Toronto: in Pics

This is the Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, which is one of those rare long weekends. The weather is gorgeous, with temperature in the high twenties. You almost forget it's the Fall.

To make the best of the weather, I went downtown to take some pics. i walked along the harbour front area for a while and deiced to take a ferry to the Toronto islands. These are a group of islands couple of kilometers from the shore. Its only about a 15 ferry ride.

As promised, pictures :D

Above is a Google map view of downtown Toronto and the Toronto Islands

The top three are actually pics of the skyline at night from a are called Broadview. This is looking at downtown from behind.

This is one of the ferry's leaving for the Toronto Islands

Pics of Random boats moored at the harbour front area

A lamp post, a tree, and the CN tower

Roof structure of a stage at the Harbour front. if you look closely you can see a reflection of yours truly :D

Toys of the rich

A pic taken from the ferry. There is a plane coming in for landing at the Island airport

Toronto skyline from the ferry

Below are various pics from the island

This sign shows the direction and the distance from Toronto

Can see hazy outline of building further towards the west, a city called Mississaauga

Gibralta point lighthouse

A plane taxing on the Island airport. It's a small airport for domestic flights.

Royal Ontario Museum, better know and the ROM

Old among the new

ROM facade

Enjoy

Cheers!

Elections: Canada vs. SL

Image from here

The provincial elections for Ontario were held on Thursday, and unless you were really following it, you wouldn’t have even known that there was an election going on.

No posters

No colorful flags

No banners, billboards, and cut-outs

No vehicle parades

No goon convoys

No disturbance of peace

No violence

No causing inconvenience to the public

In other words, it was very civilized.

It doesn’t mean that they don’t do campaigning. They do, but in a more calm and collected way. They carry on in a way that it doesn’t cause any problems to the general public, because if they inconvenience the public, then they are more likely to lose votes rather than garner them. Some candidates take it to the personal levels, hanging out with the constituents at the corner deli and such. I even met one outside a metro station handing out flyers with only one assistant, at night time too. Can we really imagine our politicians doing that?

In a rare incident there was some election violence though. Was it murder? Beating? Arson? Nope, some supporters of the Liberal party got their car tires slashed and graffiti painted on their walls. That was it, and the media made a very big deal out of that. With the things we are used to, this was like child’s play.

During one of the previous times I was here, there was a general election to elect the prime minister, and I only knew it because of the TV ads. I think even the Canadians were more excited about the 2008 US election than their own elections.

I hope someday the way politics is done in Sri Lanka will change. I want to see educated, capable people running for office, starting from the municipality level up to the parliament. I want people to cast their votes based on the work carried out by the candidate, rather than the promise of a lunch packet and a bottle of arrack. I would like to see our representatives and public officials elected or appointed based on the merit of their work and capabilities, and not on how much money they can throw around, who they know, how many goons they can muster etc.

Furthermore, the amount of money spent on political campaigns, not only in Sri Lanka even in other countries, are disgusting. Especially in a country like ours, can you really justify spending obscene amounts of money for something trivial like a municipal election when so many people are trying to make ends meet. This money could have helped keep several deserving families fed, clothed and sheltered for many months. I understand that you need to advertise and campaign to get you image and message across to the populace, but there is a line between what is acceptable and not.

Let’s hope that the next generation will be better than the current one at this game of politics.

One of the reasons people hate politics is that truth is rarely a politician's objective. Election and power are.

Cal Thomas

World Teacher’s Day

Image from here

October 5^th is world teacher’s day. It’s celebrated since 1994 to recognize the essential role of teachers in providing quality education at all levels. It is also an opportunity to promote international standards for the teaching profession. The theme for this year is Teachers for gender equality.

I wrote a post long time back for teacher’s day where I said that the profession of teaching should be held at a higher esteem than it is currently held at. My feelings haven’t changed since then. I personally consider teaching to be a very important vocation, because next to parents, teachers are the people who mould a child during its informative years.

Then again respect is something earned. We have heard of instances where the trust placed on teachers has been abused by them. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something criminal, but handling something as simple as a misbehaving child. Some teachers are not able to handle these situations and might end up doing something that has an adverse effect on the child. They do it most of the time because they do not have the proper training on the psychological aspects of education and child behaviour. Some on the hand do it because they just don’t care, and those are the worst kind.

