Family, Cultural beliefs, Political decisions, Relationships, Social Fairness, Inspiration, Religious (alternate) views, Agnostic Views, Humour and Just Random Thoughts. So watch out for some fireworks laced with humour
Since the recent uprisel in Sri Lanka, I have questioned , do I open my mouth or not. And I had opted to keep my mouth shut. But today finally I feel like I need to say something. Bare with me with typos, left handed typing. Recently I accepted an invite on LinkedIn from a CEO of a similar Industry person from Sri Lanka. His surname suggests that he is Sinhalese. Then I got a personal message that said something along the lines of that I am having a great time living in Australia while everyone is suffering in Sri Lanka. Without going into too much detail the tone was of arrogance and annoyance. I didn’t reply to him. As I didn’t feel I needed to give any more fuel to this. But honestly what I wanted to say and I have felt this way many a times, each time I go into hospital here and the service is so great, I think “thank God the Sinhalese kicked me out of that country, I am lucky” I feel angry, I feel more angry at the people more than at the politicians. I feel disappointed. Do you think Rajapakse’s are the only reason why Sri Lanka is the way it is. When I saw my friend carrying a placard that said “you made us fear the Tamils” I wanted hug her and cry Sanja Herath . You herald Gota as a war hero while our people cried out to the world begging to stop the war crimes. When Sinhala only rules were brought in Tamils had similar peaceful protests(1970’s) They were attacked by the politicians and by the Buddhist monks. Do you think Tamils woke up one day and decided that they needed a separate state. They were driven to that. The entire country watched by while Tamils were burnt alive in cars and homes, I have friends who were forced to watch their brothes and dad to be piled with tyres and burnt. There were father’s who had to watch their daughters being raped. The words still echo in my ears – first press conference during the 1983 riots JR Jayewardene comes and says “Sinhala people reacted” he didn’t condemn the act. I am wrong in saying the entire country watched, there we’re many Sinhalese who were appalled by it helped their neighbours and friends. Not sure if they opposed the Government stance on the Sinhala Buddhist nation but they didn’t want their friends harmed.
People of Sri Lanka were hoodwinked into thinking that the Government was just killing the terrorists. The biggest terrorists were the government. In my opinion I think Australia knew what was going on but chose to make a deal with the devil (Namal and Gota) to win the elections here ” stop the boats”. That is the sad story of any minority in any nation. How could you legally discriminate the Tamils, media vise standardisation is nothing but legal discrimination. How is that I have more rights in a country I was not born in than a country that my heritage spans to over 2000 years. Yes it was more than 2000 years so BC is when Tamils came from South India to Sri Lanka. Corruption – yes I will agree politicians swindled the country. Each government not just the Rajapakse’s. Each one of them was a Ali Hora. But were they the only ones stealing in that country. Every person who could make a side buck did so. You couldn’t build a house without bribing all and sundry for each permit. Any thing and everything it has become the norm to bribe and to accept a bribe. On this we were very similar, Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims everyone took bribes. My Dad would yell at me if I took a pen from his work place. But many would fulfil their stationery needs of their entire family from the office. It has just come to Roost now. For Sri Lanka to have a future, a serious cultural, mental attitude change has to happen across all religions and races. Everyone needs to take responsibility. Every time you get hoodwinked by the politicians for your personal gain think long term, think if it’s fair for all.
DONT CURSE THE RAJAPAKSE’S GRANDKIDS. THEY ARE INNOCENT RIGHT NOW. WHEN THEY KILLED INNOCENT BABIES IN JAFFNA THE RATIONALISATION WAS ONE DAY THEY WILL BE A KOTIYA. THAT IS NOT A REASON.
Good luck to the people. People power. Power to the people.
Forget Freedom of Speech at present it feels like I have to fight for freedom of thought. If not for my upbringing of being polite to all and sundry even when they don’t deserve it.. mmm… so much biting the tongue, it is getting pretty painful.
Growing up with my dad, he encouraged me to have my own opinions and debate them at home. A healthy debate. We never had to raise our voices, call names, ridicule, no, we did not need to resort to any of those things. The topics ranged from politics, education, cultural differences, clothing, movies, characters in epic stories, sports teams, no subject was taboo. All this started at a very young age. In an era and culture where the father was supposed to be revered and not some one you argue with, my dad let me have that freedom.
Growing up with dad once again, I am constantly reminded of RESTPECT. My dad was an intellect. My mum on the other hand had not even completed year 12. On paper, on Tinder they will never be a perfect match. But, my dad had nothing but respect for my mum. He believed my mum’s strength, confidence and demeanor could not be measured by a mere paper qualification or the lack of it. Years to come after his demise he was proven right.
I look around the girls I grew up, in the boarding school I attended, again we were asked to conform, however, almost all of us have not conformed to any box that the society has laid out. Each one of us has taken different outlook on life. But most of us are happy at our destination.
Is it a story about success or survival for my friends and me. Is survival the success? What’s your yardstick on success? That’s the million dollar question without sounding all hippy.
Success is like Happiness, the yardstick belongs to you, not to your neighbor. It really does not matter whether my neighbor things I am successful or happy, what matters is what do I think. Again something that my dad instilled in my success cannot be measured by your bank balance, the car your drive or where you live alone. There is absolutely no harm in having a healthy bank balance and the rest. But that alone is not my yardstick. It definitely could be yours.
What about my opinion? Most of us have a reason for our opinion/opinions. I am willing to listen to your reason for your difference of opinion as long as you would give me the same courtesy. Taking the lessons from my dad, I implemented this in my household and the boys and I have a fairly robust and healthy debate on most subjects. My husband on the other hand struggled at the notion of not being able to raise his voice or bluff out. He is showing progress (as he really has no other choice).
