Current photo of the Kade (shop) at the entrance to the farm
Last Sunday (January 17th 2010) saw a publication of yet another blog entry, this time from my thinking blog, www.kalpanakaranna.blogspot.com in the Kottu section of the Sunday Leader. This time it was completely unsolicited nor was permission requested to publish either the text or the photos, both of which made it to the page. While I am aware that a blog is in the public domain, I thought there were some rules for wholesale extraction of a blog and including it in a publication. The problem is I don't think my better attempts get published, just those which appeal to the person who is choosing an entry for publication, whatever his personal preferences may be.
The published blog was something very controversial especially if some of the people reading it were also the weekend party at that place. I now realize that while my life is as open as it gets, with little I can keep for myself, due to my choosing to share my life with my readers, warts and all and at the same time being subjected to the various attitudes of the readers that are representative of people's attitudes at large.
DAASPATHIYA FLOWERS KEEP INSECTS AWAY A MUST FOR ORGANIC CULTIVATIONS
When time permits I will continue to write and whilst I may offend people with some of my ideas, I do not intend to hurt anyone by my very personal views for all to read. It is important that we are able to express our opinions about any aspect of our lives and then be able to debate such with our fellow humans, so that we can either discard some of our ideas, or in other instances further harden one's convictions on other matters one feels strongly about. My readers will notice that I have very strong views, and but they are all honestly intended to improve the overall quality of life of the reader as well as my own, by sharing an opinion.
Yesterday Monday was another usual day and just to sign off, I will go through the day where I was up at 5 and sorted out some of the produce to take, took my cab to the kade area to unload stuff. I then sorted out unripe tomatoes to be refrigerated for longevity. I then took Sinha Bahu with me for the walk to deliver the can of milk to the collecting center. I then took Megha to the vet to get his rabies vaccination as per the schedule of inoculations. I then went with Sagara to the mill to collect the paddy I had left to be milled and also bought some poonac and rice bran. (horrified that the price had increased to Rs25kg and Rice Bran had increased to Rs17kg)
Once back on the farm I informed the staff that we may not be able to afford to give poonac to the cows as the cost of poonac and rice bran exceed the income I get from the sale of milk, and on top of that I have to pay the wages and feed the person who looks after the dairy. I shouted out aloud that I have no option but to just stick a knife into the animals as it is just foolish to suffer a continuing loss now exceeding 5 years in keeping a dairy if the paltry amount given per liter of milk sold continues. Such is the crap the powers that be talk about giving the farmer a place. I wonder who believes what the government says!
I then had to pack up my vehicle to the gunnals along with 400 king coconuts and go to Colombo for my delivery, and after 20+ homes and delivery places it was past 9pm when I turned into the Gregory's Road apartment for the night. It was just too late to go back to the farm and return, as I had to go to the World Trade Center today for my other job to help subsidize the losses of my agricultural venture. Every penny I earned yesterday was banked this morning in the accounts of two of my staff that paid the wages for two different locations, including the Rs 10,000 I paid to the caretaker of the Ratmale property I am still struggling to have finished so I can use it.