Sadly, modern society has little respect for knowledge and intelligence. The center of gravity for respect has shifted from knowledge to money, power and influence. Knowledge maybe power, but money is the ultimate power.

A lot of people blame teachers for going into the tuition “business. However with the situation as it is today, is it wrong? Teachers are people too and they also need to survive. They are not paid high salaries, but the cost of living is high. So is it wrong for them to supplement their income to make ends meet? I don’t think so. People say that teachers don’t do their jobs properly during the school time so that they can get children into their tuition classes. I say if you want to change that, increase their salaries so that they don’t have to find other means to cover the balance of the cost of living. I believe that a true teacher would always prefer to give their very best during school time, without getting into the tuition “business”.

Another thing we must do is give all teachers some kind of training in child psychology. I’m not familiar with the teacher training system already in place here and whether they already do it or not. If it is already happening then it is good.

My message to all teachers out there is that you are doing important work. It may not always feel like that, but it matters for the future generations.

Furthermore, a big thank you to all who have taught me. Respect!

Canada Eh!

Well, I’m back in Canada for another stint at client site. Said good bye to good old SL last Thursday, the 29^th, and will not be seeing her for some months.

Thanks to the time difference, you get to land in North America on the same day as you left Sri Lanka. So, I left early morning of the 29^th SL time and landed in Toronto in the evening of the 29^th. The flight was long and tiring. Spent 20 hours in total, including a 3 hour transit at Abu Dhabi.  This time around flew on Etihad Airlines, and the service was quite good.

I’m a bit upset about the timing of the trip because I missed Hon. Pusswedilla’s third campaign. I was so looking forward to this for a long time. Oh well, maybe he’ll have a 4^th campaign.

The weather is quite cold, hovering between 10-16 C, and it’s still the beginning of fall. Even the trees are still green. I have a feeling I’m in for a very cold winter. The last winter that I was here was pretty hard, but both the previous one and the preceding one were mild. Jack Frost isn’t a fan of mine. To add to the cold, it’s raining too.

My internal clock is whacked out. No matter what time I go to bed and night, I wake up around 2 in the morning. Last night I actually went to bed around 2am, but woke up around 4. Sometimes I fall back into sleep around 6am again and wake up around 9. Unfortunately the result is a heavy drowsiness around 3 in the afternoon. You are knocked out for another 3-4 hours. Hopefully this sorts itself out soon. I have to get back to work tomorrow.

Went to downtown last night, and the place was crowded. There was a city wide, all night art show in town, so the streets were jam packed. It’s called Nuit Blanche, where various contemporary art projects are installed in public building and spaces throughout the downtown area, and it’s a night event. It went from sunset to sunrise the next day.  

Well, here’s to Jack Frost not freezing me!

Cheers!

Poverty is Global

Going through western media, it is easy to think that the west is bubbling over with milk and honey, and its roads paved with gold. It seems like that the people in the west don’t even know the meaning of the word poverty. It is a word only for us who are categorized as developing nations. However, the reality is that poverty is a common situation throughout the world. The trick is that the developed countries have enough money to hide it so that we on the outside can’t see it.

According to the new report released by the US Census Bureau, 46.2 million Americans, i.e. one in six people, lived in poverty last year. The poverty rate rose to 15.1% in 2010, from 14.3% in 2009. This is the highest number since poverty details were first published in 1959.

The data presented here are from the Current Population Survey (CPS), 2011 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), the source of official poverty estimates. The CPS ASEC is a sample survey of approximately 100,000 household nationwide. These data reflect conditions in calendar year 2010.

·         The official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent — up from 14.3 percent in 2009. This was the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. Since 2007, the poverty rate has increased by 2.6 percentage points, from 12.5 percent to 15.1 percent.

·         In 2010, 46.2 million people were in poverty, up from 43.6 million in 2009—the fourth consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty.

