Social Etiquette

I called the Department Of Education In Sri Lanka today to clarify something about my O/L and A/L results. I needed this information for jobs/post graduate studies. The first time some person answered the phone and I politely greeted him and he didn't say anything. Then i went on to state my case and tell him why i was calling. After a few moments the call goes blank. I'm guessing he hung up. I was very cross since I was making a foreign call and the call charges are so high and he keeps the phone with no mention. After which I called again, and I think it was the same person that answered the call. I said I was calling from the UK and that this was important. He didn't say anything for a while and then asked something from another person which if I heard right was an extension number to someone else. A few seconds passed and the call goes blank again. Sigh. Now I got really tired of this but i did need the information. So I called again and this time politely greeted him in Sinhala and asked him if i can speak to him in English. For which he requested me to speak to him in Sinhala hence in my very broken Sinhala skills I asked him about how I could get the information I required. He replied which after a lot of difficulty I understood that I had to call on Monday after 9. Phew. I emphasise again here that even when i did speak to him in a language he understood his replies weren't polite and I really felt like boxing him right on his face.

I am not asking for a piece of land in my home country. However all I want is to be able to speak in a language that I understand and get things done within the governmental departments. The good thing amongst many bad things in the west is that the law at least is a little more people oriented. For instance if a certain part of the country consists mainly of people speaking French then the local post office/ other departments in that area will be able to speak and assist customers in French or a language they know. Also if you call a government service and tell them you don't understand they will try and put you through to someone who speaks a language that you do. Above all that in which ever language they speak for starters they are fairly polite. I've noticed that almost all governmental organizations in Sri Lanka ever since employs people who are unfriendly, rude and obnoxious to answer calls/handle matters. Thankfully the competition in private sectors has made them employ people who are more polite and nice to customers. Little things like saying thank you, sorry etc go a long way. A common majority of Sri Lankans especially from non-urban areas lack a lot of these simple manners. I must admit Sri Lankans are very nice people and every place I've been to in this island the people have been more than welcoming even if they don't know us. However I think something is really wrong with every person who works in departments owned by the government. Maybe they have frustrating private lives with low incomes and what not or maybe they take their future with this job secure so they no longer want to work towards making peoples lives better or maybe they just aren't mannered. I'd suggest we introduce a school subject under the name of 'Social Etiquette' in schools so people who aren't taught manners at home can at least learn at school?  and also when interviewing people for customer facing roles they might want to employ someone with more peoples skills? 

Life as I see it

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature’s design. Are you? Goals will help you do that. I must add, don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful.Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes – Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark – don’t take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said – don’t be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

             "This is an excerpt from a speach given by Chatan Bhagat to a new batch of MBA Students at Symbiosis, Pune"

Friends: Are they worth the trouble?

The last few days, how ever important they were seemed to move slowly and lousily and I was in bed 
doing nothing worth mentioning. All I could be bothered doing was create a blog, update my facebook page, answer silly questions on them, befriend people, constantly check for new emails.. I was not even in a mood to chat with people online or on the phone. One of the noteworthy tasks I did in the last few days was reflect back on my past, think about the mistakes I made, betrayal, deceit, hatred, gossip, jealousy, boyfriends and all the drama. Some of it could be laughed off as funny and some not as they really made a huge impact on who I am now. In a way they really played a role in the moulding of me and I don't regret it.


I could have done something more useful like reading up on course material, researching on my final year project, applying for internships, talking to the professors or at least gone out with a couple of friends and had some fun. I chose not to.


Its frustrating when you get back home from a tiring day only to face a table, bed and chair and the only form of communication you have is online since you can do this while completing your assignments. It's not fun.


In thinking back I had to ask myself, what friends are for? To have fun while you are around and forget you completely when you are not? To trust you when they have no one to confide to and leave you stranded when you need them? To talk to you and enjoy your jokes and laugh at you when you walk away? Judge you on the rest of the people you hang around with and forget that the person within may be completely different? Get jealous of all your accomplishments and in the process refrain from lending a helping hand? Base your decision about your friend on what your boy friend thinks she might be or on rumours that another might say? And the list goes on and it came to a point where I had to think if friends where worth having with all these problems.


To understand a person completely is utterly impossible. No one is perfect and that includes me as well. I can fit in a number of friends into every category of these questions and I can see where I fit in as well. Isn't forgiveness something we learnt when we were little? So no worries my friends I've forgotten and forgiven. To the last and first question my answer is yes, because I think the most beautiful parts of my life which I would cherish forever were not when I was on stage receiving an award (indeed that was memorable) but the times that I had with my friends. Because the mistakes made seem so much smaller when compared to the times we had. And i must say I've got a great bunch of friends. I love you all..

Needs Motivation

This is one of those times when you have all the things in the world to do but cant get yourself to do anything. Hence I created a blog for the nth time. I hope this lasts longer than the previous ones I've created since the past two years and I seriously hope I don't forget the url. I have had an overdose of Sheldon Cooper and Dan Brown, hence it is perfectly understandable as to why I feel utterly lost in a world of science and a world of religion. Maybe at this point I'm regretting my decision trying to do an undergraduate degree in computer science, firstly because being one of the two females in a batch of 80 geeks is in itself quite frustrating, secondly I have no idea what I should do as a Final Year Project. I requested for some ideas on an on-line chess playing site namely, Red Hot Pawn and the response I got was quite pathetic. Although the site claims to have people who are hardcore computer scientists, the best suggestion I got was to write an algorithm to identify stupid/idiotic remarks and screen them so that you don't have to employ a moderator to do so or in most cases No moderator does this hence is published with no screening. Although the idea would sound rather stupid to the common mob, I believe its quite an interesting area to look into with all the breakthroughs in creating machines/systems that mimics human. How ever experts believe this wont be in the near future and to write an algorithm for detecting stupidity is certainly not possible for a penultimate year undergrad student who lacks a lot in motivation and has to overcome the imposter syndrome. That's probably my Current State of mind in a nutshell. Back to Big Bang Theory.

Gilmore Girls

So this new section of posts is going to comprise of some of the TV shows i enjoyed most as a kid and now. Gilmore girls was one of these shows that my mom, sister and I would watch week in week out and never miss an episode. The reason being "rory" the little girl in the show almost grew up with us (although she was a few years senior to us in the show) and hence we faced the same problems and we could really relate to her be it in school, with friends, grandparents, later choosing universities and finally applying for jobs.. Sadly the show ends where she gets a job in NY and moves out from home :(

The show starts with this 11 year old kid who is brought up by a single parent "Lorelai". Lorelai hails from a wealthy family living in NY but well she made many mistakes as a teenager and is now left to fend for herself and her young daughter in a small town far away from her family.