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I appeal to all Muslims who welcome Ramazan and fast during this
month to refrain from all kinds of vain idle talk, gossip, backbiting,
scolding, quarrelling, taking revenge, telling lies, disturbing others
etc. Throughout this month which is sacred for its favourable
environment to do good things.
Some of our Muslim friends waste time in playing games on the main
road during the night hours. So, all Muslims should observe their 30
days’ fast without causing inconvenience to others.
M. Y. M. MEEADH Kandy
Good habits make a person healthy and help him lead a happy life.
People should be made aware of bad habits to avoid them.
Listed below are some bad habits which should be avoided:
1. Smoking - Beedi, Cigarettes, Cigars etc.
2. Liquor - Whisky, Brandy, Arrack, Kasippu etc.
3. Drugs - Intake, inhale and injections.
4. Unsafe sex - Venereal disease, HIV etc.
Cigarettes damage the lungs. According to Chinese Medicine, a person
whose lungs are good, is healthy. The first cigarette itself starts
damaging the lungs and continuous smoking makes the matter worse. Lung
cancer is mainly caused by heavy smoking.
Liquor is not that dangerous as smoking. Occasional drinking,
supported with a good meal may not cause much harm. However Kasippu and
the like, which are brewed illegally and is cheaper than others, is very
dangerous.
The habit of drugs has crept into Sri Lanka and is causing a major
problem to the country. Not only the health is ruined, it results in
committing crimes. Major crimes (robbery to murder) are committed by
drug addicts.
At present the number of patients resulting from unsafe sex are
increasing in Sri lanka as people do not use safety measures. HIV
spreads through homosexuality as well. Adequate measure must be taken to
educate the people at large.
There are of course certain habits, the danger of which people do not
realise. Some people have the habit of smelling glue or petrol. In Hong
Kong it has been proved that non smokers face the risk of getting lung
cancer due to factory smoke etc.
Even HIV at a smaller level spreads through blood transfer, repeated
use of injection needles, tattooing etc.
Parents should watch for abnormal behaviour of their children, for
example, strange silence, violence etc.
When a person is found having dangerous bad habits, it is the duty of
the well-wishers to persuade them to take proper medical care.
Punishment alone will not show the correct path. Care and tolerance
is very important in this regard.
They must encourage their children to have adequate exercise, good
eating habits, good rest and sleep etc.
Even heavy usage of mobile phones must be discouraged as it may cause
brain cancer.
S.R. BALACHANDRAN Colombo 6
Salary increments for public servants are granted to ease the burden
of the sky-rocketing Cost of Living which similarly effect the
pensioners also. Last July, the Government offered a monthly increment
of Rs. 1,000 to the State sector but not a single cent to the pensioners
who go to the same market for their daily needs.
The Minister of Finance, the Treasury and the other concerned
authorities are well aware that the market value of food items,
medicines, postage, water, electricity, bus fares and communication are
not categorised according to the salary scale of Government servants and
the scale of pensions.
If it is so, the Government should not treat only the public sector
leaving the pensioners aside. The pensioners who have served more than
35 years in different trade capacities in different parts of the country
should not be left out.
Trade Unions belong to all political parties demonstrate their
demands inviting the attention of the concerned authorities for
appropriate solutions.
Unfortunately, the pensioners have no trade unions to manifest their
plights and launch massive campaigns at Liptons Circle or in front of
the Fort Railway Station.
Out of the pensioners, there is a group of ex-servicemen who
discharged an invaluable service to the country undergoing immense
hardships.
Since their pathetic demands are disregarded by the former Finance
Ministers, the Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen’s Association met Prime Minister
Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka at Temple Trees on May 5, 2008 and a memorandum
was handed over for reasonable and suitable solutions.
The feeble, old-aged pensioners eagerly await the next budget with
favourable financial assistance to live joyfully and die peacefully.
MAHINDA NIHAL PERERA Moratuwa
The Colombo South Teaching Hospital is one of the most populous
hospitals in the country. Since it was established as the teaching
hospital of the Medical Faculty of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura,
the standard of the hospital has improved rapidly. Additional buildings
have been constructed to accommodate new wards, clinics and other units.
