POINTS TO PONDER

Case of the Clap

Whoops, it looks like the SLFP faithful committed a faux pas worthy of a standing ovation. It all happened when "former PA strongman" General Anurudha Ratwatte was granted a brief release from remand custody to attend the party's annual session, Colombopage reported. On his departure, party supporters applauded their guest "as if they were happy about his misfortune," the report said. In a ham-handed attempt to correct their mistimed applause, they started "clapping once again when the old general stopped for a while and bade good bye by clasping his hands at the crowd." Surely they must know by now that timing is everything.

Coffin Break

It's always reassuring to note that business is conducted at its usual chaotic, mismanaged state in Sri Lanka's Parliament. The most recent mishap, which is now becoming part routine, part entertainment, happened when the main opposition held an impromptu funeral ceremony in the chamber to protest the recent deaths of opposition provincial organizers. "A group of opposition parliamentarians entered the house dressed in black clothes and carrying a replica of a coffin," Colombopage reported. "Later opposition legislators sat in the well of the House, surrounding the replica of the coffin and conducted a mock funeral ceremony." Whoever said political theatre was dead?

Intensive Care

Let loose a drunken politician in a hospital and see all hell break out…which is what exactly recently when a UNP Pradeshiya Sabha member went on the rampage at the Ragama Hospital. The unnamed politician chased heaped abuse on staff while they were hurrying to prepare an urgent operation for a patient in a critical condition, reports said. "The Politician had even thrown away the blood sample and destroyed the records of the patient who was to be operated on at that time," police said. He also destroyed an X-ray illuminator, a radio, telephone and thrown away the files of patients. And what should provoke such an unwarranted rage? The politician reportedly had a minor injury in his hand.

Cryptic

Try as you might, getting a straight answer out of Arumugam Thondaman, the leader of the Ceylon Workers' Congress is as hard as getting blood out of the proverbial stone. He's been particularly reticent recently, especially after charges made against the Ceylon Workers' Congress hierarchy which allege the organization opposed the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project due to a 'deal gone wrong' and not over environmental concerns, as claimed. The Daily Mirror newspaper questioned Thondaman about the allegations. His answer was characteristically cryptic: "First tell me who said this to you and then I shall answer this question."

Bachelor Pad

Here's one Sri Lankan bachelor who's become quite at home in his pad, so at home, in fact, that he hasn't left it for the last three decades. The man has led a near hermetic existence in the palm-thatched shed he calls home for the last 30 years, a report said. "He does not wear any clothes. Nor does he eat rice, the staple food," the report said. "He gets out of his enclosure only at night and meets with his friends once in a blue moon. His hair has grown to about five feet." His mother doesn't attempt to persuade her son to have a social life because astrologers have told her any change would result in his death.

Potty About Potter

Sri Lankans don't seem spared from the Harry Potter mania casting its spell over the world. Demand was "unprecedented" for the latest in the saga of the pint-sized wizard and his friends, The Sunday Times reported with fans queuing at bookstores from the early hours of the morning. The hefty Rs 1,699 price tag didn't put off eager buyers though some were luckier than others. "I told you we should come early," one disgruntled customer who came too late to buy the book was overheard as saying to her husband.