hear the firecrackers of prosperity?

i was awakened at midnight last night by the loud and continuous explosions of firecrackers heralding the Christmas month.  noise continued in the morning and even now there there are few occasional bursts.

fact that during last few years, this noise, indicator of people's happy expectations for Christmas, has grown louder and louder, in line with the actual increased spending during year end holiday season, is yet another unofficial testament to sri lanka's continued healthy economic growth rate; 6%+ this year in spite of global slowdown, currency depreciation, and contractions in some of sl's western export markets.

i would be very worried if i was in the opposition. thankfully i am not!

happy spending season for all! 

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p.s.

don't forget to spread the spirit to those who fail to take the opportunities opened up by peace and get left behind. hopefully spreading the cheer will get them motivated to take responsibility for their own well being in future.

my twitter - http://twitter.com/sittingnut
this blog's twitter - http://twitter.com/llibertarian

2010 sri lankan holiday calendar

given the large number of people who visited and downloaded this information and probably found it useful last year, i am giving below sri lankan holidays for year 2010 according to the calendar published by department of government printing.

if you want the holidays in ical (ics, icalendar), csv, or html, formats, which you can import into calendar/time management software, then you can download the files from this drop.io drop. (make sure you select the 2010 ones.)

i blogged about what think about the number of sri lankan holidays sometime ago (basically imo holidays are good for economy as long as they encourage people to spend. so i want less poyaday holidays and more secular holidays and long weekends)

unlike last year, there are no 6 day long (or 5 day long) weekends in 2010. longest is the 4 day wesak weekend in may.

thursday, january 14 - tamil thai pongal day *†‡
friday, january 29 - navam full moon poya day *†
thursday, february 04 - national day *†‡
saturday, february 27 - milad-un-nabi (holy prophet's birthday) *†‡
sunday, february 28 - medin full moon poya day *†
saturday, march 13 - maha sivarathri day *†
monday, march 29 - bak full moon poya day *†
friday, april 02 - good friday *†
tuesday, april 13 - day prior to sinhala and tamil new year day *†‡
wednesday, april 14 - sinhala and tamil new year day *†‡
wednesday, april 28 - adi wesak full moon poya day *†
saturday, may 01 - may day *†‡
thursday, may 27 - wesak full moon poya day *†
friday, may 28 - day following wesak full moon poya day *†‡
friday, june 25 - poson full moon poya day *†
sunday, july 25 - esala full moon poya day *†
tuesday, august 24 - nikini full moon poya day *†
friday, september 10 - id-ul-fitr (ramazan festival day) *†
wednesday, september 22 - binara full moon poya day *†
friday, october 22 - vap full moon poya day *†
friday, november 05 - deepavali festival day *†
wednesday, november 17 - id-ul-alha (hadji festival day) *†
sunday, november 21 - il full moon poya day *†
monday, december 20 - unduvap full moon poya day *†
saturday, december 25 - christmas day *†‡


* public holiday
† bank holiday
‡ mercantile holiday

while full moon poya days are not officially designated mercantile holidays, they are called "common holidays applicable to all employees"

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update on 25th january 2010
tuesday january 27, 2010, was declared a public and bank holiday by government today. it is the day after presidential election. it is not included in downloadable calenders.

my twitter - http://twitter.com/sittingnut
this blog's twitter - http://twitter.com/llibertarian

merry christmas to you all! feel it! + christmas movies i watch

indi padashow says "it feels not like christmas". wtf? is he nuts?

yes spirit of christmas is a subjective thing, but that blogger always writes like a 'civilized' tourist in native drag for a photo op, observing and commenting on 'barbarian' sri lankan customs. that is why he has a long record of getting all things sri lankan wrong; from fight against terrorists down to christmas in sl. that is why he thinks there is a competitive election going on when everyone who is connected to the soil knows that it was a walkover from the start and after the irresponsible lies/gaffes of fonseka a boring old trashing. but i will save those thoughts for another post.

this is about christmas.

as regular readers of this blog know i was brought up as a roman catholic. i call myself an atheist simply bc i am unable to believe in god, rather than bc i have any antipathy towards the church or any love or respect for irrational inconsistent confusions of fellow atheists. people i live with, friends with, or in love with, have always been catholics for the most part.

from my point of view this one of the best christmas seasons i have lived through. iow indi padashow is nuts.

parties, carols, shopping, baking, decorating, cards, school holidays for kids (of my partner), wrapping presents, and thousands of other things are already past or on going. there will be mass, opening of presents, visiting and receiving relatives, cake, more parties, eating and drinking, games, to come. all round good cheer.
btw we do our little bit to spread it to everyone.

suburbs i live around are choked full of ppl and lighted up. driving is impossible.
as always this is the best season for businesses (even in mostly buddhist sri lanka). btw as i have written before, i welcome unabashed consumption and commercialism; "world will be boring and poor (literally) if not for the rampant consumerism of this season".

happy holidays, christmas, and a new year to every one!