·         Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic Whites (from 9.4 percent to 9.9 percent), for Blacks (from 25.8 percent to 27.4 percent), and for Hispanics (from 25.3 percent to 26.6 percent). For Asians, the 2010 poverty rate (12.1 percent) was not statistically different from the 2009 poverty rate.¹

·         The poverty rate in 2010 (15.1 percent) was the highest poverty rate since 1993 but was 7.3 percentage points lower than the poverty rate in 1959, the first year for which poverty estimates are available.

·         The number of people in poverty in 2010 (46.2 million) is the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published.

·         Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for children under age 18 (from 20.7 percent to 22.0 percent) and people aged 18 to 64 (from 12.9 percent to 13.7 percent), but was not statistically different for people aged 65 and older (9.0 percent).²

Footnotes:

1 The poverty rate for Blacks was not statistically different from that of Hispanics in 2010.

2 Since unrelated individuals under 15 are excluded from the poverty universe, there are 422,000 fewer children in the poverty universe than in the total civilian non-institutionalized population.

What irks me is that even with all these problems, the US still insists on poking its nose where it doesn’t belong. They should concentrate on cleaning up their houses before trying to mow the grass in the neighbor’s lawn. If the so called “developed countries” are true utopian states, then they would have the right to correct the rest of the world.

I don’t blame the ordinary people of America. I blame the policy makers. Ordinary folk just want to get on with their lives in peace. I haven’t dealt with Americans, but I have dealt with Canadians. They are hardworking people with the same problems that we have. Paying their mortgages, leases, healthy lives, good education for their children, etc. I believe that there is a common dream for any society, which is to provide a situation better than what exist today for future generations.

There is an interesting documentary by Michael Moore called Capitalism: A Love Story, which looks into the fall of the US economy. They showed it on one of the HBO channels sometime back. According to that, the economy is run by powerful businesses, and even the congress is sometime powerless to stand in their way.

The disparity in wealth exists everywhere and will exist until the end of time. Equal wealth distribution is a fairytale. What we should work towards is to reduce poverty, so that everyone is able to satisfy their basic needs, and is able to live comfortable lives in peace.

This is just the trailer, you can find other clips on YouTube. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeROnVUADj0&feature=relmfu

US Census Bureau reports on poverty

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/incpovhlth/2010/highlights.html

Peace!

Pasikuda and Maalu Maalu

Too much work is not good, so me and the folks at the office packed our bags and headed for Pasikuda last weekend for a well-deserved break. The journey itself was a bit tiring because it took nearly 10 hours. This was mainly because we went in one of those big tourist coaches, comfy, but not good if you want speed. There was also a huge traffic jam along the Dambulla Habarana road due to road-works, which also added to the delay.

CJ had post last week about the pros and cons of Maalu Maalu. While I have to agree on some con points, for me, the overall experience was good. The overall response of the folks at office is also positive.

What won me over was the food. It was excellent. I’m a foodie, so for me, good food will triumph over everything else. I left my diet in Colombo and stuffed myself, consequences be damned. Their soups and salads were top notch. I think I ate more of the salads than the main courses. Event he kola kanda they had for breakfast was good. I’m not a big fan of kola kanda, but this one I gave a try. The same goes for the deserts too.

The place is built as close knit cottages, with 2 rooms on some and 4 on others. There are also two family suit cottages with four rooms (I think), with its own private pool, a Jacuzzi and a steam room. The rooms themselves were quite comfy. The bathroom was huge. I think it was about a third of the whole room. You could have easily put in another bedroom in there if you wanted. 

The land on which the hotel is built is not that large, hence the cramped feeling. They have had to bring the front of the hotel right up to the front boundary. Because of this, the area left for parking is limited, unless they have some external location. The main building which houses the reception and dining areas is small compared to somewhere like Cinnamon Lodge. But the design of the chalets gives a sense of space. I think this is what the architects might have envisioned. To accentuate the sense of space for the chalets they have built them on a V-shape, extending outwards from the entrance. The infinity pool also adds to the sense of space. As a layman, I think it is a great piece of architecture which enhances the sense of space on a relatively small land extent. Even though the main building area is small, it does have two upper floors. The top one has a Karaoke Lounge and a night club with a superb sound and lighting system. The DJ on the other hand has lot of room to improve.

Now, for the important part; the beach. Awesomeness!

