The Sound Barrier

COLOMBO, Nov. 10 -- Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Friday issued an order banning the use of loudspeakers between 00:10 p.m. to 06:00 a.m. local time (1630 GMT to 0030 GMT) with immediate effect, the Daily News reported Saturday.

According to the newspaper, the court on Friday also ordered the cancellation of all the permits issued by the police to use loudspeakers. However, permits could be issued for special religious functions or events after 00:10 p.m. local time ascertaining the views of the residents in the vicinity. The court made these directions as interim orders until the new draft regulations with regard to the Community Noise Level Standards are approved by the parliament. The police was asked to submit a report to court by Dec. 12 on the implementation of the new order on noise pollution. Sri Lankan public have been complaining of the growing menace of noise pollution and have been urging the government for tight regulations.

What is sound pollution?

Noise Pollution or Sound Pollution is when the exposure of people or animals to levels of sound that are annoying, stressful, or damaging to the ears. Although loud and frightening sounds are part of nature, only in recent centuries has much of the world become urban, industrial, and chronically noisy.

A moronic overview

A simple situation with a simple solution. Three cheers to the minister of environment in Sri Lanka. This must be the greatest victory that the environmentalist in Sri Lanka ever have achieved. NOT.

Standing on my usual economy based ideology (which may seem crap to many) I have been grappling with this issue for the past couple of weeks.

The need of Sri Lanka becoming an economically sustainable country has been stressed in my previous postings. I will not again go into those puny little atrocities.

Let’s start this off in simple terms. Sri Lanka needs a healthy economic base. For that we need a healthy industrial sector. For the industrial sector to flourish we need a good market. Herein there is the Local market as well as the foreign market. Leaving aside the foreign market (I hope to tackle this in a future posting emphasizing on the “Shilpa” exhibition which was recently held in the BMICH, Colombo) let us consider the local market.

What is the local market anyway? Normal day to day people buying goods at the old “anupama” grocery at the junction. What exactly makes this market sway? Is the supply enough for the demand of the people? What do the people demand? How can we increase demand?

Going back to the basics again can we not agree that putting aside the quantitative aspect and qualitative aspects aside and taking the factor of “time” alone can make a dent in the market system? If you agree on this point read on or else go and put on some rock and roll baby.

How the marketing time affects the countries economy as well as the social system will be the main basis for this posting.

Normally shops open at around 9.00 am in the morning and they close around 7.45-8.00 pm (usually this is the case but there maybe some exceptions such as supermarkets, as always I will get to the supermarket issue on a later posting) that gives the shops roughly 10-11 hrs of business. What if the shops could be open 24/7? Wouldn’t that increase the business? Wouldn’t the revenue for the businessman increase? Not really.

Why do they close shops? Lack of infrastructure in the country. If the shops were open 24/7 the businessmen would have to provide the workers with transport since the public transportation system in Sri Lanka is in a rut. This is the simple overview of the situation but considering deeply into this matter is up to you.

How does the sound pollution act come into this scenario? Since I’m an architect I will consider this issue with an urban design viewpoint. What makes a city live? Why do we need a live city? Is a live city better than a dead one? (Colombo is worse than the frikin necropolis.) The people of the city make it alive. The quality of dynamism in terms of people is achieved by increasing various stimuli. We can increase the hue of a space and make it live eg: a room colored in bright red or yellow can be considered to be more lively than a room colored in blue or grey. Similarly if you increase or decrease the lighting levels the dynamic nature of a space can be enhanced. Taking this into consideration ponder on the thought whether a soundless space or a space filled with sound is more energetic. Herein sound is not merely thought of as noise. People shouting talking, singing, music playing, these are the sounds that make a space alive. I will go on further in explaining how sound enhances dynamic spaces because this in its own will become a academic paper.

Imagine your daily “pola”=Sri Lankan Markets, without the hustle and bustle of people. Imagine it without the shouting fish mongers “labai labai” continuous babbling. Its rather frustrating isn’t it.

