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Let democracy triumph

At the time of writing polling in the April 2 General Election has been brisk. Quite naturally, the prime poser on everyone's lips today is, who would win the just concluded general election. It has been a hard-fought and closely-contested election and the major parties in the hustings and their supporters are bound to await the outcome of the poll with considerable anxiety and expectation.

Our fervent appeal over the past two days was that peace should prevail, come what may, and we wish to repeat the same request today, as the election results come in bringing joy to some and sorrow to others.

The President too has called on the people to ensure a peaceful poll by their cooperating with the law-enforcement authorities. Likewise, the Elections Commissioner has underscored the need for public cooperation and called for a strict enforcement of the law.

It is also encouraging to find that the Elections Commissioner wouldn't be hesitating to annul the polls results from areas where election malpractices have been rife. It is plain to see that nothing would be gained by this polls exercise if its legitimacy is called in question.

Accordingly, we call on the Elections Commissioner to rigorously enforce the law and ensure that all standards of legality are met by the polls participants.

An onerous responsibility is also cast on political leaders to ensure that the polls outcome is accepted in a spirit of forbearance and humility by them and their supporters. The people should be spared the agony and shame of post-election violence, mostly sparked by a spirit of revenge and the bestial urge of annihilating political opponents.

This has been the sad lot of Lankans over the years and we hope political leaders would lead from the front in generating magnanimity towards all, whether they be friend or foe in the post-election phase. If the leaders set the standard of exemplary behaviour, their supporters are likely to emulate them. Very often, followers take a cue from their leaders, particularly when it comes to engaging in violent behaviour.

A special duty is also cast on the law enforcement authorities to strictly enforce the law today. While politicians should desist from bringing pressure to bear on law-enforcers, the latter should stick manfully to the task of stringently carrying out their responsibilities.

They would need to resist pressure from any quarter to subvert or undermine the law. They would need to say no,very loud and clear, to those urging them to be lax in law enforcement and even negligent in discharging their duties.

It is our prayer that democracy should triumph today.

Smell of the future

If a group of Japanese scientists have their way, you could soon be quite literally paying through the nose for the goods you buy. They call it olfactory subliminal advertising. In simple English, it means bombarding your nose with smells that lure you to buy goods that you would not want to buy otherwise.

In the not-too distant future, walking into a supermarket could be an experience that assails all our senses, including smell. And the cashier should be thankful to an "air cannon", which can emit a smell-laden vapour targeted at selected shoppers, for the rising sales.

The scientists at the Advanced Telecom Research Institute in Kyoto have a nose for inventing products that others do not even think about. According to the latest issue of the science and technology weekly, 'New Scientist', their 'Air Cannon' will track you as you walk around the supermarket and then puff a smell at your nostrils to tempt you to take the wallet out.

The Cannon can target a single individual, while someone just 20 inches away will smell nothing. It can be anything from the delightful fragrance of a luxury perfume to the alluring aroma of freshly-brewed coffee.

The rationale is that you are likely to buy something that 'smells good'.

Smell is perhaps the least admired sense, but its importance must not be underestimated. We recoil in horror as the stench of rotting flesh hits our nostrils. We enter the threshold of heaven as a beautiful flower radiates its fragrance. Half the joy of eating food will be gone if we did not have an olfactory organ. This is the basis for the successful development of an 'Air Cannon' under our very noses.

There are many obstacles that stand in the way of the Air Cannon. Smells are very complex molecules that cannot be mixed from primary odours. Making them will not be an easy task. Some might even be allergic to the scents, others might simply object to the invisible presence of an array of smells designed to burn a hole in one's pocket.

In the end, the forced smells may even have a negative effect on customers already fed up with advertising of every kind. Sales could actually nosedive if this latest gimmick fails to win customers' hearts - and noses.

Nevertheless, with the rest of our senses already overwhelmed by outside forces, we cannot expect the humble nose to fight alone. It too has to succumb - to the smells of the future.

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