March 3, 2002

When it rains, it pours (but only figuratively since we really can use the rain in Sri Lanka at the moment … but more on that later …) :p I fell ill sometime last week and am still recovering from it. All the time I was in the US, I don’t think there was one instance where I was feeling as bad as I was during this bout of flu – I exaggerate, I can remember one instance where I felt as bad <g> but all in all, the four years in the US was relatively illness free. I think this was probably due to the fact that living in Sri Lanka exposes you to a lot of dust and fumes and it takes a while to get used to it. At least that’s what I tell myself 🙂 Anyway, I stayed at home for a couple of days and then went to work for a couple of days and have now had a further couple of days of holidays but I still don’t feel totally over the flu. Ah well … guess that too will pass …

As for the comment about needing rain, well, most of the electricity in Sri Lanka is generated by hydro power and the general lack of rain has resulted in power cuts that have gone on for months. Till now, the power cuts were only for two and a half hours at night but the situation has become worse now and they’ve extended the cuts to five hours – two and a half during the day and the same amount again at night. If this trend continues (and I have no reason to believe that it will end since there are no rains in sight …) then we are probably going to have to face further power cuts. It’s unfortunate that the country has to face this situation just as it looks as if peace might finally come to the island after decades of civil war. Plus, the power situation looks to have been created by the inefficiency and greed of politicians who just want to fill their own pockets instead of thinking of their constituents or the country. Ah, sometimes I wonder why we should have any faith in humanity at all?

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Posted by Fahim at 6:00 pm  |  No Comments