Now imagine a bustling night life filled with sound, music, people shouting, with lights, at the nugegoda junction around 11.45 pm!

Won’t that be gorgeous? To wonder around the night bazaars, eating freshly made “Iringu” and “Isso vadai” at 11.45 pm in the night. You would think I’m crazy. How are we supposed to get home without the bus service? Haven’t you ever traveled the bus at Vesak time? In the night? I have. If there is demand, there will be supply. This is a basic principal.

By imposing this sort of unnatural socio-unfriendly laws the government is trying to take the country backwards not forwards.

Take away the sound law off, and rather encourage sounds at night. People will get on to the streets. Organize festivals, night bazaars, more people will get on. After working all day they do need some leisure time. When people come infrastructure will automatically come. Revenues for the local business man will increase. Very simple. This is just an overview. I’m too tired to go on further. You figure the rest yourselves.

Fighting for Jaffna: The Economic Imperative

This is a small issue that I have been battling in my mind for a long time. This posting is done in order to make the issue clearer to me and IS NOT meant to be in any way an eye opener for the public.

Let’s get the facts clear. Sri Lanka is a small island. Simple enough. We have been dragged into the open economic system since 1977. We all have indulged in the luxuries offered by the open economic system. (Please correct me if I’m wrong) from cell phones to the mars bar chocolates that we mouth wateringly reminisce are the fruits of this wonderful "Kapruka". But what if these magnificent treasures were more affordable. What if we would buy two mobile phones per year (well some of us actually do... not me :( I still use my sisters used Nokia phone) mobile phones and mars bars aside, how many people starve in Sri Lanka?...what if we could go on with life without caring about how much money we have in our wallets and could buy anything we set our minds to. Can’t we agree then that we would be better off with a whole lot of money? To have that much of money you would probably need a good salary... And to provide that salary you would need a good job. A good job would be probably provided by a good company. A good company would only invest in an economically stable country, and that’s where the bubble bursts. But what if Sri Lanka was a economically stable country? How can a country be economically stable? Why isn’t Sri Lanka economically stable? Though we boast that Sri Lanka is a country filled with natural resources the truth is far from that. What natural resources do we have? What resources can we market? What resources can be used to make money? Cutting all the crap what matters is money. What ever the poetic pantheons suggest, money is god.

If you agree to this point read on. If not go to the kitchen make your self a sandwich or think about why you can’t afford to buy a loaf of bread.

We can without argument agree that Sri Lanka needs to be economically stable. Now what we must focus on is why Sri Lanka isn’t. One of the major things that has put Sri Lanka in this volatile state is the ongoing war in the north. This posting is mainly focused on this aspect. Let me ask you a simple question. Why do we wage war? When we take world history wars have been waged upon many reasons. At least they seem to be representing many reasons when in fact there has been one reason and one reason only. What did Alexander want? The so called great king Ashoka? Our own Dutugamunu? Alexander of course conquered land in order to expand his empire. The more it grew the people within his kingdom flourished similarly we can take how Rome grew to become one of the most renown empires of mankind. In these kind of examples we can see that there was a certain upliftment in the society which attained victory. Ashoka is known as a warrior king. It is said that he fought for valor. What ever the stories tell us the fact is that he conquered lands and made his Magadha empire strong in turn uplifted the lifestyle of the magadhians.(isn’t is ironic how this is similar to the Sinhala term "magadi"=havoc.) our own Dutugamunu of course fought to rid the country of "Hadi-demalun"=tamils and bring the country under one flag. He didn’t conquer land. Sri Lanka never gained anything by the so called Vijitha pura satana except for a large death toll in both parties. after the king killed his opponent, Elara, sacrificing thousands of stupid Sinhala soldier who believed in the kings ideals and hated the mere guts of Elara, the king goes on to erect a monument dedicated to Elara declaring him a noble king. armmmm... wacko! Imagine what the soldiers must have thought. They gave up their life for this king and he doesn’t even make an inscription lest make monuments.