However, the world at large is a different animal altogether. The amount of people who feel need the educate me as “You don’t know”, yes thank you for educating me, I missed out on that piece of general knowledge as I was sleeping under a rock all this time. Thank you for the wake up call and taking the time to educate me. So generous of them and I am making snide remarks. Apologies to all the well wishers, just saying it was a waste of your time.
Thinking of posting a Opinion of mine each day and see how many I could tick off.
Opinion of the day –
Australia is a Great Country
Amazing country, great people, time after time we have proven it, now with the floods, we have risen again, soon it will be drought, and then it will be bushfires. But we will help each other, we are nation built on the notion that every one’s a mate, and we rise again.
I like the fact that my tax dollars goes towards looking after the retired, those who are disabled, those who are struggling to get employment. Yes I know its not a perfect system, and some unemployed could get off their backside and work, so can the politicians not wrought the system by claiming travel and renting and everything else. Its not a perfect system but near perfect.
I like the fact we have award wages and we don’t need to tip. I pay for the food, the owner of the business pays his employees. Yes, the waiter is not reliant on the customers tip. We still have a wage gap, but in all honesty it is pretty fair. It is way better than, India, China or even the Great America. We still need to work on how we treat the back packers and overseas students. Yes, not perfect but pretty darn close.
I like the fact that we have Medicare, even the poor and the old can avoid dying if they don’t have to. We have public education so the poor can get an education and come out of the rut.
I know I am paying my taxes for all of the above. Once again I would rather pay for the above than to pay for Murdoch, Packers or the rest of them to buy another private Jet. I would prefer not to pay for Polies life long super, once again not perfect but near enough.
Sydney is not New York not even Paris. But, I have never been one to be spellbound by big and shiny things. Not everything that glitters is gold. In my opinion Australia is the real deal. I left Sydney and came to Adelaide. Our choice to settle here. It’s not because we couldn’t make it in Sydney, in fact Hubby took a pay cut to come here. It was a genuine sea change that we came for. Adelaide is far more backward than Sydney in many aspects. But, surprisingly far better life style than Sydney or anywhere else. But, not for everyone, obviously far more opportunities for young ones in Sydney and Melbourne. It’s like the Hemsworth’s settling in Byron Bay. Their heaven, but might not be for everyone.
When I first arrived in Adelaide, I came across the two carriage so called train and then to witness the train station which looked like a bus stop was a shock to the system. My eldest later told me that he was expecting haystacks on lorries on the road (blame it on too much TV and cartoons). Yes, all these things gave us a chuckle. But over the years I have come to realise that Adelaide is more progressive than many of the major cities, Adelaide was one the first cities to stop plastic shopping bags (in Australia), and now moving towards removing single use plastic containers, its a very common site to see people taking their own mugs to buy coffee. Our Energy sources are mainly wind and solar. We are a vast country with most of the year with sunshine. Capitalising on this should be every states mission.
From Wine, Gin, Food products to IT and innovation we punch above our waist. Those in the industry know about this. Every one knows Muhammad Ali. But not so when it comes to Joe Frazier. Does it mean Joe Frazier wasn’t good or does it mean you don’t know your stuff. Yes, it means you don’t know enough.
I like to leave you with a quote from Daisy Bates
“The real bush poetry cannot be interpreted by English Poets, but a true Australian steeped in the charm of it … His poems will issue like Chauser’s from the inborn joyousness that is the heritage of all who are born in this land of sunshine“
Forget Freedom of speech, I am fighting for freedom of thought at this point. And I can tell you, that if not for my upbringing of being polite to all and sundry, mmm… yes let’s stop there.
As usual I didn’t stick to my promise and I am few days behind from where I left off. Then again I am talking politics, so to keep with the theme of broken and abandon promises, I am doing my best here to match the theme.
Last week when I was writing, I had a lot passion and a lot of anger and frustration. But for now, just like our parliament, even though nothing has been resolved, but in our minds we have put the issues aside, at least for the moment. We the public are taking a break. At least until the next circus show starts.
Before I go further I like to advise to my readers that the following contents may not be politically correct and may offend certain highly sensitive people. You have the choice not to read it. The following are my opinions, they may be more closer to the truth than those of, who call themselves Journalists or Politicians, however I do not claim my comments as facts.
You are free to form your own opinion.
I am still angry. It is exacerbated by watching news on TV. A comment about Pauline Hanson – apparently she is saying what everyone is thinking but not saying. Obviously she is the Hero, the person with guts and glory. A woman responsible for murdering the Queens English everyday is our spokesperson for the nation. Shoot me now.
When did it become your bravery is measured by how rude and callous you can sound? When did it become your eligibility to rule a nation is measured by how racist you could be? Far right White Supremacists hold your horses, you don’t have the monopoly on this. This is a ploy used by most weak leaders of all races. Yes the same thing was used back in my mother country and it worked swell. These leaders may be weak, but you lot who vote for them are weaker.
Okay let me say what I am thinking and maybe the rest of Australia is thinking but not saying.
Democracy is great but has a problem. Idiots get to vote as well. Maybe we should have an eligibility test for voters (and maybe for the parliamentarians as well) – they need basic education. (Then again Tony Abbott is a Rhode Scholar).
The above test may eliminate our Queensland voter problems. The whole Liberal Leader Saga was due to the bloody Queenslanders.
Pauline Hanson, Bob Hatter, Barnaby Joyce and last but not least Hon Peter Dutton, and lets not forget our Final Solution man Fraser Anning that is our sample Queensland Politicians. Our Brains Trust. God save us PLEASE.
You want my tax dollars to help the farmers (mainly Queensland). I really do sympathize with their situation. However, most of them are climate change skeptics. Just like their leaders I may add.