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christmas movie tweets

as followers of my twitter know i have been watching christmas movies (alone, with others, or with kids,) in past week or so. i haven't finished them yet. but wanted to gather the tweets into one place. i may update it with later tweets.
term 'christmas movies' used loosely. i don't intend to define it.

"the shop around the corner"(1940). charming, funny & touching, but well grounded not cloyingly sentimental 4.5/5
btw "you've got mail" (1998) is a remake of "the shop around the corner". while not terrible,it is imo very much inferior. 3/5


'miracle on 34th street' 1947 original in b&w. classic! what more can i say? 4.5/5
'miracle on 34th street' 94 remake on tv. should really show much better 1947 original with edmund gwenn, maureen o'hara & natalie wood.


watched "it's a wonderful life" for nth time . 4.5/5 no need to say more.
talking about "it's a wonderful life" > a 1991 article by jimmy stewart about the film & frank capra http://tinyurl.com/ylem9vg


watched "bishop's wife" for the 1st time. enjoyed it very much. 4/5.



'a christmas carol'-1938 version-short,pointed & nicely put together.1984 ver-fleshed out & real. both 4/5


'christmas in connecticut' starring barbara stanwyck et al. forgotten how hilarious it is. 'moonlight snow and a cow' 4/5

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my twitter - http://twitter.com/sittingnut
this blog's twitter - http://twitter.com/llibertarian

sri lankan new year auspicious times

i should have posted this earlier given the tremendous response i get for my sri lankan calender post. anyway i am going to post the nekath (auspicious ) times for the coming sinhala tamil new year. (btw i hope christan readers of this blog had a great easter, as i did).

while i do not believe in nekath and astrology stuff, i follow the customs happily. one of the great things about sri lankan new year is that it is a national celebration and for the most part secular. fact that almost everyone all over the country will be doing the same thing at the same time is ... well great . even a born contrarian like me can appreciate the feeling.

all times sri lankan and for ppl in sri lanka. i think ( i may be wrong ) that same times apply to ppl in other countries (that is new year dawn in sri lanka is 0047hrs 04/14/09 sl time, but in gmt time zone it is also 0047hrs gmt, not 0047hrs sltime minus 5 hours and 30 min).

punya kalaya
04/13/09 1823hrs, to 04/14/09 0711hrs

dawn of new year
04/14/09 0047hrs.

lighting of the hearth
04/14/09 0505hrs, pearl colored clothing, facing north, prepare milk rice (kiri bath) and a food mixed with kollu (horse gram)

starting work, transactions, and first meal
04/14/09 0550hrs, pearl colored clothing, facing north

oil anointing (hisa thel gema)
04/15/09 0732hrs, green clothing, facing east, with kohomba leaves to head and kolon leaves for feet with oil and kohomba.

setting out for work
04/20/09 0628hrs, pearl colored clothing, facing south, after eating a thala mixed kiribath
or (alternatively),
04/16/09 0619hrs, gold colored clothing, facing north, after eating a kiribath prepared with ghee

wish everyone an auspicious start to a prosperous new year!

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2009 sri lankan holiday calendar

below i give the sri lankan holidays for year 2009 according to the calendar published by department of government printing.

if you want the holidays in ical, csv, or html, formats you can download the files from this drop.io drop.

i blogged about what think about the number of sri lankan holidays sometime ago (basically imo holidays are good for economy as long as they encourage people to spend. so i want less poyaday holidays and more secular holidays and long weekends)

btw check out the 6 day long weekend in april 2009.


january 10 saturday – duruthu full moon poya day*†
january 14 wednesday – tamil thai pongal day*†‡
february 04 wednesday – national day*†‡
february 09 monday – navam full moon poya day*†
february 23 monday – maha sivarathri day*†
march 10 tuesday – medin full moon poya day*†
march 10 tuesday – milad-un-nabi (holy prophet’s birthday) *†‡
april 09 thursday – bak full moon poya day*†
april 10 friday – good friday*†
april 13 monday – day prior to sinhala and tamil new year day*†‡
april 14 tuesday – sinhala and tamil new year day*†‡
may 01 friday – may day*†‡
may 08 friday – wesak full moon poya day*†
may 09 saturday – day following wesak full moon poya day*†‡
june 07 sunday – poson full moon poya day*†
july 06 monday – esala full moon poya day*†
august 05 wednesday – nikini full moon poya day*†
september 04 friday – binara full moon poya day*†
september 21 monday – id-ul-fitr (ramazan festival day)*†
october 03 saturday – vap full moon poya day*†
october 17 saturday – deepavali festival day*†
november 02 monday – il full moon poya day*†
november 28 saturday – id-ul-alha (hadji festival day)*†
december 01 tuesday – unduvap full moon poya day*†
december 25 friday – christmas day*†‡
december 31 thursday – duruthu full moon poya day*†

* public holiday
† bank holiday
‡ mercantile holiday

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update:
for 2010 go here

merry christmas!

wish everyone a happy holiday season. i am certainly enjoying mine :-)

nativity scene courtesy wikimedia

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