The truth behind Elara-Dutugamunu.

No they weren’t gay partners.

When a person wants power they want a banner to take in front of them. Hitler had his "No Jews" slogan. Chandrika had her Rs. 3.50 bread slogan, and Prabhakaran has his eelam dream. Dutugamunu similarly had Sinhala Sri Lanka concept. Where in Tamils remained a minority and Sinhala as the majority should indefinitely rule all of Sri Lanka. Maybe there was more to it than this. Maybe he thought that Sri Lanka would prosper as a single nation. Maybe he thought that all Tamils would thank him for saving them from Elara. Maybe he was molested as a child. Who cares anyway? I don’t. The point is that this battle was nothing more than a political struggle to keep Sri Lanka as a sovereign state for one king. The more land the wealthier the king is. Right? armm.. wrong.(i will be getting to this later on) this same war in various levels have been fought throughout the course of the history in Sri Lanka. This post is not going to go further into the issue as how this battle started or how it ends. In fact I’m not even remotely interested in the battle I’m more interested and way more concerned how much money I have in my wallet.

The conclusion form above is that wars are fought for the sake of a sadistic power-hungry minority. It is nothing but political issues. It never was an ethnic conflict and it will never be one. Just a power struggle and we are the pawns.

The Jaffna issue

Now let’s focus on the ongoing war in the north. What are we fighting for? Not to split Sri Lanka in half. Simple answer.

First let’s think about what would happen if we actually win the war. Even if the USA intervenes the war would go on for another year or more and not less. How many good soldiers would die for this cause? Are you willing to die? Facing the facts no one wants to die. I sure as hell don’t want to die. Are you willing to die when you perfectly well know that most of your comrades are playing on both sides? Are you willing to die for a cause where even at the moment they are trying to discuss and finish then your death would be in vain wouldn’t it? How many soldiers get the valor for the bravery that they show? What would happen to your family? What would you accomplish? Your life is precious than anything else. After all who knows if we will even be reborn? Sacrificing your life so that the majority can have parties, festivals, laugh with their relatives, sleep under fans, and have a cushy life is ridiculous to me. (Call me a nut). Even a single death is an unbearable loss. Your life is too valuable to be expendable. How many soldiers are we willing to sacrifice in order to accomplish a one nation dream? Lets say they voluntarily sacrificed their life. What about the millions that we spend on the war. For one year how much money do we spend on defense? From 1991-2001 the defense cost has risen from 17 million to 99 million. Now we can’t even afford a loaf of bread. How many people will die of starvation? What about the majority who are categorized under extreme poverty? How many of them are we willing to sacrifice? What about the bombs that goes off in and around Colombo? Can you rest your mind whilst your loved ones are out there in the open? What if your mother is caught in the midst of a bomb blast. Try to imagine. Haven’t you experienced that fear? The loss of a loved one? In the battle field or among civilians? I have and I know that feeling.

After one year lets say we won the war. Sri Lanka will have Jaffna. Does Jaffna have a commercial value? Is there oil? Jaffna is nothing but a huge chunk of chalk. Have you ever dreamed of a lush green Jaffna. Well then it is definitely a dream. Not much different than a dessert. It is just land. of course you can build on it. But with what? Where would get the money come from? More tax????? If Jaffna cannot be made a commercial hub what is the use of having Jaffna? We would have to rebuild Jaffna. Even now we are building. That means more tax. Less of the good life that we all wish for.

Now lets go on to the "negative" aspect. Lets say that the GOSL lost the war and prabhakaran won. Sri Lanka would be split into two nations. The norths part "the eelam" south part Sri Lanka. We would have to get a visa to travel to eelam. But at least we could travel. The Tamil people still will live in all areas of the island. Maybe we could pack them all to Jaffna. We wouldn’t have to pay for he army to fight a war. Less expense to the government. Less tax, more money for us. We wouldn’t need to spend our well earned money for the development for a place that we never would likely visit not have visited nor have any interest in. more money saved. More money for us to spend. Better living conditions for us. Damn... This is ridiculous I don’t want to be rich and have a good life lets wage war!... burp!

