• Undue time wasting by bus crews, a national crime

• Wharf clerks and their work

• Self hypnotism

• Death at the pedestrian crossing

• Grade 1 interview: A bitter experience

  
   

Undue time wasting by bus crews, a national crime

It was reported last week the fledgling political aspirant Gemunu Wijeratne and his team had walked out of the meeting with the Transport Minister and The Secretary to the Treasury.

Mr. Wijeratne has also commented that, "he was extremely disappointed over the whole issue and that the industry cannot survive in this country and also provide a service in this way as the Government was very uncooperative".

Mr. Wijeratne came into the scene recently but we have suffered in disappointment since the beginning of the eighties.

Another newspaper carried a letter that the Wellawatte-Narahenpita bus service needs improvement which Mr. Wijeratne could read as an example of the sufferings in silence that the passengers undergo.

If there are no fisticuffs or a harder response of the passenger disappointment, it is because now the passengers only curse with heaves of anguish.

Let me give a few examples.

Only the 174 route buses running between Kottawa and Borella cater to the 174 route passengers from Kottawa upto Talawatugoda.

Yet, each bus that leaves Kottawa at all times of the day goes up to the Pannipitiya-Borella turn-off (Railway Station) at a crawling pace and stops there for periods up to 03 to 05 minutes till the next bus comes along. Further, up at Pelawatta, they stop for another 02 to 03 minutes.

This way there will be no winners but losers all-round. If the first bus moves on after the normal pick-up that bus itself will not have to wait there for 05 minutes for passengers to gather during their next turn. During each turn the crew wastes about 05 to 08 minutes as given above.

One simple solution would be to cut down the turnround time by 10 minutes from each hour, so that a bus that completes the journey now in 60 minutes should complete the journey in 50 minutes. In that manner they will be able to do more trips too.

Here are a few further examples.

Route no. 138 buses on their journey from Colombo stops at Nugegoda for 02 to 03 minutes, at Maharagama for 03 to 05 minutes and specially the Mattegoda buses at Kottawa for 10 to 15 minutes. For us at Mattegoda, this is barbaric treatment.

Keeping the buses at this halt for periods of 15 minutes or more is an insane act because there is only a further 07 or 08 minutes to complete the journey. At present it takes almost two hours to complete the journey from Pettah. What is the position of the passengers who spend 105 to 120 minutes in these buses in sweltering heat?

Route no. 255 buses move at half speed till they near Miriswatta and stops at Piliyandala for 10 to 15 minutes.

Route no. 342 starts off from the Bus Stand at Piliyandala, moves up to the road and wait for nearly 05 minutes. From Piliyandala up to Kottawa it is a half speed crawl. All buses from Kottawa and Homagama to Malabe, Kaduwela, etc., are crawlers.

All buses that come to any of the halts at Borella spend over 05 minutes for passengers to gather. People get into a bus not for a pleasure ride but to get to a destination within a time period. Undue time wasting by bus crews should be considered a national crime. Because they cause loss in productive man-hours apart from the personal hardships to, especially ladies and children.

To rectify the above, costs nothing. It is only an administrative function and the co-operation of the Police to see buses move on. Mr. Wijeratne, the curse is off if this is done. Then the people too will have sympathy on you.

M. WIJEKULASURIYA,
Mattegoda

----

Wharf clerks and their work

The port of Colombo, now less than 1/20th of the Parakrama Samuddhraya generates, per square meter, the most amount of revenue by way of exports and yet, the officials, smug in their air-conditioned cubicles, are tardy in waking up to the ground situation. They never know the need to expedite a process.

It now takes even up to four hours to effect a shipment from the time of queuing to enter the port to the drop off of the container because laden lorries as well as the empties are security checked in one lane when two steams could easily be organised with just one additional personnel.

Also the de Saram Gate could be made use of for empties.

The work is so tiresome that wharf clerks are now in search of wharf clerks to do their work.

SHARM DE ALWIS,
Kiribathgoda

----

Self hypnotism

A poor helpless respectable gentleman is suffering from fear and restlessness for quite sometime. Although he has taken treatment from the hospital he has not been cured of this disease. He has read some books and has some knowledge of Self Hypnotism.