At present, the major neglected area in the hospital seems to be the
status of the OPD, which caters to several thousands of patients daily.
As a senior citizen who visits the OPD once in a way suffering from
minor ailments, I have noticed some unhealthy incidents in the OPD.
The OPD building is old and in a deplorable state. Too many sections
have been situated in this small hall where several thousands of
patients gather daily for treatment. Many activities occur
simultaneously during a crowded hour where there is hardly any breathing
space available for the patients.
Here the patients have to queue in one area to register and collect
the prescription slips in which slips names and the ages of the patients
are entered by an employee. Thereafter the patients have to sit on the
benches until their turn arrives to go before the doctors.
You will see a large number of young mothers with their infants
clutched to their breasts awaiting in the same queue or seated on the
benches until their turn arrives to see the doctors in this overcrowed
hall.
In another corner of the hall you will see another queue being formed
of patients with diabetes and high blood pressure to obtain their
prescription cards etc, to consult clinical doctors of another unit. As
a result, the whole place is congested. Every day several thousands come
to the OPD for treatment for various ailments and diseases. Only two
wash rooms are available for these patients.
They are both dirty and unhygienic.
I presume the hospital authorities are already aware of these
problems. If not, I request the health authorities to investigate and
take remedial action to move the OPD to a more pleasant and spacious
location in the near future.
R. Fernando Dehiwela
It can be seen that children of today are very emotional and violent
than ever before. Most of schoolchildren don’t give due respect and
honour to their dedicated teachers. We usually read in the newspapers
about very brutal incidents and crimes committed by senior
schoolchildren. Children are of priceless value to their parents.
But these children should be equipped with moral values too if they
are to be real noble human beings. I earnestly appeal all parents to
provide their children with religious guidance and prevent them from
watching obscene programmes on TV channels at night. Some adolescents
are reported to have attempted to molest matured mothers after watching
such immoral TV programmes.
The duty of all media personnel of our country is to equip our future
citizens with noble human qualities through their media and if they do
so, we will definitely be blessed with a civilised future generation.I
consider this a great meritorious act as well as a social duty towards
our beloved mother Sri Lanka.
S.M. WIJAYARATNE Ihala Kadigamuwa
The article ‘Origins of the Hela race’ (DN July 11) as well as the
point of view expressed in subsequent article on the same topic (DN July
28) deviate from the accepted theory on the inception of the Sinhala
race as narrated in Mahawansa chronicle.
The second mentioned article makes a rather anachronistic claim that
King Ravana was a Buddhist disregarding the historical fact that
Buddhism came to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Devanampiyatissa in
the 3rd century BC.
But what is more disturbing is the distorted version of the story of
Rama the Prince Ayodhya and his consort Sita given in the articles,
completely deviating from the divine epic Ramayana. The authors seem to
be under a misconception that Ramayana is mere myth and lies for fallacy
and fiction.
In this connection, following opinion expressed by a learned author
in this book ‘Prince of Ayodhya’ would enlighten our readers.
The conflict between Rama, Prince of Ayodya and Ravana, the great
king of Lanka is not so much between two races as between two
civilisations or two ways of life. The point sought to be driven home in
Ramayana is the superiority of moral and spiritual progress to material
and scientific progress.
Characters like Hanuman (a monkey) Guha (a backwoodsman) etc.
represent primitive and subhuman civilisations.
But they are depicted in the epic as advanced ethical beings capable
of loyalty and friendship and heroic self-sacrifice. Besides, they
appreciate the spiritual excellence shining through the hero, Rama and
the heroine, Sita.
On the other hand, the Rakshas are presented as examples of purely
material progress like acquisition of wealth, power, capacity to produce
aerial cars and deadly weapons. But they are given to greed,
drunkenness, violence and sensuality. Hence their destruction in the
end.
So, Ramayana should be looked upon not merely as a mythological
verity but a divine heroic history showing that the true progress of
humanity lies in its moral and spiritual evolution.
C. RUDRA Wattala
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