Therefore I will humbly offer my “thoughts and prayers” and keep my money for myself.
The above rant is not exactly a continuation from last week. This was more of an outburst from last nights TV show.
I left off last week with the following line
Muslims/ Islam – well at present you cannot say that you are completely blameless.
Hear me out before I get branded as Islamophobic. I have no issues with those who practice Islam or any other religion. However, I take religion with a pinch of salt, again I believe each one to their own. Until, they shove down their ideas to everyone else. And please don’t bring religion into the Parliament. Many countries have tried and are left with it’s disastrous out come.
Abrahamic religions have been forefront of shoving down their religious beliefs to the world for many centuries now. Christians probably are the front runners of this exercise, now Muslims are trying to catch up and it is upsetting the Christians.
Those of us who are standing on the side line are thinking the same thing. Just take a chill pill, or better still read a science book. Take your bible or the quran as a guide. When you read your holy book, if your interpretation makes you a hurtful, rude, unkind human being, ask again is that really what your god wants you to be. Religion is meant to make you a better human being, not an ass.
I have nothing against what anyone wants to wear. If it be the Burka or the Bikini. Neither of them are my choice, and feel there are places that both should be avoided. The courts, The Parliament, The Airport to name a few. To some the burka is offensive in such places. As a woman in her fifties with not so perfect of a body, the Bikini is more offensive and threatening than the Burka. I doubt that I would lose my husband to a woman in a Burka. Just saying, just think about it.
Seeing a woman in Burka for me is similar to standing next to a obese person in the lift. A lift that has a mirror. Oh yes, I am not that fat. Just admit it, you’ve done it too.
I understand for many the Burka is offensive, because of what it stands for, another religion taking the reigns. If we were to go by history and understand what happened when Christians went around the world converting and setting up missionaries, well I guess we have reasons to be concerned. History has a way of repeating. Blood shed seems to be inevitable.
My only final solution is ban all religions. I am who I am, not because of my religion. I am nice to my neighbor because I feel good when I am nice to them. It’s not because the bible said “love thy neighbor”. What I am saying is I don’t believe those who hide behind a religion for their actions. Unless religion can do good to this mankind I can’t see a place for it.
Coming back to the real world, so this my call to the Muslims and the rest of the migrants who enter this beautiful land Australia. We’ve all come from troubled lands to start a new life. The earliest boat arrivals, most of them convicts, kicked out by their own country, had a tough journey to come here and then set up life. The convicts were the good ones, the one’s who came on the first fleet did a lot bad things to the natives. Let’s hash that story another day.
I am not a native and I don’t have the right to say “that’s all, water under the bridge”. However, I think we need to move on. We are all here. Let’s leave behind the baggage and start anew. We all left our lands because they were burning, because there was bloodshed, because there was corruption and because some of us were marginalised. Let’s not start all that all over again.
If you see a Christmas tree at the shopping center don’t be offended, is just a decoration of a joyous time. If that is your biggest concern for the day, it’s a sign that you are far from harms way. It is time to enjoy your stay in Australia. If you want others to accept you, it is time you accepted them too.
If you hear about the ‘Sudanese Gang Violence’, don’t join the band wagon and don’t panic. Again grab that pinch of salt. Find out the details before you cast your stones. Each time a new set of migrants came in we had issues. It was the Vietnamese gangs of Cabramatta, Lebanese from Cronulla (Bob Hatter’s relo’s) and the list goes and at present the flavour of the month seems to be the Sudanese gangs in Victoria. I am not saying that we don’t have issues with these youth. Teenagers can be a handful in any home, but definitely from displaced and marginalized homes and environments it is going to be a bigger issue. So new communities and it’s leaders have to tirelessly work with these youth to make sure they don’t veer off into the wrong paths.
By marginalising them you would feed them directly into radicalization.
Let’s build our great nation, let’s not divide and feed it to the hyenas.
This is a continuation of my rant from a couple of days ago. I am trying to decipher, analyse what went wrong in my beautiful country. Feels like Deja Vu. I have been here before.
Life is good, life is peaceful. But I slowly feel the undercurrent. Makes me uncomfortable. Still, the fully loaded optimism in me refuses to notice the change, change for the bad. I fail to recognise evil. Most times you have to bring me kicking and screaming to notice evil in others. One failure passed on from my father. He always believed that everyone was born a nice person, he vehemently believed that it was the society and its pressures that makes some to take the wrong path. He likes to give the benefit of the doubt and say you never know what decision you would take unless you are at the same cross roads. I guess he hadn’t read the bible. As per Christianity you are born a sinner. My ignorant dad believed the other way. I am not a saint like my late dad to forgive everyone, I claim not to be as naive as him as well. But time to time I am given a rude awakening to realise maybe I am too much like my late dad.
It was that one decision that brought me to this beautiful land Australia – I’ve had enough of my birth place and it’s politics when my dear friend was killed in Sri Lanka which made me finally pack my bags. Until then many of family members and friends demised by a bullet, being burnt, shells, land mines and other means of torture. None of them were my own brothers or sisters. But uncles and friends brothers and parents – people I personally knew. People I spoke to a week ago. The suspects were the Sri lankan Army, Indian Army and some inside killings by the Tamil militants. But no one was investigated and no one was brought to justice.
I feel strongly about this subject, because I know first hand what racism does to a country. I will be damned if I am going to let my chosen country to have the same demise. My voice may not reach many, it may not reach any, but I have to try. I owe that to this country. This beautiful country and it’s people adopted me with open arms. I owe this country so much and I love this country very much. I would argue that I love it more than those who claim to have the best interest of this country.
