This is Sri Lanka as someone just told me. I have learned the hard way to realize that I cannot rely on anyone. When I put people in charge of something, and they actually work destructively, to in this case knowingly reduce the harvest how can one hope for a future! (see blog entry below for details) If this happened within a few months of my return to SL, I would have burst a blood vessel or at least burst the aorta of the culprit, this time I just had to comfort myself as a case of ‘Déjàvu’ and not even tell my friends who will tell me to give up this lost cause.
It is ironic that the Uncle was the person who left for a family alms giving on the days he should have been sowing, and got into an accident on his return, which meant he left my service at a critical juncture for me, and the Nephew who did the same at a critical juncture just as I should have been harvesting, affecting the crop.
Today is Wednesday, April 7th so many people are leaving for their home villages to cast their ballot in tomorrow’s General Election. As Friday, 9th is declared a National Holiday, and Tuesday and Wednesday are New Year holidays, there will be no work done from today till Sunday April 18th as most people will be taking an extended break. This is bad for business and business owners, but great for the workers who look at it as a right which has been extended due to the election.
Now I have to spend time in Minneriya taking stock of my situation, and looking at other practical alternatives during the Avurudhu season fending for myself as I cannot find any staff at this time, meaning I have to mind the shop, while my relatives are holidaying in all places. During this period the ultra-rich flee the country as it is also hot and humid. The rich flee to cooler climes, the workers to their villages and Colombo, a ghost town, a haven for the cat burglars.
Unfortunately if I had private means to fund myself I would be living permanently in this property, possibly infusing the capital necessary to make this land as productive as possible using the latest agricultural techniques and eventually making it highly profitable. So without repeating myself, I stress the need to take stock of our agricultural practices, and encourage those with desire and knowledge to work the land and banish the louts and wastrels that currently occupy the country’s prime farmland under patronage from the government if we are ever to achieve the goals of being a net surplus producer of food.
Only when we can revive the work ethic still prevalent in the North from where we are now receiving food, affecting the inefficient farmer in the South to go to the government for help, can we get ahead as a nation, and not just be ‘lotus eaters’.
