Psychologically, the main reason for the many strikes in Sri Lanka is due not to the fact that they want an increase in salary or perks but mainly because they are not made to feel that they matter in their workplace. Workers and shirkers operate side by side and in Sri Lanka, the main fear in school, office or in the community is that nobody wants to feel “kong vela”(made to feel alone).
But each one of us came into this world alone and has to function alone as a human being for a good part of our lives. Besides, each person has a unique personality and not even identical twins think and act absolutely alike.
What then is this universal fear of appearing “different”? We need to go right back into our childhood and start feeling that every single person, from the garbage collector to the Cabinet Minister, has a right to live, to be respected and to be happy.
But in a harsh and unequal world where so many are pushing and shoving to find a place in the sun, giving a man or a woman a designation he can be proud of at work is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.
Following the same track, every woman who cooks and cleans and cares for children whether in a shanty or in a mansion should also be given the title of “homemaker” and not be dismissed as just a “housewife”. The work done at home by a wife and mother can never be measured by mere money for bringing happiness and warmth into the family and defusing tension is priceless.
Let us make a start by having pride in oneself(even if you are on a bank overdraft) and giving respect and a listening ear to the little people who walk and talk in shop, bus, office or home as well as to the important people for it can be very lonely at the top.
US imports of knit shirts from China were up by about 1,258 per cent in the first three months this year over 2004, cotton trousers were up by 1,521 per cent and cotton and manmade fiber underwear by 308 per cent. Prices of cotton trousers sank from US$ 121 a unit to US$ 58, cotton knit shirts from US$ 68 to US$ 39 and cotton underwear from US$ 33 to US$ 17 a unit in just January.
The US is currently Sri Lanka’s biggest market for apparel with over half of our exports shipped there under some of the bigger brand labels.
The sink in prices and relatively empty order books over last year has local exporters worried that the business is shifting to China or elsewhere.
Not helping is the delay in trade concessions, including duty free access to the EU under its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme that has been shelved from April to June this year.
The duty free carrot that was an almost certainty this year also attracted a lot of potential business from large buyers like Tesco’s that has upped its presence here.
The show officially opens Wednesday and runs through Sept. 4.
British fashion has a consistent habit of juxtaposing tradition and transgression, said Andrew Bolton, the museum's Costume Institute associate curator. And the first piece to greet visitors is the embodiment of John Bull, a fictional character from 1712 who is supposed to be proud of his Anglo-Saxon origins. This John Bull wears a classic English frock coat, but since this particular coat was created for David Bowie by Alexander McQueen, it's made in an unconventional roughed-up, Union Jack-print fabric.
Next comes ''The English Garden,'' a room decorated with the intent of bringing beloved flower gardens indoors. Most of the mannequins are in brocade gowns from the 18th century, but at the center of the room is one in a pink pouf of tulle rosettes _ a Hussein Chalayan dress from 2000. To top off the look: a silk, organza, straw and jersey hat with clipped ostrich plumes by Philip Treacy.
In the ''Upstairs/Downstairs'' scene, one mannequin wears a Charles Frederick Worth gown from 1888 with an 11-foot (3.35-meter) train. She heads up the stairs to meet a man dressed in a classic suit, complete with breeches, waist coat and top coat, that would have been wo to the court of Queen Victoria. At the base of the steps are women in Chalayan's deconstructed ''hand-me-down'' gowns from 2001 that look like they came from Cinderella's closet.
The gong sounds for muster for tea-estate labourers on neighbouring Glenanore Estate when the priests kneel in prayer and meditation in the little chapel adoed with an image of St Benedict.
Breakfast is at 08.00 hrs and is wholesome and home grown: It is served, like all meals, in the plain and austere refectory. Two hours of silence, contemplation and study follow. Next come two hours of manual work in the orchards, flower and kitchen gardens, dairy, house, laundry or kitchen.
Prayer at the chapel is followed by a lunch of rice and spicy curries with fresh vegetables from the gardens.
A period of recreation follows, when a sense of humour and a cheerful heart are encouraged. An hour's manual work, a short break for tea, silence, prayer, studies, more prayer, dinner, recreation, study and then, after 22.30 hrs the great silence of the monastery reigns. From their bedroom windows, the brothers can see the mist swirling round the Sleeping Warrior. On clear, moonlit nights, the view is stunning and heaven seems within touching distance.
Although it should be emphasised that Adisham is not in any way a commercial guest-house nor a Villiers museum open to casual callers, accommodation is available for 12 guests.
It would suit people appreciative of a Christian spiritual experience, counsel and guidance, in a place of surpassing peace, solitude and beauty.
The large rooms are comfortable and have some of the best mountain views in Sri Lanka.
The food (three main meals and afteoon tea) is simple but excellent and the atmosphere edifying and serene.Today, the spirit of Sir Thomas and Lady Villiers linger in their living rooms kept in impeccable order by the Sylvestrines. The libooks and its cases of polished oak, is meticulously orderly even though the Regency clock on the mantelpiece of the handsome fireplace, with its gleaming fire-irons, has stopped ticking. A long line of the Dukes of Bedford look down from the walls and one gets the feeling that any minute Sir Thomas might come in, calling to his dogs.
The drawing room has been preserved in every detail. David Paynter's study of Sir Thomas looks down from above the William IV fuiture which is polished even if the Lancashire broadloom on the chairs and the Ax Minster carpets have aged gently.
On the Dutch marquetry card-table is a half-finished game of patience and the Georgian gate-legged table is set for tea with Wedgewood jasper china. The rustle you hear is not the swish of silk dresses on the beautifully kept grand staircase; it is just the wind sighing in the forest trees. Outside the moing room the terrace looks out over the sunny lawns, rioting with a hundred varieties of roses.
It was while he was chairman of George Steuart that Sir Thomas commenced building a dream home in the country. He selected an idyllic site at Haputale, surrounded by virgin forest and commanding views across hills and valleys and the highest mountain ranges of Ceylon.
The house was designed in the Tudor style, on the lines of Leeds Castle in Kent, with stout granite walls of locally quarried stone, long, narrow turret windows and chimneys. It looked in every detail an Elizabethan country mansion, the retreat in the tropics of a homesick Englishman, nostalgic for the scenes of his boyhood. Villiers spared no expense to ensure that his country home was luxurious in its appointments.
The roof was covered with flat Burma teak shingles. The doors, windows, paneling, staircase and floors were all of Burma teak. The elaborate pillared landing on the main staircase adoed by portraits of his relatives, the Clarendons and the Dukes of Bedford, consists of four stout English oaks, polished, but otherwise au naturel.
The garden lay-out was also British and, as in the house, the incomparable scenery is used to best effect. The terraced lawns, flowerbeds and orchard, like the drawing room, study, library, dining room and bedrooms, look out on lofty mountain ranges, all between 1,800 and 2,100m above sea level, etched sharply on the skyline to form a curious outline called the Sleeping Warrior.