The area is part of a huge bay. When you stand in the middle looking out at seas, the white sandy beaches curve out on both sides. The sea isn’t rough and stays shallow for some distance, ideal for a dip. If you walk north along the beach you come across a coral reef. The water is so shallow that you can wade in for quite a distance and see the corals and the marine life using a snorkel. There is also the option of taking a glass bottomed boat and going a bit further into the sea. This area is also shallow, so you can jump in with a lifejacket on and do some snorkeling. Unfortunately other than the beach, sightseeing option are limited in the area, unless you go to Batticaloa, which about 40Km away.

The only side effect of the place is the sun burn you get. I have a dark complexion and even I’ve gotten a tan. However, because of the constant cool breeze coming in from the sea, you don’t feel the heat, but it does burn. A hat and sunglasses are a must.

In my opinion the best way to enjoy the place is to become a night owl. Sleep during the day and party all night. Ideally start around 4pm with a dip in the ocean, a game of beach volleyball or cricket, and finish off with a long soak in the pool till the sun goes down. At night, a good barbecue on the beach accompanied by alcohol of your choice and you can have an excellent time. End the party while watching the sunrise and go to bed afterwards. The sunrise is definitely not something you want to miss. It’s a beautiful site. Both times when I went to Trinco, I missed it thanks to my laziness so I made it a special point to catch it this time.

Passikuda is not crowded at the moment and very peaceful at the moment, but there are hotels coming up all along the beach, which is good for the economy of the area. These new enterprises offer direct job opportunities and indirect tourism related income opportunities for the people in the area. If the people have enough money to satisfy not only their needs, but their wants as well, they tend to be happier. When the people are happy then it will be difficult for external factors to influence them into unrest. Once these hotels come up, it would be ideal to make Passikuda also an air taxi destination. It already goes to Arugam Bay, so it can be part of the same trip. This will drastically reduce the travel time and leave more time to enjoy the place. This is especially good option for foreign tourists.

We are all too familiar with the environmental destruction caused by ad hoc development. The challenge here is to accommodate development while preserving the environment and the beauty of the area. For this to happen, proper planning and management is a must. Hopefully, the related authorities will take this into heart and have an environmentally friendly development plan so that the natural beauty of the place is not destroyed for the sake of progress. 

International Literacy Day

On the 17^th of November 1965, UNESCO proclaimed September 8^th as International Literacy Day. The idea behind it is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.

Literacy is a very important factor when it comes to human development and economic growth. However, according to data from 2009, there are about 793 million adults around the world who lack even the basic reading and writing skills. From this, two thirds are women.

Knowledge is empowering, more so than money. Sadly, these days it feels like it’s the other way around. However, as long as you have knowledge you can make something out of yourself.

Knowledge rules!!! :)

Literacy Factsheet

List of countries by literacy rate

Skyscraper Day

Image source: http://www.burjdubaiskyscraper.com

 I heard about this in the radio this morning. Apparently the 3rd of September is the day when all those tall buildings are celebrated.

 Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much literature about its origins on the net, Except this

I’m somewhat of a fan of architecture, and do admire a good design, whether it is a house or a skyscraper. They are testaments of human ingenuity and imagination. These structures may not live and breathe like organism, but I think they do have a personality.

Skyscrapers can are the concrete equivalent of the tallest and widest trees in a jungle. They rise above the rest and provide shelter to millions of organisms. When you consider it, they provide food too, because we work inside them to make money. The houses are the shrubs and we are the lowly insects.

Facts about the Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world

Wikipedia list of tallest building and structures

A celebration on the day you were born

Image from here http://funnybirthdaypoetry.blogspot.com/

Another year has come to pass
but the world at large is unaware
this is for you, your personal year
to celebrate that special day
when the world was blessed with another child
rest of the world may not rejoice
but the people to whom you matter the most
will shower you with their love
embrace it, share it
take stock of the life you have led
remember the good times
the laughter and the love
forget the bad times
the hurt and the tears
mistakes are a part of life
learn from them, and mature
what is done is done
move on soldier, move on
when one year ends another one begins
what the future holds no one knows
trials and tribulations are part of life
be strong and defeat them all
greet each day with a smile on your face
go forth and conquer the world!