Currently Burma is on the radar for similar atrocities as was in Sri Lanka. But makes me wonder why Burma has caught the eye of the world, while atrocities in Sri Lanka and the likes escaped world scrutiny. I came to these shores twenty eight years, long before the so called end of the Sri Lankan war. It was at this point Kevin Rudd struggled with the ‘boat people’ and Tony Abbott came up with “Stop the boats”. I guess politically it was far better to use these refugees for your political gain than to question or show your displeasure of the then Sri Lankan government.
Have you ever wondered why no one from Australia gets on a leaky boat and sets off to another country. Because this is a great country. Our lives are not in danger. Instead of waging war at the refugees, why don’t the big nations and its powerful leaders put sanctions on those corrupt governments. It’s not like we have not waged war with another country before for the same reasons. I recall the hunt for Sadam Hussain was such a noble cause. I know it’s not your responsibility nor jurisdiction to interfere with another country and it’s issues.
I understand that as a leader of a country you have no choice but to shake hands with another countries leader, even if you suspect him to have blood on his hands. I guess as a politician they are always on cross roads, but as citizens we hope that they would take the right turn at most times. There is no evidence of that in the recent times.
War is never pretty, most times it is unnecessary. My plea for my Australia is to avoid war and conflict like the plague. We know how to fight bush fires. I would think it would be similar methods to avoid war and conflict. Keep a tight eye on the known arsonists. Keep the public up to date with any signs – smoke, weather etc. Prevention is always better than a cure. In fact if we need to look for cures, it’s already too late. So prevention is the only way. Who comes under the category of Arsonists – there are from both sides inciting violence, I don’t really care if they Muslim or Christians, religion is for peace, if you want to wage war in the name your religion
PLEASE PISS OFF. Obviously you are unhappy in this peace loving country, so PLEASE PISS OFF. I humbly ask this of Rupert Murdoch and his crony’s as well.
In all this argument it may come across as I am mainly angry with our right wing ideologists. Well, I am no big fan of theirs. However, I always believe that there is two sides any issue.
I acknowledge that language is a very powerful tool. In order to change the way the society thinks and acts, many changes have been made. This has definitely helped us deal with race bias, religious bias, gender bias etc. However, I think the pendulum has gone too far to the opposite. The word ‘black’ has become a taboo word. It’s just a colour. People just take a chill pill. You don’t need to go to the extreme of changing the lyrics of “Baa Baa Black Sheep” to Rainbow sheep. This is where I think political correctness has taken a ludicrous turn.
Extreme of anything is bad. Whether it be religion, even when fighting for a good cause, you can lose your way when you fail to see the other sides issues. Most of us believe that the weather is changing and the humans are a major cause of this. Most of us are happy to contribute towards a solution, however our ‘Greens party’ goes way over board.
Muslims/ Islam – well at present you cannot say that you are completely blameless.
I prefer to usually leave my blog at a cliff hanger. So I am going to do the same today. So tune into my next blog if you want to know what I think.
Reality TV has taken over. The remote control has been taken over by the other half. He wants to watch the news on ABC, but the goldfish DNA in him keeps pressing the remote control. So we end up seeing reality TV salad.
I saw a real estate agent (possibly) he was on the phone, looked like he was negotiating the house price, then it moved on to some sexy looking people, then I think someone was cooking and back to the news, some country was getting blown off. The same cycle happens every 2 minutes.
I thought it was time to retreat behind my keyboard. I want to write. Reason 1 – it is part of my monthly challenge to write for a minimum of half hour everyday. Reason 2 – I do enjoy it once I start. It’s like going to the gym or for a walk/run. Getting started is a chore but once you get going you start to enjoy it.
I haven’t adhered to my challenge everyday but have come pretty close to it so far. I did attempt yesterday. However, didn’t eventuate as I was too tired to come up with a topic and WordPress was no help as there are no prompts since the beginning of the month.
I have been asked this question many a times in Adelaide as well as in Sydney, “Why did you’ll move to Adelaide?”
My one line answers have been, “hubby’s work, a genuine sea change” “Yes I miss my friends and the shopping but I don’t miss the traffic”
However today and maybe days to come (depends how long I am going to ponder on this subject) I would like to delve a bit deeper on the reasons, the pros and cons and whatever else that was involved.
Maybe it would help someone when deciding a sea change or work change or some kind of life style change.
The Ganesan’s lived in Sydney since 1990 and their family grew one by one from 1993. By 1996, we had 5 family members residing in our little house. This was my hubby, my two boys and my mum. A young family with a mortgage meant that both of us had to work full time. With mum’s help and child care, we survived our hectic lives.
Our house was in North west of Sydney and my hubby’s work was in the South. Which meant he had a pretty long commute to work. More than the distance the traffic was what made the journey more tedious. I worked in the city until the latter years. It was a hike for the city as well. It didn’t matter even if you lived close by, the Sydney traffic will still make you commute for hours even if you were travelling within the suburb.
Hubby was unhappy with the industry he was working in. His wages weren’t bad. That was the only plus side. My youngest fell ill (we nearly lost him at the age of 2) and it was tough times mentally, physically and financially too. About the same time my eldest lost his hearing and we were shunting between hospitals with two kids and their respective surgeries.
Eventually I had to give up my career and start working closer to home with less hours and less stress. I took over the primary roll for the hospital runs and hospital stays while hubby kept slogging away at his job, even though he hated each minute of it. I could see that stress was gradually killing him. Neither of us had a choice. We both had to keep going.
Those dreary days would have been near impossible if not for some family and friends. I will revisit this subject later.
Hubby’s company had a subcontractor in Adelaide. The owners of this company approached hubby a few times to join them. The wages were no where near what he was earning in Sydney. Money is not everything, but when your kid is unwell and you have choice to pay for his surgery rather than wait six months to get it done from the public hospital, would you say money is not everything?