I think I have elaborated enough on this topic. The rest is up to you to decide. As for me I have made my decision a long time ago. I’m not going to be a pawn. I want to live my life.

The Tsunami Mongers of Ceylon [Part 2]

To discuss about the first post in detail first one must get an idea as to how this sub culture of vultures exist. Architects are said to be an endangered species due to the fact that only about 20 architects pass out from university each year. Architects are better extinct than among the existing. Within this subculture of preposterous animosities there are yet divisions.

1.) The upper strata - who are the top notch/high class/pure bread/ nose in the air type etc. & etc. they are the manipulators and the ones who try to show that they know absolutely anything and everything about architecture but don’t actually know didly squat. In most instances these types are barfed into the society through either the private architecture schools or who go abroad to study and then come back to become hot shots over hear. It must be noted that in most instances most of these people don’t even bear any valid architectural qualifications.

2.) The middle strata - they are not from the top notch but are trying to be there. In most cases they have been educated through the university but actually not that much. In order to cover up their deficiencies they tend to compete against the 1st group.

3.) The worms- these are the guys who actually know something about architecture but are always tread upon by the above two categories. They aren’t concerned much about what goes in around the subculture but stay away from the lime light following their true passion: creating meaningful architecture.

This simple analogy amply concludes as to how the architectural subculture and the psyche behind it work.

Architectural tsunami aftermath

We were students when the tsunami tragedy occurred. When the initial calamity subsided we as a body of students contacted the head of the department in order to inquire what as architects we can do in this situation. He told us that as this stage we would not be able to do anything. I felt distraught, disembodied, dismayed and utterly utterly frustrated. Here was I, studying for 7 years, using up the money collected by the tax payers, and unable to help them when they did need our help. Is this what we have been studying for?? Words cannot even begin to express what I felt at that particular moment. while some of our comrades were organizing a so called "rescue trip" to go looking for the students who had been in the south, rather than doing something we are totally unaware of we resorted to collect donations amongst our self in order to collect rations to be sent via the government. We managed to collect a decent amount and then with that we bought the stuff that had been listed by the government. We handed that over to a place near independence square which had been recently set up to collect rations. We worked there for about 2-3 days organizing the collected items.

The first attempt of organizing some sort of architectural initiative was done by Architect Ranjith Alahakoon who I respect very much. He had organized a meeting with Dr. Deheragoda who was a leading authority at TAFREN. Unfortunately this turned out to be just a meeting without any valuable out come.

The second attempt was by the government. Here again Archt. Alahakoon was the key person in charge. SLIA had organized a competition in order to fulfill the government’s needs. Few architects were selected for their various proposals. Archt. Upendra Rajapakse with his eco houses, Archt. prasanna with his Colombo 7 tsunami version houses and Archt. mohotti with his shanty village midhi gama was amongst the proposing architects. Hon. mangla samaraweera was the person that was going to decide which ones were going to be implemented. Though initially approved every project except one got ditched. the project that got the approval was the midhi gama project by archt. mohotti. this project has been declared a failure at numerous occasion thought the architect can not be held responsible for its fate.

For this project hunting campaign the architects were offered money as well. Thought most of them left empty handed. Isn’t it our duty as professionals to lend a helping hand when the country needs us? Can’t we neglect overheads for the sake of the country. Are we that monstrous? its like asking money for giving your parents something to eat when they are old. Its just disgusting. I mourn for my soul and hope that these sins will not affect my next birth.

After this the competition began among the architects for NGO sponsored tsunami projects. The whole profession except for a few became tsunami mongers. This is the sad truth about architects.

The days of the poetic profession, sons of vishwakarma, have all but faded into the folds of time. Now existing merely as a dog-eat-dog profession.