He has been told that through Self Hypnotism he could be cured. He has tried to hypnotise himself several times but has not been successful since he has no thorough knowledge of the procedure. He needs assistance in this regard.

Could any knowledgeable Hypnotist send him details of the procedure to enable him to cure himself. He is not able to move freely without assistance so he cannot go even to see a Hypnotist.

A. F.,
Etul Kotte

----

Death at the pedestrian crossing

Our media has reported that recently a Police bus had knocked down a mother and her school-going children and a member of the staff of the British School in Colombo. This was reported as having taken place at a crossing near Kanatte, in Borella.

A Buddhist monk travelling in another bus had seen this accident. The children were going to the school where the monk was a teacher. The British School staffer and the children escaped miraculously. But not the mother. She died that evening at the Accident Ward in Colombo.

We have been told that the driver had lost control. That can happen only if you speed. Should not the driver of a Police bus of all vehicles be mindful of the crossing? I have seen buses and other big vehicles speed on that Elvitigala Road.

I also drive on that road. I am always scared that these speeding monsters on the road will hit my car. Isn't there a speed limit very specially when it is school opening and closing time? I have seen the Police with a gadget to book speeding vehicles. What about the Police booking their own Police drivers?

That mother cannot be replaced. The alleged offender is supposed to have run away. Is that right? Can a Police driver run away from the Traffic Police? A very close relative of mine in London has lost his licence for speeding. I hope this Police driver will be de-licensed. Did he have a licence?

Also, all crossings should be repainted. And the Traffic Police should man (or woman) these crossings. We cannot lose any more mothers!

SYDNEY KNIGHT,
Rajagiriya

----

Grade 1 interview: A bitter experience

Following is a detailed account of what my cousin's husband had to endure at the Royal College Grade 1 interview in trying to get their son admitted to Royal College.

"This occurred on Friday Aug. 25. My daughter was not well, so my wife was not able to make it to the interview.

After briefly meeting with a 'head panel', I was sent to 'panel no. 1' for my interview. The interviewers were teachers of the school and there were 4 middle-aged ladies at panel no. 1. My dialogue was almost exclusively with one of the interviewers.

Panel: Where are your wife and son?

Me: I apologize for my wife's absence. My daughter is not well and my wife was unable to leave her.

Panel: But why didn't you bring your son?

Me: The letter (instructing us to come to the interview) did not state that he should be present.

Panel: You should have known.

Me: What should I have known? That you were going to interview a 5 year old? Exactly what do you hope to gain by that?

Panel: We just want to see if he is normal.

Me: So you don't consider children who aren't normal?

Panel: No, we don't want them. This is a school for normal children.

Me: What do children who aren't normal do?

Panel: There are special schools for them.

Me: Really? Where are these special schools?

The interviewer was a bit flustered at this point. After a brief pause, she simply repeated her prior statement, "There are special schools for them". I thought of asking if they were qualified in child psychology to ascertain the 'normalness' of a child, but let it go as I already knew what the answer would be.

There was another couple there who had come for their interview earlier in the day and who, as I had done, had not brought their child to the interview. After their interview, they had gone home and come back with their son as requested by the panel. While I was being interviewed, the child sat in the adjacent seat and was tested for 'normalcy' by a panelist (a different lady from the one talking to me).

The test was a couple of questions, asking the child to say 'Good Morning' and something else that I don't recall.

Towards the end of the interview my interviewer again reiterated:

Panel: We still need to talk to your son.

Me: To see if he's normal, right. The child you just talked to, was he normal?

Panel: Yes, he was quite normal.

Me: How do you know that is their son? (I was next to the child during the 30-second normalcy interview and noted there was no photo or any other form of verification). I was disappointed that a leading public school in the country would so discriminate against children with special needs and also do so in such an ad-hoc manner.

I doubt this is school policy; more likely an expression of the views of some narrow minded people. However, the school should however re-evaluate this interview mechanism. Having different panels interview candidates, hinders a fair and uniform process and also dilutes the accountability. The DSS interview process had one panel that always included the principal of the school.

While this experience was disheartening, the panelists were never rude and I do feel that they were trying to be helpful. I also want my son to attend DSS and not Royal; else I probably would have not been so cavalier during the interview. I declined to return with my son as requested by the panel and so that was the end of this eventful experience".

A. P.,
via email