It was year 2004 and Arj my youngest was nearly 8 years old. He was over the worst and our visits to the respiratory specialist had diminished to just once a year. Same with Hari, he still had a hearing impairment, but things were in place for us to manage it.
The Adelaide company made the offer again with a possibility of a partnership in the future. Initial wages were still low. At this point I got interested. I thought we were alright now, we could manage with the low wages. The mortgage was in a manageable position as well.
It was not just about money. I was almost a neurotic mum with the way the two boys fell ill. The two specialists who looked after the boys were the best in the country. They were just amazing and they knew the two cases so well. The boys had to see the doctors regularly and this made me less neurotic knowing that things are under control. So to leave the doctors and go else where was the biggest hurdle.
So, in November 2004 when the offer came again, I re-evaluated our situation. We were really alright I thought. The only one who was not alright was my hubby. I was really worried about his health. I am still, but that’s another story for another day. And that point I was able to confidently say “Money is not everything”.
My eyes are weary, so I will continue tomorrow. I will leave you with one thought though. Money is not everything. But it is definitely something.
24th of March 2018 was a dark day for the Australian Cricket team and it’s fans. And it’s not because we lost the game, but because we lost the essence of sports. In the era of billion dollar sponsorship’s and big salaries, sports has become a business. We see this not just in Cricket, but in every other sports. Winning at all cost.
There is a lot of noise in the main stream media and even on social media currently about the three players Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith. The whole of Australia, even those who don’t follow Cricket have something to say. In the public’s eye they were villains who brought discredit to the game and to Australia.
Where did I stand on this issue and where am I now?
I was livid. I was disgusted. I was disappointed in Steve Smith. I had such great regard for Steve Smith until then. I admired the way he played, the way he captained. Cool, calm collected and a young man with great talent and temperament. All that tarnished by a moment of insanity. I could never accept cheating. And there was no dressing this up as anything else. This was blatant cheating.
Australian team as well as the public have never gone easy on other teams and always taken the high moral ground on other teams for even the smell of cheating. Memories don’t fail me when I recall the incident or incidents of 2006 Australia vs Sri Lanka, how Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan was tormented by the bias umpires, Australian Team and the Australian public. Here was one up and coming young bowler from a third world country, but he showed talent, the only way to get him out of the picture was to brand him as “chucking”. In this scenario it was not even cheating and his actions were cleared later as not ‘chucking’. In such issues facts don’t matter. Bantering continues with baseless allegations by the faceless men and women of Australia.
I learnt a new word after coming to Australia – Gamesmanship. Then Wicket Keeper Ian Healy was the master of it. He called sledging was Gamesmanship. At the beginning I was against it. I thought this was a Gentleman’s game and sledging hard no place in it. In time I came to accept it. Still it bothered me when Fast Bowler Glen Mc Grath was teased in the West Indies and he lost his cool. Not sure what was said but it was about his wife. She was battling cancer at the time. I am really not sure how anyone can stoop to that level to banter someone using their dying partner. Yes, they crossed the line there. But then again Glen Mc Grath himself is no saint. He once called a Sri Lankan player (I believe could be another from the sub continent) “black monkey” because the other player hit his ball for a four. I don’t think that Glen is a racist. Just that he was angry, annoyed and exasperated at that time and wrong words came out. Which can happen to any one of us. How many of us are guilty on the road when we mutter to ourselves “bloody Asian drivers”. The difference is, we are not in the public arena and on camera.
Coming back to Steve Smith and the other two, why did they do it? I don’t think winning at all cost was the only motivator. I don’t know much about Cameron so I am not going to comment. Warner probably was at his wits ends. Sledging about his wife, the fans wearing Sunny Bill Williams face mask etc. Warner himself has accused South Africa of ball tampering in 2014 and was fined for the comments he made without concrete evidence. I am not sure if he thought they were still guilty (South African’s). Well let’s not forget their captain Faf du Plessis was caught twice before. It’s a lame excuse but it’s still an excuse “everyone does it”. Maybe that was what he was thinking. But the outcome shows that there was not much thinking.
I still cannot fathom what was going through Steve Smith’s head. My verdict for Steve Smith might be biased. I am not saying he is not guilty. But it takes a great man to admit his fault so wholeheartedly.
I wonder whether we as a society created this issue. When these young men (and women) enter the main arena, we are surprised, pleased and overjoyed at their talents and success. We praise the budding talents. For us they are new to the scene. But the fact is that they have been in the scene for a long time. They had given up their weekends and mornings before and after school on training. They had given up their holidays and friends for more training. They had already given up on their childhood. Now they are finally on the main arena.
Good life begins with sponsors, six figure salaries and the spotlight. Well that’s what we see. They are under scrutiny from the first match. Two consecutive bad scores and we are ready to write them off. We say we shouldn’t have this mentality “winning at all costs”. But are we happy if they lose? We see time after time sportsmen facing depression and anxiety. We hoist them at their peek and then drop them without a second thought, when they have given it all and got nothing left. Ian Thorpe, Graham Hackett, Geoff Huegill, the list goes on. We drive them to hit rock bottom.
Maybe there is a lesson in this. Let’s teach our young to do their best. To never give up. But accept the fact there is one winner and also not the winner in every battle. Let’s clean up our own mess before we take the broom to our neighbors. Sledging and gamesmanship has to go. Let’s replace it with Sportsmanship.
A moments lapse of misjudgment has now destroyed Steve Smith’s great future. I can’t but feel terribly sorry for this young man. I think he knows it more than anyone else, that he is to blame and no one else. He has passed a harsher judgement on himself than anyone else.