The Tsunami Mongers of Ceylon

On December 26, 2004, tsunamis swept across the Indian Ocean, spawned by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra. Aside from Indonesia, Sri Lanka likely suffered the most casualties. The death toll for Sri Lanka standing at 30,825. Still 5,806 people are missing, and another 100,000 families have been displaced.
The once golden sandy shores of Sri Lanka are nothing but poignant graveyards which in time will be washed away by the currents to be forgotten by time forever. The transcending somber ignited by the screams still haunt the battered beeches .
For the first time in centuries people united under one banner to help those who had suffered. Songs of pride were sung, artists painted a thousand pictures with their unending palette of hues, even actresses chipped their nails off. (The politics behind this scenario is another tale altogether) This story is about the professionals who sacrificed everything that that had and everything that they will ever have.

In Sri Lanka from the instance that a child is entered into the education system(maybe even before) he/she/it is pressurized into becoming a professional. The most popular choices amongst parents still remain Doctors and Engineers. If all the kids who had been pressurized to become a doctor or engineer did indeed succeed in fulfilling not theirs but their parents dreams the country would have enough doctors and engineers to send to Saturn and even some to distant galaxies.
(However there isn’t much enthusiasm amongst parent to push their child into the architecture cesspit. Maybe this is due to the fact that architecture is the one profession you really never learn anything out from. And also maybe the firkin seven years which demoralizes, depresses, and totally destroys everything you have and hold dear to your heart and creates the monstrosity which “MODERN” architects are today have something to do with it…just maybe.)

Getting back to the story at hand… So the professionals got together with their own comrades and decided to lend a helping hand in “RE-BUILDING” the nation.
Doctors rallied around their stethoscope, going to remote areas and providing medical assistance as well as medical care free of charge. They were hailed as earth bound gods by the people! They had to stay in the same tsunami camps and provide their professional guidance to these unfortunate souls. Without calling meeting and without making personal agendas they did this without haste. (These are facts have been presented through the media as well as from my personal experience.)

Engineers who had a stake hold in the tsunami issue were the civil engineers. They made a big impact in clearing up roads rebuilding bridges so that rations could be taken out to the populace who were stranded amongst the debris scattered land. The government owes them a debt of gratitude for their effort where the major role should have been played by the government whose ministers were still inside the Air conditioned rooms still undecided as to go out into the open. (This again is another story altogether)

In a broad physical point of view there were two casualties of the tsunami disaster (Now don’t give me some Freudian crap about the causalities of the tsunami because it doesn’t apply here)

Human Life
Property

People who can be saved were saved by doctors but what of all the property that they owned once they survived this tragedy what would they go home back to? Will there be a home? who would give their homes back? THE ARCHITECTS! Yeepeeeee for the Architects!!!! Maybe like the doctors who provided them with valuable medicine and their valuable medical guidance the architects also will provide them with their counseling. After all they just have to draw some houses and photo copy it. That doesn’t cost much does it???? Most of the houses they give are copied from magazines anyway.

To be continued (The eternal struggle continues)

First Post : The End

I am an Architect from Sri Lanka (the frikin paradise isle) and my blog posts will be mainly focused from this view point.

If one isn’t honest to oneself then that person has failed in life. At least that is my belief. I believe in a lot of things. I believe that I am not 100% correct. Not even close to perfection nor do I strive to. Basically perfection or being correct isn’t on my priority list. I am me and my opinions are my own. I have the right to have them, nurture them, fondle them, cuddle them, have twisted sexual fantasies on them (metaphorically of course) express them and maybe even commercialize them.

The following posts are my thoughts, my ideals and my aspirations rolled together with tarter sauce and vinegar. Add a little bit of lime and the essence of sarcasm if you must to get a tingly feeling down your belly button. If your not twisted [which I will get to on a later post.] and basically is a right winged one nosed uptight pain in the firkin what not’s you shouldn’t probably be reading this.
So good riddance.
And I ROCK.