning, get dressed and go. I used to complain that I want to spend time at home doing nothing. I wanted to read books, watch movies and sleep all I want.

For the past two weeks I have been at home, doing all that I dreamt of doing. My wish finally came true. But then, now I am hoping university will start again. I am bored doing those things I was dying to do when I had to go to University.

Now isn’t this strange? Well, not really. Humans are such that they always want the things that they don’t have. The saying “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” is very true. It’s true about almost anything. We humans are never satisfied with what we have. We always look for something more, or something different. But when we finally get it, we start to miss what we had.

What can we do about this? I think we should learn to appreciate what we have. A simple example would be hair. All of us have a beautiful hair that is given to us by nature. We have curly hair, straight hair, wavy hair etc. Each hair we have suits us perfectly I think. But NO, we are not happy with it (well, not everyone but most of us are not). People who have straight hair look at their friends with curly or wavy hair and say “wow! I wish my hair was curly. I don’t like it so straight”. The one with curly hair has a different thing to say. She would say “Oh, I wish I had straight hair like yours. My hair never stays the same.”

This is how it is. But when you really think about it, you will see it’s not about the hair, it’s about not being able to be happy with what you have. If we start thinking about everything like that, we are never going to be happy. So, why don’t we all try to be grateful for what we have? Why don’t we appreciate the people around us, the things we’ve got? Let’s start to think in a new way. I think we all will be able to enjoy life that way.

Now I am going to enjoy my time at home to the maximum. When university reopens, I am going to enjoy that too. But I am never ever going to complain again. A change is good, yes, but that doesn’t mean I have to complain about what I have right? Let life come to me the way it wants, I am going to invite any change with open arms.

A friendship quote I found...

"Do not save your loving speeches
For your friends till they are dead;
Do not write them on their tombstones,
Speak them rather now instead".

- Anna Cummins

Why I like to travel by bus- Part Two

Once I was travelling with my mother. We were both standing on the bus. This bus was a little crowded because it was the office time. It was arounf 5pm and everyone looked tired. Next to us, there was a man who was around 65 years of age and he couldn't help but fall asleep. It was not easy for him because he was standing. He had his spectacles clipped on to his shirt pocket and was holding on to the poll while falling asleep once in a while. This went on for about 20mins when I suddenly noticed that this man's spectacles were no longer inside his pocket but was hanging on the hair of the lady who was sitting just next to the place this man was standing. This lady had curley hair and the spectacles looked very comfortable hanging there.

I slowly nudged my mother and showed it to her. Both of us couldn't help laughing. A few others noticed too and then the lady felt that something was hanging on to her hair. When she checked what is was she smiled too. The man knew nothing of this. He was asleep. The lady woke him up and gave it to him. It was then that the man realized that half the bus was staring at him. He smiled and clipped the spectacles on his pocket and didn't fall asleep again.

It was so funny.. It's one of the incidents I will never forget in my life. I know it's such a normal thing. It could happen to anyone, but it made me laugh! :D

Why I like to travel by bus- Part One

I am one in a million in Sri Lanka who likes to travel by bus. (Not when it's crowded ofcourse... :) ) Bus rides are indeed interesting. There are many things that you can witness while travelling by bus. Things that you can never see when you are inside a vehicle. I have seen and heard many things. Most of them very funny. So, I thought I should share those stories with you all.

Let me start with one of my favourites. This happened about 6 months ago when I was on my way to Uni. In Sri Lanka, most of the private bus conductors don't issue tickets. People don't seem to care since they just want to reach their destination. I must say it's the same with me. I don't care whether the conductor gives me the ticket or not because anyway i'm going to throw it the moment I go home.

This particular day, I got on to a 138(Kadawatha-Pettah) bus and gave the conductor money and he just took it without giving me a ticket. After that as usual I started day dreaming about all sorts of things. That is one thing I enjoy doing when i'm in a bus. Half way through my day dreaming was disturbed when the conductor started throwing tickets at all the people. It didnt take me long to realize that our bus has been notified by another that there are officials who check for tickets a miles ahead. The conductor was giving everyone tickets as fast as he could. And in doing so he was giving about 3 or 4 tickets to one person. And suddenly the bus was stopped in less than 5 minutes. The conductor tried to look cool and the officers who check for tickets(aka- "Tikko") came inside and asked the people to show their tickets.

Now you must be wondering what's so funny about this story.. :P Ok...here is the funny part... one "tikka" asked for a ticket from an old lady. Usually each person is supposed to get ONLY one ticket. But since the conductor gave about 3,4 tickets to one, this poor old lady gave all four tickets to the tikka. This drove the tikka mad. He turned to the conductor and asked him "you gave the tickets just now didn't you?" and scolded him. The bus driver had to pay a fine too. The whole bus was laughing at this incident. I couldn't help thinking it was a good lesson for the conductor. However, the conductor was blaming the old lady the whole way. But the lady innocently said "how was I to know? You gave me four tickets". :D

Ha ha ha! Now wasn't that funny? ;-)

We'll get through...

Yesterday was a weird day. I found out that I have to give up liking a person. I didn't let it get to me.. But the funny thing was, 3 separate friends who were talking to me had a similar story to tell me y'day. Everyone is hurt.

One likes a boy but he doesn't like her back. The other likes a girl but she doesn't love him back. The third story was similar to this too. I was thinking, guess am not the only one who's hurt. Compared to all the stories, I felt that what I am going through is nothing. I mean am not hurt at all. I guess it's coz I always knew things might not work out. But listening to my friends say that they are hurt just broke my heart. I guess I can handle me being hurt, but I hate to see my friends hurt. But what I told all of them was, we'll get through this together. As long as there's family and friends around you, why be hurt?

Why do people get hurt when one person doesn't love you the way you want them to love you? If we get hurt because of that, what would the rest of the people who love us feel? I mean, if we say we feel that we have lost hope because one person has hurt us, the others who love us with all their hearts will feel hopeless. Therefore I am never ever going to lose hope or feel sad till I have my family and best friends around me.

I would like to thank all the people who make my life brighter! Without you all, my life would be nothing.. No one can replace the love you all give me. I am the most luckiest person on earth! *Bow*

The End!

I just stared at him like an idiot when he said he likes someone else... I guess I got the answer to the question I have had for all these years... It's the end! But not end of the world...but end of my confusion and hope that he would like me! But I am not sad. This is after all a new beginning... I am happy for him. Hope things work out well. Good luck my friend! :D