I feel for these players mental health, I feel for these players partners and their kids. For those who have not listened to this press conference, please do. In my books he is still a man with a lot of integrity. He said sorry, He took responsibility. It’s a lot more than what some churches have done.
Today marks Twenty Seven years since we landed on this soil. Today I speak/write as a Proud Australian, proud but sometimes sad and sometimes mad. Before you start slinging stones at me for being ungrateful, please read on…(special note to Pauline Hanson some words may make you say “Please explain” fear not, there is a book called the “Dictionary”, no scratch that, just google it)
I like to visit why we left for Australia, my feelings then and now, what have I observed, and the big question What it is to be an Australian.
Why did we leave Sri Lanka? More importantly why would you leave if you were financially stable. I am currently in the process of writing about the civil war in Sri Lanka and the main reasons for my departure from that country etc. But a shorter version would be to say, due to the Civil war.
As a Tamil we constantly lived in fear. Famous words were “If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time”, well there was no right place or right time either. Any place could turn into a wrong place. For the Government forces you are a terrorist because you have a Tamil surname and if you are in the North and if you don’t comply or adhere to whims of the militants then you are a traitor. When your life is in danger having a healthy bank balance alone will not convince you to stay on. So in our case we didn’t move for the greener pastures, but rather for safer pasture.
The final nail was when I lost my dear friend, who happened to be a Sinhalese. I was asked not to even attend his funeral, as our relatives feared that someone at the funeral might turn on us as emotions would be rather high. I had lost relatives and some friends had lost their dad or brother to the war as well. But for some reason my friends demise stirred something very deep within me.
A boy who was not a racist, the only boy/person who wrote to me apologizing on behalf of his people, for the mass killings of the 1983 riots, now lay dead. The instigators of the war on both sides send in little pawns to be slayed while their kith and kin were sent overseas. They stay out of harms way, while stirring trouble and use young kids to the fore front. This country used my dear friend as a pawn. He was posthumously awarded many medals. He is probably hanging on a wall in a very important building. Just mere ceremonies for Politicians to feel good and earn those precious votes.
War Sucks People, Never invite it or instigate it
I can tell you right now, I would rather have my friend alive rather than on a wall with pretty medals.
With all the unknowns still a foreign land seemed more promising than my own. I could see corruption was only getting worse. The gap between the have’s and have not’s were getting wider. Future in this country looked rather grim. Reluctantly dragging our feet we made the decision to leave a well paying job, house and all the luxuries, such as driver, aides and everything else and move to another country to start over.
Mixed emotions for me when I left. My mum had just undergone a Kidney Transplant surgery. She donated a kidney to her brother. Timing wasn’t great. I really didn’t want to leave when I left. I would have liked to stay for a few more months. But then again when you are surrounded with relatives each one with their own view and everyone else view taken into consideration but just not yours, you have no choice but to pack your bags. I left thinking okay let me get far away from all of you as well. After I had reluctantly agreed to the departure date there was another group who thought I shouldn’t be leaving my mum behind and I was being a selfish daughter. I had to keep reminding myself of, “The story of the father and son taking the donkey to the market”. I needed a new beginning.
We landed at the Melbourne Tullamarine Airport on the 1st Sept 1990. It was a chilly morning. Everything felt crisp, clean, new, overwhelming and exciting.
The day after we arrived, we went and registered for our tax file numbers, medicare and all other mundane official applications. Twenty Seven years later, I now have the privilege to be annoyed and berate about the inefficiency of our Government Departments. But at that time I was amazed that I was able to get all those things done within the same day. And I didn’t need to ‘know’ anyone to get those things done. No one jumped the queue, and no one said “Oh you are so and so’s daughter, come, come, come. have a seat”. The guy with the tattoo was served the same way as the woman with the designer bag. I smiled.
We also chose to migrate at a time when Paul Keating decided it was a ‘recession we had to have’. This made hubby very anxious for the first time in his working life. With no proper working experience under my belt it was even harder for me. I enrolled in a TAFE program to get job ready. I was so thrilled to have access to a public library for FREE. We had a mixed group of students in my class. Different ages, different race and cultures. But we all got along really well. No one shouted out “Go back to where you came from”. I don’t know how I would have reacted if that had happened. I don’t think I would have gone back. I would have thought I did nothing wrong, I am staying put.
I would have become resentful rather than thankful as I am.
Hubby had to wait till October/Nov to get his first job and that was in Sydney. So we moved to Sydney.
Slowly started to learn the lingo and the accent.
I still remember, I was working at my hubbies office. I used to run errands and had to stop at the Post Office everyday and so I became a regular. One of the ladies one day said “How you going?” I was rather perplexed. Office was just two blocks away and you’ve seen me walking here everyday, I was like a stunned mullet (for non Aussies refer above). They all had a good laugh. I felt rather embarrassed until later listening to an Interview with Michael J Fox, where he was thrown the same question and he thought “thats a strange question by Plane of course”. Again for Non Aussies “How you going” but when saying it you have fuse all three words into one and what ever that noise is, means how are you.
I got used to the Taxi driver, the Newsagent, the random guy at the bakery and anyone else addressing me as “love” – yes love, no love, here you go love, No worries love.
For me that is very Australian.
We bought our first unit in 1991. I was studying Accountancy and working. It was tough. But, I was loving the fact I had less family interference and I loved this world where everyone was an equal. But Hubby was struggling. Hubby had a job, but it didn’t pay him or treat him anywhere near what he was used to. He persevered. But I am sure at times he wanted quit everything and go back.
We became Aussie citizens in January Australia Day 1993. I fell pregnant. Hari was due first week of May 1993. We just had the one car. Hubby was working in the South of Sydney while we lived in North West. One day, I find a note stuck under my door. One of the old guys who lived in one of the other units had left it. We’ve met him and his wife once or twice at the Body Corporate meetings. They’ve seen me waddle around towards the end of my pregnancy and knew that hubby worked far away. He has put that note saying if I needed to get to the hospital and Hubby wasn’t there I could call him. I shed a tear seeing that note. I was feeling rather emotional, as this was going to be my first child and I was missing mum. But seeing that note made me think I am not alone after all. I smiled and I cried.
For me that is very Australian.
I think it was 1994 my mum arrives and later we buy a house and move out of this unit. First day in our house, a very tall gentlemen arrives at the door and introduces himself as Ken from the opposite house. Let’s us know that if we needed any garden tools we were most welcome to borrow his. Yes, just like that.
Once again I am pregnant and it is now 1996. Keith my neighbor sees me agitated, I had rung for taxis and none were coming. He gets his car keys without hesitation.
I think the year was 2005, we decide to have a sea change and move to South Australia. Hubby was starting his new job in November. I wanted to wait till the school term ends and join hubby in January. Hubby just mentions to Keith that he is leaving for Adelaide and “Uma and the boys will be here, just keep an eye on them Keith please”. Saturday morning dawns and I hear a noise outside. I look through the window and I see Keith mowing my front garden, I yell out to Keith “what are you doing Keith?” He yells back “Open the side gate, so I can do the back”.
For me that is very Australian.
Views on what it is to be Australian seems to be taking center stage in the recent times. Unfortunately by the wrong people (most times).
I love the fact that a plumber and his lawyer could sit at the pub next to each other have a beer and call each other mate. I love the fact that someone could hurl a shoe at the Prime Minister and he wasn’t put to death for that.
Patriotism and Racism share a fine line. Very easy to merge across but there is that fine line. When Donald Trump Said “I will make America great again”, many were up in arms about it sounding like Hitler. If we take that resemblance out and just focus on that sentence alone, it sounds okay. Nothing wrong with that. But then to continue on about Mexicans being rapist etc is where he loses credibility and walks from Patriotism to Racism.
Sometimes change is scary. But that doesn’t mean it is bad. Think about the migrant, change is all he has. You help him out, he will be ever so grateful. You push him, push him to a wall, what else can he do other than to fight back. There is nothing wrong with Patriotism but know the difference before you start the slogans.
If in doubt watch the movie “The Castle”. I think we should throw away the citizenship test and show every migrant this movie. Take them to a game of Cricket, Rugby or AFL. There are more ways to become an Australian than on an exam paper.
I carried the Australian flag rather proudly when I went for the Sydney Olympics. I carry the flag whether it has the union jack or the boxing kangaroo, as long as it is the flag I will honour it and carry it with pride to the Cricket, Soccer or any other sporting event. But when I see it used at racist rallies, it really breaks my heart. It makes me sad and makes me mad.
My 75 year old mother tirelessly works as a volunteer five days a week. Sometimes on the weekend as well. She was married off rather young, I think by the age of 17. So she didn’t really complete her formal education.
Her story and volunteer work is hanging in the Woodville Council
She teaches sewing to migrants at the Junction Community Centre. She also does similar work at the Cheltenham Community Centre, St Vincent de Paul, World Vision, and so many more. She also takes part in many Charity events such as Biggest Morning Tea, Cooking for the homeless the list goes on. For all these events she will take multiple forms of public transport and get there whether its rain or shine.
As per the first picture you see, she does wear the saree very often, she does wear long skirts and sometimes pants. Now is she an Australian?
I will write more tomorrow. But just for tonight hope you see Australia through my lenses.
He throws her on the bed, rips open her blouse… She says “Don’t stop… Please”
For those of you who started reading, because of the Heading and then you read the first line, You can’t wait to continue, nervously taking the second bite on the biscuit… Shame on you. Go back and read the Heading, it’s Fifty Strands not Fifty shades you lustful lot.
The way I understand the two words, Love and Lust is as follows:
Although both words are intertwined there is still a difference. Although both words appear as mirror images, well it is a mirror image – they look the same but one isn’t real. I am not saying Love is real and Lust isn’t. Love is real for those who want love to be real. Lust is real for those who are not in it for Love. Love and Lust can co exist, but only if Love takes Precedence.
Most of us have our own ideas of what Love is and maybe even what Lust is.
My take on what Lust isn’t..
She says “I am not ready”, and he says “I will wait” and that isn’t Lust
She says “Sorry, I don’t want to anymore” and he stops and that isn’t Lust
She’s had kids, her body is showing clear evidence of it, and he says “Honey you look beautiful” and that isn’t Lust (unless he uses that as a line)
She is in the nursing home with more than Fifty Strands of Gray Hair, she doesn’t remember anyone, not even him, but he still visits her to have breakfast with her. And that definitely isn’t Lust
He (1) is diagnosed with AIDS. He (2) stands by.
He (1) is getting frail. He (2) is still there.
He (1) and He (2) have reached more than fifty strands of gray hair
He (1) takes his last gasp. He (2) is still there, sobbing his heart out.
Was that love or Lust?
He (1) is diagnosed with Cancer. He (2) stands by.
He (1) is getting frail. He (2) is still there, cleaning up his vomit.
He (1) and He (2) have reached more than fifty strands of gray hair
He (1) takes his last gasp. He (2) is still there, sobbing his heart out.
Was that love or Lust?
For the love of God Australia, let the Gays Get Married
The topic for today is Aussie jobs going over seas.
While we gripe about those coming on 457 Visa to work in Aussie Businesses, we are losing much larger amount of jobs to overseas companies and not realising it, just giving in without much complain. IT Call centers was I guess the beginning. We’ve all experienced the feeling of annoyance when we ring our Telco companies. Our mood is already at breaking point because the internet is not working or the phone, and add to that to be answered by someone who from the get go you know is not going to fix the problem. He/she has an answering sheet, same solution “after you pull the socket out of wall, press it with a ball point and say “Ohm Shiva” (sorry I am not being a racist here, I am just peeved to the core). Anyway, what have we done about fixing that issue, Well nothing, more and more Aussie companies are establishing their call centres overseas.
Along with that we are losing more supporting industries such as accounts departments to overseas as well. Yes, I have a vested interested in it as I am losing customers. But my annoyance goes further than my own personal gain/loss. If these overseas establishments are doing a good job, I wouldn’t care so much. Not that I wouldn’t care but at least I will have to acknowledge that if a company could perform a task for half the cost but with the same efficiency, yes I will have to bow down and accept it. But, my outburst today comes from having to deal with these companies on behalf of my local clients. Whether it be Philippines or India, it is the same drama. I am not sure who they employ in these places, if they actually have an accounting background or not. Even if they had, whether they are familiar with our practices, laws and overall business culture.
I have had payments made regularly minus the GST amount. When you send them an email explaining this, it will then go through a million chain email from one person to another. You wonder if it is worth the drama to be chasing for $14.97 for three months. How should I write it off as, along with “Bad Debts” as account category, should have another one called “no understand GST”
Today’s outburst comes from an issue that I have been dealing with for a client of mine. This clients’ client was an excellent payer. I never had to pick up the phone chasing payments. Like clock work the payments arrived on time along with a remittance advice. End of last year I saw a new pattern emerging. Suddenly I had to start sending emails and even phone calls chasing for payments or remittance advises. Payments started coming in late and sometimes late and short paid. Then since March nothing. Client slowly revealed that they’ve gone overseas for the final stage of processing the invoices. So, I would be sending the email to my clients office in Adelaide and then he would send it to Melbourne and then it goes to India. Between May to date I think I have been through roughly 20 -25 emails, and god knows how many phone calls. Each email gets more interesting than the previous. I had dates given to me about payments made for the March and April invoices. Again this email would have gone through five people before it comes to me, I would then go back to the original bank statements to see if any payments had come through, that I may have mistakenly allocated to someone else. Nope, so I would start the next chain of emails, saying no such payment has been made to our account on that day, before that day or after that day.
I received an interesting email today. It came straight from India. It started apologising for the delay in payments, they have identified that payments were not made since March. “Hallelujah”, finally I thought. Anyway, I stopped reading there, as I wanted to finish the normal routine stuff first and then to come back to this email. Anyway, if they’ve made the payment, I don’t really care for the rest of the fairy tale. So I went back to finishing the mundane stuff. End of the bank reconciliation to my disappointment I realised that there was no payment from them. So I went back to read the email to see if and when the payment would be made.
Mr Rahul Blah Blah Blah has sent me the email and has cc’d the email to another billion pen pushers and starts off by saying that they give their sincere apologies and after reconciling their accounts have found invoices dated after March have not been paid. “Finally” I thought, we are on the same page. He has given detailed information of the past invoices and when they were paid etc. Advising me that I should reconcile my accounts according to that. I felt like “Asterix” and “Oblix”
Well the email continues on to advise me that after I reconcile my accounts as per THEIR advise to print out a current statement and to send it to him directly and he will make the payment the following Monday. I have sent him a very polite email cc’ing the rest of the Rahul’s, Gupta’s and along with the rest of the Australian entourage. So in short, the saga continues.
But this is a serious issue to think about. More and more jobs are going overseas. Whether it be accounts departments, IT or Manufacturing. I understand that our wages and other wage related expenses are slightly on the upper bracket leaving businesses with a smaller margin of Profit (in theory).
In my opinion I think it is mainly the medium to small businesses are the ones who are most affected by our high award rates and workcover, super and other industrial awards obligations, and receive the least amount of assistance from the Government. There are many obligations (including financial payments) that needs to be met by businesses that venture into employing staff from overseas on the 457 visa. Most locals are not aware of these things and the Governments don’t explain this either when they go for their vote grabbing slogans.
I wonder if there are same or if any requirements for companies that go overseas to subcontract their company functions? When we lose jobs to overseas, aren’t we then losing the PAYG revenue as well.
Talking about IT call centres going overseas, I had an interesting conversation a couple of weeks ago with the Tax departments IT help centre. Guess where that call went to? I am some one who is skeptical about “Cloud” servers so imagine how I feel about our ATO going to India.
Politicians constantly talk about job creation. Before we talk about creating jobs, we should think about not losing the ones we have. Each year University students find it almost impossible to find internships in Australia especially in Engineering and medical fields and some have no option but to go overseas. Some even have to pay for their internships. Same predicament once they graduate. They have to go overseas for the jobs. All this for the CEO to have fatter cheque. I am not suggesting a Communist or a socialist policy here. But there has to be a balance. Total Capitalism will ruin the core social structure. We still need some parts of the societies needs to be owned/met by the Government. Governments shouldn’t be influenced by big businesses nor by the unions. Unions are a necessary organisation to keep businesses accountable, and could be a very important body for negotiation of the two parties. But bullying by either party should not be tolerated/condoned by the Governments.
My blood pressure has come down. Time for a refill cuppa.
Please Note: I have nothing against Indians or Phillipines or whoever else from the rest of the world. But completely against our jobs going to whoever else other than Aussies (who are paying taxes in our country)
Reality TV has taken over. The remote control has been taken over by the other half. He wants to watch the news on ABC, but the goldfish DNA in him keeps pressing the remote control. So we end up seeing reality TV salad.
Uma's life and thoughts 